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Monash University > News and Events > Monash Memo
Student on a learning curve at Oxfam
7 October 2009
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| Oxfam's Lucy Delahey and Ben Sylvan with Phillip Abramson (centre) |
A Faculty of Information Technology student is undertaking a 22-week Industry-Based Learning (IBL) placement with Oxfam Australia, helping to develop the functionality and user-friendliness of its intranet.
Third-year science/computer science student Phillip Abramson is being kept busy managing the upgrading of the leading aid agency's internal staff website.
Phillip's stint at Oxfam is a milestone for the faculty's IBL program, being its first student placement with a not-for-profit organisation.
Phillip said he was enjoying the opportunity to apply his skills to a broad project that involved extensive research and liaison with a range of Oxfam staff.
"I'm doing a whole range of different things, but my main task has been the upgrade of the intranet; at the moment it is not very user-friendly or easy to navigate," Phillip said.
After conducting a large content audit of the site, Phillip has been running planning and consultations with staff from Oxfam divisions to ensure the end product meets their requirements.
"One of the things I have learnt is that there are never any perfect solutions: we don't live in a perfect world and you have to be able to compromise and develop solutions that are the best possible in the circumstances," he said.
The Oxfam placement is being funded by the faculty's IBL partners with the support of the Victorian Government. Monash University recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of its strategic partnership with Oxfam.
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