Service Learning Event MSAT Expo
Event: UTI MSAT Expo
Date: March 3rd, 2007
The UTI Manufacturer Specific Accredited Training (MSAT) Expo was held March 3rd, 2007 and featured exhibits for MSAT programs offered at UTI. Representatives were on hand from International Trucks, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Volvo, and Volkswagen. Throughout the day they gave product demonstrations, described the curriculum and answered any questions prospective applicants may have had. The manufacturer specific programs at UTI, are highly selective as the manufacturers actually pay for the student’s training, and will place them at a dealership upon graduation. In order to receive this specialized training, the students must meet demanding GPA and attendance requirements, perform a series of interviews for the open slots, and also take a demanding series of pretests and applications online. These online tests are very technical and require the students to perform research using the automotive technical publications in our resource center, and the online applications require them to describe why they deserve the specialized training, and communicate their interest and commitment for the specialized program.
For this event, I volunteered with the staff from the student services department as they administered the tests, and assisted the students with their applications. The specific materials the students used were pre-approved service manuals that are specific to the manufacturer program they are applying for and are normally located in the automotive training labs. For this testing session they were loaned to the student service department so that the testing could be performed. In addition to the manufacturer specific manuals, students are allowed to use the computers in the resource center where they are able to access Alldata and Mitchell-On-Demand automotive software programs.
There were three team members from the student services department working at this event and they seemed very appreciative of my help. For this application drive, there were 122 students applying to the six MSAT programs. Since there were four of us working the event, two of us worked with half of the students in the admissions department office and assisted students with filling out their online applications, while the other two volunteers took the remaining students to the resource center to conduct their testing.
My partner Tracy and I started in the admissions department and began by giving the students an overview of how the application would need to be filled out and what types of information they should include. There is a paper application and also and electronic application, both of which need to be filled out by the students. Since there are only thirty computers in the admissions department, Tracy started with half of the group in beginning the online application while I worked with the remaining students on the paper application.
The paper application process was fairly straightforward and did not have any major concerns by the students. Some of the group did have difficulty with the electronic application, and the problems they experienced were similar to those that I witnessed with the future student applications, conducted at the open house last month. For some, this application seemed to be the first electronic one they had ever filled out in their life, and it was pretty obvious that they were not comfortable navigating through menus, screens and checkboxes. Unlike the students at the open house, race did not seem to have any significance in the students that experienced difficulty, and in this exercise a similar number of questions were asked by Caucasians as by minorities. What seemed to be the determining factor was level of familiarity with technology, and students were either comfortable, or uncomfortable.
After our group of students had finished the application portion, it was time to switch locations, and move to the resource center when they would take their technical tests. The resource center at UTI does have enough computers for our entire group, and Tracy had the students organize themselves by number depending on the program they were applying to. Then the students were arranged at the computers so that students were not sitting next to other students applying to the same program. The test packets were distributed and students were allowed to begin taking the test.
From the beginning, there were a number of students that experienced difficulty in the first log on instructions. I would estimate that a dozen students required assistance in logging on, though most were simple mistakes such as having caps lock on, or mistyping their testing passwords. There were a few navigation related questions in the first few minutes of testing, but once they were answered, most students seemed to navigate on their own quite well. Of the students with initial questions I would say they were pretty even between Caucasians and other demographics.
Of the sixty or so students in our group, about one-third finished the first portion of the test much faster than the rest of the group, and they immediately started using the online automotive software programs to solve their technical questions. I glanced over their shoulders and could see that they were half way through the technical questions when other students were just now beginning to start the technical portion. The majority of this group of students were Caucasian and they seemed to fluently navigate the software programs, with a high degree of familiarity.
Some students started using the printed manuals, and I seemed to notice a higher portion of Latinos using the books, instead of the online databases. Of the students using the paper manuals, I would estimate that eighty percent were Latino. Of the Latinos taking the test, I would say that half of them were using the online software programs and half were using the printed manuals. Of the Caucasians taking the test about seventy percent were using the online software, about ten percent were using the paper manuals, and the other twenty percent were bouncing back and forth.
I was curious why such a high number of Latinos were using the paper manuals, and asked a group of them casually after the tests were completed and they replied that the shops they had worked in only had paper manuals and did not have computers. Many said that they had never used automotive software programs before coming to UTI, and even after having been exposed to them here at school, they felt more comfortable in using the printed manuals. Their statements reminded me of a concept that I was introduced to in module three of this course, that discussed not only access at home, but also the importance of access at work.
In module three we explored the topic of information access by Latino populations and one of the factors citied in a number of the readings was that on average Latino workers do not work in positions where they regularly use or have access to computers and technology. Many work in manual labor positions and do not gain the familiarity with technology that others do by working in a professional office environment. The actions by the students made it clear to me that access to technology involves more than just having a computer in the home, but also is affected by computers at school, work, and other areas where people may become comfortable using them.