“Help!” 

Not just a Beatles song or a screamed reaction to an imminent threat, finding help in today’s world of unlimited information is both incredibly easy (to search) and incredibly difficult (to select). Do we call the company? Search the Internet? Embark on a complicated cat and mouse game of trial and error? Submit a Help Desk ticket? Wander the MyNMC website in desperation, hoping for a lucky “click” that will restore order to your life?

The answer, of course, is all of these strategies will provide solutions to our professional and personal questions. But what represents best practices for getting the help you need in a timely and effective manner?

Unfortunately, I can’t help you with your cable bill, but when it comes to Moodle and other education technology questions, I do have answers (in order from most “do it yourself” to most “join a group and learn!”):

1. SEARCH THE KNOWLEDGEBASE: NMC’s Education Technology department has an extensive collection of tutorials on the Teaching@NMC website. These step-by-step tutorials – many with videos – were created in-house and take users through common technology queries like Moodle Activities, Moodle Gradebook and Outcomes, Zoom, Ensemble, and EvaluationKit. If you’re a “do-it-yourself” sort of getting help type of person, this is a great place to find simple answers to straightforward questions.
    
2. SUBMIT A HELP DESK TICKET: If you need technology help and you can’t (or don’t want to) do it yourself, submit a Help Desk ticket. The most common tickets we see involve course imports, META shell creation, gradebook issues, and user access, but don’t let those topics limit you. If you submit a ticket during working hours during the work week, our response time can usually be calculated in “fast food” time. If it’s an “emergency” we’ll even respond on weekends.

3. VISIT (OR CALL): Our offices in Osterin 134 are staffed 8 am – 5 pm (Monday – Friday) and we’re always happy to see people from the outside world. Many of us can even be described as “social” and “friendly.” On Wednesday mornings, we make popcorn! No appointments necessary, but we can schedule one if you want one. Stop on by!

4. SCHEDULE A TECH LIAISON: I reach out to all new instructors with the opportunity of a tech liaison meeting to discuss the basic college Moodle requirements, but you don’t need to be new to get one-on-one technology support. Please email me (bpost@nmc.edu) or call (995-1405) if you desire a Moodle refresher, want to go over new Moodle features, or learn how to do sweet tech tricks with the plethora of available Moodle pedagogical features.

5. SIGN UP FOR TEACHING SOLUTIONS: TeachingSOLUTIONS, NMC’s online teaching certification and Moodle skills program, is available each May. The program can be completed during our face-to-face boot camp or in a separate, self-paced online version. It typically takes instructors 30 – 35 hours to complete the program, which includes a capstone project. Adjunct instructors completing the program receive a $400 stipend with the completion of their capstone project. Teaching solutions can be an excellent opportunity to collaborate to improve the online delivery of your course content, as well as another “tech help” option. For further information, please email either Ryan Bernstein (rbernstein@nmc.edu) or Mark DeLonge (mdelonge@nmc.edu) 

Finally, the Educational Technology Department has a saying regarding when to search out our assistance: “If it takes you more than 5 minutes, give us a call!” 

(Or a search or a ticket or a visit or a liaison or teaching solutions)