Liberal Studies This Week

Week 16 - New classes on the horizon

2008-05-09T15:53:00.003-05:00

This week, I offer a few descriptions of classes you should see on a future semester schedule, possibly as early as this January.

Week 15 - What to do with an LIS degree

2008-04-29T15:21:00.002-05:00

This week, Gale Kilbury from the UIS Career Development Center, joins us again to discuss marketing your degree. Since LIS majors have all sorts of backgrounds and career paths, it's impossible to cover this topic in a single podcast so this is merely an introduction to the concept. She does provide some good ideas to get you thinking but realize that she, and the entire CDC office, are available to help you with your career plans. (Remember those fees you pay? Here's a way to take advantage of the services they provide.)

If you do nothing else, visit their website and go through the A-Z Index. You might be surprised at all of the services and resources you have at your disposal.

http://www.uis.edu/careerservices/

Week 14 How to read a DARS report

2008-04-22T08:14:00.002-05:00

It's occured to me how often I've spoken poorly of our DARS report, but this is more out of my own frustration with the report than with the efforts poured into creating the report. Even though it can be confusing and cause students to think they are (or aren't) going to graduate, it is an important document because it actually determines whether or not you'll graduate. It must accurately and completely record all of the requirements of your degree so I suppose it's important that you know how to read it. This week, hints on what to pay close attention to and what you can ignore so that the DARS report might be a useful tool.

Week 13 Podcasting on the fly

2008-04-16T07:53:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry, it's been such a busy week that I haven't had time to plan a podcast (or record one for that matter.) I did take a few moments to comment on what you need to be aware of when it's time to graduate and to mention the graduation brunch we have each year for online students.

Week 12 - Preparing for LIS 451 and the new discussion board

2008-04-08T07:49:00.002-05:00

Starting this week, we’ve created a discussion board for you to use to discuss . . . well, whatever you’d like. I’ll start a thread each week to, hopefully, get the conversation going but you are all authorized to start your own threads as well on whatever topic you’d like.

A few thoughts - If you click on the discussion board link, which is also on the main LIS webpage, you will be directed to a log in screen. The log in has its pros and cons. On the pro-side, it means that only people associated with the U of I will have the ability to post and to read comments on the board, so no spam or advertisements. On the con-side (depending upon your perspective) it means your posts are not anonymous, so realize that while you can say whatever you like, you’re email address will be associated with your words.

The board is not monitored so your comments will be immediately posted. I don’t intended to censor your posts but I do reserve the right to remove anything that is blatantly inappropriate.

You will log in using the same Net ID and password but, since this is a U of I system, rather than a UIS system you will need to include @uis.edu with your NetID – so, use your email address rather than your NetID.

This week's links:

The Discussion Board: http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/LIS

The New LIS Degree Plan Form

The New Degree Plan Revision Form

Week 11 - Academic Honors

2008-04-01T09:39:00.001-05:00

In this week’s podcast, I suggested that grades aren’t all that important but, of course, this isn’t really true. I didn’t mean to suggest that you shouldn’t try to get A’s in every class, just that getting A’s in every class isn’t the true goal of education. Learning is the true goal and learning doesn’t always result in perfect grades.

One of the easiest ways to learn is to challenge yourself and to fall short of your goal - of course, this means not getting a perfect grade or all of the possible points on an assignment. When this happens, don’t focus on the grade, focus on the feedback. It may surprise you to know that a faculty member might spend an hour reviewing and crafting feedback on your assignment. Their goal is to help you see where you fell short so that next time you can do better.

Sometimes students take feedback personally or feel that their instructor doesn’t like them because they made critical comments on a paper. Remember that being critical doesn’t equate with being negative. Pay attention to feedback and consider what you can learn from it. If your response to critical feedback is to spend time trying to get your instructor to justify why your excellence wasn’t rewarded with an A, then you’re missing out on a large part of your education. Even worse, by not honestly considering the feedback you’ve been given, you’re practically guaranteeing that you’ll have similar feedback on a future assignment.

So, go out there and do your best to get an A in every class, but don’t be so sure that a B is a bad grade – it isn’t. When you leave UIS, no more than a handful of people will ever care what grades you earned or whether you graduated with honors. On the other hand, a lot of people will notice how much you’ve learned and how you adapt to feedback in the real world.

How to design an LIS degree plan - part two

2008-03-24T19:31:00.002-05:00

9 simple mistakes you can avoid when you plan your LIS degree plan.

