Online Resources for AU Alumni

Here’s a scenario: You just graduated from AU and are trying to land your first full-time job. You want to search for potential employers and you want to improve your interviewing skills. What do you do?

Here’s another one: You graduated from AU 5 years ago, and you’re ready for a new job. You live in New York City, but you’re looking to relocate to San Francisco. How do you start the process?

If you find yourself in one of these, or a similar scenario, then check out the Career Center’s online resources. AU alumni have access to all of the Career Center’s resources including Going Global, InterviewStream, and Vault Career Insider. Here’s how these resources can support your post-college career:

Going Global can help you identify opportunities in the US and internationally. Its US city guides(47 including Atlanta, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, and Seattle) have city-specific job resources including online job sites, staffing agencies, and city career fairs. You can plan financially by using the cost of living information, and you can find professional networking groups. Going Global’s country guides (41 including Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, and the UK) have everything the US city guides have and more including information on work permits and visas, resume/CV guidelines, interviewing tips, and cultural advice.
You can use InterviewStream to practice interviewing before a job interview. It’s a helpful resource if you’re looking to improve your skills or looking for an interviewing refresher.
Vault Career Insider can help you research companies and industries. It’s helpful if you are exploring new career paths or researching potential employers within your field. You can also access Vault’s blog for news and insights on career topics.

Learn more about these resources and access them here. If you’d like more information on AU’s career services for alumni click here. Feel free to contact me with any questions you have about Going Global, InterviewStream, and Vault! I can be reached via email at JNunno@american.edu.

2015 Summer Reading List for Your Career Development

Well, it’s finally here. After all of the late night study sessions, group projects, and scrambling to get papers in on time, summer is upon us! It is a time for rest, relaxation, and of course…reading! Everyone likes to read while they’re relaxing at the beach or at the pool after a long week (and it’s nice to be able to pick what YOU want to read instead of what is listed in a syllabus). If you want books that will stimulate your mind during the summer, consider these options found in the Career Center Library:

Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder by Arianna Huffington

The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg Jay

Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style by Carson Tate

A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas by Warren Berger

The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success by Nicholas Lore

You can borrow these books from the Career Center Library for seven days and you can renew online with your MyAladdin account for an additional seven. Swing by the Career Center to check out our full collection or search for books here. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the Career Center Library! You can reach me via email at JNunno@american.edu.

Writing a Knockout Cover Letter

The biggest challenge to overcome in landing the job or internship you want is the first level of applicant screening. Often this means getting a very bored, junior person to sit up and pay attention to the cover letter and resume you have sent in. Today we’re going to focus on cover letters.

Most people will admit they have difficulty writing cover letters; what they usually mean is that they have a lot of trouble starting cover letters. Here’s a formula for overcoming the writer’s block and anxiety of doing cover letters.

First, ask yourself this question: “As I look at this job/internship posting, what are the three or four most important skills/abilities I have that this employer wants?” The answer is what should go into the first paragraph of your cover letter. It’s a fill-in-the-blank paragraph – usually two sentences and about four lines long – that should look something like this:

“Having (Experience A) and (Experience B), I would like to apply for (title of the position). In addition, I would bring to your company/organization (Skill C) and (Experience D).”

Give it your best shot and don’t be modest. Depending upon what the job description emphasizes, your first paragraph should highlight factors such as: “strong research and analytics skills” … “excellent written and oral communication skills” … advanced knowledge or a foreign language … advanced knowledge of a particular software (other than Word and PowerPoint, which everybody has) … etc. etc.

Now that you’ve finished the all-important first paragraph, the second and third paragraphs should, to some degree, provide more detail and backup for the claims you made in the first paragraph. E.G., “During my two semesters as a Research Intern with Employer X, I worked with experienced professionals on a number of key projects, where I was able to enhance my research, analytical and problem-solving skills.”

Before concluding your letter, be sure to mention important generic skills all employers want – and most of you have acquired – during the course of some internships: “experience multitasking under deadline pressure” … “worked collaboratively in a team-focused environment” … “learned good detail management and prioritizing.”

Have a simple wrap-up sentence; e.g., “Thank you for considering my qualifications. I look forward to hearing from you.”

DON’T !

Use over-the-top words; e.g.,: “love” “excited” “perfect” “unique” – it makes you sound immature.
Put your contact info in the last sentence; it should be at the top of the letter.
Write more than three-quarters of a page, down to your name at the bottom.
Go on-and-on about how much you admire the employer. One sentence is enough.

