GusDay 2009 - Matt's Experience

On Tuesday, Lynette, Bob, Adam, and I traveled to Minneapolis for GusDay 2009 on the Augsburg Campus. I participated in four different classes, each of which I learned quite a bit from. The first session was about the restructuring of Carleton College’s IT department. Many of the positive changes that they have made in the last year are already implemented at Luther College, and, from the perspective of a new employee, it was good to see that we are somewhat ahead of the curve in regards to our organizational setup. The second class I attended was on modular Macintosh imaging. To avoid getting into specifics, I’ll mention a few promising things about this technique that stand out: It supposedly creates a cleaner image, has the ability to image multiple platforms, and the software used, as of now, is free. The third session was on Gustavus College’s point system that they implemented for student employee management. While there are still some kinks to work out, the theoretical result of the system is to allow students the flexibility they often need during the school year, while still driving high attendance numbers. The fourth session was on social networking, mainly Twitter. I gathered that the technology, if used correctly, could be a powerful tool for like-minded IT professionals to share ideas and experiences. Overall the most rewarding aspect of GusDay 2009 was getting to interact with experienced individuals who helped to expand my knowledge of what it is like to work in IT for a small private college.