Robin's Advisee Blog

Goodbye for now...

2009-09-04T14:33:00.001-07:00

It's been a pleasure working with all of you and I look forward to staying in touch and seeing your careers progress in the future!

Best of luck!
Robin

Graduation!

2009-05-16T06:56:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to the ALOP graduates!

Here's a little pomp and circumstance to get you in the mood...
(the part you're most familiar with starts 1:14 into the song)

Congratulations!

Advice to students participating in graduation on Saturday

2009-05-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

All graduates:

if at all possible, pick up your graduate gown before Saturday. They pack them in little bags and they are full of wrinkles! (and I know you want to look perfect for all those graduation photos! :-)

speaking of photos, there will be two professional photographer shots that you will have the option to purchase: one taking as you are getting your diploma/shaking the President's hand, and one in front of a Drake backdrop right after you exit the stage.
Hanging your gown (not the hood) in the bathroom during a couple of steamy showers should get out most of the wrinkles.

Women graduates:

try on your cap ahead of time and see if you need to bring bobby pins or not.
unless you're wearing a button down shirt tucked into your pants/skirt, you'll want to bring a safety pin to pin the "string" on your hood to your blouse/top so that it doesn't choke you. (the design was originally based on the idea that everyone graduating would have on a button down shirt...i.e. men.)

See you Saturday!

APA manual version 6!

2009-05-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

There is a new APA manual (version 6) due out in July. They also promise updated website, blog, tutorials, FAQs, etc. Read more about it here.

Free APA Manual!

2009-05-02T17:47:00.001-07:00

One of the graduating ALOP students has graciously agreed to donate her APA manual to a current student. (I can't believe she doesn't think she'll need it after graduation! :-)

Email me at Drake if you're interested...first come, first get it!

Graduation and Registration

2009-03-11T08:51:00.001-07:00

At this point, you all fall into one of two categories: graduating or registering for summer/fall classes (although I know some of you fall into BOTH categories until the end of the summer.) So here's some info and reminders:

Graduation

Here is the link for all things graduation.
I believe we're up-to-date, but if you are graduating spring 2009 or summer 2009 you need to complete a graduation application (available online under MYDUSIS). You must complete a graduation application whether or not you are attending the commencement ceremony.
If you graduated December 2008 or are graduating spring 2009 or summer 2009, you are eligible to participate in the commencement ceremony on May 16. If you previously did not want to participate in commencement but have changed your minds (you know who I'm talking to), please let me know ASAP and go the the bookstore ASAP to order your cap, gown and hood.

Registration

Registration will officially open March 30. A registration schedule will be distributed sometime this week to let you know exactly when you can start registering (it's based on your school--we're school of education--and the number of credits you completed before spring 2009 semester.) I'll post the schedule here when we get it, but you should also find it in the announcement section of BlueView.
This registration is for both summer and fall classes.
Summer and fall class schedules are both available online through MYDUSIS.
If you want to meet with me to talk about your schedule (or if you need to do "the stickers" to plan your classes) send me an email and we'll make and appointment.

Here comes winter...again!

2009-02-12T04:23:00.000-08:00

Our brief glimpse of spring is over and we're expecting snow again starting Friday (and starting Thursday for our Omaha friends). This is a good time to review class canceling policy.

Local TV and radio stations will announce closures. You can also call the Drake Cancellation line, 515-271-4545. If possible, closures will be announced on http://www.drake.edu/. However, since the people that handle the Drake communication channels work during the week and our classes are on weekends, you will often need to rely on your instructor to communicate class cancellations.

For students in classes with me...I will email your Drake email to let you know about class cancellations and will post an announcement on Blackboard and/or any other class communication tools (like a class blog). You are, of course, also welcome to call me. It's likely other instructors will do the same thing, but if you're not sure, feel free to give your instructor a call or send an email.

(Here's an earlier blog post on Drake's emergency plan. Drake's emergency plan is also available through the main page on BlueView.)

Free Event: Combating Job Displacement in Des Moines

2009-02-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

Rochelle Rudd (ALOP) works at Kaplan and wanted me to share this in case any of you (or anyone else you know) is interested.

Event: "Combating Job Displacement in Des Moines"

Description: Kaplan University will host a FREE event open to the public to assist displaced workers from recent layoffs that have been hitting the Des Moines metro. Our goal is to prepare displaced workers for the next step whether that is Job Searching, Changing Careers, or Continuing Education.

Multiple sessions will be held covering the following topics:
Effective Job Search Strategies, Unemployment, Resume Development, Strategies for Career Changing, Online Applications, Marketplace Trends, Entrepreneur-SBA, Interviewing Skills, Computer Skills, Online Networking, Utilizing Temp Services, and Furthering Your Education.

Presentations will be given by Principal, CDS Global, Robert Half Technology, Midwest Professional Staffing, Community Support Advocates, 2 The Top, Kaplan University, and Iowa Workforce Development. Computer labs and resume critiquing will also be available.

Date: Friday, March 6th

Time: 12:00-4:00

Where: Kaplan University, 4655 121st Street Urbandale, Iowa 50323

Additional Info: Kaplan University will also be holding a Career Fair open to the public on Thursday, March 12th.

Questions: Contact Lori Gelhaar, 727-6844 or lgelhaar@kaplan.edu

Job posting

2008-12-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

Manager – Learning Operations (Rockwell Collins)
Cedar Rapids, IA (TAL00000008)

Description
This position reports to the Director, Learning and Development. The principal purpose of this position is to manage the employee and leadership course delivery and coordination and the enterprise performance management process. Additional responsibilities include oversight of project management in Learning and Organization Development organization as well as the daily operations of the Learning Management System and career development tools.

Provide leadership and performance management for the Learning Operations team. This also includes an overall working knowledge of the L&OD organization budget.

Provide consistent learning and development practices across the organization to achieve economy of scale, provide more efficient and effective (cost and learning) teaching methods, and ensure a rigorous evaluation process.

