Ok, so this week we have been asked to reflect on the process of applying for the IRG. For me this started when I was in a Postgraduate Teaching, Learning and Assessment Programme lesson with Mark Kerrigan. Had I not been lucky enough to get a place on that course I wouldn’t have found out about the opportunity and ultimately wouldn’t have got a place on the IRG! Anyway at the start of one of the lessons Mark handed out a summary information page about this project and explained briefly about it. We were told about how it would look good on a CV and not to mention the student scholarship would be quite handy. I was straight away attracted to the idea because it meant links to the educational development unit; I enjoy helping people to learn and having been in a business related field for the past 4 yrs I saw an opportunity to return to an educational side of things.
We were told of the 3 recruitment steps; the online application, the format-neutral artefact and then an interview. Unsure of what the format-neutral was, Mark then clarified; we could apply in any way that we wanted, showing that we wanted the position and any experience we felt was relevant. Someone had apparently applied through a picture, I must admit I did wonder how that would work but thought it would definitely show a creative side. Ideas flooded into my mind of how I could best apply and then the deadline was given for applications, we had 2 days. At this point I thought as there was so little time to get something together would it be worth it but decided to look online anyway; what could I lose? Looking online I realised it was just the online application that needed to be completed there and then. This involved a couple of basic questions about why we were applying etc, each with a 200 word limit. I thought at this point, there is definitely time to apply so proceeded there and then to answer the questions. The next part was going to be the tricky one, I think there was about 1-2 weeks between this point and the actual interview and it was at the interview that we would have to bring our format-neutral artefact.
The artefact... As time wore on I realised with studying commitments, I was not going to be able to attempt most of the ideas that I had. Online it had said the format did not count towards or against the applicant, from this I thought maybe it would be best to do a CV style artefact. On second thoughts I felt this was an easy way out and as we had been given the opportunity to present our application in a different way I should try it. I settled on creating a poem, after a few drafts I finally had a poem I was happy with and felt confident about (in my next post). I knew that the format wouldn’t affect the application but I felt that if I could be remembered as the “applicant with the poem” it would help me to be noticed. For this reason I liked the fact that we were able to apply in any way.
Interview day! I travelled to Greenwich in a suit as I wasn’t sure how formal it would be, I thought better to be overly formal than not enough. In the room there were approx 15 people, straight away it was evident that the interview wouldn’t be a formal process. We split into 2 groups and had a little time to chat to the people in our groups. The first task for my group was to come up with a word which we thought represented digital technology. This was naturally a group task and we needed to come up with our separate words through discussion, and then add a sentence with this, giving more detail. When completed we took each other’s photos holding our paper with the word on. The second task was to film a 30 second video of what digital literacy means to us, we had enough time to make a brief storyboard and film it. I found this task a little nerve-wracking as it had to be 30 seconds straight and there would be no chance to edit however I was pleased to have finished it with a video I was happy with. After this we handed in our artefacts and we told we would receive an email on whether or not we had got a place on the IRG by the Friday following. Unfortunately no email was received and there was a delay in getting the decision, I finally got the email that I was hoping for to tell me I got the position.
Thinking back I did enjoy this relaxed application process as I felt I could show myself in a better light than if it had been formal (this naturally brings a little stress), it was seemed appropriate due to the fact we needed to show how we would work together. The tasks took a little bit of working out to understand but the overall concepts were understood. I think on the interview day I wasn’t completely aware of the extent of the project because I had minimal information provided when I was informed of the project; I had a generic idea of digital literacies. By the end of the day I felt I understood the project more and by doing research for an entry in this blog, I gained deeper knowledge as well as creating my own ideas. In hindsight I am glad that I decided to apply and I wouldn’t have done things differently.
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