Monday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
Today my boss Kim and I were brainstorming and the discussion fell to The Tree. Turns out, we think we can make it better, and since its only half-way complete, what better time to start renovating it than right now. This “renovation” kept me pretty bust for most of the day, but I was also able to find time to do some research on ideas for this summer.
I had some time in the morning to work on finalizing a new page for our Discover site. Just when I had finished and was about to hit “go live”, I mistakenly hit “delete”. It was awesome. Turns out our software doesn’t have a “refresh” or “undo” or “oh, crap” button, so I then I used the rest of my afternoon to rebuild the page I had just finished building. Nice work, huh?
Tuesday 8:30-4:30 (7.5)
First thing this morning my boss Kim reviewed the page I had finalized, deleted, and rebuilt and it went live. Exciting! Drawing on my 4-H experience of “learn to do by doing” my bosses and I have decided to create a “How-to” manual so that other new people don’t make the same mistakes I’ve made, and, if they do, we are going to troubleshoot their next steps to try and make their lives easier. I love being able to turn my “Oops!” into a new project. Makes it seem like less of a mistake!
In other new, The Tree is nearing completion. Or at least, the first draft is nearing completion, so stay tuned. Once this major project is complete I will be able to begin work on a new major project!
Wednesday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
The Tree was completed today! It’s a great feeling to complete an assignment, and for one as tedious and complex as The Tree it is even more so. After a brief “happy dance”, I spent the rest of the day sorting through our photo archives. During the lunch break, I attended the U of L’s 2nd Annual Student Speaker Challenge where two students debated the value of post-secondary education to the world. It was a very interesting lunch period, and I am going to try to attend the rest of the competition, as I feel it is a very relevant question to be asking current students.
Thursday 8:30-4:40 (7.5h)
Today I posted another Student Blog on the Discover website, which you can access here, or on the side of my blog site as I’ve decided to add it as a link. I also did some updating on the Discover site (nothing too major) and spent the day brainstorming with Kim. This Thursday was also my “Friday” as I will be taking (the real) Friday off to attend the Alberta 4-H Senior Members’ Conference. Wish me luck as I am spending the weekend with 100 teenagers!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Week 2: I'm still here!
Monday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
Today was an exciting day because I was able to sit down with both of my bosses and we created a formalized work plan. After that, I got to learn a little bit more about the structure of the University of Lethbridge. In the afternoon, I began work on my first major project, which we shall just call, The Tree.
In the afternoon, I attended a meeting with all the advisors and we talked a little bit about the experience they have with students when they visit high schools. Overall, it was a very productive first Monday, with no sign of a case of “The Mondays”… (Any Office Space fans out there??)
Tuesday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
My entire morning and afternoon was spent working on The Tree. I can’t go into too much detail, but what I can tell you is that it is coming along nicely. At first, it was a little daunting, but (despite the lack of sunlight and H2O) it is growing steadily.
Wednesday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
Today was my third time posting a blog, and let me tell you, I am getting good. While there were no pictures to add to this blog, I did something far more complex… (Ok, not really) I embedded a YouTube video!!! To be serious, when Kim first asked me to “embed” a video, I think I just stared, because while I have years of experience surfing the ‘net and checking emails, I have minimal experience doing anything remotely technical. Even just the sound of the word, “embed” tends to make my eyes glaze over. But, apparently I panicked too soon. Turns out YouTube make it super easy to embed video because they literally give you the HTML required to make the video work and make your page look professional. I can think of a million other processes and companies that the makers of YouTube should maybe take over because their product (YouTube) is incredibly user friendly.
I continued work on The Tree, because like all plants you must carefully tend to the roots in order for the tree part to grow. Virtual trees are no different. My boss Kim showed me her IABC monthly magazine, which is awesome. Needless to say I will be joining the association just as soon as I get my first paycheck, as it is a really professional group and the accreditation process is internationally renowned
Thursday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
Today was another day of The Tree, and it is growing mighty fast. I am an excellent virtual gardener, if I do say so myself. I also worked on some in-office editing, which is probably one of my favourite tasks in the world. Who doesn’t love having someone ask for your opinion? Even if it is “just” on their grammar and spelling, I take a lot of pride in providing my (incredibly valuable) two cents.
I also was privy to some of the inner workings of the Tour Guide-ing on campus. I was able to sit in on one of their meetings and I had the pleasure of meeting some of a few of the tour guides I’m really looking forward to the next couple weeks because (SOON!) I will be getting to tag along on some of the tours.
Friday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
I spent my glorious Friday posting an excellent humanitarian-based Student Blog on the crisis in Haiti and what students in Lethbridge can do to help support the cause.
I also had my first encounter with the dreaded office printer. You know, how in every television show on the planet, there is always a protagonist involved in some sort of vendetta with the office technology? Today was my day with the colour printer. Thankfully my battle was fairly straightforward: change ink cartridge. One of the Recruiters graciously joined me in battle and we had the printer defeated and working again in no time.
All in all, this was a very solid week. The Tree is coming along nicely, and I’m really enjoying being able to break up my tasks by working on a variety of projects all at the same time. I hope your week went as great as mine did, and here’s to a relaxing weekend!
Today was an exciting day because I was able to sit down with both of my bosses and we created a formalized work plan. After that, I got to learn a little bit more about the structure of the University of Lethbridge. In the afternoon, I began work on my first major project, which we shall just call, The Tree.
In the afternoon, I attended a meeting with all the advisors and we talked a little bit about the experience they have with students when they visit high schools. Overall, it was a very productive first Monday, with no sign of a case of “The Mondays”… (Any Office Space fans out there??)
