Wintec ākonga gain hands-on experience
Wintec year two Communication ākonga have embarked on a hands-on experience with a video promotion project with K’aute Pasifika Trust (KPT) Clinic.
The project aims to showcase the organisation’s early childhood education centre and forms part of the student assessment
The project’s success helped cement relationships among Wintec Communication staff, ākonga, and the KPT communication and marketing team.
The project spanned the first half of the second semester and was wrapped up just after the mid-semester break.
Paul Nelson, the project’s lead comms lecturer, highlighted the project’s importance, noting that it boosts ākonga confidence by providing an avenue for students to work on real tasks in a real-world environment.
“The motivation for conducting external projects with real clients is to provide hands on experience for ākonga in a real-world environment, Nelson said.
“I want them to experience working together as a team to create a refined piece of storytelling that achieves the client’s objectives and aligns with their values.
He added that in a world where content is created quickly and is disposable, students are ensuring that every creative decision is deliberate and aligns with the client’s goals.
“It also exposes them to working with an organisation that is comprised of many Pacific cultures and protocols. We’ve had to embrace their way of thinking and creating in a responsible and respectful manner.
Nelson acknowledged the collaboration between Wintec and KPT and the opportunity given for the ākonga to practise their expertise in real life under guidance before going out on their own.
“We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to collaborate with KPT. It is so much more valuable as a learning experience to engage with real clients with real objectives. It also provides important professional exposure to working with other cultures within an Aotearoa context.
“We hope we can continue to foster this relationship with future projects,” he said.
The project marks the second of its kind for Wintec ākonga to collaborate with KPT, cementing a reliable partnership between both parties.