Requirements
Bachelor's degree in appropriate discipline, and eight years of related experience, or, in the absence of a bachelor's degree, fourteen years of related experience.
Rockwell Collins is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse global culture that values teamwork, integrity, innovation, leadership, and an unwavering commitment to our customers.

Share your advive with new ALOP students!

2008-12-09T05:04:00.000-08:00

(from Jeff Mease)

Do you remember your first Friday night class in the Drake adult education program? Were you nervous, scared, excited, or maybe a little bit of everything? I know I was very excited to finally be there while equally convinced that I was only person in the room who didn’t know anything.

What helped me to survive were the friendships that I made with my fellow classmates. Their advice and insights were extremely helpful as we ventured into new subjects and tackled big projects. Together we discovered a website or a book that made a class easier to get through. I learned a few tips like buying my books online instead of at the bookstore that saved me time and money. I’m sure you’ve got a few tips and tricks yourself that could help the next class of students.

Here’s your chance to share with others the resources that you’ve found helpful in your studies. As part of my final project for the class ALOP-298 Using Emerging Technologies for Learning, I’ve created a wiki to collect your insights and advice for the future students of our program.

For those not familiar with what a wiki is, it’s a webpage or collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content – think Wikipedia on a small-scale. I’m asking you to contribute to our wiki. It will be a collection created by Drake adult education graduate students for Drake adult education graduate students.

Instructions:

Click on this link to open the ALOP Advice wiki
In the navigation panel on the left-hand side, I’ve created some pages to organize the content. Click on a page to view the current material
To add your own material, click on the “Edit This Page” button at the top of the page
Add your content. Please start your entry with your name and graduation date.
Click Save and you’re done.

Please feel free to forward this to others in the program that I missed.

Thank you for your help with my project; and on behalf of those students who have yet to enjoy their first Friday night, thanks for your advice.

ALOP 291 Dissemination Night

2008-12-09T04:24:00.001-08:00

Mark your calendars--dissemination night for ALOP 291 will be held April 28, 7:00p-9:30p upstairs in Olmsted.

What is dissemination night?
It's a chance for the students in the applied research class to talk about their research projects in front of friends, colleagues, family, and other students.

Why should you attend?
To support your colleagues and to see what it's like before you have to take research! (plus it's a great chance to see the types of projects students do for this class.) And there's dessert and coffee!

2 New Visitor Spots in SOE Parking Lot

2008-11-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

We've always had the 30 minute visitor spot next to the back door of the School of Education, but we've just added ~~4 additional~~ 2 additional visitor spots in the parking lot next to the handicapped parking spots. No time limits given on these spots.

So now when you come in for advising or other appointments you may not have to park on the street!

If you're graduating May or August 2009....

2008-11-05T15:40:00.000-08:00

There are several things you need to do.

First, you need to tell yourself you're going to attend commencement.

If you are graduating in May or August, you are eligible to participate in the commencement ceremony held May 16. I strongly encourage you to participate in the graduation ceremony. Many of us travel in professional and personal circles where we know many people with graduate degrees and may lose sight of what a tremendous accomplishment this is...but if you look nationally, the number of people with masters degrees is a small percentage of the population. This is a great accomplishment. You should be proud of yourself and consider participating in commencement. And, if you don't want to do it for yourself, do it for your family, spouse, significant other, and your kids who have shared the graduate school experience with you and who will want to celebrate this accomplishment with you as well!

Second, you need to complete a graduation application.

To get to the online graduation application, go to MYDUSIS
Click on the Student Services tab
At the bottom of the left colum is the channel for the grad app
As you complete the application, be sure you print it. If you are not given the option to print it, it may not have "taken"

Finally, you need to order your graduation gown!

You will rent a cap, gown and hood (you get to keep the tassel! :-) I'm quoting the bookstore when I say that you need to place your order before January 6 or you get "the crappy robes." After all this work, you at least deserve the high quality robes! To order your robes or ask any questions, go in to the bookstore, call or email:

Judy Elings
jelings@nebook.com
515-274-3401

Judy will be able to tell you the information she needs to include with the order (hat size, etc.). Payment is due when you place your order.

We'll see you at graduation!

Spring Registration Times

2008-10-09T04:08:00.000-07:00

In case you have not already seen it, here is the schedule for spring registration:

If you earned 27 credits or more by the end of summer semester, you can begin registering Monday, Nov 3, 3:00 PM

If you earned 15 - 26.999 credits by the end of summer semester, you can begin registering Tuesday, Nov 4, 3:00 PM

If you earned 0 - 14.999 credits by the end of summer semester, you can begin registering Wednesday, Nov 5, 3:00 PM

As always, you can register for classes through MYDUSIS.

Deadline for December Graduates

2008-09-22T12:11:00.001-07:00

If you are planning to graduate this December (end of Fall semester):

Congratulations!
You must complete a Graduation Application and submit it by October 1! The form is available electronically under the student tab on BlueView.

APA Tutorial

2008-09-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

Now that we're a few weeks in to fall semester and you are working on prework and other papers for classes...it's time for a reminder on APA and the resources that are available to you!

We now have an APA tutorial available through BlueView.
To access the tutorial:

We also have APA resources on the ALOP website (including my favorite "cheat sheet" by Degelman and Harris at Vanguard University). The ALOP website also has general writing support (keep scrolling to see it all!).

As a student, you can also get one-on-one feedback on your papers (and other writing-related help) through the Drake Writing Workshop. It's a great, but underused, resource for you!

New Drake Email

2008-09-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

As you know, last weekend the Drake email system was updated. This means several things for you:

your email has CHANGED. Your email is now Firstname.Lastname@Drake.edu (of course using your first and last name!)
when you go into BlueView and click on "email" you will see a new logon screen (and then a new email interface)
when you log in to webmail you use your email name (Firstname.Lastname), not your student ID number

Why do you care about Drake email? Because all your class info and all official Drake communications will be sent to your Drake email!

