Stretching and learning in a co-op placement

This blog post was initially published on BCcampus News on June 18, 2012.

(Editor's note: We present one more entry in our series on our wonderful co-op students, this one from Hilda Anggraeni. She has included a slick interactive timeline on her own blog post, please take a look if you have a moment.)

Working at BCcampus has been a wonderful experience for me, providing me an excellent opportunity in learning new knowledge. As a co-op student, I was hired in September 2010 as an academic growth research assistant (known as professional learning assistant now) and I have never felt like leaving BCcampus ever since.

In my role as a research assistant, every project I have taken on has taught me new skills and broadened my perspective in approaching various tasks. Although I have only worked in one position, I have gained a lot of knowledge in many aspects, as each and every project never failed to interest me.

Not only have my technical skills improved, but my soft skills, such as time management and communication, have also improved significantly by working in such a unique environment. I was able to have the flexibility of working partly from home and partly from the office with online supervision from Sylvia and Leva.

During my work term at BCcampus, I was able to create and explore my own projects, which helped me to discover my own strengths and weaknesses. For example, during my last week working for BCcampus, I decided to write a paper for ETUG community. Generally, I am not very confident in writing research papers, but through my own project, I succeeded in writing a “research paper” by assessing my interest in analyzing information and turning the information I gathered into a useful and aesthetically pleasing information design project.

Working in the professional learning team has been a valuable experience because every member in the team (Sylvia, Leva, and Diana), has taught me different things. Sylvia is always open to new ways of thinking and approaching projects. Leva is always keen on learning new technology or platforms. Diana, being a business student, gave me lots of valuable feedback from a business perspective.

This video project is an example of our collaboration, which aims to provide a step-by-step tutorial with a common craft style.