We are very happy to highlight MAET alumna, Chandra Owen. Chandra graduated in 2011 and recently moved into a new position with the Financial Aid Office at Michigan State University, where she has worked as a financial aid officer since 2007. We found her enthusiasm and the various ways she has creatively integrated technology in her job inspirational! She has generously taken the time to share insight into what she is doing now and how she has used her experience in the MAET program in her work.
How would you describe new job? What is the best thing about it?
My new position title is Training Coordinator/Social Medial Liaison in the Office of Financial Aid. Although my work is not in a traditional classroom, learning happens everywhere. I use my background in teaching to educate students, parents, staff, and faculty about financial aid topics often through the use of educational technology. I have been working on creating a video library of short video clips that break down complicated financial aid topics and processes that anyone can access 24/7 on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/channels/msufinaid). I have also increased our office’s presence on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. Our number of followers on Facebook were low to start off with so I came up with an idea to hold a photo scholarship contest. In the contest students were asked to submit a photo of an accomplishment or experience they would not have had the opportunity to participate in without the help of financial aid. The response has been tremendous. We received 200 photos within 24 hours of announcing the contest and it has continued to grow as do our number of followers on Twitter and Facebook. I have had a lot of positive response from students, parents, and my colleagues. I am excited to continue finding new ways to educate students about financial aid so that they can afford to complete their degree and make decisions that will set them up for financial success after college.
What are the challenges? How did MAET prepare you for this position?
It is challenging to excite people to want to learn more about financial aid, but it is an important topic for many students to understand in order to prepare them for success both in degree completion and their financial future.
When I was looking for a masters program the list of learning objectives that I wanted to gain from one program included design, research, and quantitative analysis relative to the field of education. It was a pretty tough order to fill, but the MAET program met all of my needs and wants. I was able to share my masters portfolio with my employer. We discussed the skills that I had gained, the needs of the office, and I was thankful to be offered a new position this past June as a Training Coordinator/Social Media Liaison.
I was also able to serve on the Michigan Student Financial Aid Association Board in 2012 as the Conference Program Chair where I was charged with planning two 4 day conferences – one on Mackinac Island and the other at The Henry in Dearborn. I created a mobile conference program using WordPress so that attendees could quickly access session information on their smartphone.
What are your favorite tools, apps or technologies?
I love the Adobe Creative Suite. I use After Effects and Illustrator daily. Vimeo.com has been a great platform to host our videos. It provides data analytics so that I can share with my supervisors how many views each video has received and I like the layout of the website. I use an iPhone for Vine and Instagram photos/video and a Cannon T3i for video and photos. I also use Prezi for presentations.
An instance where technology helped you out…
I was able to serve on the Michigan Student Financial Aid Association Board in 2012 as the Conference Program Chair where I was charged with planning two 4 day conferences – one on Mackinac Island and the other at The Henry in Dearborn. I created a mobile conference program using WordPress so that attendees could quickly access session information on their smartphone.
How could we stay in touch with you and your work?
You can follow @msufinaid on Twitter, like the MSU Office of Financial Aid page on Facebook, and view the Vimeo video library at https://vimeo.com/channels/msufinaid. You can reach me personally at bailey42@msu.edu. I have a personal Facebook and Twitter page, but it mostly consists of pictures of my two children, husband, dog, and cat.
What advice would you give to prospective or current students in the MAET program?
Take time to connect with other students in the MAET program. I keep in touch with several MAET alumni and we have been a great support to each other during our program and afterwards. It is also fun to see the opportunities each of us has had as a result of completing the MAET program.
Can you summarize your experience with the MAET program in 3 sentences?
MAET prepared me for advancement opportunities. It opened my eyes to the amazing opportunities that we are provided through technology. I enjoyed studying under many very creative and knowledgeable minds in the College of Education, DMAT, and Journalism departments here at MSU.