Eastern Michigan U Runs Digital Engagement Clinic
The Center for Digital
Engagement (CDE) at Eastern Michigan
University and Ann Arbor SPARK, a
nonprofit organization that encourages and supports local businesses,
collaborated to offer a digital engagement clinic over the summer.
The program matched 12 undergraduate students and recent graduate interns
from the university with Ann Arbor SPARK startup incubator clients. Between
June 15 and August 21, students spent 80 hours working on the startup
companies' digital marketing efforts and blogged twice weekly about their
activities. Before they could earn their Digital Media Certification, which was
endorsed by both the CDE and Ann Arbor SPARK, the students had to pass either
the Google Analytics or Google AdWords certification exam. By the end of the
program the students also had to establish a Linkedin profile marketing
themselves as a digital media professional.
"The CDE-SPARK Digital Media Certification provides our students and
faculty a unique opportunity to take 'classroom' knowledge and
apply it in a way that adds real value to organizations," said Bud
Gibson, professor and director of CDE, in a prepared statement.
While the students had the opportunity to gain work experience in the area
of digital media marketing, the startups could further their digital marketing
efforts. The startups that participated in the digital engagement clinic are
all part of the SPARK Central incubator in downtown Ann Arbor and include
Warmilu, ContentOro, Arbor Insight, Industry Star, Message Blocks and
Stridepost.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].