Good luck!

The #1 Skill Employers want YOU to have… Oral Communication

This is the first in a series of blogs that will highlight the key skills that employers seek. Each month, an AU Career Advisor will share insights into each skill– how do you develop the skill while at AU, how do you demonstrate, and why is it important? First up: Oral Communication.

“Must have strong oral and written communication skills.”

If you’ve searched for a job or internship, you’ve seen this requirement in one form or another. According to the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the ability to communicate orally is the number one competency sought by employers. So, what does it mean to have strong oral communication skills, and how does your degree prepare you to use oral communication skills in the workplace? The good news is that your American University degree and campus experiences do develop this skill- whether you’ve majored in the liberal arts and sciences or business.

The majority of us can speak, therefore we have oral communication skills. How can you demonstrate to an employer that you have “strong” or “excellent” oral communication skills? Consider your experiences as a student, intern, or employee. In any of those roles, have you:

Conducted a classroom presentation?
Led a student group meeting?
Negotiated with your student group on how to complete a project?
Answered a customer’s question or resolved their concern through explaining a policy or procedure?
Used the spoken word to de-escalate a tense situation?
Provided spoken advice or counsel to a classmate, colleague, client or customer?
Persuaded a colleague or classmate to adopt an idea or to use a particular approach to solve a problem?
Participated in a debate?

These activities and more represent “strong oral communications.” It is the number one skill that employers seek because we all speak in the work place. As a baseline, employers seek employees who can articulate their ideas, support their positions, and communicate clearly with their teammates. Most employees must be able to effectively communicate with internal and external customers. Some roles involve the ability to conduct presentations with confidence. All employers want you to be able to communicate in a positive and professional manner.

So, before you write your next cover letter or head out the door to your next interview, consider how you’ve developed this very important skill. Provide the employer with specific examples drawn from your academics, work experience, and extracurricular activities. Articulate these experiences well, and you will have taken the first step to demonstrating competency (even excellence) in oral communication.

Not confident in your oral communication skills? Consider the following:

Nervous about public speaking? Try Toastmasters.
Join the AU Debate Society
Take a leadership role in any AU student club or community organization; ask to lead meetings or projects
Shy? Intentionally work on speaking up in class.
Take advantage of classroom opportunities to be a presenter- don’t cop out in a group presentation and let your teammate do all the talking.
Above all, stretch your comfort zone to improve your skills in public speaking!

Anna’s Pondering the Question of the Week Series, Fall 2015: Tweaking a graduate student resume

Greetings and welcome to the 2015-2016 academic year! As we all embark on our new academic and professional experiences, I’m resuming my blog series to reflect on most interesting, challenging or typical questions that students ask me during our individual appointments. I hope that this will help those who may have similar questions but haven’t had a chance to visit the Career Center yet.

During the past first week of the fall semester, I met with several graduate students who wanted to have their resume reviewed. As they start their graduate programs here at AU, they would like to find a part time job or an internship in the areas of their professional interests. For some students, their new career goals are different from their undergraduate degrees and experience. How would you structure your resume in such situations? Let me give you couple general tips and then we can discuss your particular case at length during an individual appointment.

As you probably know, employers don’t spend much time reading each applicant’s resume. Therefore, you want the employer to see the most relevant information about you first, and it may be your graduate degree that you are currently pursuing. Start your resume with the EDUCATION section, even if you have worked for couple years. State your Master’s degree first, followed by the information about your undergraduate degree.
If your language or computer skills (such as advanced knowledge of Excel, Photoshop, social media data analytics tools, etc.) are relevant for the position that you are applying for, put them right after the EDUCATION section in the SPECIAL SKILLS section.
Review carefully the job description to figure out if you can use any of its language to describe your professional experience. Even if your professional experience has been so far in a different field, many keywords describing skills or activities may be similar, e.g. research, develop, evaluate, database, clients, projects, etc.
Don’t overload your targeted resume with details that are not relevant for the employer. If you apply to an art organization do they really need to know specific lab tests you have worked on as a Biology major? However, your ability to work independently or in a team, perform under pressure, meet deadlines, will be important almost in any profession, in any field.
Include quantifiable results/outcomes whenever possible, e.g. increased by 30%….; delivered presentations to the audience of 30; etc.

Hopefully, these tips will help you start creating a new targeted resume for a new chapter in your life!