If you have questions about the new email, feel free to call the Drake help desk at 515-271-3001.

Advisee Blog Survey Results

2008-09-04T15:06:00.001-07:00

Thanks to those of you who completed the (very short!) Advisee Blog survey. Here are the results:

Q1: will you read the advisee blog if it contains content interesting or useful to you?

The majority of the respondents said "yes." Although several people said they forget to look at it and appreciate email reminders to check the blog.

Q2: What would you like to see as content for our advisee blog?

There was a 3-way tie for first place: Logistical and administration information and topics related to Training & Development, and Technology
There was a 2-way tie for second place: Topics related to Leadership and Higher Ed
Third place: Topics related to HR

So here's my plan:
Q1:

I will continue to send email reminders
I will add a post later in the semester on blog aggregators so you can, if you're interested, set up your own blog aggregator and make it easier to keep up with new posts in this blog and others!
A blog "aggregator" or blog "reader" goes out and finds the new blog posts for all the blogs you have selected and presents all the new posts in one place (it "aggregates" them). This means you can go to one place and read all your blogs--a real time saver!

Q2:

I'll continue to include logistical and administrative info in the blog but will also add Training & Development and Technology posts. To a lesser degree I'll add Leadership and Higher Ed posts too.
For the fall, I'll be keeping a separate technology blog as part of ALOP 298--Using Emerging Technologies for Learning. I started this blog for class last year and will continue to add to it. Some of the posts may be a little "techie" but others should be interesting! So feel free to check it out last year's posts! (they won't all be on the screen-- click the "2007" on the right side of the screen to see the 2007 posts)

Thanks again for your feedback!

Student ID

2008-09-04T14:40:00.001-07:00

Getting a student ID:
If you do not have a student ID, the student life office (located in Olmsted, next to the pay parking lot) is now open extended hours for student IDs:

Monday-Saturday 8:00a-10:00p
Sunday 10:00a-10:00p

Why do you want a student ID?
First of all it's your library card. But you can also get student discounts with your student ID. Add a comment to this post and list the discounts you have received or know you can get with a Drake student ID so everyone can take full advantage of it!

Parking at the SOE

2008-09-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

We've been asked to remind everyone that the School of Education (SOE) parking lot requires a Drake parking sticker ($140/year); including nights and weekends.

Also, although it used to be OK, we have been asked to not park in the Lutheran Services parking lot east of the SOE because they moved some client-serving deparments into the building and want to be sure they have enough parking for these clients. The best (legal) option for students without parking passes is to park on the street.

Fall 2008 Announcements

2008-08-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Fall semester! A few announcements as we start a new semester:

New Drake Webmail & Email Outage
As you know, unless this is your first semester, you can access your Drake email through the "Email" icon in BlueView. That email program will be changing to a more full featured email program. The email change is scheduled to take place over Labor Day weekend. This means two things for you:

When you log on to your Drake email after Labor Day it will look different
There will be no Drake email (student or faculty) from Friday, August 29 11:00pm through at least Aug 31, and probably until Sep 1.

(if you do not know how to access your Drake email and are NOT taking ALOP 242-Living, Learning & Leading in the 21st Century), let me know and I can tell you how to log in to BlueView and your Drake email).

Petition of Candidacy
Now that you all are officially accepted into the ALOP program, the next administrative step is to complete a petition of candidacy. The petition is plan of which classes you will be completing which semester. You need to complete this petition by the time you have 12 credits, but most students find the sooner they do it the better! If you have not yet completed a petition of candidacy, send me an email after classes get started and we can schedule a time to get it done!

Have a great fall semester!

Change in credits for fulltime student status

2008-08-15T09:02:00.001-07:00

I've been getting a few questions about the impact of the change in the fulltime credits on financial aid (including student loans). Here's the situation:

Full time for grad students was 12 credits, but has been lowered to 9 credits starting fall 2008.

This really doesn't impact financial aid for those of you who have been getting financial aid as part time students. Financial aid has always had the guideline of half-time status eligibility. So now you must take a minimum of 5 credits (9 credits / 2 = 4.5 credits, rounded up is 5 credits) to be considered a half time student and to be eligible for financial aid.

If you have specific questions, you can call the Student Financial Planning office (aka "financial aid") at 515-271-2905.

BlueView & MYDUSIS maintenance

2008-07-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Once a month, BlueView and MYDUSIS are taken down for maintenance from 4:00pm until about 10:00-ish. You can still reach Blackboard and Drake email by using these direct web addresses:

Blackboard: http://bb.drake.edu/
Email: http://webmail.drake.edu/

For planning purposes here's the schedule for the maintenance dates for the rest of 2008:
July 11
August 8
September 12
Octover 17
November 14
December 12

Drake System Maintenance

2008-06-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

BlueView and MYDUSIS will be unavailable at approximately 4:00 p.m. on Friday, June 13, 2008 due to routine maintenance. These applications will be available again at approximately 6:30 p.m.

You can still access Blackboard and webmail directly (without going through BlueView) at the following web addresses:

Blackboard: http://bb.drake.edu
Email: http://webmail.drake.edu

For planning purposes the next maintenance windows are scheduled for:

Friday, August 1 - NOTE: This is expected to be an extended maintenance window possible lasting through August 3 in order to upgrade blueView to the current vendor release. (but you can still get through BB and email through the direct web addresses)
Friday, September 12, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008

Drake Internet Outage--Friday, June 6

2008-06-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

FYI:
The Office of Information Technology is planning an Internet maintenance outage scheduled for Friday, 6 June 2008 beginning at 4:30 PM, Central Time (U.S.).

The Internet maintenance will improve the quality of service to the internet offering at Drake. The maintenance outage scheduled will last 30 minutes.