1. Make sure you list at least 60 junior/senior level hours.

2. If you entered this process with fewer than 60 completed hours, youmust include 60 junior/senior level hours AND enough additionalhours to equal 120. The additional hours may be at any level and donot require a petition if they are freshman/sophomore level.

3. Make sure you list the same classes in your Learning Strategiespaper and on your Degree Plan form. They both reflect the same planso they should be in complete agreement.

4. If you are planning to include freshman/sophomore level hours aspart of your 60 hours of junior/senior level credit, you mustinclude a petition form for each class with your degree plan.

5.Make sure you correctly include 10 hours of program required courses.

6. Make sure you correctly include 13 hours of ECCE course (or 12 hours of university requirements if you entered prior to fall 2007.)

7. Make sure your plan includes any General Education courses you needto graduate. General Education courses must meet defined standardsso work with the Program Coordinator if you are not certain how tomeet a GenEd requirement.

8. Make sure you include about 2 classes for each Boyer category. Ifyou have less than 2 classes for a Boyer category, you should havediscussed this matter with your instructor BEFORE handing in yourdegree plan.

9. Boyer categories are open to interpretation, but they are notinfinitely open to interpretation. Please be sincere in your Boyerassignments. CSC 320 Intro to HTML and Web Design is never going tobe accepted as a Nature course no matter how much you try torationalize it.

LINKS

UIS General Education and ECCE lists
http://www.uis.edu/generaleducation/curriculum/courselist.html

Transfer Guides for Illinois schools – includes General Education courses offered at other Illinois schools.
http://www.uis.edu/admissions/transfer/

LIS program electives
http://www.uis.edu/liberalstudies/curriculum/courselist.html

Online Course History .pdf
http://www.uis.edu/liberalstudies/students/documents/lisOnlineCoursesFL07.pdf

How to design an LIS 301 degree plan - part one.

2008-03-18T16:59:00.004-05:00

In retrospect, recording podcasts on how to design an acceptable LIS degree plan should have been one of the first things I did when I started working for the Liberal Studies program. In my defense, I started with the program in October 1999 and the iPod was released in October 2001 so there was no such thing as a podcast when I walked in the door. It should have been was the 100th thing I did though.

As I say in the podcast, designing an acceptable degree plan is a requirement of your admission to the Liberal Studies program so it is a key moment in your degree. Still, there is no guarantee that you’ll complete this requirement on your first attempt or even within the confines of LIS 301. My goal for all of you is that you either get it right on the first attempt or that you need some minor tweaking so that you finish up before the end of this semester. I hope these details will help you take charge of the process but please ask questions if you feel the need. If you get have good information and know exactly what's expected of you, you should have little trouble with the process.

I’ll be back next week with more details.

As always, if you have suggestions for future podcast topics, let me know. Any suggestions or feedback on these podcasts will get you entered in the drawing for the 4GB iPod at the end of the semester. I’d mentioned a few weeks ago that the iPod would be white, but it’s actually a grey metallic finish – very cool looking.

(One entry per podcast and/or suggested topic. Just in case we have a visitor to this site, the drawing is open to Liberal Studies majors at UIS only.)

Career Development Center - Part Two

2008-03-04T07:16:00.005-06:00

This week, we continue with part two of our discussion with Gail Kilbury. The Career Development Center has three major workshops coming up this semester. Gale discusses what to expect from these workshops and tells you how to participate.

I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback on last week’s podcast – thank you. Remember, whenever you give feedback, you are entered in a drawing to win a 4GB iPod Nano to be given away to a UIS student at the end of the semester. Any sort of feedback is welcome so if you simply have a good idea of a future podcast, send it in to me. I’m also anxious for constructive criticism so if you can think of something to improve these podcasts, let me know.

One student sent along some excellent constructive criticism dealing with the length of these podcasts. When I first decided to start podcasting, my goal was to find 15 minutes worth of content each week with the understanding that I might occasionally go longer if the need arose. Unfortunately, I’ve gone long as often as not. My goal will be to get these podcasts into a shorter format so that you can listen quickly and move on, even if it means breaking longer interviews into two parts.

Next week is spring break so I’ll return in two weeks. The next few podcasts will focus on how to develop an LIS 301 degree plan so perfect for students who are in their first semester and a good review for others who might be updating their original plans.

Have a good week (and break.)

Career Development Center

2008-02-27T13:17:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the delay and the lack of content this week. It’s been a flu week for me so I haven’t gotten much done, but I did want to at least link you to the Career Development Center.