Skills Series: Skill #2 – Teamwork skills are Essential at the Modern Workplace

Our second blog in the series on the key skills that employers seek is about teamwork. Most of the projects/tasks at the workplace, be it in the field of business, science, communication, arts, etc., are carried out nowadays by teams. Based on employers’ surveys, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has concluded that employers search for candidates who have the teamwork skills defined as the capacity to “Build collaborative relationships with colleagues and customers representing diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, religions, lifestyles, and viewpoints. The individual is able to work within a team structure, and can negotiate and manage conflict.” What do you need to do to make sure that you are ready to be a productive and successful team member at your future workplace? How would you market your teamwork readiness to your potential employer?

The teamwork at the workplace is a complex process. Given current demographic, technological, social trends, team members should deal with a number of challenges to keep their teams productive and stay competitive. For example, at a modern workplace, you may have to work in teams of various size and structure with people of different educational backgrounds and experiences, twice or three times older than you. Your team may be scattered around the globe in different time zones. Such diverse team composition requires many new competences including intercultural and intergenerational communication skills, creativity, adaptability as well as other essential ingredients of successful teamwork, e.g. strong listening skills, responsibility, and time-management skills.

The good news is that AU students have no shortage of excellent teamwork opportunities as an integral part of their AU experience through academic studies, internships, and extra-curricular activities while building upon the diversity of AU faculty and staff, student body, and resources in DC and beyond. You may have already worked in teams while preparing for group projects and class presentations, practicing for, and playing team sports, planning events and raising funds for your fraternities/sororities or student clubs, working part-time or interning. Through these experiences, you have most likely started building the important teamwork competencies. Make sure that you take time to reflect on these competencies and your experiences and identify ways to grow.

Related: How to distinguish the best workplace harassment lawyer?

Academic Work:

Putting a lot of effort into mastering your academic major will help you build the knowledge base to work productively as a team member at your future workplace. Even if you are not planning or unsure about working in the field of your major, you will still have an opportunity to develop your intellectual capacity and transferrable skills that will help you be a productive team member (consult career guides to learn about transferrable skills related to each AU major)
- To excel in your major/minor, build relations with your professors, attend professors’ office hours, utilize ASAC, pursue research/internship opportunities, attend conferences, professional events, panels on, and off campus.
Some AU majors include more teamwork-based courses while others are more lecture-based and independent research. Both approaches can prepare you well for future teamwork. For example, lectures provide an opportunity to practice your listening and comprehension skills and analyze the professor’s arguments and logic – the ability that helps develop synergies within the team.
Interacting with highly accessible and diverse AU faculty will expand your comfort levels in communicating with professionals of different age groups, education, cultures, etc. Meet with professors during office hours, attend faculty led panels, etc. Look for opportunities to work as a teacher assistant, research assistant.
Many major/minors in humanities, STEM, as well as creative majors specifically focus on fostering creativity, thinking out of the box, and communication skills.
Language courses, courses on intercultural communication, as well as studying abroad expose AU students to different cultures and help build intercultural competencies. When you are abroad, look for opportunities to experience or learn about work-related values and cultural preferences. Reflect on how different/similar they may be to your preferences.
Interacting with your peers during group work for your classes teaches a lot about team dynamics, managing conflicts, time-management skills, as well as diversity. Utilize AU advantage as an institution with high shares of students from other countries, states, religions, lifestyles, and viewpoints backgrounds. Reflect on your experiences in successful and failed group work. What lessons can you use at the workplace?

Internship/Part-time Job

Doing an internship, whether for credit or not, will give you an opportunity to participate directly in a team or observe a team at work.
Utilize the advantages of the AU location by interning during the academic year in DC and exposing yourself to various workplaces and teams: a federal agency, not-for profit organization, international organization, professional association, art/entertainment organization, etc.
Given the fact that DC has a diverse workforce comprised of people from different parts of the U.S. and the world, you have excellent opportunities to expand your intercultural competencies.
At the workplace, continue to be a student, which means to study, through observation and reflection, how productive and non-productive teams operate, to practice good listening, negotiation, and conflict management skills whenever possible.