Internet Services functions will be unavailable during the maintenance outage as connectivity will be taken down while migrating to a new service. All Inbound and Outbound functions will be unavailable during this time, including:

Mail service, including sending and receiving mail
Access to the blueView home page
Blackboard
Internet access Drake

APA Update

2008-05-22T14:00:00.001-07:00

I received the following from a former student who is now a writing teacher and consultant (Cecelia Munzenmaier):

If any of your students have EBSCO create reference citations for them, they may find the database name replaced by a DOI identifier, as in this example Whitmeyer, J. M. (2000). Power through appointment. Social Science Research, 29(4), 535-555. doi:10.1006/ssre.2000.0680

This is correct, according to the update to electronic reference style at http://www.apastyle.org/elecmedia.html

Another change is that the retrieval date is no longer required for sources that are unlikely to change.

These changes are summarized at http://www.apastyle.org/elecmedia.html

New Policy: You can take six credits before you are admitted

2008-04-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone-

I just learned of a change of policy that will take effect Fall 2008.

Currently, students are allowed to take up to 12 credits before they are officially accepted into any graduate program in the School of Education. Beginning Fall 2008, students will be able to take 6 graduate credits before being accepted into the program.

What does this mean for you?
If you have not yet completed the admissions process and been accepted into ALOP...you'll want to do it by the end of the summer. Here is the admission process, but if you have questions feel free to give me a call or send me an email.

FYI: Billing of tuition and fees

2008-04-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

Beginning Summer 2008, billing of tuition and fees will be sent to students via BlueView. The student will receive an email notice that their billing statement is available on-line. The student will be directed to BlueView, then to the Student Services Tab. Their statement will be available in the "My Drake Account" channel. Students can view their statements and make payments on-line, if they choose.

Any questions regarding your statement or if you are experiencing any difficulties accessing your statement through BlueView, please contact the Office of Student Accounts at 515-271-4777.

Heads up on Drake email fraudulent messages

2008-04-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Drake Community,

Drake OIT is notifying its Webmail customers about an abusive email practice in which a fraudulent message requests that the Universities Webmail customers submit personal information online.

Drake OIT emphasize that we never uses electronic communication to request personal information, and it is warning consumers to delete suspicious email and report encounters with the abusive practice known as "phishing." "Phishing" is typically an electronic attempt to acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, birth dates, passwords, bank account or credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity.

The suspicious email message was sent last week to Webmail users with Drake Email accounts. It falsely claims an affiliation with Drake while making a request for personal data.

Customers who encounter a suspicious email or website claiming an affiliation with Webmail should report the information by reporting it to the Drake Service Desk (x3001).

Joseph M. Dworak
Director Computer & Network Services Office of Information Technology

FYI: Presentation April 24

2008-04-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

I thought this might be of interest to some of you.
From the Society for Technical Communication Central (STC) Iowa Community:

We have an exciting presentation opportunity coming up next week if you are interested in attending. Nationally-known humorist and speaker Dalton Hooper (http://www.wordsandwit.com/index1.html) will be presenting Why is a Microphone Like a Breath Mint? Mr. Hooper will be sharing his tips for public speaking and presentation skills with us while making the program informational and fun!

Program details are included below:

Date: Thursday, April 24, 2008
Time: 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Location: Christopher's Restaurant, 2816 Beaver Ave., Beaverdale, IA 50310
Cost: $35.00 (includes cost of meal and program)
Contact: Eden Picht at (515) 577-9891 cell or at epicht@shazam.net if you are interested in attending this program.

Please contact Eden by Monday, April 21, and she will assist you with registration for this program.

STC Central Iowa Community
www.stc-centraliowa.org

Bucksbaum Lecture April 9

2008-04-04T16:33:00.000-07:00

As many of you may know, Drake hosts several lectures each year as part of the Bucksbaum lecture series. April 9th at 7:30pm, Erik Peterson will speak on the Seven Revolutions initiative, and will explore issues leaders will face out to the year 2025.

It should be a fascinating night of future trends, insights and implications for leaders and the rest of us. This should be interesting and useful no matter what your concentration (Training & Development, Leadership, HRM or Higher Education).

Consider getting together for "dinner and a lecture" with some of your ALOP colleagues or, since it's free and open to the public, feel free to bring your non-Drake friends and family too!

"Mis-matched" higher ed course numbers for registration

2008-03-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

I suppose it's inevitible that when you restructure a program (like ALPD to ALOP) there are bound to be a few technical snafu's. Here's the first one:

Apparently the course numbers for the classes in the higher ed concentration have different numbers in our brochure and on the stickers, than the numbers that are listed in MYDUSIS. Of course, this has the potential to be confusing for you because we're starting registration next week. So here's the scoop:

You think the number is: -----MYDUSIS thinks the number is:
ALOP283:Seminar in Stud Svcs--ALOP284:Seminar in Stud Svcs
ALOP284:Hist & Phil of High Ed---ALOP282:Hist & Phil of High Ed

We're going to try to get them synched up, but if we don't, you now know what you need to register with minimal confusion! No matter what, if you go by the title, you'll be all set!

Sorry for any confusion!

Short Notice! Jane Elliott in Ames tonight!

2008-03-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

I just heard that Jane Elliott (creator of the Brown eyes/Blue eyes diversity exercise) will be presenting an interactive workshop tonight at ISU in Ames. It's a wonderful opportunity if you can make it!

Here's the info:
"The Anatomy of Prejudice"
Jane Elliott
7 p.m., March 27
Memorial Union Sun Room
Free and open to the public

Did you get your "free" MS office software?

2008-03-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Reminder: one of the benefits of the tech fee you pay each semester is that you can pick up a copy of MS office (for the macintosh or windows). If you have not yet picked yours up, you can get it in the basement of Carnegie Hall before 4:30p Monday-Friday. Currently they are distributing office 2003.

For everyone--I recently heard that they are going to start distributing 2007 (windows) and 2008 (macintosh) in June and because it's a version change you can pick up a new disk whether or not you've picked one up in the last year! I'll try to send you a note when they are available, but you might also want to make yourself a reminder to call the help desk in June (515-271-3001) and see when the new versions are available.

