Program offers basic technical skills
    To get a good START on building their resumes, students can take free software and technical training classes through the Center for Academic Success and the Office of Computing Services.
The START program, Student Technical Application and Resource Training, offers computer training on software products and a week-long intensive training session in technical training held before the semester begins.
All students can participate in these free classes, paid for in part by student technology fees.
Melissa Bahlinger Brocato, coordinator for the software portion of the START program, initiated the program because many students lacked basic computer skills. Brocato said this became a problem when teachers would assign students to produce projects using software they did not know how to use.
Brocato said the program will help students who do not get to take computer classes in their curriculums.
“The main purpose of the program is to give students skills that will give them an edge in getting a job,” Brocato said.
There are beginner, intermediate and advanced levels in the software classes offered. Software programs include Microsoft Office, Photoshop and Dreamweaver.
“The web classes are the most popular,” Brocato said.
These classes are offered in the evening in Room 263A Coates Hall.
Brocato said the classes are offered later because that is when students can attend. Also, the classes are usually about an hour and a half long.
“We know students don’t have big chunks of time,” Brocato said. “We tried to make them most convenient for students.”
The classes are taught by students for other students. Students apply for the paid positions and are chosen after interviews are conducted.
Kyle Harvey, an ISDS senior, participated in the technical part of the program in August 2000 and taught a Microsoft Front Page class during the spring of 2001.
“Anytime you can get good computer training without paying is advantageous,” Harvey said. “You have to take advantage of any opportunity.”
Harvey works at Computing Services and uses the knowledge he learned from the technical class in that job.
Karen Firman, assistant director of technical support center in the Office of Computing Services, said the technical class teaches Windows 2000, Network Administration and PC desktop support.
The Network Administration part of the class is pretty generic according to Firman, but it is geared toward the LSU system, as is most of the technical program.
The technical program lasts for one 40-hour week, a week before school begins. Instructors for this program are computer analysts already employed with the Office of Computing Services. They volunteer to teach the program, but are paid for doing so.
“The benefit to the student is they can now find a technological computer job on campus [after taking the technical program],” Firman said.
People from Southeastern Louisiana University visited and were impressed with the program.
“It’s an example program for other universities,” Firman said.
Brocato and Firman deem the program a success. Brocato said the program is quickly expanding.
Brocato said they wrote a grant to get their own classrooms for the program so they can offer more times and more classes.
She said it is important for students to get these skills because they are needed in every field.
“You have to have lots of knowledge of computers,” Harvey said. “This is a way to get that knowledge.”
Jessica Waldon