As you realize, you pay a student service fee every semester and a portion of this money goes to the Career Development Center. To their credit, they have really gone the extra mile to serve online students so your money has been put to good use – but only if you take advantage of their services. I encourage you to look at their website and see how they might serve your needs.

Have a good week.

UIS Career Development Center

Campus Radio - The Prairie Star

2008-02-18T19:14:00.003-06:00

After our podcast recording session, Jim Grubbs and I continued to talk about how students might become involved in campus radio. As Jim mentioned, he hopes to see a series of radio production courses in the future and, of course, students taking those courses will likely have a role in student radio. I was please to learn that he doesn’t see that as the only path to involvement or that students have to wait until that time to become involved.

As you know, the LIS program encourages students to take advantage of independent study options (LIS 380 or LIS 499 for LIS elective credit or AST 301 for ECCE credit.) In each of these options, students pursue a particular area of interest and, in the end, present what they’ve learned. This might be a traditional research paper, or a learning journal, or a series of poems. It all depends upon what the student has studied. But, consider that you might also present what you’ve learned as a radio program.

For example, this August will mark the 100th anniversary of the Springfield Race Riot which was one of the precipitating events that led to the creation of the NAACP. A local student might develop an independent study around this historical event. They might read through oral histories housed in the UIS library or interview the children of people who live through and were affected by the riot or they might look at the cultural ripples that resulted from that event and others like it. Wouldn’t this research project make an interesting radio program? It could even be a multi-part series.

Or, maybe you work with children in your career. Wouldn’t it be interesting to present our Presidential election process through the eyes of children? What do they feel are the important issues? You might ask them to write essays and have them read them aloud. Or, you may have a roundtable discussion which you record.

Student radio opens up a whole new forum to present your ideas and your learning. Jim said that all of his spare time is consumed with running the radio station so please don’t contact him directly with ideas. If you’re interested, however, contact me and let’s discuss your idea. This way, we can work out the details and prepare a proposal before you approach him.

Have a good week.

The Prairie Star
UIS Oral History Collection
The 1908 Race Riot

ECCEs and University Requirements - UPDATED

2008-02-12T07:48:00.003-06:00

This may not be the most interesting topic to write about but it is a key element of graduation so it’s worth the effort.

If you completed a course (even if you failed the course) at UIS prior to the fall 2007 semester, you are still required to complete the orignal set of university requirements. As you probably know, this means 12 hours of PAC, LSC and/or AST with at least 4 hours in at least 2 of the three areas. The PAC and LSC prefixes will be phased out after the summer schedule, but many of the PACs will continue on as part of traditional program offerings. If you do not complete these requirements this summer, you will still be allowed to take the PACs in their new form to complete your requirements.

If you started with UIS this past fall or the current semester, you will complete ECCE requirements. ECCE is not a course prefix like PAC or LSC or LIS, it is a group of courses that potentially come from all academic programs. This can make it hard for you to identify ECCE courses, but there will be resources to help you. Each semester, the General Education website will provide a semester course list. It will note GenEd courses as well as ECCE courses. In addition to this, I will make sure that the LIS webpage provides a reasonable list of ECCE requirements for each semester.

There are three categories of ECCE courses: US Communities, Global Awareness, and Engagement Experience. To complete the requirement, you must take at least 3 hours from each of these ECCE categories. In addition, you must take 3 hours of ECCE electives (you may pick from any category) and you must take Speakers Series. This is 13 hours.

U.S Communities (3 hours)
Global Awareness (3 hours)
Engagement Experience (3 hours)
ECCE Elective (3 hours)
UNI 301 Speakers Series (1 hour)

ECCE Fuzzy Math -

The ECCE requirements were created with 3-hour classes as the base for all offerings except Speakers Series so, according to the design, a student would need four 3-hour courses and one 1-hour Speakers Series to meet the requirement. As you progress, you will discover that there are also 4-hour ECCE courses (no sooner do you plan than exceptions arise.) If you take a 4-hour ECCE, you can “split” the credits to count under two of the required areas. For example, you might take a 4-hour US Communities course. This will meet the 3-hour requirement for US Communities and give you 1 hour of the 3 hours you need for ECCE elective.

So, while the ideal ECCE scenario is one 3-hour course in each of ECCE categories, one 3-hour ECCE elective, and Speakers Series (5 total classes), it is possible to complete the requirement with different combinations as well. The key factors to remember are: you must have at least 3 hours in each of the three ECCE categories, you must have Speakers Series, and you must have 13 total ECCE hours.