Summer & Fall registration

2008-03-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

The summer and spring courses are now available on MYDUSIS.

Also posted on BlueView is the schedule for when registration opens for each of you.

Here it is in a nutshell: Registration dates are based on the number of credits you earned as of the end of Fall 2007 semester (since we're in the middle of spring semester, you technically have not yet earned your spring semester credits and that's why we don't count them.)

The dates/times for School of Ed, graduate students are:

18 or more credits -- Mar 31, 3:00pm
less than 18 credits -- Apr 1, 3:00pm

You should be able to register through MYDUSIS.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

Summer/Fall Registration

2008-02-22T10:00:00.001-08:00

The summer/fall registration dates will be March 31 to April 7. (the exact date & time you are eligible to register is based on the number of credits you've earned and will be announced soon.) If you would like to meet and talk through your schedule, let me know and we can set something up!

BlueView & MYDUSIS down this weekend

2007-12-13T18:42:00.001-08:00

FYI...

blueView and MyDUSIS are scheduled for extended maintenance starting at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 14 and ending at approximately noon on Sunday, December 16.

Comings & Goings

2007-12-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Amy who is graduating this December. (yahoo! Way to go!)

Welcome to Peggy who was just officially accepted into the program and joined my group of advisees!

Some info on fall grades

2007-12-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

I know many of you need your grade information for reimbursement so here's some info on grades:
Faculty have between today and Jan 2 to enter grades. Students should be able to see grades one day after they are entered, which means your grades can show up in MYDUSIS anytime between Dec 11 and January 3. Of course when grades are entered depends on the due dates of your projects and your professor's schedule.

If you need to submit your grades for reimbursement before some specific date in December, I'd recommend contacting your professor and I'm sure s/he will be as accomodating as possible.

Enjoy your winter holidays!

Graduation Tasks

2007-12-06T04:04:00.000-08:00

I believe I've spoken with each of you for whom this is relevant, but just-in-case...

if you're planning to graduate December 2007, Spring 2008, Summer 2008:
--congratulations!

--you need to complete a graduate application which is available in the Dean's office in the School of Education

--your graduation date is whenever you finish, but graduation ceremony is only held once a year in the Spring. Each of the three completion dates listed above are eligible to participate in the Spring 2008 graduation ceremony

--if you are participating in the graduation ceremony (and I think you should!) be sure to order your cap and gown rental at the bookstore. The required date for this is BEFORE JANUARY 3. (generally you can order a bit after that, but you're likely to get the "cheaper" robes in your rental. After all this effort and time, I think you deserve the nicer robes...so get there before the 3rd!)

Let me know if you have questions.
Robin

Cancelling/postponing classes due to winter weather

2007-11-28T16:29:00.000-08:00

You may have seen the recent email from Provost Troyer on closings/delays/cancellations of classes due to winter weather.

One additional note: because our classes are offered on the weekend, the usual outlets for sharing the closing information (TV, BlueView, weatherline 515-271-4545) may not be up-to-date. The weatherline is likely to be the most accurate, however the best bet is to contact your instructor. Better yet...before the bad weather begins, make an agreement with the instructor/class as to how information will be shared about class cancellations/delays due to winter weather. (FYI: in my classes we'll talk about it, but in general I email students and post the info on Blackboard)

(also see my earlier post on Drake's emergency response plan)

Blackboard Outage

2007-11-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

FYI:
------------------
Attention all Blackboard Users:

Re: Critical Information concerning the availability of Blackboard

The Office of Information Technology has rescheduled the upgrade to the Blackboard system for
Sunday, December 2 beginning at 6 A.M. and lasting until approximately noon.Blackboard will be unavailable to users during this time.A notice will be posted when Blackboard is once again available following the upgrade. Check the Announcements channel in BLueVIEW for the update status.

For specific information regarding the features provided by the upgrade, see the attached document.

If you have questions, please contact:
Dr. Peggy SteinbronnManager, Instructional Technologypeggy.steinbornn@drake.edu515-271-4510

GREAT Learning Resource for Learning Computer Applications

2007-11-05T13:06:00.001-08:00

As part of your tuition (and tech fee) you have access to the entire tutorial library of Atomic Learning. These are online tutorials for a wide range of software from the MS Office suite (word, excel, powerpoint, access), other popular applications (like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Illustrator), the Apple iLife series (itunes, iphoto, imovie, garageband), development applications (like Flash and Fireworks), online applications (like Google docs) and a whole lot more!

You still need to have the application on your desk to use the product (i.e. you can learn about Photoshop with the tutorial, but you still need to buy Photoshop if you want to use it to edit your photos), but it's a great resource.

Atomic Learning is a subscription site so you can't navigate to it directly, you need to go through BlueView. Once you've logged in to BlueView and arrived at the home page, click on "How do I" and Atomic Learning will open in a new window.

So...if you've always wanted to learn how to use some new software, or make better use of the software you already have, check out Atomic Learning!

Leadership: Networking & Relationships

2007-10-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

I know several of you are in the leadership concentration. Here are a few blog posts from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL--one of the premier leadership development organizations in the world) describing:

Maybe not earth-shattering...but good, quick, reminders!

Spring Registration

2007-10-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hopefully you've all seen an email announcing the times/dates for spring registration. Registration starting date/time is based on the number of credits you've already earned. Just in case you missed the email, here they are again:

if you have 25+ credits as of the end of summer semester--registration opens Oct 22, 3:00pm
if you have 13+ credits as of the end of summer semester--registration opens Oct 23, 3:00pm
if you have 1+ credit as of the end of summer semester--registration opens Oct 24, 3:00pm
If you have <>

Of course, you register online through MYDUSIS.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Another member to our advisee group!

2007-10-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

Welcome Kimberly who is not new to ALOP (having taken classes for several semesters) but is new to our advisee group. Welcome aboard Kimberly!

