UTI Student Computer Lab
Event: UTI STUDENT COMPUTER CENTER
March 30th, 2007
On March 30th, 2007 I worked for five hours in the UTI student computer center. Our center on campus is the only location where students are able to access the Internet for job or school related purposes. In our computer center we have fourteen computers available for students to use for purposes such as doing homework for class, prospecting potential employers and searching local job postings. We do not allow students to play games, access Myspace or other discussion forums, and though email is allowed, we ask students to use it in moderation for school related purposes only.
There are no dedicated staff members for this area which is located in the UTI employment services office, and any problems that arise are usually handled by employment services staff. From time to time, student workers will assist students on these computers but it is generally only when work runs out for these helpers that usually deliver mail, or perform office work. I had an interest in helping out in this department as I thought it may be an opportunity to study access issues and concerns of the students.
The first few questions I was asked were by students looking for ways to override or bypass our network’s controls so that they could visit Myspace or Yahoo Messenger. Some decided they didn’t really need to use the computer once they found out they were not able to access such sites. Throughout the five hours I worked in this department there were four students that were continuing dialog with employers on job postings they had applied to. For those students, I volunteered to review their resumes and offered assistance in helping them doll them up a bit.
After speaking with the students, I learned that each of their resumes had been created with a program on the computers in the student services department though they were from a very basic template with no frills or unique features. I browsed around on the computers in the lab and found out that they had a recent version of Microsoft Publisher loaded on them, so I recommended to the students that they dress up their resume with Publisher and then save it as an image file so that it would be easy to email. As one might expect, all I received were very blank stairs of non-comprehension of what I had just recommended to them. So the rest of my afternoon was spent coaching these students on the use of Publisher and helping them create snazzier resumes.
This helped me realize that the digital divide is not just access to the Internet but also in the use of software and other related technology. By not being familiar with what I consider to be modern basic software programs they would be at disadvantaged compared to job candidates that were familiar with this technology. So far, I haven’t heard from any of the students to see if they have landed a job from our efforts but am sure they at least had a better chance after I was able to help them with their resumes. This event was a learning project for not only the students but for me also.