Marketing Computer Support Services through Relationship and Training Strategies

摘要

In 2002, Harvard University's Division of Continuing Education (DCE) expanded its computer lab facility. This expansion allowed DCE to change its previous policy of restricting computer services to a small percentage of students to its current policy of extending these services to all DCE students. This flexibility enabled DCE's Institute for English Language (IEL) to change its previous position of assuming that all students did not have access to computer technology to its new position of assuming all students have access to computer technology. This new position has expanded the way IEL courses can be taught and managed. Church Street Staff initiated the building of relationships with IEL instructors to empower them with the skills and knowledge to infuse more technology into their courses. Church Street Staff organized and hosted a colloquium for IEL instructors in which they showcased services focused on a Harvard-developed instructional development Instructor's Toolkit. Main contacts for future support constituted the colloquium organization team. Team members conducted various parts of the colloquium to begin the process of building relationships with the instructors. The lab staff arranged bi-monthly follow-up training in the Instructor's Toolkit to a targeted cohort of IEL instructors. These instructors would then serve as peer mentors to their colleagues. The bi-monthly training culminated in a launch week in which the lab staff focused their attention on one-on-one help for the IEL instructors to launch their course websites. The success of the campaign was determined by the percentage of full-time instructors using email, website, bulletin board, and announcement tool as management and pedagogical tools complementing the classroom instruction.