Extra-Curricular/Campus Life/ Volunteering:

As mentioned above, the diverse AU student body provides a lot of opportunities to learn how to interact with people different from you.
Increase your intercultural competences by attend AU intercultural events organized through ISSS and CDI.
Expand your experience in teamwork by engaging in student clubs, playing team sports, and participating in volunteering projects. Talk to the Center for Community Engagement and Service.
Look for self-development opportunities: particularly as they pertain to improving your teamwork skills in the areas of oral communication, time-management, conflict-management, etc. You will find many workshops on campus, which teach these skills. Check regularly Today@AU and the events calendar.

How to market your teamwork experience and skills in your application materials and at the job interview? Start by preparing a list of specific examples illustrating your experience in teamwork and in building teamwork competencies through your academic studies, internship, work, sports, extracurricular activities, etc.

In your application materials (resume and cover letters), use relevant action verbs and keywords e.g.: collaborate with, worked in x number member team, partner with, interact, communicate, liaise, or serve as a liaison, facilitate, organize, coordinate, etc.
Be prepared to market your teamwork skills at the job interview. The employer may ask questions directly: e.g., Do you enjoy working with a team or independently? Describe yourself as a team member? The employer will also use behavior questions to learn about your teamwork competencies. Such questions usually start with: “Tell me about the time when…. “ “Give me an example when….. “ Ask your career advisor about typical interview questions, check Career Center books on job interviews, research on-line. Practice giving narratives that highlight your specific experiences. Don’t forget to talk about your experience with diversity, managing and negotiating conflicts.
Also, make sure to read carefully the job description and explore the employer’s website to understand any special teamwork characteristics required or desired by the specific employer.
Attend #Ineedajob workshops on resume/cover letters and interviews, offered regularly by the Career Center. Check AU CareerWeb and the events calendar.
Consult Career Center website resources on resumes and cover letters. Practice and record your mock interview utilizing Interviewstream.
Schedule an appointment with your career advisor to have your application materials reviewed and prepare for a job interview.

Educational guidance School counselor

A school counselor is a counselor and an educator who works in elementary, middle, and high schools to provide academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social competencies to all K-12 students through a school counseling program. The four main school counseling program interventions used include: developmental school counseling core curriculum classroom lessons and annual academic, career/college readiness, and personal/social planning for every student; and group and individual counsel for some students.

Older, outdated terms for the profession were \”guidance counselor\” or \”educational counselor\” but \”school counselor\” is preferred due to professional school counselors\’ advocating for every child\’s academic, career, and personal/social success in every elementary, middle, and high school

School counselor roles, school counseling program framework, professional associations, and ethics

Professional school counselors ideally implement a school counseling program that promotes and enhances student achievement.

School counselors, in most USA states, usually have a Master\’s degree in school counseling from a Counselor Education graduate program.

In Canada, they must be licensed teachers with additional school counseling training and focus on academic, career, and personal/social issues.

China requires at least three years of college experience.

In Japan, school counselors were added in the mid-1990s, part-time, primarily focused on behavioral issues.

In Taiwan, they are often teachers with recent legislation requiring school counseling licensure focused on individual and group counseling for academic, career, and personal issues.

In Korea, school counselors are mandated in middle and high schools.

School counselors are employed in elementary, middle, and high schools, and in district supervisory settings and in counselor education faculty positions (usually with an earned Ph.D. in Counselor Education in the USA or related graduate doctorates abroad), and post-secondary settings doing academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social counseling, consultation, and program coordination. Their work includes a focus on developmental stages of student growth, including the needs, tasks, and student interests related to those stages.

Professional school counselors meet the needs of student in three basic domains: academic development, career development, and personal/social development with an increased emphasis on college access.

Knowledge, understanding and skill in these domains are developed through classroom instruction, appraisal^,consultation, counseling, coordination, and collaboration. For example, in appraisal, school counselors may use a variety of personality and career assessment methods to help students explore career and college needs and interests.

School counselor interventions include individual and group counseling for some students. For example, if a student\’s behavior is interfering with his or her achievement, the school counselor may observe that student in a class, provide consultation to teachers and other stakeholders to develop (with the student) a plan to address the behavioral issue(s), and then collaborate to implement and evaluate the plan. They also provide consultation services to family members such as college access, career development, parenting skills, study skills, child and adolescent development, and help with school-home transitions.

School counselor interventions for all students include annual academic/career/college access planning K-12 and leading classroom developmental lessons on academic, career/college, and personal/social topics. The topics ofcharacter education, diversity and multiculturalism and school safety are important areas of focus for school counselors. Often school counselors will coordinate outside groups that wish to help with student needs such as academics, or coordinate a program that teaches aboutchild abuse or drugs, through on-stage drama.

