Short Answers for Education MA Apps

[stellacalifornia]

I am applying to a few MA programs in education (educational technology, to be exact), and a few of the applications require short answers (1500 characters max).  For example, in the scholarship portion of the Columbia app, it asks:

Have you worked or volunteered in your anticipated program of study? If yes, please provide the details (e.g. teaching, event support, other jobs).

If there are other pertinent aspects of your previous academic work and/or work you plan on doing in the future that you would like to share, please feel free to add this information.

Are the answers to these questions meant to be mini essays, or simply where I list my experience?  I would be happy to explain myself more than I already have in my SOP, but I don't want to bore or annoy the admission committee by repeating any information.

Does anyone know the purpose of these short answers?  What are admissions committees looking for here?