TechShop, an interdisciplinary course at the University of Wisconsin that provides students the opportunity to work with nonprofit organizations to meet their technological needs, will not continue after this spring semester due to lack of funding.
The course, which focuses on integrating a social networking presence for nonprofit organizations, pairs a UW student with an organization to assess, research and implement effective ways to meet their technological needs.
After three years, the grant and supplementary funds supporting the course will end this spring, said Katherine Loving, civic engagement coordinator for University Health Services and TechShop coordinator.
Although the course provides high-quality projects at low cost, university departments are reluctant to support such a course because it is interdisciplinary and does not necessarily meet the needs of the students in their department, Loving said.
“A good program is going to die because it has no university support,” said Randy Stoecker, a professor in the community and environmental sociology department and TechShop coordinator.
To sustain the program, TechShop would require funds to support a part-time graduate student, Stoecker said.
Without the funds, the program’s ability to acquire technical expertise and training from their partner DANEnet, an organization in Madison that provides technical support for nonprofit organizations, would be questionable, Stoecker added.
Despite funding concerns, the course has been valuable to nonprofit organizations.
“Nonprofits are generally very pleased with what students do,” said Eric Howland, executive director of DANEnet. “Social networking is not their greatest need, but students help nonprofits … understand the field of social networking.”
Students who are knowledgeable about social media are valuable consultants as more and more nonprofit organizations are interested in reaching out to volunteers and constituents to get the word out about issues, Howland said.
For students, TechShop is a semester-long course taken as either a one credit independent study or service learning credit.
Through approximately 20 hours of training and 20 hours of consultations, Sylvia Fredericks, a graduate student from the La Follette School of Public Affairs, helped synchronize the nonprofit Urban League of Greater Madison’s social networking updates and developed an online electronic volunteering form for the organization’s website.
Social networking helps keep the organization connected with volunteers and because many of the volunteers are college students, they can keep them updated, Fredericks said.
This semester, TechShop had seven pairs of students and nonprofit organizations that all expressed positive outcomes and exceeded expectations, Loving said.
“[TechShop] resulted in very significant efficiencies for the organizations. [They] experienced significant business effects rather than just getting more people involved in the organization,” she said.
With no funds to continue, TechShop and the loss of the course’s positive effects on the community, Stoecker believes the university is not making positive community outreach a priority.
He said service learning has traditionally been regarded as an educational service for a student. TechShop, however, has been trying to switch that notion around to make sure the community achieves its goals.
