What originally inspired you to intern in Sydney with AustraLearn?
Randi: After doing a May term study abroad Switzerland, I decided I had to study abroad for a full semester someplace. Australia has always been a dream place for me to visit, and I decided studying abroad would be the perfect opportunity for me to go. I chose Sydney on a whim, not knowing anybody from there or anyone going to study there.
When applying for the program, I noticed I had the option of just studying or combining my experience with an internship--I didn't even consider not doing the internship. I wanted to become as culturally aware of the Australian lifestyle and to take advantage of every opportunity I had abroad.
Describe your day to day activities as an intern in Australia.
Randi: I worked with Sydney Student for the University of Sydney as a business analyst. The University was in the process of completely redoing their website to make it more user friendly. I worked in the office full days on Monday and Tuesday.
Initially I worked with a team obtaining information from each faculty located throughout Sydney Uni. This information collection consisted of meeting with faculty from the different colleges to discuss with them what data I needed, using the information and applying it towards the new website and maintaining contact with staff to ensure accurate data entry.
The second half of my time with Sydney Student I spent working more with the logistic end of the website to see if it was working as it should. This involved developing usability tests and having test groups maneuver through the usability tests to see how successful and accurate our implementation was.
How has this experience impacted your future?
Randi: Working at Sydney Student was a wonderful experience. About half of the people I worked with were Australians, but the other half were from different countries from around the world that had been brought in to help implement the new Uni website. I was able to expand upon my skills, specifically in the IT areas as I previously had no experience working with website development and implementation. I have also become more credible in the sense that I have an international experience from Australia and shows that my skills and cultural adaptation have widened and improved.