Registration and a Resource

2007-10-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

Registration
We're narrowing in on the registration dates for Spring semester...it will start the week of Oct 22!

Another Resource
Drake has always offered professional and career development services for undergraduates and now they are extending the invitation to graduate students. They might still be on a bit of a learning curve with grad students, but give them a try...they want to help! Support from them might include career assessment, review of cover letter and resume, mock interviews, etc. You can access them through the website or by contacting Kelli Turner (kelli.turner@drake.edu, 515-271-1978)

Spring/Summer Schedule

2007-10-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have emailed you the ALOP class schedule for Spring and Summer 2008. I don't have the final dates yet for registration (it's in the end of October/beginning of November timeframe), but I'll let you know once I hear when it is. In the meantime, if you want to meet to talk about your schedule before registration, just let me know and we can set something up.

You'll notice that the dissemination night for ALOP 291 -- Applied Research, our capstone class-- is May 1, 7:00pm. This is a night that's open to the public, during which the ALOP 291 students share their research. It's a great time to support your classmates, learn something new, and (if you haven't taken research yet) get some insight into the kinds of research projects students undertake! Consider putting it on your calendar and joining us!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Emerging Technology Blog

2007-09-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I'm teaching a new elective this semester called "Using Emerging Technologies for Learning" (ALOP 265). I'm not blogging TOO heavily in that class (I'm too busy reading student blogs!) but I will have a post every week or so. If you are interested, feel free to take a look at my blog for that class.

Drake Emergency Response Plan

2007-09-24T07:14:00.001-07:00

It's possible for a variety of emergencies to occur at Drake. This includes weather emergencies, and since we're on the cusp of winter (I realize it's going to be in the 80's today, but it is the end of September!), I thought this would be a good time to remind you of some emergency procedures.

To help faculty, staff, and students be as effective as possible in emergency situations, Drake has just released its most current emergency response plan. I encourage you to take a look at it...it's located in BlueView, on the home page, under Campus Alerts.

Here are a few highlights:

Drake security: Drake's security can be reached at: 515-271-2222 (non-emergency) and by dialing 811 from campus (emergency).

Communication: Primary communication will be through the Drake's intranet. In case of emergency, I encourage you to monitor BlueView, your Drake email, and http://www.drake.edu/ (which will be the information channel for the public.)

Severe weather/class cancellations: local TV and radio stations will announce closures. You can also call the Drake Cancellation line, 515-271-4545. If possible, closures will be announced on http://www.drake.edu/. However, since the people that handle the communication work during the week and our classes are on weekends, you will often need to rely on your instructor to communicate class cancellations. For me...I will email students to let you know about class cancellations and will post an announcement on Blackboard and/or any other class communication tools (like a class blog). You are, of course, also welcome to call me. It's likely other instructors will do the same thing, but you may want to discuss this at the start of your classes.

Hopefully now that we have this information we'll never have to use it...but we've got it just-in-case!

Collaboration

2007-09-21T19:07:00.001-07:00

We just had the first night of the "Using emerging technologies for learning" class and we spent some time talking about collaboration. It got me to thinking: how much does how we individually define collaboration impact our participation and success when we collaborate?

For example, what about the purpose of collaboration? if I see collaboration primarily as a faster (better, more efficient) way to achieve a "right answer" or some kind of result; do I collaborate differently than if I see collaboration primarily as a about a communication process? What about structure? Are some of us more or less likely to collaborate depending on the amount of structure or control in the environment? What about the amount of investment/engagement I have in the topic: is there such a thing as a silent collaborator? Is it only an outwardly process? Is collaboration a strickly volunteer activity? Can you "make" people collaborate? Does this limit when people are really collaborating?

I think collaboration is worth thinking about for several reasons:
(1) certainly it's relevant to ALOP; both for you as a student who is "forced" to collaborate as part of your learning process and as someone who likely works and helps others learn in some measure via collaboration. How can being more mindful of collaboration help us in our graduate work, or in our professional work?

(2) I also think it's useful for us to think collaboration with us as an advisee group. Are there ways we can collaborate with each other (in small groups or as an entire advisee group) to maximize our time together in graduate school? Are there "holes" or additions in what we want to learn, that we aren't getting in our coursework? Or can we extend/deepen/expand what we're learning in our coursework through some kind of collaboration with each other?

I'd love to hear your thoughts about collaboration in general, and advantages or the potential of collaboration amongst our advisee group.

More APA Resources (headings)

2007-09-15T15:04:00.001-07:00

In an earlier post I asked you to provide comments with advice and words of wisdom for our new ALOP students. There's one piece of advice so far and it's about the importance of learning/using APA. Of course I agree with that :-) and I want to remind you we had an earlier post with some great APA resources.

(By the way--why is there just one piece of advice for Elisia and Jason and the rest of the new ALOP students? Surely there are more tips you can pass along...share your wisdom!)

Back to APA: In my experience, one of the toughest things for students to wrap their brains around is how to use and format subheadings in papers. The purpose of subheadings is to organize your paper into "chunks" to make it easier for the reader to follow along and grasp what you're writing.

Think of the papers and books that you've read: it's likely that whatever it was did not contain one giant section...more likely, it was broken down into chapters, sections and maybe even subsections under that, which gave an organization or structure to the writing that made it easier for you to follow along with the author. What's the right number of sections? There's no definitive answer for that question...it's whatever makes sense for that paper and what will make it easier for the reader. What's the best way to format headings? There IS a definitively correct answer for that...and the answer is explained in sections 3.31 and 3.32 in the APA manual. (APA is like the I Ching...if you look hard enough you can probably find the answer to all of life's questions in the APA manual! :-)

Here's comes a tip...not only is formatting headings in APA sometimes tricky for students; but it's also one of my pet peeves when it's not done right (after the second time, or third, or fourth, or fifth, or sixth, or seventh....well you get the idea). Seriously, if you take a little time to understand it, it will be easy for you after that.

