By: Momoka Keicho, TechChange 2021 Summer Fellow

I have had an amazing time spending this summer learning and growing with TechChange and their Education Team as a Summer Fellow. It has been such a blast, and the Education Team really made us fellows feel welcome and a part of their team throughout the entire summer. For example, one of the great things that the Ed Team did for us fellows was to host casual lunches throughout the summer to connect with one another. These were such great opportunities to chat with other members of the Ed Team and make connections beyond the projects we were working on together. 

In one of these lunches about halfway through the summer, one of the icebreaker questions that came up in the conversation was, “What career advice would you give to someone who was just starting out?” As a recent grad, I was eager to hear what everyone had to say. As everyone shared their opinions, I realized that all of the advice — including my own — had revolved around one central theme: be adventurous and try as many new things as possible. 

Momoka’s summer research questions focused on answering the question of “What is a TechChange blended course?”

Up until this point in my fellowship, I had been devoting most of my time to collecting and analyzing data for my fellowship research project on TechChange’s blended courses. I was fascinated by the insights I was discovering about blended learning, but I definitely was feeling curious about other ongoing course development projects at TechChange. I just didn’t know how I could start becoming more involved in work beyond my research. 

Listening to everyone talk about the importance of putting yourself out there in new situations, though, really reminded me of the mentality that drove me to pursue this fellowship at TechChange in the first place. I came into this fellowship as someone who had experience working in the classroom, but I ended up choosing TechChange because I wanted to explore edtech as a field within education that I had not yet experienced. This entire world was new to me, but I wanted to work directly with the ongoing projects and the Ed Team members, learn all about their online platform, get my hands dirty with my research project, and develop new skills in instructional design. I knew that the only way to see if something is a good fit for me was to try!

I felt reinspired to take the advice that everyone had offered and embrace the mentality that I came into the fellowship with. I started actively reaching out to other members of TechChange to learn more about their projects, and I quickly realized that TechChange was the perfect place to learn with the abundance of opportunities provided. Anytime I reached out to any team member, they were always more than happy to help me explore something new — whether that be letting me sit in on meetings with a client, agreeing to chat with me about their experience on past projects, walking me through their advice on qualitative research methodologies, or allowing me to support ongoing projects. 

And all of this effort of putting myself out there definitely paid off. The interviews I conducted with TechChange’s account managers heavily informed my final report and presentation, and my research would not have been as comprehensive if I had not reached out to them. I learned how to use Dedoose, a qualitative data analysis software that I had never used before, allowing my analysis to encompass multiple types of data. I had the opportunity to help brainstorm and develop different ideation workshop activities to inform the development of one project, and I applied what I had learned about instructional design by revising the quality of another project. If there was something I wanted to do at TechChange, there was a way for me to be involved, as long as I was willing to take the first step to explore. 

I’m coming out of this fellowship having learned so much about instructional design and course development through my research project on TechChange’s blended courses, but my biggest takeaway has definitely been a newfound confidence to try new things. Even if something seems intimidating at first, like it may not be the best fit, or as if it is drastically different from what I’ve done in the past, I think my experience at TechChange has taught me to embrace that uncertainty and run with it. Overall, I am so grateful to the TechChange team for continuing to support me throughout the entire summer and for all the wonderful connections I made. I’m so excited to take this mentality to dive into my next new thing and continue learning in the future. 

Katie is a Senior Program Manager at TechChange where she helps bring virtual conferences to life for partners and attendees around the world. Before TechChange, Katie worked on in-person and virtual events of varying sizes. She is originally from the Richmond, Virginia area and holds a B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.

Q: So, tell us more about yourself. How did you end up working in events?

For as l0ng as I can remember, I’ve been involved in the performing arts in some capacity. This allowed me to consistently be around a group of people working toward a common goal to be shared with the public on a certain date (or series of dates) – essentially, events! As I thought through what I wanted to do in a professional capacity, I knew that I wanted to continue working with lots of people and bringing together groups to present and discuss new ideas. Right out of college I worked on large corporate conferences, but I knew I wanted to do much more mission-driven work. When I saw the posting for TechChange events, it looked like the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Q: How did you first hear about TechChange?

I found TechChange via LinkedIn mid-summer 2020! I was immediately interested in the work the events team was doing because of its mission-driven nature, and was even more excited to learn that we support a myriad of missions depending on the partner for a given project. 

Q: What are some of your favorite parts of working at TechChange so far?

