This repository is the central faculty-and-staff support resource for Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) personnel who support students and faculty in IT 140 - Introduction to Scripting.
The repository is public so faculty and staff can reach it easily, but its guidance is written for SNHU faculty and staff (F&S) rather than for students. Student-facing directions should remain in D2L Brightspace, the student-facing IT 140 repositories and wikis, and official Academic Support resources.
The repository provides guidance for:
- Faculty
- Academic Support
- Learning Support Specialists (LSS)
- Academic Advisors
- IT Service Desk personnel
Important
Start with the guide for your role or support area. You are not expected to read the shared documentation first.
Role- and support-area guides link directly to the course information needed to complete each support task.
This repository follows one central documentation rule:
Shared facts are documented once. Role-specific responsibilities and procedures live under the role's directory.
Shared documentation provides canonical information about the course, supported environments, course glossary, GitHub workflow, support boundaries, and escalation model.
The Academic Support Guide is the canonical F&S-facing overview of Academic Support options that may help IT 140 students. Detailed LSS operational guidance remains in the existing lss/ directory.
Role- and support-area documentation:
- explains what the faculty or staff member should do;
- links directly to the relevant shared information at the point it is needed;
- avoids requiring supporters to discover or read the
shared/directory before beginning; - avoids duplicating shared facts that could become inconsistent over time; and
- links to the canonical Academic Support overview rather than maintaining separate lists of services wherever practical.
| Role or Support Area | Start Here | Primary Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Faculty | Faculty Support Guide | Teaching, student support, course workflow, assignment support, and escalation |
| Academic Support | Academic Support for IT 140 | Selecting among tutoring, LSS workshops/office hours, coaching, written feedback, and English-language support |
| Learning Support Specialists (LSS) | LSS Support Guide | IT 140-focused learning support, workshops, office hours, course tools, resource development, and escalation |
| Academic Advisors | Advisor Support Guide | Course expectations, preparation and planning, common student concerns, technology context, and referrals |
| IT Service Desk | Service Desk Triage and Escalation Runbook | Technical triage, diagnostics, safe remediation, evidence collection, and escalation |
This repository supports the IT 140 course environment and F&S support workflows. It is not the authoritative source for graded activity requirements and is not intended to replace student-facing course or Academic Support instructions.
For graded assignments and projects:
- D2L Brightspace remains the authoritative source for activity requirements, submissions, grading, deadlines, and instructor feedback.
- Student-facing GitHub repositories provide course tooling, templates, instructions, and supporting resources.
- Academic Support's official student-facing systems provide current service access and scheduling.
- Support personnel should not provide or publish complete solutions to graded assignments.
| Purpose | Repository |
|---|---|
| Main course hub and course IDE automation | GC-STEM/it140 |
| Module One setup tasks | GC-STEM/it140-m1-setup-tasks |
| Module Two assignment | GC-STEM/it140-m2-assignment |
| Module Three assignment | GC-STEM/it140-m3-assignment |
| Module Four assignment | GC-STEM/it140-m4-assignment |
| Projects One and Two and Module Six Milestone | GC-STEM/it140-projects |
it140-support/
├── README.md
├── .github/
│ ├── CHANGELOG.md
│ └── images/
├── shared/
│ ├── README.md
│ ├── course-overview.md
│ ├── course-repository-architecture.md
│ ├── glossary.md
│ ├── terminology.md
│ ├── supported-environments.md
│ ├── github-workflow.md
│ ├── support-boundaries.md
│ └── escalation-model.md
├── academic-support/
│ ├── README.md
│ ├── tutoring.md
│ └── coaching.md
├── faculty/
│ ├── README.md
│ ├── start-of-term.md
│ ├── setup-and-familiarization.md
│ ├── supporting-students.md
│ ├── assignments-and-grading.md
│ ├── github-and-repositories.md
│ ├── technical-issues-and-escalation.md
│ └── common-scenarios.md
├── lss/
│ ├── README.md
│ ├── orientation-and-familiarization.md
│ ├── workshops-and-office-hours.md
│ ├── learning-support-and-integrity.md
│ ├── github-and-course-tools.md
│ ├── resource-development.md
│ ├── referrals-and-escalation.md
│ └── common-scenarios.md
├── advisors/
│ ├── README.md
│ ├── course-expectations.md
│ ├── course-planning-and-preparation.md
│ ├── technology-context.md
│ ├── student-concerns.md
│ ├── referrals-and-routing.md
│ └── common-scenarios.md
└── service-desk/
├── README.md
├── triage.md
├── environment-troubleshooting.md
├── github-repository-troubleshooting.md
├── verification-and-logs.md
├── safe-remediation.md
└── escalation.md
Role- and support-area sections intentionally differ in size. A Service Desk runbook requires more technical procedures than an advisor guide; Academic Coaching needs different course context than an LSS workshop guide. The repository does not force artificial symmetry across roles or services.