You are allowed to take Speakers Series a second time. Remember this if you end up finding two 4-hour ECCEs since it will help you reach the 13 hour requirement. For example, a 3-hour US Communities, a 4-hour Global Awareness, a 4-hour Engagement Experience and Speakers Series will cover all the ECCE categories and it will give you 2 of the 3 hours of ECCE elective, but this only adds up to 12 hours. Taking Speakers Series in a second time will bring you up thte 13 hour requirement.

If you have questions now, or as you move through your degree, ask me. I realize that this is remarkably complicated, but I’ve worried about it enough that it makes sense to me and I can help.

Have a good week.

UPDATE:

I'm just discovering something about ECCE Electives. You are safe to assume that ECCEs from the three ECCE categories can count as ECCE Electives, but there are classes that have been approved to count as ECCE Electives only. This means, for example, that you can use the list of Engagement Experience ECCEs to select an ECCE elective, but you can't necessarily use the ECCE Elective list to select an Engagement Experience ECCE.

Technology

2008-02-05T08:16:00.000-06:00

For the past few years, I’ve been reading news articles about the “$100 laptop” and have been waiting to see what will come of it. If you’ve never heard of this, in a nutshell, the goal is to mass produce a laptop that costs $100 so that having a laptop might be an achievable goal for everyone. You can hear Nicolas Negroponte discuss the project here.

I’ve had the opportunity to get a “$100 laptop” and it is an amazing piece of technology. One of the most interesting aspects is mesh networking. I’m not a techie so this is in layman’s terms, but each laptop has the ability to wirelessly seek out other similar laptops. This allows any XO laptop (the name given to the “$100 laptop’) to network with other XO laptops without special equipment and without an Internet connection. Also, because many of the potential users live off the grid, the XO laptop does necessarily require users to plug it into an outlet for charging. My XO came with a traditional cord, but they also offer solar blankets, hand cranks, and bicycle-like pedal to generate a battery charge.

With all of the technology we have available to us, the XO laptop might seem like little more than a toy, but imagine how it might impact your life if you lacked resources. Imagine a grade-school child living in the desert of a third-world country. The child may not have electricity and certainly may not have a telephone. That child could start up an XO laptop and, using mesh networking,, seek out a classmate miles away. Then, without benefit of the modern infrastructure we all take for granted, those two children could discuss a classroom assignment by video conference. And, as their XOs create a mesh network, if an XO happens to be within range of a wireless Internet connection, they'd all have access to the web and all of the information it provides. It boggles my mind.

In the not too distant past, it would have boggled my mind that students could earn degrees online, or even take an individual class online. We live in amazing times in which we not only have access to incredible technology but in which we expect technology to continue to amaze us more and more each year. So, I’m curious, what kind of technologies are you using to learn and to work? Clearly, the Internet plays a major role, but what sort of gadgets and technologies make your life, your work, and your learning possible? Give us a review (and give me a reason to buy more gadgets:)

Have a good week.

This week's links:

Digital Divide

XO Computer and One Laptop Per Child

Week 3, Spring 2008 - Student Scholarship

2008-01-29T08:32:00.000-06:00

One of the best aspects of being a Liberal Studies major is the ability to pursue your interests even if there are no classes available to assist you. LIS 380 Exploration of Learning Resources, LIS 499 Independent Study, and AST 301 ECCE: AST Project allow to you develop a class around your academic interests.

Admittedly, it takes some up-front effort to develop your own course so it’s much easier to simply take a traditional class, but the up-front effort can pay off huge dividends. Remember, this up-front effort will involve you considering what you’d like to learn, what resources you’ll use to learn it, your method for learning it, and how you’ll present or document your learning at the end. This means that the resulting class should incorporate the sort of learning you enjoy and it should perfectly match your learning style – remember Kolb? So, consider all of the classes you’ve taken in which you’ve said, “this would have been a great class if only . . . .” The up-front work of developing an independent study is your chance to fix all of the “if onlys” so that you end up with your ideal class.

I’ve helped a lot of students consider independent study ideas and, just as there are many types of LIS students, there are many types of independent study ideas as well. But, all of their ideas share one thing in common: they’re all fun. I’m not saying that all of the ideas are my idea of fun, but their ideas are certainly fun to them. So if you’re considering an independent study, the first question you should ask yourself is, “what do I enjoy?” Too often, we forget to think of academic interests and scholarship in these terms but you know from experience that your favorite courses are the ones you enjoyed, even if they meant working yourself ragged.

