JustinMcCreary

=Justin McCreary - Internship=

Timesheets

Reflection #1
These first few weeks with my internship have been an interesting experience, and that is largely due to the fact that my mentors have a great deal on their agendas, making it difficult to meet and discuss with them this internship. Still, they have met with me on a number of occassions to discuss this internship and what was expected of me. Once I presented the initial idea for the internship, I discussed with them the needs of the company and its employees and how we could meet those needs. The company is currently hiring a great deal of new employees, as well as transferring many current employees to new departments, in order to handle the overflow of Freddie Mac and HAFA loans that Chase is currently working and they have a limited amount of time and resources to train these new employees. When I was first hired at the company, it was nearly three weeks before I received any official training on my job. My supervisor identified that the company needed to provide instruction for current and future employees on the subject of Freddie Mac. We knew that the employees had either limited or no knowledge on Freddie Mac, so we needed to cover both the basics and the rules behind it. I was asked to create instructional materials over the course of this internship that could be used both online and in a classroom, so as to reach the maximum number of employees. This would include PowerPoint presentations on Freddie Mac, and videos on selected materials further down the road. I would also need to create instructional materials that explain the Freddie Mac process.

We then came upon my own needs for this internship, I have no previous knowledge of Freddie Mac or the process. In order to accomplish this need, I was given links to information on Freddie Mac, and told which information I needed to learn and be able to explain. I am also scheduled to meet with the company's Job Aids in order to learn the process of Freddi Mac loans. Once I have met with them, I can begin working on describing the process. Currently, I have read up on all of the necessary information relating to Freddie Mac loans, the rules that must be followed, and the information that needs to be filled out by the borrowers. By doing this I have gained a greater understanding on Freddie Mac loans and how to better explain them to others. I also knew that I needed to complete some examples of instruction for my supervisors so that they would better understand what I would be doing for them this semester. To accomplish this, I designed a number of PowerPoint presentations for my supervisors that cover the terms and information on Freddie Mac that I have learned. They responded by telling me that they found my PowerPoint slides to be informative and effective. Now they have a better idea of what I will be doing for them during this internship, and what they can expect from me. I know from experience that telling someone what you can do for them is one thing, actually showing it to them is another. These early drafts will be used as handouts in classes, as there is too much information to be covered in any video at one time. To better learn how to do this, I will need to meet with the Job Aids in order to learn the key points that they identify in there instruction, since they have experience in explaining this material in the limited amount of time that they are given. Once I have met with them, I can begin working on videos and more concise materials for the company to use, as well as a flowchart describing the FHLMC process.

On the topic of videos, I knew that my superiors were not familiar with Jing videos, so I made sure that they knew the benefits of Jing by sending them a video. I created this video myself in order to explain what one can do and record with Jing and then sent them a clip. This way, they know what forms of instruction I can provide them with this recording tool, and then they can decide what sorts of videos that will want me to create for them in the future. They thanked me for the example, and told me they were in no rush for the videos because it will take far longer for them to implement the videos in the company than it will to implement my PowerPoint presentations. Once again, once I meet with the Job aids, I will begin to have a firmer grasp on the company's needs as well as the process behind Freddie Mac.

Below are some examples of the PowerPoint presentations that I have been creating for them:



Reflection #2
Shortly after submitting my first timesheet I met with my mentor to discuss the next phase of my internship. This involved meeting with the company's Job Aids to go over my current materials and find out what they can use, what they need me to change, and what they would like in video format. They also needed to discuss with me the FHLMC process, because while the reading materials discuss the rules and requirements for the FHLMC loans, it does not explain the actual process flow that needs to be followed, that needs to be explained as it is very complex. While a time was being scheduled, I continued my work by creating additional PowerPoint slides that explained other Job requirements and rules that need to be followed and were requested of me to create with PowerPoint.

Unfortunately, a the demands of the company required training with the aid of the Job Aids and my mentors as well. Some were sent away and many things going on at my branch had to be put on hold, including my internship. I was stuck at an impass, I had completed everything they asked of me that I could do on my own and the next stage could not continue until I spoke with the company's Job Aid and instructors. Rather than do nothing and wait, I continued to work on my internship in other ways. I used the down time I had to get a head start on my annotated bibliography, which took a great deal longer than I thought. It was difficult finding appropriate full text articles that related to my internship, but with time, I found and summarized several articles that I found to be appropriate. I then took the time to go over the PowerPoint slides I have currently done for any obvious typos or inconsistancies, and prepared to send them to my mentors when they returned. I also took the time to look over my fellow classmate's interships, reflections, and timesheets. They were impressive, and I wrote comments on the discussion board for each of the students internships assigned to me in my group.

