Thus begins my 16 month internship as an Instructional Design and Technical Writer for the DigiTLE department in the Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta. I’m an intern through the Industrial Internship Program in the department of Psychology, and at first I didn’t really se how technical writing and Psychology were terribly related. Raj has made a convincing case though. It seems that there is a great deal of facilitation required between the average person and the technology that they either use, or wish to use, on a daily basis. Computer Science has all the personnel required to get the various bits of technology up and running, but someone is still required to (A) write a lot of documentation and online content to make the technology more easy to use in a classroom setting, and (B) make the people more comfortable using the technology in a way that will actually increase learning. From what I’ve gathered, these seem to be two of my major responsibilities as a Psychology student intern in what is chiefly an IT dominated realm. The other members of “DigiTLE” (Digital Teaching and Learning Enterprises) are responsible for developing data bases, flash applications, and content management systems that make everything I do meaningful to the Faculty of Science. We seem to be a tightly knit group who all rely on each others work to propel the style of learning and teaching that takes place at the University of Alberta deep into the 21st century.
I’ll be updating this blog fairly frequently with my comments, milestones, reflections, and ideas, so keep watching the skies. Now it looks like the table I’m working on may possibly be getting moved. I should go…
May 10, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Welcome to the blogosphere Wade, it looks like you are off to a great start.