Summing up my internship with IIMBx in a short blog post is hard; nevertheless, here are some of my learnings from what has been a fantastic two months. For a third-year undergraduate student at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts majoring in econometrics, this internship was enlightening on several levels.
Having enrolled in online courses earlier, I was aware of its potential and how useful they were. Therefore, I was delighted to discover that some of India’s top institutions were partaking in the development of MOOCs. I believe IIMB is on the cusp of something huge – online courses could be a game changer in boosting the quality of education and make it more easily available to less fortunate families. Moreover, it will further increase the availability of quality education. I think IIMB and similar MOOC generating institutions will soon figure out how to breakthrough the stigma of doing an online course versus traditional methods. By requiring a proctored exam to earn a certificate, IIMBx’s MOOCs have gained credibility that other online courses lack. I hope other colleges build on this to support the future of learning.
My internship started with me writing blog posts for IIMBx and analyzing survey results from completed courses. However, the role soon expanded. By the end of my internship, I had helped devise social media marketing strategies for Facebook and Twitter, and developed content aimed to increase online presence and engagement; migrate courses between course platforms and assist with the debugging process. Further, I created a series of research notes that the team could use as reference material for a variety of tasks. For example, I wrote a short report on trends in digital learning, which would be useful for the upcoming Future of Learning conference.
I tried to engage with as many segments of MOOC production as I could. I worked on the video production end, feedback end and the marketing end. These were eye-opening experiences; for instance, I would have never known just how long time-lapse videos would take to shoot or how by breaking down the feedback received on completed courses, we could significantly help improve content of future courses.
Another stand out in my mind is getting to work in a unique work environment among people with different backgrounds. I remember being lost during my first couple of days, trying to figure out the work culture and how best to fit in. Further, every intern will tell you this – the most challenging thing by far is trying to remember everyone’s name within the first couple of days. However, I prevailed and had a great time working with the IIMBx team.
Overall, I believe I was exposed to different areas in a short period of time thereby giving me a great opportunity to learn new skills and figure out which ones I wanted to focus on. I have gained much during the last two months. Skills-wise, communication, marketing, research, and analysis are some areas that I have improved on. I also understood that despite being in an age of automation, communication and research are critical skills that an employee should focus on to succeed professionally. I am happy that I had the chance to hone mine.
I have come a long way since I started working at IIMBx, and I would not have been able to achieve what I had without the support of the team. I experienced great camaraderie and created plenty of memories to cherish. Be it discussing last night’s Game of Thrones episode or exchanging banter with my co-workers.
In conclusion, I think IIMBx has been an excellent experience and a perfect stepping stone to my professional career.
[This post was written by Maanav Setlur, Intern @ IIMBx (June – August 2017) ]
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