Programme of Study and Year: 3rd year Astrophysics
Hobbies: Reading, music, karate
Intern Position: Digital Learning Intern
Describe your role in 4 words: interesting, challenging (at times), rewarding
I wanted to take the time to do a blog post on how my internship has been for the past year. I have worked full-time during the summer in the DLAM TEL team (Digital Learning Applications and Media, Technology Enhanced Learning – so many acronyms!), and part-time during the academic year.
I have done mostly Accessibility testing on various applications, including Turnitin, Moodle, Echo360, Collaborate and Ally, but also other tasks like caption verification or blog editing. I have had a lot to learn about all of the different software types and environments used within the University, and how important each piece of technology is.
Wrapping up my time in DLAM, I wanted to share once again how important the topic of Accessibility is, since it is what the vast majority of my work consisted of. Even though it seems that most of the regulations and adaptive software is concentrated on visual impairment (and too few regulations cover physical impairment – but this is a discussion for another time), it is certain that every little element that is made accessible on a page/application/platform makes a huge difference. Every colour combination, every button, every description and every message matters and can make the navigation better for users if accessibility is taken into consideration.
That being said, my work has been varied, and I never got a chance to get ‘bored’ as every thing I had to do was different from the previous one. I had the opportunity of working with a lot of different people, and I had a lot to learn from everyone I’ve met during my internship. The fact that the team has been welcoming and helpful made a great difference for me and my work – being relaxed and confident in my actions made me more productive, efficient and attentive to details
Make the most of Learning Technology!
I would like to end this blog post with a big ‘Thank you’ to the DLAM TEL team, and the wider Learning, Teaching and Web community for the continued support throughout the year.
I certainly recommend giving Learning Technology a chance, regardless of your degree – in the end, it is used by everyone at University, and it’s a very diverse field that will never make you bored.
And lastly, make the most of the resources available – there is a wide variety of them (books, software, databases, videos, courses, trainings), all available at a few clicks’ distance.
