CREATIVE AGENCY WITH STUDENTS

C R E AT I V E A G E N C Y W I T H

S T U D E N T S

U A B D I G I TA L M E D I A

Rosie O’Beirne | Anna Lloyd | Laurel Mills

B A C K S T O R Y

DEMANDS

NEEDS

cost share equipment/lab

more paid, professional opps

for students

affordable option for non-profit

A C R E AT I V E A G E N C Y

W I T H I N A U N I V E R S I T Y

T H E M O D E L

• Digital Media and Learning • Video Production

• Web Content/ Design

• Social Media Consulting • Instructional Design

• Clients

• College of Arts and Sciences

• Additional UAB entities (UAB Admissions,

Sustainability)

• Community (Department of Justice,

Non-profits)

• Service Center

• Departments buy in • Collective Team Hour

W I N - W I N

• Into our third year • Fellows 7-12-10 • Interns 
 • Award Winning • Addy Wins • Recognized as research and scholarship

• Closing the experience gap for students

• Portfolio and resumes • Industry jobs

• Growth of web design • College of Arts and

Sciences

• +15 CAS departments • Growth in Storytelling

• faculty and student profiles • Program profiles

• Expanded services

• small web and video stories • social media consulting

• instructional design • app development

T H E M O D E L | S T U D E N T P R O G R A M S

Media Fellowship

•

Paid part-time positions

•

$12 an hour

•

$1000 technology stipend

•

Year long opportunity

•

We select 10 per year

Media Internship

•

Unpaid part-time positions

•

Earning 3 hours course

credit from any department

•

Prepping for Fellowship or

simply getting exposed

•

Semester long opportunity

•

5-6 selected per semester

TA K E - A W AY S

1. elements of good student experience (aka how to get the

good students)

2. what to expect when working with students

3. tools that help

1. ELEMENTS OF A GOOD STUDENT EXPERIENCE

(aka how to get the good students)

referral network

with good people

team environment

thoughtful training

mentorship

project-based learning

_{(*real projects best)}

opportunity to lead

pay, credit,

2. WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN WORKING WITH STUDENTS

T I M E

•

Plan for the project to take at least twice as long as it would for you or

another full-time staff member to complete.

•

Know that you will spend most of your time answering questions, following

up on the project status and providing feedback.

•

Be prepared to work around student schedules.

•

Adjust your timelines accordingly for clients. Agreeing to projects with quick

turnarounds can easily end in disaster.

R E A L I T I E S

•

Clearly outline the project, resources and expectations. If you don't feel like

you're over-explaining, you need to give the student more information.

•

Set clear deliverables and deadlines.

•

Check in regularly to ensure project is on track.

Be prepared to give feedback early and often.

•

Don't be surprised if the first go is a complete failure.

Encourage initiative, but insist on a chain of command.

R E W A R D S

•

Students bring a fresh perspective to the work.

•

Students have a unique advantage in understanding what their peers are

looking for.

•

You can see the development of a student's abilities and skills.

•

The mentor/mentee relationship is valuable to both parties.

•

It feels great when they get good jobs!

3. TOOLS THAT HELP

TA S K

M A N A G E M E N T

• Others: Evernote, Trello,

C O M M U N I C AT I O N

G O O G L E F O R S H A R I N G A N D S C H E D U L I N G

• Set guidelines for work schedules

from the start

• Passwords change per semester • The Master Note

F L I C K R F O R

P H O T O S

P R O V I D I N G W E B

C O N T E N T

• Ask students to write short profiles of

alumni, faculty, students and/or staff for departmental websites.

• Collaborate on questions for the

interview.

• Keep it short.

C A P T U R I N G I N S T.

K N O W L E D G E

• Have experienced students make

tutorials (helps with high turnover issue)

• Archive, organize, and share via LMS

system

• Make and share tutorials for your

university (ex. Knowledge Jam)

P R O D U C I N G

V I D E O S

• It takes a team

• It takes equipment, software, and a

Mac computer

• It takes time

• single interview video, team of 2-3 students,

2-3 weeks to produce start to finish

(assuming no other projects and roughly 15+ hr work week)

• will require your time reviewing and editing,

too

C R E AT I N G

G R A P H I C S

• Encourage students to build

inspiration boards. (Pinterest is a great option here.)

• Integrate the student into the entire

project. Invite them to attend relevant meetings.

• Make feedback a regular and integral

part of the process.

R U N N I N G S O C I A L

M E D I A

• streamline the approval - one

student, one platform, one approval -

don’t overcomplicate, do curate it

• Encourage experimentation with

emerging platforms

4. TASKS THAT ARE GOOD FITS

student’s draft

post!

staff approval

analyze results

Q&A