STA Blog

STA Work Blog

STAs: Student Technology Assistants

Who We Are
LAITS: IT and Facilities Director, Joe TenBarge initiated the Student Technology Assistant program in 2004. STAs are UT students who work on a variety of projects in collaboration with UT faculty and LAITS staff members. STAs assist College of Liberal Arts faculty members and administrative staff with print and web design. From building presentations, to creating audio/visual works, and producing online classes in the LAITS film studios, STAs are instrumental in helping COLA faculty realize their vision for multimedia projects that enhance their teaching and the students learning experience. By the end of their student careers, STAs have portfolios which demonstrate their accrued technical and design skills.

Prospective STAs:

Creative and technically inclined students are appointed as STAs for one year, with the possibility of being rehired as long as they study at the university. Applicants for the program are hired before both long semesters. Interested students may look for postings on Hire-A-Longhorn when positions are available. Positions will have Student Technology Assistant (illustrator or web designer) in the title of the job post.

Faculty and Staff:

Faculty & Staff with questions about services, please contact us.

https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/laits/contacts.php

  • Audio Services: Michael C Heidenreich, Director of Studio Operations & STA Program Coordinator
  • Video Services: Kelly Webster, Video Production Supervisor, Video STA Supervisor
  • Graphic Design & Web Design Services: Suloni Robertson, Art Director / Design & Coding STA Supervisor

First Day as a STA!!!

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Yesterday was my first day as a STA! I met Emily, Tate, Jaclyn, and Kathy for the first time and everyone is so nice 🙂

Emily and I went through orientation together and were guided by Suloni, Jaclyn, and Kathy. We ran through the STA Handbook and were taught the basics (how to use Harvest, clocking in and out, navigating the UTDirect time sheets, etc.). After that, Emily and I were tasked to assist Rodrigo on the Canvasser project.

For the Canvasser project, I was assigned to fix the fonts on the “sub” shapes (“Roberto Slab Light” to “RobertoSlab-Light”) and the “step_small” (from “Roberto Light” to “Roberto-Light”).

 

Top: Changed the fonts for shape “sub1” from “Roberto Slab Light” to “RobertoSlab-Light”.

Bottom: Changed the fonts for shape “step_small” from “Roberto Light” to “Roberto-Light”.

 

I also added periods to the ends of sentences that didn’t have them in the “step” and the “step_small” shapes.

Addition of periods to the ends of sentences.

 

After that Rodrigo told us there was a problem with the title box and that an “image” needed to be uploaded and that the image needed to be interactive so that when clicked on, it will link to the homepage. He provided us the image (big_orange_square) and we added it to the slides and linked it to slide 0. We adjusted the image so that its position would be x: 117, y: 0 and made it interactive.

 

Adjustments and changes for the addition of the “big_orange_square” were done in the “Properties” window and reflected in the “Output” window.

 

I completed this process for the files “support_outlook_2”, “support_wifi_2”, and “support_newcomputer”.

 

As for today, I worked on my PowerPoint assignment that illustrated 5 points from the STA Handbook.

 

The first slide of my STA Handbook recap PowerPoint.

 

I also worked on my caricature assignment! I think I’ll be able to finish it by Monday. I’m also learning how to navigate WordPress so that I can make posts that effectively reflect what I’ve done while I was clocked in.

 

A work in progress!

All in all, it’s been a very productive first few days! I’m very excited to see what the future holds 🙂

STA Orientation

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STA Orientation

 

Hello! I’m Emily and this is my second day as a STA. Over the past two days, I have gone through STA Orientation and was even given the chance to work on one of the ongoing projects.

 

As a part of Orientation I went over the STA Handbook with Suloni and made a few Powerpoint slides to show my understanding of the handbook.

 

 

I chose to use a minimalist layout and simple iconographic illustrations. It was helpful receiving prompt feedback from Suloni and Jac, both of whom advised me to choose higher contrasting colors in the future. This is especially important when creating visuals meant for web display.

 

I was excited to begin working on one of the projects. Rodrigo taught me how to use Canvasser and I began working on the re-pass for the Computer Support Pages.

 

 

 

I went through and linked the fonts, made the top header interactive, and inserted photos onto the “How to Connect to a Network Drive” page.

