Student Employee

Pay Range: Target Pay Range: $15 per hour

Benefits Eligible: No

Work Schedule: Flexible Schedule

Travel: Not required

The Dodge Family College of Arts & Sciences (DFCAS) seeks two OU undergraduates to serve as Digital Literacy Interns for the  academic year. The role brings humanities students into the college’s investigation of how technology access and digital skills shape student success. Interns assist Jeremy Hessman (DFCAS IT Strategist) and work as a research team. Interns will build practical skills in five major domains: qualitative research, technology access auditing, framework development, written communication, and stakeholder engagement.

While being a Humanities student isn’t a requirement, we do ask that you be part of the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences.

Qualitative Research

Conduct interviews and site visits with faculty, staff, and students across DFCAS departments. Surface what digital literacy actually looks like in practice. What does a chemistry major need to know? A film studies student? A philosophy Ph.D.?

Technology Access Auditing

Map the state of technology access across the buildings DFCAS serves. Identify connectivity gaps, software cost barriers, and computing lab limitations that affect student success.

Framework Development

Help draft a DFCAS Digital Literacy Framework that defines tiers of digital competency, maps them to existing courses, and identifies where new interventions are needed. Map national frameworks (NACE core competencies, US DOL AI Literacy Framework, ACRL information literacy standards) onto DFCAS programs.

Written Communication

Produce a Technology Access Audit Report, a Digital Literacy Landscape Map, and contribute to the framework document itself. The deliverables of this role are written products. Clarity, rigor, and audience awareness are the core skills.

Stakeholder Engagement

Build relationships with faculty, IT staff, library partners (Stamps Family Reading Room and Bizzell), and administrators. Make the case for digital equity in terms each audience cares about.

In addition, interns will gain hands‑on experience with several software tools common in the non‑profit, public, and private sectors, including Microsoft Forms, Excel, SharePoint, Outlook, and Teams. Familiarity with qualitative or quantitative research tools (NVivo, SPSS, R, or Python) is welcome but not required.

Interview craft, close listening, ethical reasoning, comfort with ambiguity, and good writing. Technology equity is a question about people: who has access, who does not, and why. Humanities students are well‑prepared to ask and answer that question.

Primary research methodology, framework design, basic data analysis, stakeholder communication, presentation skills, and the experience of carrying a research project from open question to published deliverable inside a working organization. Findings produced in this role are suitable for conference presentation and institutional reporting.

• Internships span 15 weeks per semester, with the option to continue across both fall and spring
• Internships pay $15/hr for up to 10 hours/week (150 hours per semester, the equivalent of a 3-credit‑hour course load under DFCAS guidelines)
• Internships can be taken simultaneously for credit with appropriate academic scaffolding. Students who wish to pursue this option should contact their department chair as early as possible
• Open to any full‑time OU DFCAS student, with hiring preference for majors in the arts, humanities, or interpretive social sciences
• Includes exposure to national conversations on digital equity and AI in higher education

Digital Literacy Internships are useful preparation for any student considering a career in higher education, education policy, the non‑profit sector, or any field where understanding technology equity will matter. The work produces deliverables that go to college leadership.

Contact Jeremy Hessman (hessman) with questions about the internship opportunity.

Apply Here: jobs.ou.edu (Student Jobs, on campus). Job # [TBD] “Digital Literacy Intern (DFCAS).”

Hiring Contingent Upon a Background Check: No