Digital Corps GA Welcome Guide
Quick Tip!
Starting a new job can be overwhelming, but the Corps is a super welcoming place! This guide will answer lots of your questions, but don’t hesitate to talk to other GAs, staff, and students as well.
Welcome to the Digital Corps!
Congrats on your new assistantship (and admission to higher education)!
You already know this is an awesome place to work, and this guide will help you navigate your role as a GA at the Corps. Chat with a staff member if you have additional questions (or just want a break from reading).
Your Role as a Graduate Assistant
As a GA, you’re responsible for being a leader and role model for other students on your team. Not only will they look to you for guidance and support, but they will also follow your lead. It’s incredibly important to ensure you’re setting the right example.
What the heck does a GA do?
Graduate Assistants (or GAs) work 20 hours per week on a tuition stipend. Most Digital Corps GAs spend less time on project work and more time on team-based work, including planning team meetings, checking in with their team members, and performing other managerial duties. But don’t worry — you’ll split these responsibilities with your respective Team Lead.
You will also be a liaison. As a GA, you’re responsible for communication with and between staff and students. Sometimes, this means talking about messy situations, like a student who isn’t completing their work, or student concerns about projects and staff members. Just try to be respectful and understanding on all sides.
Tips for working with students and staff
- Try to relate to both groups.
- Use your generational knowledge and experiences to work with students, then step into a more responsible role when interacting with staff.
- Be respectful of student work.
- They’re still learning. Staff may be frustrated that a student doesn’t know how to do a certain task or doesn’t work quickly, but it’s easy to forget how long something takes when you’ve been doing it for decades.
- Be aware of student strengths and areas for improvement.
- At the same time, it’s important to know who’s skilled in specific techniques, and who may need some extra support. GAs may have to push students if they recognize a pattern of mistakes or incomplete work.
Check-Ins
You should check in with members of your team once a week, but don’t stop there! When you see them in the office, talk to them and ask them how they’re doing. Frequently checking in is a great way to show your team that you care!
Okay, but what’s it really like to be a GA?
Balancing work and grad school can be tough (read: exhausting, draining, etc.), but you can do it. A grad assistantship at the Corps puts you in a great place to study and work in a relevant field. The busier parts of school always seem to line up with the busier parts of the Corps, but it passes, and you’ll figure out how to get it done.
Tips and Tricks
- Communicate with staff about your workloads in and out of the Corps
- Staff can always help if things get too hectic
- Schedule time to work on projects, so that you don’t get bogged down with team tasks
- Practice prioritizing your project, team, and administrative duties according to urgency
- If an essay or class presentation is stressing you out, vent to your fellow GAs, or sympathetic staff
- Talk to Riley for help with stats 😎
Okay, but what’s it really, really like to be a GA?
Well, since you asked…
The staff of the Digital Corps trust graduate assistants more than the average student because they have more experience and knowledge. Graduate assistants have already completed their undergraduate studies and have a deeper understanding of the material. They are also more likely to be familiar with the latest technologies and trends. This makes them valuable assets to the Digital Corps, and the staff is confident that they can be trusted to carry out their duties effectively.
In addition to their technical expertise, graduate assistants also have strong leadership skills. They are able to work independently and as part of a team, and they are able to communicate effectively with both students and staff. This makes them ideal candidates for the role of “deputy battlefield commanders.” As deputy battlefield commanders, graduate assistants are responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Digital Corps. They work closely with the staff to ensure that the program is running smoothly and that students are getting the most out of their experience.
The trust that the staff of the Digital Corps places in graduate assistants is well-founded. Graduate assistants are highly qualified and experienced individuals who are dedicated to helping students succeed. They are an essential part of the Digital Corps team, and they play a vital role in ensuring the success of the program.
Here are some specific examples of how graduate assistants have made a positive impact on the Digital Corps:
- Graduate assistants have developed new curriculum and learning materials that have helped students learn more effectively.
- Graduate assistants have led student projects that have resulted in innovative solutions to real-world problems.
- Graduate assistants have created a supportive and inclusive environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and taking risks.