Tuesday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
My entire morning and afternoon was spent working on The Tree. I can’t go into too much detail, but what I can tell you is that it is coming along nicely. At first, it was a little daunting, but (despite the lack of sunlight and H2O) it is growing steadily.
Wednesday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
Today was my third time posting a blog, and let me tell you, I am getting good. While there were no pictures to add to this blog, I did something far more complex… (Ok, not really) I embedded a YouTube video!!! To be serious, when Kim first asked me to “embed” a video, I think I just stared, because while I have years of experience surfing the ‘net and checking emails, I have minimal experience doing anything remotely technical. Even just the sound of the word, “embed” tends to make my eyes glaze over. But, apparently I panicked too soon. Turns out YouTube make it super easy to embed video because they literally give you the HTML required to make the video work and make your page look professional. I can think of a million other processes and companies that the makers of YouTube should maybe take over because their product (YouTube) is incredibly user friendly.
I continued work on The Tree, because like all plants you must carefully tend to the roots in order for the tree part to grow. Virtual trees are no different. My boss Kim showed me her IABC monthly magazine, which is awesome. Needless to say I will be joining the association just as soon as I get my first paycheck, as it is a really professional group and the accreditation process is internationally renowned
Thursday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
Today was another day of The Tree, and it is growing mighty fast. I am an excellent virtual gardener, if I do say so myself. I also worked on some in-office editing, which is probably one of my favourite tasks in the world. Who doesn’t love having someone ask for your opinion? Even if it is “just” on their grammar and spelling, I take a lot of pride in providing my (incredibly valuable) two cents.
I also was privy to some of the inner workings of the Tour Guide-ing on campus. I was able to sit in on one of their meetings and I had the pleasure of meeting some of a few of the tour guides I’m really looking forward to the next couple weeks because (SOON!) I will be getting to tag along on some of the tours.
Friday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
I spent my glorious Friday posting an excellent humanitarian-based Student Blog on the crisis in Haiti and what students in Lethbridge can do to help support the cause.
I also had my first encounter with the dreaded office printer. You know, how in every television show on the planet, there is always a protagonist involved in some sort of vendetta with the office technology? Today was my day with the colour printer. Thankfully my battle was fairly straightforward: change ink cartridge. One of the Recruiters graciously joined me in battle and we had the printer defeated and working again in no time.
All in all, this was a very solid week. The Tree is coming along nicely, and I’m really enjoying being able to break up my tasks by working on a variety of projects all at the same time. I hope your week went as great as mine did, and here’s to a relaxing weekend!
Friday, January 22, 2010
My First Week on the Job: Meet Your New Recuitment and Communications Assistant!
Tuesday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
Today was my first day as not just a student, but also as a co-op student! It was a very straightforward first day on the job consisting of mostly of filling out paperwork and meeting the people I work with. The office consists of two front desk administrators, the director John, five recruiters, the manager Carma, and the communications coordinator, Kim.
After meeting everyone, Kim got me set up on my work computer, a Mac – my first time using one and I love it! I then spent the rest of the day user testing the Discover website, inputting focus group data and reviewing all of the University’s publications and comparing them to other schools across the country.
Wednesday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
This morning I began immediate work on finishing the focus group data, as it would be best served sooner rather than later. My entire morning was spent summarizing and calculating the results. Once I finished the summary, I began exploring the admin side of the Discover site, and posted my first blog (written by two students weekly). Thankfully there were no pictures to post as apparently posting images to the blog site is a little tricky.
After lunch, Kim and I began brainstorming goals for my co-op. We were able to come up with quite a few interesting ideas, I’m very excited as how few limits there are for my involvement here at work! I’m also going to be spending some time running around campus looking for awesome picture spots. I have committed to learning a little bit more about HTML and Photoshop as I think a solid knowledge base in both of these topics will prove to be very useful.
I got to sit in at my first meeting in the afternoon, which was very interesting even though I was just listening. Working with so many creative thinkers is really exciting as there are a lot of awesome ideas in the works!
Thursday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
Our larger department, the Registrar’s Office and Student Services department met promptly at 8:30 today to debrief on a variety of topics. Carma formally introduced me to everyone and I awkwardly said hello (while simultaneously managing not to fall down – a most impressive feat for someone like myself!). After the meeting, I continued my research of other post-secondary locations, facts, and viewbooks. I also reviewed the University of Lethbridge’s branding manual, which is very interesting.
Friday 8:30-4:30 (7.5h)
Today the Recruitment department had its weekly meeting promptly at 8:30 where everyone was present. Before I had been introduced mostly to empty offices as the recruiters are always out and about at schools and everyone else is constantly busy with meetings, so it was nice to get to match faces and names to offices. We discussed the upcoming Presidential Installation, which will take place in October and sounds like it is going to be very interesting (if its anything like the last one, where they had indoor fireworks, it will be incredible!)
I successfully posted a blog today all by myself, and it included pictures! It’s a very tedious procedure but I was very proud when I (finally!) had it set up and HTML-coded correctly. I began doing some Photoshop research and am going to work on some animation (maybe, if I can figure it out). I will try to research this over the weekend as I will not be able to get Photoshop on my work computer, but I have at home on my personal laptop.
For fun today, our entire office got lunch from the Zoo and it was very nice to get to know everyone a little more personally. I have two meetings set up for Monday morning, and am very excited to formalize my employment objectives with my direct supervisors so I can see and plan for what else is to come!
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