Not long after, my mentor and the Job Aids returned, and I met with my mentor again to discuss my intership once again. The Job Aids needed time to catch up with work that they had missed, but I have been scheduled to meet with one of them this coming week to discuss the next part of my internship. I was then asked to make a folder with all of the materials I had created so far, along with a summary of what I had done and what was expected of me in the internship, and send it to the Job Aid so they would know what to discuss with me next week. I wrote up the summary and sent the information to her as soon as possible. I then used this weekend before my meeting to continue work on my annotated bibliography, since I am not sure that I will have time once I have met with the Job Aid and began the next step in my internship. I have currently found 12 articles for my annotated bibliography.

This [|link] will show what I have for my annotated bibliography so far:

Also, here are some additional examples of the PowerPoint Presentations that I created in the past few weeks:

Midterm
Here is a link to my midterm page.

Reflection #3
The original meeting I had scheduled with Ms. Lavida Smith Jordan was rescheduled due to her becoming ill, so to aid the company in the meantime I volunteered to create additional PowerPoint presentations that were not originally asked of me, but would still be beneficial to the company as they were in need of instructional materials. I then created PowerPoint slides that describe the CCW software being used by Chase. My mentors were very pleased with the results.

I then met with Ms. Lavida Smith Jordan to discuss the progress of my work in the internship. She was impressed with my work so far, and asked if it would be possible to create more concise slides for class presentations. I told her it was possible, and began my work on re-creating my currrent slides into a more concise format. Once I had done this task, I sent the updated slides to them, and I continued to look over them for any potential improvements that I could make.

Next, I began working on my Midterm page and video describing my progress so far in my internship. During the past few days, Ms. Laveda told me that the company instructors were once again sent to New York to continue tutoring the new employees there. She was, however, able to acquire information from the Job Aids in relation to the FHLMC process and while it would take some time, I planned on reading through all of it and then begin the next set of slides for my internship. This would take longer than the last batch of slides I created since I am reading through even more information than before, and this information is not in an organized fashion, so I had to analyze the information piece by piece to find what I need. I also came down with a bug that has been going around and I needed to take some time off to rest up. I still found some time to begin reading the information, and I asked to speak with one of my mentors.

I then began reading over the information relating to the FHLMC process and creating questions to ask Ms. Laveda as some of the information was difficult to understand and I needed help and assistance to figure out some of the more complex parts of the process. When I did have my second meeting with Ms. Laveda we learned that I did not have all of the information that I needed to fully understand the FHLMC process and Ms. Laveda said that she would acquire the information and send it too me as quickly as possible.

I have now spoken with my mentors and they have given me the next task for my internship by creating PowerPoint slides describing the FHLMC BAU process. Since the entire FHLMC process would take far more time than they orginally anticipated, they asked that I create PowerPoint slides that describe the part of the FHLMC process that they needed. I have begun reading over the new information that I was given and will continue to read over everything and then complete my rough drafts of the PowerPoint slides describing the FHLMC BAU process once the EdTech conference is over. While I have begun some rough drafts of the FHLMC process, unlike my previous slides, they are not entirely sure if I can post these slides that relate to the BAU process. Once my mentors receive confirmation from their superiors, I will begin posting my latest slides.

Reflection #4
After returning home from the EdTech conference, I began work on the PowerPoint Presentations that describe the FHLMC (Freddie Mac) BAU process. This required a great deal of work as there was a large amount of information that needed to be explained for each portion of the FHLMC BAU process. The first presentation I completed was for reviewing estimated HUD statements. A Housing and Urban Development (HUD) statement is a document prepared by a closing agent that provides an itemized listing of funds that are paid at closing. This PowerPoint described how to read a HUD and where each piece of vital information was located on the HUD. This is especially important since all of the information found on the HUD1 is needed to complete the FHLMC process.

