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This struck a painfully responsive chord with me . . . I thought others
might've had the same experience.

Marcy

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                        Marcy Bauman
         Writing Program, University of Michigan-Dearborn
              4901 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128
                      fax: 313-593-5552
                 http://www.umd.umich.edu/~marcyb
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 12 May 97 16:33:03 EDT
From: Steve Gilbert <[log in to unmask]>
To: American Association for Higher Education <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: AAHESGIT125: Symptoms of Support Svc. Crisis

(5/12/97 AAHESGIT #125.  Approx. 30 lines from me.

Here's a quick, surprising response to a question I've been
asking frequently during my presentations -- "Have you
experienced any 'symptoms' at your own institution of the
'Support Service Crisis'?").
Steve Gilbert 
                ----------------------------
I am often invited to try to describe recent trends and
changing conditions with respect to educational uses of
information technology.  I usually mention the "Support
Service Crisis," and how my earlier predictions of it were
timid underestimations of what is happening now on many
campuses.   I usually describe some of the following:
- the rapidly widening gap between available resources and
the expectations of faculty and students;
- the likelihood that technology support service personnel
are over-worked and over-stressed -- especially if the
institution has been successful in finding funds for a
significant investment in establishing or upgrading a campus-
wide network;
- the typical frustrations of faculty members who find they
cannot get the kind of help they need to move ahead with
technology; and
- how and why faculty and students need MORE help from
librarians and faculty development professionals.

Finally, I note that most institutions have been unable to
increase the availability of support staff or support
services commensurate with the rapid growth in local
availability of hardware and Internet access.

If I hear moans and laughter from the audience (signifying
that I've described painfully familiar experiences), I ask
for examples of additional symptoms of the Support Service
Crisis that they have noticed at their own institutions.

Last Friday during my plenary presentation at West Chester
University, someone identified a "symptom" that ended the
conversation:

"The help desk now has an unlisted number."
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Information below last updated:  4/27/97
TLTR Summer Institute -- July 11-16, 1997 Phoenix, Arizona

    Steven W. Gilbert, Director, Technology Projects
       American Association for Higher Education
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