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Over the summer, Guroo Learning has hosted two paid interns from University of Sydney’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Lily Bell Macdonald and Cleo Newling have been working with our Learning Studio team to design engaging learning for a range of clients.
Today, we sit down with Lily and Cleo to hear more about their internship experience.
What are you currently studying?
Lily
I’m going into my final semester of a Bachelor of French and International & Global Studies.
Cleo
I’m in my third year of a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English and minoring in Art History.
Why did you apply for the Guroo Learning internship?
Lily
I’ve always liked to think I’ve had a passion for learning and creativity, and the internship opportunity (and indeed Guroo Learning) appeared to be a happy marriage of the two but in a way that I had never even considered- e-Learning!
Another strong appeal of the internship was that it was catered towards any student no matter the degree or level of experience and, as an Arts student with an ‘interesting’ selection of majors, this really caught my attention. And finally, this opportunity was, as mentioned, one of only a handful of Arts-friendly internships but it also looked stimulating – which is from my experience a rare combination!
Cleo
With experience as both an online teacher and learner, I was excited by the opportunity to learn more about learning design from a behind-the-scenes perspective. The internship also offered the chance for me to use my writing and research skills in a professional context. The combination of visual design and writing was a great way to utilise the skills I’ve learned from previous jobs and my degree.
What was your favourite part of your internship?
Lily
This is really quite tricky to answer as this internship has been such a positive experience in so many ways, but I think I’d say the teamwork aspect. There’s such a culture of ‘sharing the load’ which makes for a collaborative and encouraging environment where everyone’s contributions are valued and appreciated, and it’s just great to know you can ask for help from anyone and feel useful by giving a helping hand to anyone whenever it’s needed.
Cleo
Working with a friendly and creative team on projects that were genuinely motivating and fun. The internship was a continuous learning experience, and it was great to be supported by staff who were there to offer guidance and answer my seemingly endless questions as I got familiar with Guroo Pro!
What was one surprising thing you learned about learning design?
Lily
How easy it is (and should be!) to make e-learning engaging! I love how you can really put yourself in the shoes of prospective learners when you’re designing learning modules so that you can keep things interesting to hold the learner’s attention throughout. It put all the painfully dull modules I had done in the past (and some at university) to shame!
Cleo
How creative you can be with it! I really enjoyed designing learning experiences with the learner in mind - keeping things challenging and fun while still productive and educational. Design-wise, there were so many options for how to format content, from interactive conversations to creating custom characters!