So here are a couple additional APA resources for you:

The first is a little powerpoint tutorial I put together. It describes how to format headings in APA and walks you through sections 3.31 and 3.32 of the APA manual. Beware...it launches automatically and has sound, so you'll want to know where your volume control is before you start (or wear headphones!)

Besides the APA information, I think this tutorial is a good example of two other things: (1) how you can put together a little online tutorial pretty quickly if you just want to lecture with some powerpoint slides to create a brief learning situation that students can continue to access and, (2) that this is probably not the most compelling bit of learning you'll ever experience (nor is the narration "flawless" when you do it without a script and just talk off the top of your head!) But it reminds us of the tradeoff we always face in training and other performance improvement interventions: that balance between optimal learning/engagement and speed/getting it done. There are advantages and disadvantages of tipping too far to one side and in tipping too far to the other side of that balance. Anyway...consider taking a look at the tutorial if you need to brush up on your APA heading formatting.
If you want to skip the tutorial and the APA manual, here's a great website that let's you click on the number of heading levels you have in your paper, and it will show you how to correctly format the headings.
And, of course, you can always ask me or any of the faculty any of your APA formatting questions!

Instant Messenger

2007-09-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder, I run AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) at work and home. It's a great way to ask me questions, stay in contact and just say "hi!". My AIM name is: RLIndbeckDrake.

Actually I have several instant messengers (IMs) that I use (I have clients and others on different IM systems). Of course, most of these IM systems won't communicate with each other. Fortunately, there are several programs that "merge" all your IMs into one viewing area (officially, they are "multi-protocol instant messenger clients"). The one I use is Pidgin. If you also run multiple IMs consider giving it a try!

Resource: Drake Writing Workshop

2007-09-13T08:16:00.001-07:00

Here's information on the Drake writing workshop It's called a "workshop" because it's a place for you to "work" on your papers/writing, but they work with you one-on-one (it's not a class). It is a great resource! (and one that I think is really underused by our students!)
-----------------------------------------------------------

The WRITING WORKSHOP is now open for student appointments.

There is a new sign-up procedure. Students can sign up online at the following website:
http://turing.cs.drake.edu/wws.html

Students may also phone the workshop 271-2729, Elizabeth Robertson (the director) 271-3806 or the English Department, 271-3777 with questions, or if they are having difficulty making an appointment.

Writing workshop hours:

M-Th: 225 Howard Hall (various morning and afternoon hours available.)
M-TH: Room 23 Cowles Library 7-10 pm
Sunday: Basement, Herriot Hall 7-10 pm

(Here's a Drake campus map if you need to look up these buildings.)

ALOP Glossary wiki

2007-09-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

It never fails that each class presents vocabulary and acronyms with which students are unfamiliar. Prior to this semester, I tried in each of my classes to get a list going of acronyms and terms (and the related definitions). Sometimes these lists would be on flipcharts, sometimes in Blackboard, but inevitably we started over in each class each semester. So to end that madness, and help us all, I started an ALOP Glossary wiki that we'll use in all my classes from now on.

What is the ALOP Glossary Wiki?
This link will take you to a glossary wiki that everyone can add/edit to create a useful glossary for current and future students!

What's a wiki?
A wiki is a webpage with content that anyone can easily edit and change without knowing any programming. It's another tool in the broad category of social media that allows for collaboration and the sharing of ideas. Although wiki's have been around for about 10 years, they were much less well known prior to the development of wikipedia (an encyclopedia the content of which is developed through a wiki), which is certainly the most well known wiki.

Here's a great short video by Lee Lefever at Common Craft that goes through an explanation of wikis. (I pointed you to his RSS in Plain English video in an earlier post. I love these videos--yea!)

Wiki's can be hosted on local servers or accessed through third-party websites for free or for a fee. Of the free sites, I use wikispaces which has easy to use text formatting, choice between private, open, and limited control over who can edit, but there are pop-up ads. I sometimes also use PB Wiki which used to have limited formatting (still does in its "classic" editor) but who recently came out with a fairly full featured editor and there are no ads. (it still defaults to the classic editor, so if you try it out select choose "point-and-click edit" in the upper, right corner of the screen to get to the new editor.)

(wiki trivia: the name "wiki" comes from WikiWiki which means quick in Hawaiian.)

How do I use this (or any) wiki?
Using any wiki involves the same steps:

Go to the wiki page
Get into edit mode
Make your additions, edits, deletions
SAVE YOUR CHANGES

Really, you can just go to the ALOP Glossary wiki and get started. But if you want a little more explanation, here are some specific instructions for how to use the wikispaces wiki (which is where the glossary wiki is located).

Note: because the ALOP Glossary is on wikispaces (and not part of Blackboard or any other Drake-specific system) you can access it directly from any browser.

Welcome two new advisees!

2007-09-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

We have two new ALOP students who have joined my group of advisees: Elisia and Jason.

Feel free to leave comments with your words of welcome and, just as important, your words of advice! (maybe the things you wish someone had told you when you were starting the program!

Welcome Elisia and Jason!

RSS

2007-09-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that it's possible to have a "home" page (also called a feed reader, or an aggregator) that checks for new content in a variety of blogs and news posts...saving you from having to check each of these sites each day. To do that, you use RSS (Real Simple Syndication). Here's a great little video by Lee LeFever at CommonCraft explaining the concept of RSS.

For example, I have a feed reader where each morning I can scan about 15 blogs I've identified with content on technology, training & development, leadership development, breaking news, the weather, and even a few sport scores! It saves tons of time while still keeping me in the loop!
I encourage you to learn more about this! (maybe it's something you want to work on together?)

("what's a blog?" according to USC Anneberg Online Journalism Review site, blogger.com, and wikipedia.)

Watch out for Quechup

2007-09-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I'm teaching a class on emerging technologies this fall. So collaborative technologies are more on my mind than usual!