The second presentation described the Freddie Income Calculation Job Aid. The reason for this was because Freddie Mac requires income documentation on all loans submitted for liquidation. Those assigned to this job at the company are responsible for calculating the information for the Freddie Mac. This presentation provides instructions and images on using the income calculator to properly calculate all of the borrower's income.

The next presentation explained the Post-Closing Process, which decribes how to properly post close a Freddie Mac BAU Short Sale, what documents are needed, and how to properly update all of the information on the various company systems used.

While most of the sections were about 8-15 pages of information that needed to be turned in a presentation, the main one dubbed "Freddie Mac Short Sale" was 46 pages long and required me to seperate each of the presentations to a portion of the information, resulting in 6 presentations on the Freddie Mac Short Sale. The information found on these six presentations cover everything in the Freddie Mac BAU Short Sale Process from the initial process, the possible need to deny or cancel the short sale, reviewing all of the information to make sure that the Freddie Mac will allow it to process, reviewing all of the vital information for accuracies, sending it to the Quality Assurance department, receiving final approval, and what to do once all of the funds have been received. These six presentations required a great deal of time since I had to first decide on where to best end each presentation and begin the next one. I also needed to include various images to help explain the numerous steps throughout the process, and make sure that everything was properly organized.

The feedback I received from Mr. Ronnie and Ms. Laveda for the all of the presentations I was able to finish for them last week was good, as they were pleased with the amount of detail for all of the steps described in the presentations, as well as the organization of the presentations. They agreed with me in my decision to seperate the Freddie Mac Short Sale information into multiple presentations, and said that I was doing an excellent job. Once they have finished going through the presentations, I will be discussing with them the flowchart they wish to have done regarding the FHLMC process. Though I have read through the information regarding the FHLMC process and the rules and regulations, turning that into a flowchart will take time, as I need to be sure that is covers all of the possible twists and turns that loans can go through in the FHLMC process.

Due to the fact that some of the slides in these presentations contain sensitive material relating to Chase they are unsure of what I am allowed to post until they have gone through them and removed all information that would be considered sensitive information. Due to the size of several of these presentations, and the company's strict policies on posting such information, I do not think that I will be able to post any of them for this reflection.

Reflection #5
Upon completing the FHLMC PowerPoint slides, I spoke with my mentors in regards to my progress. They were impressed with what I wrote, but I cannot post them without major revisions and the elimation of large portions of text and images, so posting them would be quite difficult, and still a concern. Hence why I just described them in my previous post. I then spoke in detail with Ms. Laveda Smith Jordan about the FHLMC flowchart that was requested of me for the internship. We began discussing what the flowchart required and what needed to be described. After our discussion Ms. Laveda said that she would get back to me once she received the information we needed.

In the meantime, I began work once again on my annotated bibliography, finding appropriate articles and then summarizing them. Many of the searches came up with the same articles I already found, but with a little time and effort I found several articles that related to my internship. I then added them to my annotated bibliography paper. I still need to find a few more articles, but I have made some great progress.

I eventually spoke with Ms. Laveda again and we figured out what to write on the flowchart. After we discussed it, I looked over everything that we wrote and thought about how to best display the information. I decided to use Microsoft Excel to create the flowchart since it is a software that I know everyone at Chase has access to, so there would be no problem reading the flowchart. I then built the flowchart and made sure to use some different colors and shapes in the chart so that it did not become stale. Ms. Laveda loved the flowchart that I created. She thought the way it was presented, as well as the use of colors, was an excellent idea. She simply asked for a few minor changes to the flowchart, which I was happy to complete over the weekend.

I also created a number of video examples to show what software such as Jing can do, and how recorded lectures can aid Chase. Though they cannot be used at the company right now, my mentors do appreciate my work and hope that they will be able to use them one day in the future. For security reasons the videos cannot be posted online, but I am allowed to give brief descriptions. For these examples I chose to give recording to some of the PowerPoint presentations I have created in regards to Freddie Mac rules and regulations, including what requirements we must comply with when handling HAFA Short Sales and Deed in Lieu's as set forth in the Freddie Mac policies, and what forms must be completed when considering a borrower for eligibility in the HAFA program. I also made a video where I explain the FHLMC process as described in the flowchart.

While I cannot post the videos, I was given permission to post the FHLMC flowchart that I created.

Here is my flowchart:

My annotated bibliography can be viewed in the google docs [|here].

Final Report
Here is a link to my final report for this course.