The Digital Corps is grateful for the dedication and hard work of its graduate assistants. They are an essential part of the team, and they play a vital role in ensuring the success of the program.
Meetings at the Corps
Here at the Corps, we have a lot (repeat: a lot) of different kinds of meetings: soft skills meetings, project meetings, agenda meetings, brainstorming meetings, check-in meetings, team meetings, project update meetings, All-Corps meetings, and so on, forever. Not to worry though, you’ll be prepared for all of them.
Project Meetings
The most common and frequent meetings at the Corps are thirty-minute project meetings. These are weekly meetings with the team of a specific project. This is a time for the team to discuss the progress of the projects, which includes checking-in on the progress of ongoing assignments, assigning new assignments, showing off progress and getting feedback on deliverables, discussion and/or brainstorming, and getting information from the clients or the Director.
Project meetings are usually led by the assigned PM Team member, but are occasionally run by staff members, usually on highly technical projects, or for special initiatives.
Team Meetings
Teams at the Corps come together (typically every other week, depending on other Corps meetings and breaks) to participate in one-hour long Team Meetings. These skill development sessions are team-specific and can cover a wide variety of topics: equipment use, technical knowledge, portfolio building, industry topics, and more!
Team Leads usually lead these meetings, so as a GA, you’ll have the opportunity to strategize ideas, and practice presentation skills. Sometimes, Masters lead a session, or you can prompt the team members to present on a topic of their choice. The focus is on camaraderie and team building. As a GA, leading a team meeting is a great opportunity to establish yourself as a leader within your respective team and build rapport with the students.
Soft Skills Meetings
Each week, every student (including GAs) participates in a mandatory Soft Skills session. These sessions are led by Corps staff or guest speakers and cover things that aren’t typically taught in the classroom or workplace. These topics can range from discussions on retirement planning and negotiating pay to planning a road trip or changing a tire. The sessions are 45 minutes long and typically include 15 minutes of on-the-clock “homework” for the students to complete ahead of their scheduled Soft Skills time.
All-Corps Meetings
Once a month, all Corps employees attend All Corps meetings in AJ 175 (a large lecture room in the Atrium). These meetings provide a rare opportunity for the entire Corps to be in one place at the same time. These are used to catch up on what projects the different teams are working on, give Corps-wide updates, hear a presentation from the Masters, and more. In the spring semester, two of these sessions are replaced by Portfolio Day and the Etiquette Dinner.
At the beginning of the spring semester, the GAs present information on sexual harassment at All Corps. This presentation talks about important resources for sexual assault survivors, and how to prevent sexual assault in the workplace. Remember the three Ds of bystander intervention: Direct, Distract, Delegate. You can reference the Center for Survivor Support for more details.
Portfolio Day
Portfolio Day is a day for students (including GAs) to showcase their work and learn how to talk about their time at Ball State and the Corps. Graduating students give 10-minute presentations about their work and time at the University and all other students participate in a science fair style event showcasing their résumés, portfolios, and any hard samples of their work. Additionally, Corps alumni are invited to Portfolio Day to talk about their experiences in the workforce after graduation. In the weeks before Portfolio Day, students update their résumés and portfolios and get feedback from the staff and their peers.
Etiquette Dinner
The Etiquette Dinner is an evening event where Corps students and staff learn fine dining etiquette via a presentation by the BSU Career Center while enjoying a catered meal. It’s kind of our “goodbye” event at the end of the school year.
Projects at the Corps
How Projects Work
We work on a variety of projects for the University, specific departments and classes at the University, Ball State PBS, and occasionally local Muncie organizations with university connections, like the Muncie Afghan Refugee Resettlement Committee. Almost all the actual work on project deliverables is completed by students while staff provide valuable guidance and feedback. GAs walk the line between student work and staff leadership, so be prepared to take initiative on projects and handle some higher-priority work. As a GA, you may have to provide feedback on student work, so remember to leave thorough, respectful reviews, and try to explain your thought process to help students learn.
GA Expectations
- Be patient – There’s a lot to learn about Corps projects and our work process.
