More Back to School Info

(this was originally an email to my advisees)

People
The graduate student support position in the School of Ed (SOE) Dean's office (formerly held by Lori Richman) has been filled by Debbie Dodge (515-271-3727, Debbie.dodge@drake.edu). She's obviously on a learning curve since she's new to the position, but Debbie will be a great resource when you run in to problems with registration, forms, etc.

Dates
Here are some important upcoming dates:

• Oct 5 Spring 2008 schedule of classes are live on the web (spring registration dates are still to be determined, but will be in the late-October/early-November range)
  
• Dec 9 MYDUSIS opens for faculty to add grades. Grades are DUE Jan 2 by 10:00a. (students can generally view grades 24 hours after they are entered)

(Another) Informational Handout
I've emailed you (another) handout that lists useful information for new (and maybe even you more experienced) graduate students at Drake.

APA
As may of you already know, in the ALOP program we require papers to be formatted according to the APA rules of style. Why APA and not MLA, Chicago, or something else? Because the vast majority of the scholarly professional journals in our fields (adult learning, training & development, HRD, performance improvement, leadership, HR) use APA. We want you to be facile in APA to make it easier for you to consume articles from these journals, and to make the transition that must easier if you decide to write for some of these journals in the future!

I'm a fan of the APA Publication Manual (the official style guide for APA--the spiral bound is best because it will lay flat on your desk) I encourage students to purchase it, but many students don't feel it's worth it because you actually only need to know "a little" of the total APA formatting for the papers you write for our classes. So I want to point you to two other resources as well:

• Cecelia Munzenmaier, ALPD alumni and professional writer, will be doing a brief introduction to APA as part of ALOP 242: Living, Learning & Leading in the 21st Century. She's agreed to share her collection of APA resources with all the ALOP students. These resources include a useful 6-page handout, an editing checklist, links to online tutorials, and information about citation-making software. The Strategies for Learning APA handout is a 2-page introduction to basic principles and reliable resources. We definitely appreciate her willingness to share these with everyone!
  
• We also have some APA resources on the ALOP website (scroll down, there are lots of resources listed). My guess is that many of these overlap with what you'll find on Cecelia's APA website, but it's definitely worth a look.That's it for now. Have a great semester and let me know if you have any questions, etc!