The mission of the Office of Student Computing Resources is to help all students use computing technology to get the most out of their educational experience.

OSCR enables access to a wide variety of technologies and many types of technical assistance to students in every discipline. OSCR services and facilities are found in many convenient campus locations including the Integrated Learning Center, the Computer Center, and within many departments throughout campus. We provide training in basic, intermediate and advanced technologies, and our support services are designed to respond to each student's particular needs. Computing labs provide access to UA online resources, all commonly used applications, and the World Wide Web. OSCR also provides access to state-of-the art multimedia and web creation tools. OSCR services are free to the UA community.

OSCR provides a variety of services for UA instructors from all departments and programs. We regularly partner with faculty and staff to ensure delivery of high quality learning experiences both on and off campus. In addition, the UA Technology Refresh Bank (TRB) is an OSCR initiative. The TRB was started in 2001 in order to encourage and assist academic departments in annualizing the cost of ongoing technology refresh needs by providing interest-free loans.

Employing more than 70 student assistants, OSCR has a variety of well paying campus positions. In addition, OSCR facilitates the UA's Student Technology Preceptor program which allows students to earn upper division credit and learn new skills while they help faculty and students solve class related problems.

With such a diverse client base, we recognize the need to be able to quickly adapt to the ever-changing technological needs of UA students and faculty. We accomplish this nimble flexibility by working in a matrix model team-centered environment. The mission statements of our eight teams are outlined below.

The Client Services Team is charged with assessing and representing the requirements of clients by analyzing current services and identifying service gaps in all OSCR locations which include our Computer Labs, Multimedia Labs, Instructional Classrooms, and Help Desk locations. This team will look at all services provided by OSCR to both internal and external clients and identify opportunities for enhancement, strive to maintain consistency between locations, and assist other functional teams in meeting client needs. This team is directly responsible for the faculty liaison program, the operational aspects of the computing labs, the Student Technology Preceptor program, and OSCR’s help desk services. The team also creates policies, procedures, and both web and printed materials pertaining to these areas of direct responsibility. Additionally, CST is responsible for assessing and improving our varied methods of service delivery, providing clear communications to student staff about service expectations and problem resolution, along with the use and application of the Fish! Philosophy customer service model in every facet of the organization.

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The Computing Labs & Classroom Technologies Team is charged with planning, implementing, maintaining, and supporting the technology component of OSCR's computers labs and electronic classrooms that are not primarily multimedia sites (see Multimedia Services and Technology Team). This technology component can generally be defined as including the desktop computers and their operating system, OSCR-installed user software, and any attached peripherals. CLCT works very closely with the Client Services Team to maintain excellent two-way communication with OSCR clients that utilize the technology within these locations.

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As the name of this team implies, the Marketing, Outreach, & Operations Team has three distinct roles to perform. Each role is outlined below.

Marketing:

In an effort to provide timely information on OSCR services and resources to students and instructors, MOOT develops and delivers short "orientation" presentations such as our "Intro to Campus Computing." Since appropriate referral is an important part of our service, we include related-services in our presentations and document. Regular communications with campus News organizations are maintained to help reach a broad audience. Posters, A-frames, newsletters, cardboard students, t-shirts, signage, flyers, advertisements, ad specialties, faculty informational packets, and other such marketing items are created and distributed by MOOT.

Outreach:

Outreach functions include participating in campus-wide informational events such as New Student Orientations, Security Days on the Mall, ASUA Bookstore Tech Fair, Meet Your Major Fair, New Faculty Orientations, Graduate Orientations, GATO training, Parent's Association presentations, Dead Day Study Ball, etc. We also partake in campus activities with other departments such as the Learning Technologies Center, ASUA Bookstore, the Center for Computing and Information Technology, the Library, University College, University Learning Center, University Teaching Center, Eller College, etc.

Partnerships with academic departments have helped us leverage our resources so that we can provide new and improved services to campus, Current academic partnerships include: Family and Consumer Sciences, Multicultural Affairs & Student Success, College of Engineering, English Department, College of Fine Arts, College of Architecture, and others.

Operations:

In order to provide consistent customer service, OSCR's internal operations must be continually monitored so that course corrections can take place prior to clients experiencing any dysfunction or lack of service. OSCR-wide systems and procedures are established and regularly reviewed to assure stability and efficiency. The design of internal web-based services has helped us efficiently track business functions, including the ability to gather assessment data.

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The Multimedia Services & Technologies Team supports OSCR's mission by encouraging UA students to explore and learn multimedia technologies to take their coursework in new and innovative directions. MST's two roles of responsibility are defined below:

Technology

OSCR has several multimedia labs and, although many services are available regardless of which one a client chooses to work in, each location has its own special service offerings. Team members of MST plan, implement, maintain, and support the technology component of these locations. Specialized high-end hardware and software can be found in theses multimedia labs, much of which cannot be found elsewhere on campus.

