Why Wikis?

This session hopefully addresses a way to better communicate across campus. Our faculty blog bombed. From our colleagues at Purdue and their career wiki . . .

They've had this about a year and a half and are really excited as to how it can identifying overlapping resources, common goals, collaboration, allow multiple offices to see what each other are doing. Students can also use it as a one stop shop. (Sorry, KAS.) Staff from several offices just got together, staff who informally meet once in awhile to discuss the wiki. The library runs it. (Hmm.) It saves a lot of money and helps students be more aware of resources across campus. Communication has been fluid, and the regular discussion keep it from being a junk site for tons of resources. They have a few people with accounts who can modify it, but anyone can view.

They use open source software, Confluence, on their server. It's cheap and the library pays.They were trained by library staff, got it up in an hour, and took a couple of weeks to train folks. They have 10 offices involved, and hope to have all involved in the next year. And an added benefit is to get to know each other better.

For students, they have great links. They have a visual as to how to research companies. In the session, they use skits to demo how to use the wikis with students. It's a way of teaching students good internet research.

They have a description of the database and have a link to a tutorial. LexisNexis is a great way to research by region, topic, company to decide if one wants to work there, and to prep great questions for the interview. CareerBeam requires a registration, and have really good resources for resumes and cover letters which match the CC philosophy. If one searches on the university name for the bio keyword, they can pull up names of alumni. Plunkett is a nice way to research industries after a student decides on a career field, and ties directly to job listings in indeed.com. The wiki folks have to be careful with site licenses, because if there are only 5 licenses, then the 6th student can't get through. Offices share costs for the databases with the other offices.

They loved using it for their career fair. There were over 6000 hits on the wiki the week of the fair, and 60,000 from September to May. They list the companies, link to their websites, then link into the Lexis Nexis profile. Since they've used it for several fairs, they have over 800 companies already set to go. It puts things in one place and makes it easier for the students. Students who don't normally come to the CC use the wiki then call and ask questions as a result. Alumni are also heavy users and can access it easily.

For marketing, they developed a "brand" and produced post-its with "Do the research, get the job!" which also directs students to them researching rather than thinking the CC will get you a job. They do little workshops, had a table at their career fair, and going to residence halls. Advisors write down the resources they explore together on the post-it and give it to them.

For employer partners, they're impressed that the students have good questions. And if they are impressed, maybe companies can SPONSOR a site that otherwise can't be afforded, and that gives them visibility and a direct link.

They also plan to expand usage for staff development.