Wednesday April 10th – The SIGUCCS Academy Knowledge Management micro credential track equips higher education IT professionals with specialized knowledge and skills to implement effective knowledge management frameworks within their service centers. This specialized workshop focuses on understanding what a knowledge management framework is, the basics of effective technical writing, and developing an implementation plan for your IT Service Desks.
Session 1 – Knowledge Management Framework
Identifying Ways of Creating, Sharing and Reusing Knowledge: Attendees will explore various techniques and tools suitable for managing knowledge within higher education service desks.
Instructor – Jody Gardei
Jody Gardei is currently the Service Desk Coordinator at Ferris State University. She began her career in IT in 1997 while she was serving in the U.S. Air Force as an Information Manager and the powers to be decided to add computer technician to her list of duties. This new skill set provided her the training and certifications that landed her a job as a Desktop Support Technician at Ferris where she was promoted to several IT coordinator positions, took an eight-year detour managing HR staff training and development, and then returned to IT in 2023 in her current role supervising a staff of four and managing a walk-up support desk, call center, hardware repair shop, and university-owned mobile devices. She’s passionate about providing self-help resources that improve productivity and efficiency.
Session 2 – Technical writing
Learning about Effective Technical Writing: A vital segment of the workshop is devoted to teaching the basics of technical writing, enabling participants to develop quality documentation for both users and technicians.
Instructor – Beth Rugg
Beth Rugg – Assistant Vice Chancellor for Client Engagement – UNC Charlotte. I have worked in the IT field for 20+ years and am currently responsible for a 50+ member team that provides front line service and support for our centralized IT organization. I champion service and support and have extensive experience overseeing service desks, desktop support, endpoint management, labs, instructional support and design, digital media production, technology acquisition and renewal, training, documentation and communication. I have led many large administrative and academic initiatives over the course of my career. I was on the SIGUCCS board for many years and am a faculty member for the Educause Senior Director’s program. I participated in the IT Service Catalog Revision Working Group and the ECAR IT Service Change Management Working Group.
Session 3 – Developing an Implementation Plan
Attendees will work collaboratively to create a tailored knowledge management strategy that fits the unique needs of their institution’s IT service desk and draft a plan to take back to their teams for further development and implementation.
Instructors – Jody Gardei and Beth Rugg