Social networking sites have been around for a while with some being mostly social (myspace, facebook), some targeted at business networking (linkedin) and others set up as a social network "for anything." (ning. I'm on a group looking at best practices of second life in higher ed that is using ning.com for all our communications.) You may have heard of these sites and may use some of the yourselves.

Recently many of us have become aware of a new social networking site called Quechup. I did want to bring you a "watch out" for Quechup. Apparently, in an effort to be helpful, Quechup looks at all the people in your address book to see if anyone is already a member of Quechup...to give a head start to your social network. Unfortunately, it also automatically sends invitations to join your Quechup network to everyone in your address book who is not already a member, and it does this without your knowledge, permission or control. (essentially you're SPAMming everyone in your contact list. So my advice, and based on the experience of others ...stay away from Quechup--or pay close attention during the signup and do not have it check your addressbook-- or you'll be sending emails to everyone in your contact list as well...apologizing!

This brings up a series of questions about software you "expose" yourself to, and the precautions you need to take for the safety of you, your computer and your privacy. And your reputation (as in this case where Quechup does not indicate that this is a result of a bot , but makes is seem as if it comes from you!) It also brings up the bigger ethical issue of exposing (involving?) someone else in an activity that has the potential for negative reprocussions for them (Quechup example: if someone responds to the automated invitation to join your network...when they join their entire address book is SPAMmed too! Getting them in potential hot water with their friends, family, customers, contacts, etc). Do we have an obligation/responsibility/legal responsibility if we involve someone to this kind of aggravation? (what's the obligation we have when we pass along a virus?)

Of course, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

More Back to School Info

2007-09-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

(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!

Back to School Update

2007-09-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

(This was originally an email to my advisees)
Hi Everyone-

It's the beginning of the semester, so brace yourself for a long-ish email!

Our fall get together!
A belated thanks for those of you who were able to meet at the Drake Diner...for those of you who couldn't make it you missed a fun night (great malts) and hearing about a couple of very interesting exercise programs that two of us are participating in! There were a couple of topics that came up at the Drake Diner that I want to be sure to pass along.

Each year you can get a copy of the current version of MS office
(pc or Mac) as part of your tech fee. You can pick it up yourself
in the basement of Carnegie, but I believe they close at 4:30.
(The help desk should be able to provide you with more info: 515-271-3001)
I also encourage you to get a student ID (available at Olmsted
Center, but I believe they close at 4:30 as well). Your ID is
your library "check-out" card, but it also can be used to get you
student discounts and various products and services! Bridgette
suggested I organize another ID/software-pickup night some Friday
night after 5:00. I'll keep you posted.
As a card-carrying, tuition-paying student you also have access to
the fitness area at the Bell Center . For specific questions about access, services, and classes for students, I'd suggest giving them a call: 515-271-3173.

Advisee Survey
Thanks to those of you who completed the advisee survey I sent out in August. The survey was sent to 34 former and current advisees and 24 responded (71%). I'll be using this information to help me think about how I can help create an effective advising "community" for all of you. My hope is that, for those of you who are interested, the communication flow can go beyond the dyad of a student and me, and we can get conversation/support going between all of you as well. (there's a lot of knowledge contained in this group!) As you have ideas for our advisee group, be sure to let me (or each other) know and we'll see what we can make happen! In the meantime, here are some ways to communicate with me:

email (obviously)
cell phone: 515-707-0672 -- this is the best way to reach me...my office schedule is irregular, but you're welcome to try me there as well (office: 515-271-4701)
AOL Instant Messenger: RLindbeckDrake (perfect for those impromptu
questions during the day!)

I'd originally said that I'd given up on the advisee blog idea since you all favor email, but I've changed my mind (for a variety of reasons). I'm going blog but, at least in the near-term, I'll send you an email when I have a new post! (and at some point, we might want to talk about how you can get this blog--and others--on a "home" page that will check for new content for you rather than have you run out and check all the blogs!)

Of course, if you want to meet in person just let me know and we'll arrange a time!

New People

Bridget Arrasmith (bridget.arrasmith@drake.edu, 515-271-2054) is the new administrative assistant in our department, replacing Bonnie Porter who retired last Spring.
Brittney Flansche (bmf011@drake.edu, 515-271-4006) )is our new (part-time) graduate assistant.

Misc. info for this fall

Drake email. For those of you who have been in the program for a while, you'll know that the LPD/ALOP professors have been pretty good about sending school-related things to your personal email vs. your Drake email. Unfortunately that's over. All faculty is now to
send all info to your Drake email addresses. I realize it's inconvenient (one more email address to check) but it actually makes a lot of sense since ALL official Drake communication has been coming to that email address since the first semester you were registered. It's true all the email hitting your Drake email may not be mission critical for /you/, but you can set up your spam filter to eliminate some of it (like the weekly menus at the cafeteria). Fortunately, the new Drake portal, BlueView, makes it much more convenient to check your email. (you may have noticed that for most of you this email is going to your non-Drake email. We'll talk more about this later!)
BlueView --of course BlueView is more than email--it's one-stop access to all your resources and information at Drake. Once you log in (use your student ID number and your MYDUSIS password. If you've never logged in, it will be your birthday in MMDDYY format.) You can get to BlueView from the main Drake webpage (upper right of the screen) or get to it directly by going here (take a look at the quick guide and change your password too).

Once you log in to BlueView take a look around the screen and the tabs to see all the resources, information, and news to which you have access in one place. Among other things, you can get to your email, Blackboard and the library from this page (and no need to re-entry your ID and password again!) Give it a try, I think you'll like it!
Phone List. I've emailed you a list of commonly called numbers at Drake for your reference.
Petition of candidacy. Reminder: you'll want to complete a petition of candidacy by the time you have completed 12 credits. If you're getting close to 12 and you still don't have a petition, be sure to set up a time to meet with me this semester.

I think that's it for now. Have a great fall semester!

Robin