Employability, Internationalisation, Small project funding scheme,

When I started on the small project funded by the DR team, little did I know what I would learn in the process. From a digital angle, the aim was to highlight digital skills and needs in an internationalisation/employability related project. The focus was on interviewing home students who had undertaken placement or work experience abroad. Under Tee’s guidance, I was able to conduct the interview with Sam Leonard who had a 6-weeks placement at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Tee taught me how to record and edit the video. Despite the steep learning curve, it was a fun process.

This was the first interview I ever conducted; I learnt that ideally it is best to get the interview and the shot right (see my first post about interview tips here). But, once I have learnt how to edit videos, I very much could understand the hidden power of video editors (and the number of retakes of movie shots). Although the interviewee was very natural in front of a camera, there were still some pauses and uhs and ums. I must admit that the timeline Adobe Premiere Elements (a video editing software) and the cut feature very quickly became my favourite (Check the edited video here).

Some of the digital transferrable skills gained during this small project are:

  • Interviewing process
  • Video editing: Adobe Premiere Elements
  • Use of Amara for transcribing videos
  • Use of WordPress for blogging

In addition, I have been able to gain experience on organising logistics for the interview process (e.g. booking a room, getting banners), which included communication with other services, etc. Perhaps one important thing to be noted during this interview, is the international experience of the interviewee, and the ease with which we both could relate our work experience in a different country. This very much fulfills the need for highlighting students’ experiences of undertaking placement abroad.

I t was definitely a remarkable learning experience, and I am happy that the digital skills developed during this small project will be useful to me in lots of way.