Devon James
Positions HeldWriting Arts Undergraduate
Degree in Three Student Writing Arts Intern Writing Center Tutor Member of Writing Arts Club Member of Avant |
ObjectiveIn choosing to do this internship, I was hoping to learn more about the professional world that is waiting for me after graduation. I also wanted to gain skill and knowledge in working with websites and different digital platforms. Deciding to intern was also based on my desire to challenge myself. Regardless of the necessary work, I wanted to see who I could become after working with others to complete tasks, as opposed to a traditional classroom setting. Seeing the skills I have learned in my Writing Arts education applied practically and seeing the results of that application was incredibly interesting and a large reason I chose to intern.
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Projects
Video for Intro to Writing Arts Technologies and the Future of Writing
Objective: On the rowanwritingarts.org website, it is important for students to be able to acess information about the classes they can take, as well as listen to a student perspective on these classes. This video was created to give students a chance to have a sneak preview into the Technologies and the Future of Writing module in Introduction to Writing Arts.
Process: Before working on this video, I had no experience whatsoever interviewing someone on camera, filming, or editing film. The first step was to familiarize myself with the camera, as well as experiment with film editing. The first set of film I edited was an interview with Rachael Shapiro that Rachel Saltzman was able to edit prior to my editing it. The example of that edit is linked below.
Process: Before working on this video, I had no experience whatsoever interviewing someone on camera, filming, or editing film. The first step was to familiarize myself with the camera, as well as experiment with film editing. The first set of film I edited was an interview with Rachael Shapiro that Rachel Saltzman was able to edit prior to my editing it. The example of that edit is linked below.
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After I began editing the initial interview, it became apparent we needed more interviews. Rachel and I were able to interview several students who took the course including Rich Riskie, Laura Kincaid, Danny McGilloway, and myself. A problem arose while I was working on Danny’s film. Instead of uploading the film directly to the hard drive, I opened and saved it through Window’s Movie Maker. After doing that, I began experiencing issues opening up anything that I had worked on in Movie Maker. Rachel tried to figure the issue out and was not able to, Drew also discussed potential issues with the hard drive that I could attempt to troubleshoot. Eventually, I took the hard drive to the NSS workshop to seek help. I was told they did not know how to fix the issue, or what was wrong.
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After being told they could not help me, I decided to research potential fixes online to see whether or not I could fix the issue myself. After reading several hours worth of blogs I was able to diagnose and fix the issue (I had re-organized some files on the hard drive and Movie Maker could no longer find the footage because it was not where it had originally been when I started editing film). I was extremely proud of this breakthrough because not only was it a solution to a serious roadblock, but it was a solution I found and then executed myself. I feel I am usually one to panic at major roadblocks, but this situation taught me that working through logically was well within my ability and I only needed to apply myself. At this time, I did discover the original footage for Danny McGilloway was gone because the source footage was deleted off of the memory card, so I re-interviewed him. Luckily he was willing to be interviewed again.
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Once all the interviews were collected, I began editing the footage in Movie Maker. I went through six drafts before I finally was able to have a product that was satisfactory, and I put a lot of time into the editing process. What I found most challenging was learning how to weave the dialogue from the interviews together into one cohesive conversation. It felt odd to me at first to cut the film mid-sentence for one interview and have the following interview finish the sentence and vice versa. After I began to notice the portions of interviews where this back and forth occurred, it became easier for me to edit and eventually create a final product I was proud of.
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The October Writer's Insider
Objective: The objective of creating an October Edition of The Writer’s Insider newsletter was to give those involved in the department an overview of what happened the month before, and what was happening that month and in upcoming months. It provided both students and staff opportunities to get involved in events hosted by the department, as well as showed off some of the events from the previous month.
Process: The first step in the process of creating The Writer’s Insider was gathering information that could potentially be featured in the newsletter. This involved attending several events, receiving emails that outlined upcoming events within the department, and even interviewing and transcribing the interview with professor Marya Hornbacher.
Process: The first step in the process of creating The Writer’s Insider was gathering information that could potentially be featured in the newsletter. This involved attending several events, receiving emails that outlined upcoming events within the department, and even interviewing and transcribing the interview with professor Marya Hornbacher.
After I had all of the information I wanted to include, I reached out to some of the faculty members mentioned in the newsletter asking for pictures from their events, as well as information they wanted include and professional websites they wanted to be linked to. I then began placing all of these items onto the page on rowanwritingarts.org designated for the updated newsletter. This was my first time doing a lot of work in Weebly, and I enjoyed the ability to use creativity to make the newsletter look the way I wanted it to. I found creating the newsletter helped me familiarize myself with the many tools Weebly offers.