 

Overall, the last couple of days have been pretty eventful and I am looking forward to working as an STA.

 

UT Psych CE Logo Design

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I am working on developing some logo design options for the UT Psych CE website (along with Estella and Kathy).

Since this logo will probably be used for print and varying other materials, I believe that it would be a good idea to create a “package” of logos in different formats (i.e. one line of text and stacked text versions) once the clients decide on an icon. This way, the logo can seamlessly incorporated into most materials–whether web, print, or in any sizing.

Process:

Below are mockups of my current drafts in the context of the site:

 

Currently, this tree-esque icon is my favorite option; it utilizes the initials of “Psych CE“.

 

I look forward to seeing what the other STAs come up with!

 

Emily Park ~ STA Orientation 2018 Fall!

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Emily Park ~ STA Orientation 2018 Fall!

Welcome Emily 🙂
i hope you have fun at your STA Orientation!
During the latter part of your STA Orientation,
you’ll design and upload your banner to this blog.
_____________________
FIRST STEP
Photoshop: Design and make your banner
a. Use the photoshop specs for your blog banner that i placed in your STA folder,
on our servers:
path: sta/Emily Park
folder: make-your-sta-blog-banner
file: sta-blog-banner-specs.jpg
_____________________
b. Save your un-merged files back to your STA folder:
path: sta/Emily Park
folder: make-your-sta-blog-banner
SECOND STEP
On this Blog: Make your 1st text post and upload your banner:-)
a. log-in:
_____________________
b. Publishing Help Documentation/Instructions
You must read this WP sites “Publishing Help” before you upload your banner.
Click on each of these links and read the STA publishing help:
_____________________
c. Blog post:
Reflect on the day and write a bit about your about your-self & what you did during orientation
& upload your banner.
* do not merely copy paste images in to your blog.
Always upload images into the “Media” section of blog first,
and then set the image from the media folder to display on your blog.
* “Check the “2018 Fall – 2019 Spring” Category box
for all the blog posts you make this semester and next semester
so that all of your work is documented in the correct semesters.
LASTLY
Comment on Base amp
Let me know you’ve complete this task, via base camp.
Upload a link to this blog, on your base camp to-do.

Valerie Tran ~ STA Orientation 2018 Fall!

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Valerie Tran ~ STA Orientation 2018 Fall!

Welcome Valerie 🙂
i hope you have fun at your STA Orientation!
During the latter part of your STA Orientation,
you’ll design and upload your banner to this blog.
_____________________
FIRST STEP
Photoshop: Design and make your banner
a. Use the photoshop specs for your blog banner that i placed in your STA folder,
on our servers:
path: sta/Valerie Tran
folder: make-your-sta-blog-banner
file: sta-blog-banner-specs.jpg
_____________________
b. Save your un-merged files back to your STA folder:
path: sta/Valerie Tran
folder: make-your-sta-blog-banner
SECOND STEP
On this Blog: Make your 1st text post and upload your banner:-)
a. log-in:
_____________________
b. Publishing Help Documentation/Instructions
You must read this WP sites “Publishing Help” before you upload your banner.
Click on each of these links and read the STA publishing help:
_____________________
c. Blog post:
Reflect on the day and write a bit about your about your-self & what you did during orientation
& upload your banner.
* do not merely copy paste images in to your blog.
Always upload images into the “Media” section of blog first,
and then set the image from the media folder to display on your blog.
* “Check the “2018 Fall – 2019 Spring” Category box
for all the blog posts you make this semester and next semester
so that all of your work is documented in the correct semesters.
LASTLY
Comment on Base amp
Let me know you’ve complete this task, via base camp.
Upload a link to this blog, on your base camp to-do.

Persian Learning Resources UI

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ANNNNOTHER UI PROJECT WOOOOO.

I’ve genuinely been enjoying myself with these UI projects! I am working again with Kathy to update the interface for the Persian Learning Resources site. I have attached reference images below!

Current:

Rough:

 

New refs from Suloni:

https://www.laits.utexas.edu/ppp/learning.php

 

And an update on the portal page and Conversations of Iran Today page!

and with added buttons:

COIT home + Dropdown menu