As my internship comes to a close, there are a few points I’d like to discuss. First, the challenges. This internship experience was one of my first experiences creating content for professional expectation. Throughout my time in undergrad as a communication student, I have been creating and curating content for a grade. This differs from professional expectation. The content and videos I have created are out there and on the internet forever, as tools for not only Longwood students but college students across the nation. This adds a certain amount pressure that I did not experience in the classroom. My name, credibility and skills are in the hands of an audience I will most likely never meet. So the challenge of creating videos has gone from a learning process, to real world application. Combining the theories and technical skills I’ve learned to create educational content. Apart from the content itself, a skill that I previously underestimated was time management. Personally I believe this skill is what differentiates a great employee from a mediocre one. I have not mastered the skill of time management but I have gotten a better grasp of it. This was a huge challenge for me, learning what methods work best for me and how to create a timeline and stick to it. The other main challenge for me was mastering the technology I was teaching. Some of the topics I discussed I already understood, but many of them I did not and learned for the first time. This was sometimes frustrating because if I did not understand the object I was teaching then I could not teach it to it’s full potential. Often times I had to do hours of research before I truly understood the entire subject.
The next topic I want to discuss are the skills I’ve learned and how this internship has effected my career search. One skill I’ve become more comfortable with is the video capture and editing. This was the base skill of the entire internship. The theoretical aspects make the videos better, but If I cannot make the videos then it doesn’t really matter. So becoming more comfortable with editing softwares was something I wanted to get out of this internship and I believe I am more well-versed with the editing technology than when I first started. Another skill I’ve developed throughout my internship is understanding my role as an instructor and full-filling that role. Much of what I’ve come to learn about instructional videos, came from my online classes. I often found myself rewatching online lectures to better understand the process. I believe in the end I have come to understand the importance of the instructional tone and planning the tutorials. As for my future career endeavors, this internship has taught me that there are always going to be people who need help. There will always be a market and audience for niche tutorial videos. I had to do my own research and sometimes that meant watching other tutorial videos on Youtube with millions of views. People are making legitimate money doing the same thing I did this semester.
Overall I believe I achieved most of the goals I set for this internship. One of my main goals was creating a tutorial people are actually going to use. Around week five, I created a tutorial video on the graduate writing center. Many graduate students are older and did not see the digital integration that has taken place since they graduated, so they have a harder time grasping these digital academic tools. Longwood took this video and posted it on their website because so many student were having troubles. This gave me a sense a fulfillment, because one of my videos was actually being used. Another goal of mine was to become better at managing my time. Although I have not mastered this skill to it’s entirety, I believe I have a better understanding of professional time management and it’s importance.
Finally, my internship supervisor was a great mentor to me. She believed in my capabilities and taught me how to be a better educator. She was behind me the whole time, providing me with opportunities to showcase my work. She is sharing all my work with her faculty peers as well as putting my videos on her youtube channel. She was uplifting and catered to my needs but at the same time made sure I was on track. She was also a good role model, she works hard and loves the students she teaches. Seeing that love for education made it easier to do the work I was tasked with. I would definitely recommend that more communication students ask to work with her and she’s already looking for another intern next semester.
Some examples of my work:
Video Title: How to embed a presentation
For this video I used the quicktime screen capture method to record how to embed and presentation into a canvas discussion. In the video I point out the steps as well as the importance and benefits of presentations. I had to plan out and write what I said before I started recording.
Video Title: How to Find Scholarly Article In the Greenwood Library Website
In this video I used the screen capture method to detail how to find a scholarly article from the library’s website. Similar to my other videos this took time to plan out and I had to restart it frequently cause it contains a fair amount of content. In addition to the steps I talk about what makes an article scholarly and when it’s appropriate to use for research papers. I also included how to use the quick “cite” icon that shows you all the different citations.
Video Title: Peer Review With a Rubric
Like my other videos I used the screen capture method and planning to create it. I detail the steps but also the importance of peer review and how it can help students preform better. This was an assignment specific tutorial so most of the content was laid out, I just had to put it all together and make it concise and easy to understand.
Video Title: Canvas Collaboration:
For this video I detailed the collaborations tool on canvas using the screen capture method. This was one tool I was not familiar with and had to teach myself. I outlined the steps and uses showing how this tool is beneficial to students and faculty.
If you click the attached link it will take you to my Fall showcase presentation. I created a poster highlighting my internship and then attended a showcase and talked about it with peers. For this I used powerpoint and added QR codes so people could watch example videos during my presentation.
