internships
Internships this year, for me, were an opportunity to discover what it would be like working in various institutions and roles. By the end of the year, I was eager to find an internship where I would be able to directly apply the things I had learned this year to a real-world context. Below is a brief description of the internships I took on.
PRACTISE Project
When I came to Stanford, I had interest in possibly pursuing a PhD beyond my masters. With wise advice from my advisor, I took an opportunity working on a Stanford research team fall quarter to catch a glimpse of what PhD research was like. We were studying the effects of a specific professional development around discourse on elementary science teachers in Oakland Unified School District. I got experience coding teacher interviews, developing rubrics for analysis, drafting a preliminary paper to present at the AERA conference, and video recording one of the Lawrence Hall of Science's Professional Development sessions to be used later for analysis.
iZone: San Mateo County
In first quarter's Design Bootcamp class, I made lots of great acquaintances with d.fellows working in the K12 Lab at the d.school. One of those fellows reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in interning on the iZone team, a partnership between the Full Circle Fund and San Mateo County Office of Education. The iZone aims to connect innovative school leaders, teachers, businesses, and community members to help move the county toward 21st century classrooms. I helped organize several of their county wide kick-off events, as well as lead vision sessions to design a long term vision for the iZone's future.
Alpha Public Schools
After three quarters of exposure to design principles, I reached out to a charter school that I had partnered with on a few class projects to see if I might give a go at applying some of the skills I'd been learning. I knew that Alpha was dedicated to human-centered design as they conceived a new high school to open fall of 2015. Serving a large Latino population, understanding their needs was crucial in building a successful school in their East San Jose community. I was the primary project manager, developing a 9-week plan to do empathy work and prototype designs that will become the foundation for a Parent Center slated to open in October 2014.