Students may wonder how their classes can be applied to the real world. This semester, I’m taking courses on multimedia, and how law is relevant in journalism. Turns out, I learned a lot more than I thought I would.
What I took out of my courses at UMass were new ideas that I could bring to my boss, and the ability to spread the word of her company. Social media and multimedia are great ways to do so. Aside from managing her Twitter account, we are currently working on building a website, blog, and I suggested the idea of a Pinterest account. Everyone loves Pinterest. For my internship, I suggested “pins” of all the great things about traveling. It could be from different Starbucks locations, to a skyline from Alaska. The possibilities are endless.
From my multimedia class, I’m learning about blogging style, layouts, how long a post should or should not be, the tone, and how to correctly embed a podcast that’s worth listening to. The best part is, if you are ever asked to make a podcast, you’ll know how to edit, and add sound effects. Of course, it doesn’t always come out perfectly. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.
Law is a different story. It could certainly help when or if you’re writing up press releases and blog posts for multimedia. You don’t want to get caught posting anything that could be libelous. Don’t forget copyright laws. You’ll be able to answer questions like, “can we legally do that?” but if not, email Karen List, I bet she’ll be happy to help. Who knows, she may even want to write a story about it!
Take these examples from my real-life experiences and apply them to your specific situation. The great thing about UMass classes is that they are virtually interchangeable, so go ahead and use it for your internship. Your supervisor will be impressed that you know so much about different legal issues, for example (that could potentially save their derriere in some cases).
There’s nothing wrong with always impressing your boss. We like to call those, brownie points.