This month, we take a look at Elon's ELITE Program.

By Ashley Brown '02

Emerging Leaders in Technology at Elon helps students sharpen their technical and leadership skills by working with members of the Elon community who need help with technology projects. ELITE students are trained to help faculty, staff and students with the integration of technology into academic and student life.

There are seven students in the ELITE program, which is now in its third year. ELITE students are divided into two groups: mentors and consultants.

ELITE mentors
As mentors, students work one-on-one with faculty members on semester-long technology projects. This helps faculty members develop their computer skills and get acquainted with technology that can help them in the classroom. At the same time, the program gives students hands-on mentoring experience.

Senior Grace Bardsley worked with associate professor Steve Braye in updating the General Studies Web page. "I loved the student pairing because I was able to teach professors how to use the technology that I knew," says Bardsley. She says Braye was open to having a student as a teacher. "He did most of the work himself. I was there to show him how to use the programs."

Braye says he enjoyed switching roles with Bardsley, and she helped him see what the technology could offer. "This gave me the chance to produce something significant and useful," he says. "Best of all, the Web page works, looks good and helps students."

Students go through a two-step interview process to become ELITE mentors. The first step is a presentation to a group of faculty, staff and students on "Why I should be an ELITE student," and it must include some component of technology. This is followed by an interview with program director Scott Hildebrand and assistant director Kelly Reimer. Once students are selected for the program, they can participate until graduation. Hildebrand patterned ELITE after a similar program at Wake Forest University.

Junior Doris Molina is an ELITE mentor.

Many of the projects so far have been Web-based -- designing Web pages, setting up courses on Blackboard and creating online surveys. Assistant professor Matt Valle took advantage of this program to improve data collection. He worked with Jessica Fowler, then a junior and business major with a marketing concentration.

"Instead of me going from group to group with a pencil and a piece of paper, Jessica helped me put together an interactive Web site, where users can answer a series of questions that are then collected and compiled," says Valle. This allows the data collection process to move faster.

ELITE consultants
The ELITE consultants are a new addition to the program for fall 2001. Consultants will work on projects with staff members, organizations and fellow students. Hildebrand says that by offering technical support for students, the consultants will meet an important need on campus. For example, consultants will help fellow students learn programs such as Microsoft Office, Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

Reimer leads the team of consultants. She says that in the past, students would go to the library when they knew an ELITE member would be there so that they could use the member as a resource. Thanks to the ELITE program, she says, "There will always be someone to help the students with their needs."

Experiential learning
In addition to helping others, the program is designed to enrich the ELITE members' knowledge of technology. "Students get a lot of real-world experience," Hildebrand says. Most students come in with basic computer skills and go through intense training to learn the skills necessary to train others on campus. "They work as a team, learning and sharing, but at the same time they work independently to manage their own projects," Hildebrand says. "We are here for support and questions, but the students are out there doing the work."

Theresa Beckett is an '01 graduate and former ELITE mentor who now works for Media Services at Elon. "I didn't think that I would be using my computer skills when I finished college, but I find that I use them on a regular basis," she says.

As students learn more complex skills, they pass them on to the Elon community. Eventually, Hildebrand would like to see the program work with advanced Web development, interactive CD-ROMs and virtual reality tools, which could then be combined with Elon's Web-based courses.

To learn more
If you are interested in working with an ELITE student, you can apply online at http://www.elon.edu/elite or call Scott Hildebrand at 278-5000. Applications for mentors are accepted from faculty each semester. Applications for consultants are accepted throughout the semester from staff members and student organizations.