Technology is a crucial part of everyday life for many students at Keene State College, especially when it comes to being able to complete work for classes, turn assignments in, access their accounts and much more. KSC has several resources on campus for students for when their technology does not work properly, and on top of that, most of those resources are run mostly by students.
Christopher Ziegler is a Student HelpDesk Technician on the second floor of the Elliot Center who said he takes a lot of phone calls and walk-ins from people who are having trouble with their technology. The first thing the HelpDesk workers do when they come in for a shift is to log into the ticketing software that they use and view problems that they are working on, hoping to find a solution. Ziegler, a junior and computer science minor, said that the most common problem he sees at the HelpDesk is those who forget to reset their password every six months and are not able to access their MyKSC account.
Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff
Zeigler said it is important to have resources to help with technology here at KSC. “With technology rapidly developing it is so important to have support. I feel as though any school not with the trends could fall behind,” Ziegler said.
HelpDesk Manager Elise Morissette said that the main focus of the HelpDesk is customer focus and making sure that all students and faculty have help with technology. “I think our community likes help from students. They know that the IT desk isn’t far. We have an incredibly knowledgeable staff that makes sure the customers feel well taken care of,” Morissette said.
Senior and HelpDesk employee Emily Grossman said an important part of the job is when a problem comes in it is rated on the HelpDesk’s system in terms of both urgency and impact on a scale of one to five. Grossman said an example of when this rating would be used would be if a student came in and could not access his or her MyKSC account. In the HelpDesk system it would be rated as a one in impact because there was only one student with the problem. In terms of urgency, Grossman said that it would be rated in the system as a five because the student needs to access their MyKSC account. Grossman said being able to record this information in the system is important because it allows the workers to quickly detect patterns or problems that a lot of people are having.
Mason Library is another technological resource to help students. Andrew Horohov is a library public cluster technician who has been helping with problems people have in the library for the past four years. Horohov said that some of his duties are to manage the library printers, refill toners and help students with programs such as Excel and Word. “It is good for me to get the chance to work with people with computer issues and help them,” said Horohov, who is also a computer science major.
Junior and news media major Grace Kelly is a Lab Monitor in the library and said that the job relates somewhat to her major. Kelly said that when she is in the Media Arts Center she is always on computers and working with different programs. Kelly said that she feels as though her job as Lab Monitor is important. “The job is important especially with the color printer because some don’t know how it works. People will be rushing in before their 12:00 or 2:00 and sometimes you get to help students who are in a rush,” Kelly said. Kelly said that printing in the library for the first time is confusing because it involves several steps.
Music technology major Geoffrey Edwards is a part of the Technology Team in the L.P. Young Student Center and said that he runs sound and sometimes lighting for the Mabel Brown Room. Edwards said that he will sometimes bring down equipment for the Student Center if there is an event going on in the yard. “I am a music technology major so I thought being on the Technology Team would help me learn and it absolutely has. It helps me get to know the field I may be working in after college.”
Ziegler said that over the summer he worked as part of the Media Team here on campus which is dedicated specifically for classroom media. “It is important for primary classroom problems. The TV display in the gym and and projector are also dealt with by the Media Team. Ziegler said that the most important part of the jobs he has had involving technology is communication between the person who needs help and the person working.
The common theme throughout all the student tech workers was that they mentioned the importance of the job to be there for the KSC community for any technology trouble. Morissette said the student workers are a crucial part of the community. “It’s really important that they know it wouldn’t work without them. It is a complex and challenging job.”
Colby Dudal can be contacted at cdudal@kscequinox.com