Hi! My name is Jere, I am a third-year undergraduate psychology student, and I worked as an intern with the University’s Postgraduate Research School. The focus of the internship was to make the PGR School’s online workshops more engaging for PhD students by using online learning tools.
I have been doing a little bit of independent research on studying and learning techniques, and I overall enjoy learning new skills, like learning languages and different instruments. Therefore, this particular internship caught my interest, as I am interested about the aspects involved in learning and I wanted to have the opportunity to make the learning experience for PhD students more meaningful.
What I did
The aim of the internship was to introduce more engagement into online workshops by using different online tools, which instructors could also use despite their inexperience with computer software. We decided to focus on three online tools which proved to be simple to use, had great free-trial possibilities, and which could be used for multiple different things. These included Padlet, Google Docs, and ClassPoint.
We then decided to hold student interviews to get a clearer picture of problems around engagement in online workshops. Alongside with that, we attended other online workshops and observed how online tools were used in them, and how the workshops managed to engage students with the material.
After testing how ClassPoint, Padlet and Google Docs could be used in the workshops, we did some research about learning techniques which could be used alongside the online tools to aid engagement and learning. The three selected tools were integrated into three pilot workshops and feedback was collected afterwards from students. The online tools as well as the workshops in general received a lot of positive comments and great suggestions for the future. The information on the tools was conveyed into a leaflet which instructors could use to introduce engagement into other future online workshops. I also presented the main findings of the internship in an online meeting for the University’s PGR School staff members.
What I learned
I got to learn new skills around note taking when doing interviews and observations. I developed my research skills by collecting and evaluating information about essential online tools and learning techniques. I also enhanced my data-analysis skills by analysing the online tools’ best-of-fit with a set of selection parameters assessing functionality and simplicity of the tools. At the end of the internship, I also wrote a report conveying everything we did, and critically evaluating the strengths and weaknesses around everything we did during the project where I got to practice my report writing skills.
Going forward, I would want to use all the information I learned about engagement in an educational environment throughout my career. As a psychology student, a career goal of mine is to become a clinical psychologist where I could aid students with learning difficulties. I am also incredibly grateful to my line manager who encouraged me to work harder, and who also helped me do better with my work. Overall, it was an amazing 10-weeks!