- Be proactive – Take initiative on project tasks and help other students.
- Be prepared – We often ask our GAs to do complex things that they may have never done before.
- Have restraint – GAs should guide students but encourage them to develop their own vision.
- Complete your reviews – Getting feedback in a timely manner is extremely important; every student’s class and work schedule is different, so a one-day delay in a review might mean progress is halted for several days.
PMs/JPMs
While Project Management Team students do much of the project management at the Corps, others also play a role in the project management process. PMs, JPMs, and staff all play important individualized roles on projects.
After completing an extra period of training, students from any team can become Junior Project Managers (JPMs). This training focuses on helping them gain valuable leadership, organization, and management skills. We highly encourage all GAs to go through JPM training to not only better understand the role of a JPM, but also to develop the skills necessary to manage and lead your team.
JPMs assist PMs on projects by updating ClickUp, checking in with team members, monitoring progress on assignments, and leading meetings. They usually put on projects that match their specialties. For example, a Video Team JPM will usually be put on a video project, a UX or Dev Team JPM will usually be put on a development project, and so on. This isn’t always the case, depending on JPM and project availability, but it is often helpful to have a JPM’s expertise because they typically know more about specific production processes than PMs. As a GA, you may be asked to go through JPM training and assume the JPM role on several projects during your time at the Corps.
PMs work very closely with JPMs to keep projects rolling smoothly. The dynamic is different between every PM and JPM pair, but these are some common task splits:
- Create timelines together
- Create agendas together
- Switch off on leading meetings and checking in with team members
- One takes notes while the other leads meetings
- Monitoring and updating ClickUp
PMs do the majority of project management on projects, with input from staff. They are in charge of the following tasks:
- Run project meetings
- Plan project timelines, create, maintain, and update documentation
- Distribute assignments, set due dates
- Manage their project teams, workloads, and skills
Typical Clients and Recurring Projects
At the Corps, we often do multiple projects for the same clients. Here are some examples of our recurring projects.
The Loading Zone
Client: Ball State PBS
A series of one-minute interstitials that air on PBS to teach children about various STEM topics. Visit Ball State Public Media’s YouTube page to see some examples of completed episodes.
IT Tech Guides
Client: Office of Information Technology
Downloadable PDF guides give Ball State faculty, staff, and students a short introduction to the main features of various applications and technology on campus. Visit the IT Tech Guides website for more information or to download the guides.
Student Journey Map
Client: Provost’s Office / Student Success Executive Committee
An ongoing research project documenting the student journey from admission to graduation at Ball State. A lot of various research projects for the Corps fall under the Student Journey Map umbrella, but the objective of this project is to create an interactive display of each step a student takes to have a successful college career at Ball State and identify any problems that students may face while at the University.
Lifetime Learning
Client: Department of Lifetime Learning
A University-wide initiative to provide non-credit courses and credentials to working professionals not enrolled at Ball State. The Digital Corps is heavily involved in shooting, animating, and designing assets and web pages for these courses. Visit the Lifetime Learning website to learn more.
Video Projects
Clients: Frequently the Business and Architecture Colleges
We are commonly asked to create a variety of video projects by various departments at the University. These include interviews and short documentary style videos to highlight initiatives, programs, and projects. This video for the Tech Academy Canvas course is a great example.
SlashReviews
To keep the quality of deliverables up to the standards of the Digital Corps, all deliverables—scripts, videos, designs, websites, QA tests, etc.—go through a review process initiated in Slack.
The typical review process for this is:
JPM » PM » Team Staff » PM Staff » Director.
The Anatomy of a SlashReview
Visit this Reference Guide article to learn how students submit work for review and how to leave feedback on a review.
SlashReviews can be found in the “Apps” section of Slack after you receive or submit a review. In SlashReviews, there are two main pages to visit. The “Home” page shows a condensed list of all your current reviews, and the “Messages” page shows the history of all your reviews, as well as messages from people who have forwarded reviews to you.
A: Title of the Review – This describes very simply what the review is. Usually, this will also have a version number.