Like OSCR's other computer labs, trained and competent student consultants are available to provide one-on-one assistance to help out clients who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the potential of computing hardware and software. To further this end, the Multimedia Zone has extended support hours that run until midnight during Fall and Spring semesters.

Services

MST has many special services to offer UA students. They include:

• Gear-to-Go: equipment loan of items such as digital video cameras, still image cameras, tripods, wireless microphones, etc.
• Large format printing (our only exception to "all OSCR services are free")
• Semester-long storage for student multimedia class projects
• Rendering services for large animation and video projects
• Media conversion, including analog-to-digital conversion and international video standards such as NTSC and PAL.
• Streaming media services

Finally, the Multimedia Team uses digital video technology to shoot and edit OSCR's training events, promotional materials, and special activities.

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The Server and Network Services Team supports the mission of the Office of Student Computing Resources by employing available information technology resources to provide and support network-delivered services to UA students.

SNS is responsible for the operation and maintenance of all of OSCR's central servers, storage devices, database services, streaming media services, rendering clusters, backup and disaster recovery, and intra-connectivity hardware. The majority of OSCR's labs and classrooms are centrally managed in OSCR Underground in the ILC. This machine room also houses servers for the Learning Technologies Center, and services provided by OSCR in support of University College.

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The Team Leads Team is composed of the team leads of all the OSCR functional teams and is responsible for the operational coordination between teams. This Team does not provide authoritative direction to the other Teams. It serves to insure that enhanced communication between the various Teams exists, that duplication of effort and overlap of responsibility is minimized, and that the efforts and work that OSCR produces is equitably and appropriately distributed and accomplished. The Team Leads Team will provide oversight for projects, policies and procedures, and other organization-wide concerns. In addition, this Team is responsible for keeping a finger on the pulse of the organization's morale and ability to function in a respectful, inspiring, and positive manner.

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The Web & Apps Team's first focus is on supporting our clients: the students, faculty and staff of the University of Arizona. For example, students can use our website to register for our workshops, to check out gear-to-go equipment, or they can use the "Who Can Help Me?" feature to find an OSCR consultant to help them with their software questions.

Faculty and staff are supported with an advanced calendaring and registration system that makes it easy to check availability of an OSCR computer lab or classroom prior to requesting a reservation. Additionally, faculty who teach in the ILC can reserve space to meet with students using our "ILC Office Hours" application.

Another critical function of the Web Team is to ensure that the OSCR web site accurately and completely represents all of the services OSCR provides to the UA community. After all, the OSCR web site is often the first stop for someone who wants to know more about us.

Also the Web Team is the "business intelligence" unit of OSCR. We produce custom reports to support OSCR staff who are making critical decisions regarding department operations. Often these reports draw upon a mix of departmental and University-wide data sources.

Finally, like everyone here at OSCR the Web Team likes to have fun. Just take a look at our "Play" page with its cool comics, and wacky movies of the talented OSCR staff and you will understand how fun is an essential part of our mission.

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The Workshop & Training Team is responsible for the development and delivery of our public workshops for the campus community, as well as assisting in the development, training and assessment of internal training sessions for OSCR student workers. This team will meet its responsibilities by providing the following:

Technology Workshops

Public workshops are developed and delivered to meet the needs of students who are required to use specific technology and software applications for successful coursework completion. These workshops will follow a specific standard as outlined in OSCR's "Workshop Development Standards" document. Our workshops cover a wide range of applications from general computing to high-end multimedia. All workshops will be validated to ensure accuracy of content, correct level of proficiency for indicated users, and time allowed to complete workshop exercises. Students who teach workshops also follow a specific standard of instruction as outlined in OSCR's "Instructor Study Guide" and "Specific Instruction Techniques from Langevin".

WaTT also provides faculty-requested workshops, which requires working closely with faculty and instructors to ensure that students get the information they require in order to successfully complete specific course-related tasks and projects.

Customer Service, Client Referral, and Technology Training

At its foundation, OSCR is a customer service organization. We have chosen the Fish! Philosophy as our customer service model and have developed in-depth training sessions that teach our student employees the four principles of Fish!

Additional training for OSCR student workers is required in order to continually increase the skill set they need to provide quality service to our clients. Four levels of "skills list" training have been developed which range from basic client referral to technological mastery. As new technology gets introduced to the campus, new training will be developed and implemented to help the campus community become educated users of this technology.

WaTT will be responsible not only for the content of these workshops and training sessions, but will also help to mentor and train our student and Career Staff instructors to ensure effective delivery of the content.

Contact the Workshops and Training Team