Chelsea's Internship Story

WRTC
 
Chelsea Mann

Portait of Chelsea Mann

During March 2014, I was hired as a Learning Technology Consultant for the Center for Instructional Technology (CIT) in Carrier Library. My main duties included managing the walk-in space in our office and keeping it tidy, answering the main phone line for CIT, and helping faculty that walked in and needed assistance with various technologies. I was also given various projects to work on. Most of the projects my supervisor assigned me related to what I “specialized” in - writing and editing, and that was in large part to the fact that I was the only student employee in CIT that was a WRTC major.

After working at CIT last summer, I realized that it would be the perfect place for me to complete my WRTC internship in the fall. I knew that I would be able to gain experience writing and editing documents for CIT that would be published for the university to see. I wanted to contribute my writing and editing skills to something that had larger audience than just my professor and classmates. My goal was to write something for CIT that the organization needed and a document with a true purpose.

I talked with my supervisor about it and she was totally on board. We agreed that I would stay in my position and complete my duties as a Learning Technology Consultant (LTC), but she assigned me the large task of rewriting our LTC handbook as my internship project. My supervisor knew that this would be a huge project that would take a lot of time because I was basically starting from scratch with the handbook. The Learning Technology Consultant position had changed significantly since the previous handbook was written and it was in desperate need of being updated. Rewriting the handbook was a perfect internship assignment for me because I, as a WRTC major, obviously love writing. Also, as a student employee that had worked in CIT for about six months, I was very familiar with the position, which allowed me to be able to write the most updated information about the position both efficiently and correctly.

From Internship to Employment

During September 2013, while I was completing my internship at CIT, my supervisor received a promotion within CIT. Shortly after she received her promotion, I was offered her job! I am now the Learning Technology Support Coordinator (LTSC) in CIT Carrier and I supervise the LTC student employees. Iwas able to finish out my internship for the semester by completing the LTC Handbook in my new position. I created the handbook within the university's new learning management system, Canvas, and it works as a “course” where new hires are enrolled and then move through the modules. These modules teach them about CIT and the processes they will have to go through to complete their job duties. The handbook within Canvas serves as a “living document,” meaning that I update it regularly. Each semester when I hire new Learning Technology Consultants, they are enrolled in the LTC Handbook course and complete the modules during their first week of work at CIT. After that, they are always able to easily refer back to the processes and information within the handbook because it is easily accessible online and broken down into clear, concise modules.

I’ve been extremely blessed with all of the opportunities that CIT has given me. I’ve been promoted from a Learning Technology Consultant student employee, to an intern, and then to my current position as the LTSC. I’ve recently been offered a graduate assistantship position in CIT for next two years where I will be able to stay in my current position and attend graduate school at JMU for free! I don’t believe that any of this would have been possible without the skills that I’ve learned in my WRTC courses. I was originally hired at CIT because I was able to bring something new to the table as a writer and it has certainly paid off! 

If you're interested in doing an internship, contact Ms. Cindy Allen.

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Published: Monday, September 1, 2014

Last Updated: Thursday, November 2, 2023

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