A Great Option for Spring: Build your Digital Skills and Learn How to be a Consultant

Digital storytelling skills and websites for projects and professional portfolios are quickly becoming staple requirements for students across the disciplines at JMU.  This Spring, WRTC is offering a course that will not only teach you these skills, but will also teach you how to teach these skills (and more) to others. “Digital Communication Consulting” (WRTC 359) is an elective that will train you to create compelling portfolios and digital stories, effectively consult with students and faculty on digital projects, and to craft effective workshops and presentations to teach students new digital skills.

“Digital Communication Consulting” also offers the enticing possibility of getting paid to do that work. All students who successfully complete the course are invited to interview to join the DigiComm team.  If accepted, you’ll get hired to a paid position to support digital communication across campus.

Successful Digicomm tutors are students who love helping others, who can get lost for hours working on a website or a design project, and who love collaborating with motivated teammates.  If you are accepted to be a Digicomm tutor after the class ends, you will join a creative and energetic team of ten tutors who year after year have made a big impact on campus. This past year, Digicomm consultants helped 3,225 students!

As a tutor, you will get the opportunity to give presentations across campus to help students create professional portfolios for the job market, and consult with students one-on-one on any digital project. You will also you get the opportunity to partner with faculty piloting new digital projects to help their students be successful.

Professor Paige Normand, who teaches the course and runs the Digicomm team, outlines the benefits of this sweet gig: “In addition to helping faculty and students across campus on digital projects, we also create online resources, present at international conferences, and gain experience that will land you a great job after graduation.”

Because there’s the possibility of working as a tutor with Digicomm after the class, the course is primarily aimed at sophomores and juniors who have a major or minor in WRTC, SCOM, or SMAD.  As Professor Normand explains, “we think each of these majors have valuable expertise in digital communication, and the class is the nexus of these different perspectives.”

Clearly, this is a major opportunity for WRTC students who want to build their digital, teaching, and consultancy skills. If you are interested in applying, there are two interviews phases to be accepted into the class. The first one is a one-on-one interview with a member of the DigiComm team, *which needs to be completed by Nov. 1*. The second phase is a group interview where you’ll team up with other applicants to create a digital project. You can learn more and schedule your interview at here.

To prepare for the initial interview, you should  bring a resumé and a work sample that illustrates their aptitude at digital communication. However, Professor Normand advises that “the first interview is really just a conversation about your interests and passions. Don’t feel like you need to come in with a lot of skills: we’re looking for ambitious, creative students who love helping others!”

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact Professor Paige Normand at normanap@jmu.edu.