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(05/08/14 12:22am)
On May 10, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will be holding a team triathlon open to the entire student body. The event aims to bring the athlete and non-athlete communities together around an interactive exercise.
The SAAC aims to strengthen the bonds between the general student body and athletes, who represent the school both on-campus and away at competitions. The group’s objective this year was to create an environment that further unifies athletes and non-athletes, and they organized an event that would assemble both parties.
The first MiddKid triathlon will consist of a 20-lap swim in the Natatorium, a five-mile bike ride along South Street Extended and a two-mile run on the outdoor track.
Assistant Alpine Ski Coach and SAAC advisor Abigail Copeland explained that the goal of the triathlon is to “knock the wall down that many perceive exists between the athlete and non-athlete [communities] here at Middlebury in order to build a stronger, more supportive community on campus.”
The SAAC hopes to achieve this goal through opening the event up to the entire student body.
“We aren’t expecting any [athlete-focused] stigma surrounding the event,” Copeland wrote in an email. “It’s literally just an event that students on our athletic teams are putting on in order for the entire campus to come together.”
This particular triathlon is intended to be run like a relay where a group of three people complete the triathlon together. A maximum of 20 teams will be allowed to register for the event due to lane restrictions in the swimming pool. The relay-style event allows the event to be less centered on actual physical activity, and instead more about forging a sense of community.
“We simply want to try to bring everyone together for an event that is team oriented, promotes an active and healthy lifestyle and is just fun,” Copeland wrote. “Not for only athletes, but for students outside our traditional varsity athletic teams here on campus… It’s an event that is open to the campus and we’re hoping tons of people show up!”
(03/19/14 11:45pm)
The Middlebury Library and Information Services (LIS) conducted the Measuring Information Service Outcomes (MISO) survey earlier this month and is planning to announce its results in the next few weeks.
These results will allow LIS to detect areas of the different Internet platforms managed by both the Library and the Information Technology departments that need improvement.
Middlebury was one of five schools to participate in the pilot of the MISO survey when it was introduced in the fall of 2005. The survey has thereafter been conducted biennially at many colleges around the country, including 39 this year with 15 new participating schools for a total of 99 participating institutions.
The survey targets higher education institutions that have merged library and IT departments. It provides a framework to assess the satisfaction, importance and frequency of use levels for many of the services offered through these different establishments.
“[The survey will be used to] gauge satisfaction, importance and frequency of use for various library and IT services, reference services, eBook collections, email use and Moodle,” said Terry Simpkins, LIS director of research and instructional services. In past years, LIS has had notable difficulties with wireless printing, and new services, such as the Portal, have struggled to gain traction among the student body.
The results of these surveys are presented at different conferences around the United States, such as the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference. The results are also shared with members of the Council on Library and Information Resources’ Chief Information Officers group.
This year, 700 Middlebury College students, faculty and staff members were randomly selected to take the survey. The College’s 61.7 percent participation rate exceeded the national response rate of 53 percent.
“We use the results to evaluate what services we evaluate to be important, but maybe have a lower satisfaction level than we would like, and we try to see who are the common culprits; printing, wireless, amongst others,” Simpkins said.
“It really lets us get some empirical data instead of gut reaction or anecdotal evidence. I pitch the different trends in order to plan our priorities to set goals in the coming years; it’s not a survey that is put in the drawer,” he added.
LIS uses this information in order to ameliorate the community members’ access to platforms such as Moodle, the eBooks or even Bannerweb.
“We not only ask [MISO] to compare the Middlebury results across time, but also to compare Middlebury’s results with those of other institutions,” Simpkins said.
The survey allows the College to compare its services with those of other institutions as well as with satisfaction in past years.
“Based on previous surveys, a recurring issue that arose concerned copyright advice,” Simpkins said, adding that the LIS was looking into ways to improve this parameter.
The survey will be distributed to different areas within LIS, such as Curricular Technologies, the Helpdesk and Inter-library loan systems for closer analysis.
“[The teams] are then able to identify what factors they have control over, and how they could change them if they need some help,” Simpkins said. “For example, the technology help desk will look at the survey and see what the consensus is about that.”
(02/20/14 4:11am)
Teddy Gold ’16 won the Middlebury Entrepreneurs Pitch Challenge during J-term with his local delivery project, Otter Delivery. Otter Delivery functions as an on-demand delivery service, allowing students to place pick-up requests at stores in town and have it delivered to their dorm room later that day.
The Middlebury Entrepreneurs Pitch Challenge, also known as the Schiller Cup, was named after Pieter Schiller ’60, an alumnus who went on to have a successful venture capital career. Participating in the Pitch Challenge was the final assignment of the Middlebury Entrepreneurs J-term class, a student-taught course for students wishing to start their own business. Twelve student-run companies gained experience and feedback from over a dozen experts in entrepreneurial and business fields, who served as visiting advisors to the students.
President of Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET) David Bradbury and Vice President of VCET Andrew Stickney served as visiting professors and head advisors for the students. Bradbury and Stickney helped the students throughout the month to develop their ideas and prepare them for their final presentations to be pitched before ten entrepreneurs.
Vice President for College Advancement Jim Keyes ’71 presented Gold with the Schiller Cup on behalf of the Project on Creativity and Innovation in the Liberal Arts at the College.
Gold says the idea for Otter Delivery arose when he and his friends were building a TV stand, could not find a screwdriver and resorted to purchasing one online.
Knowing the impact that the College has on local businesses, Gold said that he “realized there should be a local Amazon.com system, where [students] would use the stores in town as [their] own personal delivery warehouses.”
Through Otter Delivery, Gold believes that it is possible to instill students with a sense of pride for living in Middlebury by “[providing] a convenience for students who are geographically separated from town.” By making local businesses more accessible for this population of students, Gold believes that local businesses will benefit from a new and increased clientele.
Gold initially envisioned Otter Delivery in the form of an application to allow students to browse the inventory of local stores. His advisors helped him to refine his vision, suggesting that he “start small and scalable.”
VCET has provided crucial support to Gold for his effort to counteract the student population’s tendency to buy from mega-retailers such as Amazon.com instead of local businesses.
Gold now has a team of six student workers, dubbed “Otters,” who are on-call for two hours each day to take orders, pick up goods and make deliveries. Otter Delivery charges five dollars per location visited plus the cost of the order.
While Gold is enthusiastic about the benefits Otter Delivery will provide, some students are more skeptical.
“[The College] already makes our lives so easy through the dining halls and custodial services, for example, so I see little purpose in paying students to do the few errands and extra tasks we do have,” Elisa Berger ’17 said.
Rene Gonzalez ’17, however, noted the benefit of using a delivery service such as Gold’s every now and then.
“If you have to acquire many supplies and do not have any mode of transportation, then having the bulk of the work done for you by people who [do it as part of their job] is absolutely legitimate,” she said.
Looking ahead, Gold plans to create locally sourced move-in kits for members of the Class of 2018 with dorm room essentials purchased from local businesses. Gold is also looking to expand Otter Delivery and will be speaking with administrators at local retirement facilities to see if they are interested in using his business.
Otter Delivery can be reached at 802-444-1490 or teddy@otterdelivery.com. Same-day delivery is guaranteed for all orders placed before 3 p.m.