The shared/ directory contains information that applies to more than one support role.
| Shared Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Shared Documentation Index | Index of canonical shared information |
| Course Overview | Course purpose, instructional context, workload context, and major technologies |
| Course Repository Architecture | Purpose and relationship of the IT 140 GitHub repositories |
| Course Glossary | Canonical glossary for abbreviations and technical terms used across the IT 140 repository ecosystem |
| Supported Environments | Supported course IDE environments and platform expectations |
| GitHub Workflow | Common GitHub and repository workflow used in IT 140 |
| Support Boundaries | Distinguishes technical support, learning support, academic-skills support, instructional responsibilities, and advising |
| Escalation Model | Common escalation principles and evidence expectations |
Note
These pages are reference sources, not prerequisites. Role-specific documents should link to the exact shared page needed for a procedure.
Support guidance in this repository should follow these principles:
- Start from the supporter's role or service. Do not require F&S personnel to learn the repository structure before they can help someone.
- Use the supported course workflow. Avoid generic troubleshooting steps that could move a student farther from the expected IT 140 environment.
- Preserve support boundaries. Technical troubleshooting, programming learning support, academic coaching, advising, and grading responsibilities are related but not interchangeable.
- Collect evidence before escalation. Escalations should contain enough information for the next support level to continue without restarting the investigation.
- Prefer links over duplication. When a fact or service description is shared across roles, link to the canonical page.
- Keep instructions current. Update the canonical source when the course environment or workflow changes.
- Protect student privacy and academic integrity. Do not place sensitive information or complete graded-assignment solutions in public GitHub content.
- Keep student-facing instructions in student-facing channels. This public support repository may be visible to students, but it should speak to the F&S personnel who support them.
Screenshots and other support images should be stored in:
.github/images/
Hidden screenshot placeholders may be retained where a future sanitized screenshot would materially improve a procedure. The surrounding text should remain usable without the image, so a placeholder is a maintenance cue rather than a publication blocker.
Example:
<!-- screenshot placeholder; show the IT 140 verification summary with the status and exit code visible -->Do not add screenshots merely for decoration. Screenshots should clarify navigation, expected output, a decision point, or information that a supporter must identify.
Because the IT 140 course environment and support procedures may change rapidly, this repository is intended to be maintained through normal GitHub version-control practices.
When updating documentation:
- change the canonical shared page when a shared fact changes;
- change the Academic Support overview when an Academic Support service description or routing recommendation changes;
- review role-specific pages that link to changed information;
- avoid copying revised facts or service lists into multiple role guides;
- update procedures when the supported course workflow changes;
- use pull requests for review when practical; and
- record material documentation changes in CHANGELOG.md.
Do not post any of the following in public GitHub areas:
- passwords;
- authentication or multi-factor authentication codes;
- GitHub personal access tokens or other access tokens;
- private identifying information;
- confidential SNHU operational information;
- student submissions containing protected information; or
- complete solutions to graded IT 140 assignments or projects.
Internal escalation routing, restricted administrative procedures, student-specific information, or security-sensitive information should remain in the appropriate SNHU internal system.
The core support architecture includes:
- shared canonical support documentation;
- IT Service Desk triage and escalation runbook;
- faculty support guide;
- LSS support guide;
- Academic Advisor support guide; and
- Academic Support service-selection guidance, including IT 140-specific references for 24/7 Drop-In Tutoring and Academic Coaching.
Ongoing maintenance should focus on:
- validating Academic Support descriptions and links against current official Academic Support resources;
- adding sanitized screenshots only where they materially improve a support procedure;
- keeping restricted routing, queue, contact, and workflow details in the appropriate SNHU internal systems rather than this public repository; and
- updating canonical course facts and linked role procedures as the IT 140 environment evolves.
- Course: IT 140 - Introduction to Scripting
- Repository Name: IT 140 Support
- Primary Audience: SNHU faculty and staff who support IT 140, including faculty, Academic Support personnel, LSS, academic advisors, and IT Service Desk personnel
- Repository Purpose: Provide canonical shared course-support information and role-/service-specific support procedures for IT 140
- Development Status: Operational Documentation / Ongoing Maintenance