Overall, the people of TechChange make it a great place to work. Everyone is smart, passionate, kind, and fun to work with on a daily basis. Specifically in my role, I love when I can sit in on conference sessions. It’s always a great opportunity to hear fascinating conversations and take reflections back into my own life.

Q: What excites you about this role?

This role is so dynamic! Because we work with multiple partners to plan and execute conferences, we get to have multiple partner relationships and learn about the content and communities partners serve. It’s a great way to always learn something new, meet someone new, and gain a new perspective.

Q: Anything you look forward to working on or learning at TechChange in the next year?

I’m very much looking forward to watching the events team continue to grow in the next year and working with the team to evolve our processes as we enter a phase in which folks might start in-person gatherings again.

Q: Lastly, what’s something that not a lot of people know about you?

I really enjoy running half marathons, and have run 4 so far. With races canceled and gyms closed during covid lockdown in DC, I didn’t do much running. However races are starting to pop up again and I am happy to be training for a run in late fall 2021.

Marion joined the TechChange team as a Program Coordinator, where she helps the Events team to create meaningful and engaging virtual conferences for a worldwide audience. Before joining the Events team, Marion explored her own research on the importance and impact of virtual communication as a Psychology major and Communications minor at Davidson College and served as a TechChange Fellow. 

Q: So, tell us more about yourself. How did you end up working in events?

I’ve always been interested in how we communicate in a virtual world. I explored this question at Davidson College through my research in Communication Studies — from gendered toy marketing to social justice advertising and movie consumption trends. However, it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that I was exposed to virtual events as a tool for communication. As a college student studying remotely, I quickly became familiar with the insights (and oversights) of a virtual classroom. I saw an opportunity for higher education and many other fields to utilize the advantages of a virtual world that companies like TechChange had refined (and wrote about it in the TechChange blog here). I wanted to play a part in TechChange’s goal to build innovative and engaging virtual events with a mission.

Q: How did you first hear about TechChange?

Davidson College offers an amazing opportunity called Gig-hub consultancy, where a group of students are offered access to several remote, short-term job offerings in fields of their interest. I first heard about TechChange through the Gig-hub program, and once I started working there, just absolutely fell in love with the company and its mission. Every time my short-term contract would come to a close, we kept on renewing it! Now, as a full-time member of the Events team, I couldn’t be more grateful to the Gig-hub program for first introducing me to my career.

Q: What are some of your favorite parts of working at TechChange so far?

The people! While I really do love the work at TechChange, it’s the people on my team that inspire me to work harder and to produce a product that I am proud of. We collaborate to produce and facilitate the most amazing conferences, and TechChange wouldn’t be the same without them.

Q: What excites you about this role?

It’s a great feeling to be able to support so many different projects at once – there’s always something new to try or work on! One day I’ll be building out the DRG platform for a conference in democracy assistance and the next I’ll be stepping in to moderate a SID-W meeting about writing your own memoir. The day after could be spent brainstorming with a new partner organization, editing conference recordings, or networking with experts in a vast array of fields. I think it’s amazing to meet so many different people working towards a similar mission – and to act as a real contributor towards making that goal come to life!

Q: Anything you look forward to working on or learning at TechChange in the next year?

The TechChange Events team is always looking for ways to improve its process to become more efficient and invaluable to its partners. I’m incredibly excited to be a part of the team’s efforts to innovate and streamline the way we build out, facilitate, and review our events. Not only am I working to produce the amazing and vital global conferences happening now, I’m also helping to establish the systems that will improve conferences like these in the future (and building up the creative thinking skills to do this)!

Q: Lastly, what’s something that not a lot of people know about you?

I’m a pretty good beatboxer! It surprises a lot of people when I tell them, but I was the beatboxer for my a cappella group in high school and for a couple groups in college. Really, anything in the performing arts is a passion of mine, from beatboxing to ballet. I believe that the arts provide a space to connect and communicate on a deeper level, and that the stage is a catalyst to broadcast that message.  

Kayla recently joined the TechChange team as a Program Coordinator, where she supports the online events team in creating fascinating virtual conferences. Kayla holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland, where she also minored in Technology Entrepreneurship. So excited to have you on the events team, Kayla!

Q: So, tell us more about yourself. How did you end up working in events?

