by michael fienen
web marketing manager
pittsburg state university
(...and .eduGuru ...and nuCloud, LLC)
Better Living through Minions: 
A Guide to Student Workers
twitter: @fienen (hashtag #hew09mmp9)   email: michael@doteduguru.com   http://fienen.com/   
Started as a discussion on Twitter about the lack of available information 
about how students are being used in web work
Two similar schools could have very different work environments
Survey data was collected from 130+ students and employers at the start of 2009 to see where there's common ground and where people are innovating
Background
STUDENTS ARE OUR MOST
VALUABLE RESOURCE!
They are:
Cheap
Abundant
Resourceful
Innovative!
and most importantly...
 
They can see things in a 
way that we can't
Recruiting Sources
Responsibilities
Info About Students
How Much Credit Can We Take?
So, What Did You Want To Know?
RECRUITING
TOP SOURCES
Student Career 
Services – 64%
Faculty/staff 
Recommendations – 47%
Private listings – 20%
Walk-ins – 16%
Other (word of mouth,
high school teachers*, 
current students)
RESPONSIBILITIES
Source:
Tales From Redesignland
twitter: @tonydunn
http://redesignland.blogspot.com
STUDENTS ARE DOING:
62% - Web design tasks (HTML, CSS, Javascript)
58% - Content migration (cut and paste monkey)
51% - Data entry (those poor kids)
45% - Tech support (those poor staff members)
44% - Graphic design (...I got nothing)
STUDENTS AREN'T DOING:
19% - Maintaining social networks
17% - Tutorial Development
16% - Database work/maintenance
11% - Blogging
11% - Keyboard cleaning jockey
Student Info
Only 3% are over 24 years old (average 21.62)
1/4 of offices have
primarily female students
One thing that stays constant...
Common Majors: Computer Science (IS) 43, Comm/Graphic Design 13 each, then English, Business, and Marketing  
69% say they slack off 1/4 of the time (don't worry, none over half)  
Some work stats
Only 8.6% think they are used too much or not enough
About 1/3 plan to stay 1-2 years (20% more than that)
About 1/3 were hired via recommendations, and 28% 
each from Career Services and walk-ins. 
97% feel they are learning skills that will help 
them after they graduate, regardless of their field!
20% have no intention of working in a web field after college
17% have changed career plans (for better or worse) 
after working in a web office
Reliance on Students
It's important to note the opportunity students present
as we try to fill gaps left by FT positions we can't fill.
But naturally, managing students takes time on our part,
so we must balance managing students with managing
our own work.  It's not a zero cost operation (not counting
money).
86% of web offices
use student workers
85% of those offices
have 1-4 students
45% of offices offer
$1.00+ over minimum
wage
20% feel they use
students too much
48% feel it's
just right
79% say their day-to-day
operations would be hurt
without their students
You too can have
this and more for
the low,low price
of...
$12,658 a year
(budgets ranging from nothing
to $95,000 a year)
Now, some of my own thoughts...
(don't be scared...)
Training:
Lynda.com
Opera Web Standards Curriculum http://www.opera.com/company/education/curriculum/
Cheat Sheets by Added Bytes*  http://www.addedbytes.com/cheat-sheets/
Use real tasks as examples, let them do it, and walk them through the process (learn by doing)
Tracking:
Basecamp (if you can afford it)
Collabtive (Open source PHP)
Eventum (Open Source PHP, powerful, UGLY)
Wikis
Some closing comments
"Student workers have allowed us to not have to deal w/ the 100 five minute projects a day. These things add up and can consume your whole day. Not only do they enjoy doing them, but the feel a sense of accomplishment. Also letting them take ownership of a project is exciting for them. We have learned that you have to pay them more than minimum wage, but they respond when you do. Also they are excited because they are doing something they enjoy and getting some real world experience and exposure. Because there is so much for them to do the more they learn the more specialized they can get and even decide on projects they want to contribute too."
"...One of the biggest problems: staying ahead of them enough to keep them busy. That's always the problem. When you need them, you need them; but keeping them busy sometimes takes as much work as doing it yourself."
"We underwent a major Web conversion project and could not have completed the project with student help."
"Our student workers are lifesavers in our office since we are so short staffed. They free everyone up to do more meaningful and important work. We're probably going to hire one of our student's to be a permanent staff member upon her graduation..."
And of course, the students...
" My boss rules but there's way too much drama in edu!!"
"For some reason the main lady who orders us around thinks we should know how to do everything. It makes me angry and someone needs to slap her! Other than that good to go!"
"So, he's leaving so I'm gonna try and get his job. Couldn't say this if I worked with any other place."
"I'm finding that IT is held back more than anything by people that see it only as IT support rather than seeing it as a tool in their toolbox that will help them overcome problems. In other words, rather than see IT as a partner equal to them in status, people often devalue IT to a lower, service position. They feel that IT should be invisible, except when something goes wrong, which is a huge waste of potential."
http://doteduguru.com/heweb09mmp9
@fienen - michael@doteduguru.com
Show and Tell!
Questions? Comments? 
Success stories? Parables?
Warnings? Complaints?
Beauty Tips? Would you like
fries with that?
@fienen    #hew09mmp9    michael@doteduguru.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/fienen
http://doteduguru.com/heweb09mmp9