Fall 2013 was my first semester as a CUPID Associate, and I learned a lot of things along the way. Prior to becoming an Associate, I had never had much experience with helping to run an academic blog, only blogs in which I would write to reflect on assignments for class and personal blogs about things that I was interested in. Luckily, I was able to work alongside Hillary Dooley and Immanuel Bryant, two fellow classmates of mine who I have gotten to know well over this semester, both in classes and as Associates.
Not only has my time as an Associate helped me to capitalize on my collaboration skills, but the independent nature of the class allowed me to create my own schedule as far as putting up content and picking what section of work that I wanted to specialize in, i.e. videos, workshops, marketing/PR etc. I was able to strengthen my ability to organize and structure my schedule and also write content that served to inform students, enabling me to include something relevant into my resume. It offered me a lot of control, more than I am used to in a class, and I was grateful to have that experience.
As I mentioned, this was my first time as an Associate, so I did not have any previous experiences to glean from as far as any best practices to implement, and of course the nature of the course is independent yet collaborative, so it was up to me to initiate my work on my own and strategize along with Hillary and Immanuel on what schedule we should follow as far as posts and things to do as a group. In the beginning, it took me a while to get used to uploading content onto the blog. I was under the impression that everything that I posted had to be from a credible article and had to be useful. An Associates meeting with RPR later informed me that we could write posts on articles, but also more informal things such as interesting bits that we read in the news or cool experiences that we have had that may help readers in some way. After hearing this, I was able to put up content at a more acceptable pace, not focusing so much on synthesizing what I was writing about, but how it could help majors.
Aside from posts, my individual task for the semester was creating video content for the blog that would bring more traffic into the studio and also inform majors on different resources such as Digication and LinkIn. For my first video, after brainstorming, and help from the input of RPR, Immanuel and Hillary, I was able to create the outline for a video that would ask the question, “Why should students stop by the CUPID studio?” The purpose for the video was to outline the benefits associated with visiting the studio. Already several weeks in as an Associate, I couldn’t help but notice that not many students were taking advantage of open hours to come and work or get help for their projects, so I though that this would be the first video that I would create to hopefully bring traffic into the studio. Editing for this video was rough, given my non-experience with video content, but using iMovie, I was able to put together a brief and professional product.
The video includes myself, Hillary, and Immanuel answering the question of why it is useful to visit the site. I chose to include some footage of the studio itself along with an outside view of Alamance. Each of us touch on a different reason to come work in 318, from being able to get a different perspective on your work, to using the resources available in the lab. Filming for the video was fun and allowed us to experience some of the fun aspects of being an Associate, working together and being able to laugh and realize that it is okay to not know how to do something well.
The next video that I created was catered after the workshop that Immanuel produced for Digication that went over creating effective e-portfolios. No one attended our workshop unfortunately, but we felt that the material that we were going to cover should be uploaded in video format, so that students could get a sense of what the workshop would have been like. I got the idea to make a narrative style video of me walking through my own portfolio, emphasizing what works and what doesn’t, giving viewers tips of what to include in theirs along the way. I felt that it would be important for viewers to hear me, a fellow student, talking to them and admitting that my own portfolio does need work.
I was able to fashion a video using SnagIt, a screen recording video software, to create the video. I also consulted with Immanuel on what tips I should include, since he was responsible for coming up with the workshops. This round of video editing was very simple, since I just had to record my computer screen and speak into a microphone, the software did the rest of the work and uploaded the completed product to YouTube. I felt more confident going into making this video after my spat with the first one. It turned out very well and I was pleased with the results and feedback from my peers. I also created a video on LinkedIn that  highlighted the workshop content and is on the blog for students to check out.
This semester has been a learning experience more than anything else. I was placed in an arena that I was not familiar with and had some initial hesitation about it. Over the course of my time as an Associate, I have learned to not over think the content that I upload, which usually leads to better blog posts anyway. I also created videos, which is something that I am very proud of and those products will be featured in my senior portfolio. It is interesting to think that I did not choose videos, when Hillary, Immanuel and I were deciding what aspects of the blog we would specialize in (workshops, PR, video content), as the other two parts had been chosen already. However, looking back I would not have chosen any of the others, given the opportunity. This provided me with the fear of trying something new and not knowing how I would perform in that arena, and I surprised myself greatly.
Overall, being an Associate has given me the opportunity to write in a different format (sharpening my skills), collaborate and help run a blog with fellow classmates, learn to create helpful video content, gain experience with running a workshop and be a source for other students seeking help with projects. For these reasons, I am happy that I took on the challenge and will refer back to my time as an Associate to help me with projects I encounter in the future. I would certainly advise new Associates to not be afraid of taking charge when it comes to projects that they have no experience with. You will always be surprised by your ability to step up and conquer them. 🙂
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