For most of my life, I’ve always loved events. I really enjoy seeing groups of people come together and bond over something they have in common, no matter how different they all may be from one another. During my adolescence, I was obsessed with baby showers, birthday parties, barbecues, and other social events of that nature. It wasn’t until late high school and early college that I was introduced to new possibilities of events like conferences, conventions, weddings, and other formal, planned events. After changing my major twice, I decided to pursue a career in events, because I wanted to do something that I was truly passionate about. I knew that I did not want to spend 40+ hours of my life every week doing something that I didn’t care about, because life is way too short to be unhappy. 

Q: How did you first hear about TechChange?

I actually had never heard of TechChange until I applied for this job! I had been scrolling up and down LinkedIn for almost two months, filling out countless applications, when I stumbled upon this job [Program Coordinator]. As I began to look around the website, I really liked what I saw. The events team seemed new and exciting, and I really appreciated the company’s determination toward social change. Everything seemed so innovative, and the small size of the company was a major draw factor. After working here for a few months, I can attest that everything is still very new, innovative, and quite exciting.

Q: What are some of your favorite parts of working at TechChange so far?

One of my favorite parts about working at TechChange is seeing how passionate my colleagues are about their jobs. Every person I’ve worked with goes above and beyond for our partners [clients], and it’s important for me to work with others who have the same passion for their careers as I do. Another one of my favorite parts about working here is seeing how much the staff care about one another. Even while working remotely, people send one another virtual birthday cards, send packages to each other’s homes, and participate in virtual game nights. It’s a really nice feeling, a sense of comradery, even though I’ve never met most of the people I work with in-person.  

Q: What excites you about this role?

What excites me most about this role is that every day is drastically different. I could have a slow day doing desk work, or I could have to wake up at 3am to support a live virtual conference. 

Q: Anything you look forward to working on or learning at TechChange in the next year?

An inside joke that we have on the events team is that one day I’m going to transfer over to the tech team, though I actually have extremely limited knowledge of anything remotely useful needed to perform that job. I never expected myself to work for a technology company, but I’m really enjoying all there is to learn about building our platform, tracking data, and I’ve even dipped my toes into editing CSS and reading HTML a few times. Though I’m much more of an artistic person rather than a technical person, the tech we use has fascinated me more than anything. 

Q: Lastly, what’s something that not a lot of people know about you?

Something that not a lot of people know about me is how big of a heart I have. I care deeply about underserved people, specifically homeless people. One day, I would love to own a homeless shelter in the DMV area to aid and assist the overwhelming homeless population. It breaks my heart every day living in Baltimore to see at least one homeless person on every street, and I would love to be a part of the solution to help them. 

Q: So, tell us more about yourself. How did you first hear about TechChange?

I recently graduated from Swarthmore College, where I studied Educational Studies and Linguistics. During my time there, I was conducting research on minoritized college students’ experiences navigating academic spaces within higher education. I became really interested in learning about and designing educational experiences that best fit the needs of the students. Someone mentioned TechChange as a place that does exactly that — and as a company started by a Swarthmore alum! It seemed like a great opportunity at the intersection of my interests in education, research, and design that I knew I wanted to be a part of. 

Q: How has your past experience prepared you for this fellowship position?

During undergrad, I interned at a bilingual school in Monteverde, Costa Rica, where I developed the curriculum for and taught math and English to elementary schoolers. Working in the classroom gave me the opportunity to observe what students actually need in order to thrive in a learning environment. I was able to apply this knowledge through my curriculum and lesson plans in Costa Rica, and this experience will certainly continue to inform my pedagogical decision-making here at TechChange as well. 

Q: What is your research topic and what are you most looking forward to when conducting this research?

My research question is, “What is a TechChange blended course?” This means that I get to explore the best of what TechChange has to offer in both the synchronous and asynchronous aspects of their courses. I’m looking forward to being able to learn more about the best practices of instructional design through my research!

Q: What excites you about this fellowship and research opportunity?

I’m really excited about the educational philosophy that TechChange carries into every course that they build. Throughout my time as an educator, I have prioritized philosophies such as constructivist educational theory and human-centered design. I see these as crucial for engaging students and adapting to their needs in order to best set them up for success in learning. It is amazing not only to be researching projects that reflect these values, but also to be working with an organization that will continue to center these philosophies in the long-term. 

Q: What is something you look forward to while a fellow at TechChange?

I’m looking forward to working with lots of different members of the TechChange team to learn all about what TechChange has to offer — not just about instructional design, but other aspects such as visual design as well. I am eager to learn and absorb as much as I can! 

Q: Lastly, what’s something that not a lot of people know about you?

I lived in Sri Lanka for a year!