The process of transcribing the interview with professor Hornbacher was the most time consuming part of the process of developing the newsletter, but was also the most rewarding. I felt it added a personal touch to the newsletter and was extremely helpful for students interested in potentially registering for a class with professor Hornbacher.
The process of transcribing the interview with professor Hornbacher was the most time consuming part of the process of developing the newsletter, but was also the most rewarding. I felt it added a personal touch to the newsletter and was extremely helpful for students interested in potentially registering for a class with professor Hornbacher.
Pages Created for Website
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Objective: The objective for creating pages for both the Degree in Three program and the Write Rowan, Right Now! Freshman writing contest was to provide information and generate interest for both of these Writing Arts offerings. For both of the pages I created, the information was available elsewhere, it was only a matter of transposing the information from its original location to the department website making it easier to access for students.
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Process: For both of these pages I began by collecting the necessary information, then creating and designing a page that would both function on the site, and be aesthetically pleasing. I found this process to be helpful in teaching me how to use Weebly, as well as how best to convey information on a website. I was just providing facts and relevant information, therefore I needed to design the pages in a way that was straight-forward and easily accessible. This was different from my work on The Writer’s Insider because it was now a completely informative text-based page. With the experienced I gained from creating the newsletter itself, I found I was well prepared for creating these pages on the website.
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High School Outreach Project
Objective: The objective for the High School Outreach Project was to generate awareness about Rowan Writing Arts and its offerings amongst local high school students, as well as generate interest and submissions to the Write Rowan, Right Now! Contest. The way in which this project is to be carried out is by contacting current Writing Arts students who would be interested in going back to their high schools and speaking to students in specific classes geared towards the Writing Arts major.
Process: This project began as an idea that needed many details fleshed out. First, we met with Jennifer Tole to discuss ways to generate interest among high school students. We determined it would be best to have current Writing Arts students go back and speak to students at their schools about the program and share information about the contest. The next step was to find students who would be interested in reaching out to their high schools, and organize the visits. I reached out to students who are involved in the department and may be interested in participating, then created a spreadsheet for them to input their information into. I prepared a flyer for the students to bring along with their visits, and made sure everyone had a set before winter break. It was a different type of experience for me to reach out to peers and organize them around a goal. This is something that seemed like a huge project to take on but became more and more manageable as I pushed myself to work through this project.
Process: This project began as an idea that needed many details fleshed out. First, we met with Jennifer Tole to discuss ways to generate interest among high school students. We determined it would be best to have current Writing Arts students go back and speak to students at their schools about the program and share information about the contest. The next step was to find students who would be interested in reaching out to their high schools, and organize the visits. I reached out to students who are involved in the department and may be interested in participating, then created a spreadsheet for them to input their information into. I prepared a flyer for the students to bring along with their visits, and made sure everyone had a set before winter break. It was a different type of experience for me to reach out to peers and organize them around a goal. This is something that seemed like a huge project to take on but became more and more manageable as I pushed myself to work through this project.
Interviews Conducted this Semester
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Additional Projects
- Ad for Dance Recital made in Adobe InDesign- For a Dance Studio’s dance recital pamphlet, the Writing Arts Department decided to place a half page ad that I was able to design using Adobe InDesign. I went through several drafts of this ad compiling information found both on the website and on other flyers already created for the department. I did not know that my experience using InDesign was so helpful in the professional world, and I was excited to use those skills in a helpful way.
- Attended Meetings with Students for 3 Job Candidates- During the job search for assistant professor positions within the department, I was one of the students who met with three of the four candidates and discussed both the department, my wishes as a student, and their experience as professors. I found this process rewarding because I felt I was involved in my own education in a way I had never been before. I also found it interesting to experience the type of situations one may be put in when applying for jobs in higher education.
- Began Draft for Writing Research and Technology Video- Although my main video focus has been on Technologies and the Future of Writing, I also began work editing the footage for the Writing Research and Technology video for the website. We had a lot of footage already on the hard drive, but Rachel and I did interview Tiers Congdon for this video.
- Made Several Bulletin Board Posts- The bulletin board posts I made were in regards to an internship opportunity with a South Jersey based sports company, upcoming Writing Arts events, and the events open to students as part of the job search for the assistant professor position.
- Began Compiling Database of Writing Arts Internships- At the beginning of the semester, I began a spreadsheet of internships Writing Arts majors could potentially access when seeking internship opportunities. This project fell through as the semester progressed, but I am interested in picking it up again in the Spring.
Log of Hours