B: Description of the review – This will have any extra notes: things that have been changed after feedback, what exactly the person would like reviewed, a description of the deliverable, etc.
C: Project/Channel – This shows what project the review is for and the channel it lives in. Clicking on this will take you directly to that project channel.
D: Submitted By – This shows who submitted the review.
E: Link for Review – This link will take you to where the deliverable lives. This will usually be a OneDrive link, but could also be a link to a Reference Guides article, a website we are building, etc.
F: Review Actions – These buttons will allow you to leave feedback or forward a review to another person.
- Complete – This action is for the last person in the review chain. It will signify that the review is complete, and the next stage of the project can begin.
- Forward – This action will allow you to send the review to the next person in the review chain. You will be prompted to choose who to send the review to after clicking this button.
- Request Changes – This action will allow you to leave feedback on the review.
- Decline – This action will decline the review. Useful if the review is not meant for you or if someone accidentally sent the same review in twice.
G: Note from previous reviewer – This is where you will see any notes from the previous reviewer. This is only visible in the “Messages” page.
Quick Tip!
Check out a visual representation of the SlashReviews process in flowchart form.
Culture at the Corps
The Corps is a fun, productive, and fast-paced environment full of diverse personalities. We pride ourselves on having an engaging office culture, from marking project success with our “celebration bell” to interacting in fun Slack channels like #social-shenanigans and #quotable-corps.
As a GA, you’re likely closer in age to the undergraduate students than most of the staff, so you may need to be a liaison between them. You’re both a student and a leader in the office, so students may be more open with you than staff, and staff may be more candid with you than other students.
Quick Tip!
Want to learn some names and faces? Play the Ultimate Info Sheet Game and see if you can beat Expert Mode and Staff Mode! GAs should know everyone on their team, and maybe most of the other students in the office too.
In Case of Emergency
The following information will help you adhere to university emergency guidelines and prepare for possible emergency events.
When in doubt, communicate. If something major is wrong that you don’t know how to fix, contact the Executive Director or Assistant Director. Every staff member’s phone number is on the Ultimate Info Sheet. Don’t rely on Slack to be seen in a timely manner.
Campus Emergency Protocol
Ball State has various protocols in place to deal with various types of emergency situations such as natural disasters, active shooters, among other things. This document contains the Guidelines for Emergency Situations on Campus developed by the Ball State Crisis Management team, emergency response, law enforcement, and medical agencies in Delaware County to ensure a coordinated response in the event of a crisis.
Student in Crisis
Occasionally, students struggle with problems, whether for work or life, and sometimes they will come to you for guidance. It can be intimidating or scary taking on this role, but as a GA, you may be required to help. Staff and other GAs will help you as well, so just remember to be empathetic and offer support.
GA in Crisis
Dealing with a grad assistantship on top of grad school can be tough. If you’re ever overloaded with work, unable to complete a task, don’t know how to handle a situation, or need help with a student, just ask a staff member to sit down for a meeting. And if you’re considering dropping out of grad school, they might be able to talk you down from the ledge too.
GA FAQs
Whoa—you actually made it to the end! We answered a lot of questions, but here’s a few bonus FAQs you might be wondering about.
Can I…
- Suggest new ideas? – 100%.
- Discuss things candidly with the staff? – Oh, please do. If you think something’s off, let’s work together to fix it.
- Call out someone for a problem? – Maybe not publicly, but a big part of being a mentor is sometimes having tough conversations with students that will help them grow. If something really bad happens, we have a “3 Strikes” policy that the staff will handle.
- Praise someone for good work? – Absolutely! It is even better if it involves doing so in front of their peers, but use discretion based on the individual student’s personality. Really big announcements can go on the office TV boards!
- Order minor equipment or office supplies? – Yep. Talk to the Director.
- Just schedule a meeting with students whenever? – Absolutely. If they’re free in their Outlook calendar, it’s a fair game. We try to stay within the office hours of 8 a.m.-5p.m., though.
Congratulations on getting hired, and more importantly, reading this whole document! We look forward to working together as you help make the Digital Corps the best it can be.