Some students actually enjoy reading scholarly journals and writing about their findings – they tend to get PhDs and teach at universities – but there are other options when you have the chance to design your own course. Maybe you would enjoy writing a series of essays about U.S. politics. Maybe you would enjoy promoting local conservation efforts by developing a webpage. Maybe you would enjoy studying local history by developing a walking tour. Maybe you would enjoy writing the Great American Novel (or at least the first chapters.)

If you’re considering an independent study and don’t know where to start or just need someone to help you brainstorm, give me a call. Realize that independent studies do not have to conform to traditional semester boundaries so it’s possible to start and complete one at any time.

I would like to spend a future podcast discussing independent studies and I’d like to talk to students who have done them. If you’ve completed one or you’re in the middle of one and you’d like to discuss your experience, let me know.

Have a good week.

This weeks links –

1st Annual College of Arts and Science Webposium
LIS Independent Study Proposal Form

Week 2 Spring 2008 - Advice for success

2008-01-21T18:31:00.001-06:00

This week’s podcast focuses on success which begs the question, what is success, particularly when it comes to earning a degree?

To some, success may be finishing up a degree that was begun many years ago. What better success, after years of putting other priorities first, than to hang a framed diploma on the wall?

To some, success may be the getting the promotion you’ve deserved but couldn’t have until you completed a degree. Or, moving out of a dead-end job that barely pays the bills to the ground-floor of a true career.

To some, success may be the good-natured race to graduation with a child who is also in college. Or, it may be inspiring a younger child to pursue education by putting your money where your mouth is and doing it yourself.

To some, success may be earning A’s in every class and graduating with the highest possible honors. And, success may be building upon this experience by pursing a graduate degree and maybe even a doctoral degree.

I like all of these answers and there are many more, probably as many answers as there are students. For me, succeeding as a student is about rising to every challenge and giving your studies everything you have to offer. Realize that my answer has nothing to do with grades. I’ve had the opportunity to review (WOW!) tens of thousands of transcripts in my career and, in all of those transcripts, grades rarely told me anything about the effort given by the student or, more importantly, whether the student learned anything.

If you’re blessed to be a “good” student, you know that you can put in less work and get a reasonable grade. I’m embarrassed to admit I earned an Associate’s Degree because I was one of those smart kids in high school. I had a lot of fun those two years, but I rarely went to class. It was only due to my being a “good” student that I was able to pass. Believe me, if you have to choose your blessing, chose to be an “okay” student or even a “poor” student. Yes, you’ll have to work a whole lot harder than the “good” students, but in the end, your B’s and C’s will mean much more and you may have actually developed and grown as person.

Eventually, I came around as a student and I began to show effort. As I’ve shared with a number of LIS students, I have one F on my undergraduate transcript. I enrolled in a writing course and never attended. At the time, I was working two full-time jobs and intended to drop; I just didn’t, so I failed. I’ve made a vow to myself. I’m perfectly happy to fail and I’ll gladly accept an F, but next time, I’m going to earn my F by trying my hardest.

Thanks to those who sent in advice and please, consider this topic open. I’ll continue to pass along ideas as you sent them. Just today, I read an email from Beth that includes some great advice.

“If I could help advise new LIS students, first I would say...Welcome, there are lots of students of all ages and backgrounds in this program. You will likely see some of your present classmates in future classes (I have). Don't be shy about exchanging phone numbers with others. It is nice to talk to others "off the record" and outside of a discussion board. It helps us to stay motivated to share thoughts, questions or just to talk.”

I’ll leave it up to you to determine how comfortable you are with exchanging phone numbers, but there are lots of other ways to communicate (email, instant message, Skype) and Beth is correct that this type of interaction can be vital to your success, particularly for online students. You don’t have the luxury of bumping into classmates at the bookstore or cafeteria or library but don’t let this prevent you from discussing classes on your own terms, outside of a formal environment.

Have a good week.

This week’s links –

UIS Center for Teaching and Learning
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University
The Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Welcome to the Liberal Studies This Week Blog

2008-01-14T15:35:00.000-06:00

Please join me every week to discuss ideas presented on our podcast available at UIS on iTunes U http://itunes.uis.edu/

This week, I'm looking for your advice to fellow students. Do you have special study techniques that you rely upon to succeed? How do you combine the needs of your job, your family, your community AND have time to do homework? What books or websites do you turn to when you have a question about writing?

Whatever your advice, let me know. You can post it here or you can call me and leave a message - 800-323-9243. If you leave a phone message, start with your name and the city you're calling from. If the audio quality is good, you may hear yourself on next week's podcast.

Andy