School counselors develop, implement, and evaluate school counseling programs that deliver academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies to all students in their schools.

For example, the ASCA National Model (Hatch & Bowers, 2003, 2005; ASCA, 2012) ^[56] includes the following four main areas:

· Foundation – a school counseling program mission statement, a beliefs/vision statement, SMART Goals; ASCA Student Standards & ASCA Code of Ethics;

· Delivery System – how school counseling core curriculum lessons, planning for every student, and individual and group counseling are delivered in direct and indirect services to students (80% of school counselor time);

· Management System – calendars; use of data tool; use of time tool; administrator-school counselor agreement; advisory council; small group, school counseling core curriculum, and closing the gap action plans; and

· Accountability System – school counseling program assessment; small group, school counseling core curriculum, and closing-the-gap results reports; and school counselor performance evaluations based on school counselor competencies.

· Elementary school counseling

· Elementary school counselors provide, academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies and planning to all students, and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the developmental needs of young children K-6.

· Transitions from pre-school to elementary school and from elementary school to middle school are an important focus for elementary school counselors. Increased emphasis is placed on accountability for closing achievement and opportunity gaps at the elementary level as more school counseling programs move to evidence-based work with data and specific results.

· School counseling programs that deliver specific competencies to all students help to close achievement and opportunity gaps. To facilitate individual and group school counseling interventions, school counselors use developmental, cognitive-behavioral, person-centered listening and influencing skills, systemic, family, multicultural, narrative, and play therapy theories and techniques.

· Middle school counseling

· Middle school counselors provide school counseling curriculum lessonson academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies, advising and academic/career/college access planning to all students and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the needs of older children/early adolescents in grades 7 and 8.

· Middle School College Access curricula have been developed by The College Board to assist students and their families well before reaching high school. To facilitate the school counseling process, school counselors use theories and techniques including developmental, cognitive-behavioral, person-centered listening and influencing skills, systemic, family, multicultural, narrative, and play therapy. Transitional issues to ensure successful transitions to high school are a key area including career exploration and assessment with seventh and eighth grade students.

· High school counseling

· High school counselors provide, academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies with developmental classroom lessons and planning to all students, and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the developmental needs of adolescents. Emphasis is on college access counseling at the early high school level as more school counseling programs move to evidence-based work with data and specific resultsthat show how school counseling programs help to close achievement, opportunity, and attainment gaps ensuring all students have access to school counseling programs and early college access activities. The breadth of demands high school counselors face, from educational attainment (high school graduation and some students\’ preparation for careers and college) to student social and mental health, has led to ambiguous role definition.

· Summarizing a 2011 national survey of more than 5,300 middle school and high school counselors, researchers argued: \”Despite the aspirations of counselors to effectively help students succeed in school and fulfill their dreams, the mission and roles of counselors in the education system must be more clearly defined; schools must create measures of accountability to track their effectiveness; and policymakers and key stakeholders must integrate counselors into reform efforts to maximize their impact in schools across America\”

· Transitional issues to ensure successful transitions to college, other post-secondary educational options, and careers are a key area. The high school counselor helps students and their families prepare for post-secondary education including college and careers (e.g. college,careers) by engaging students and their families in accessing and evaluating accurate information on what the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy calls the 8 essential elements of college and career counseling: (1) College Aspirations, (2) Academic Planning for Career and College Readiness, (3) Enrichment and Extracurricular Engagement, (4) College and Career Exploration and Selection Processes, (5) College and Career Assessments, (6) College Affordability Planning, (7) College and Career Admission Processes, and (8) Transition from High School Graduation to College Enrollment.^[76] Some students turn to private college admissions advisors but there is no research evidence that private college admissions advisors have any effectiveness in assisting students attain selective college admissions.

work meanderings

Its taken a while to get going on my blog. I wonder do I deserve a virtual choc fish for starting and hopefully writing something meaningful.
Source:

A lot has been happening at work. For a start we are lucky enough to have visits from a couple of people involved in flexible learning – Cathy Gunn (University of Auckland) and John Clayton (WINTEC – Hamilton, NZ)….more about this later.

FLUG meets Blackboard head on
I have been busy with the formation of the new and improved FLUG – a group of enthusiasts involved in flexible learning and support. With our organisational strategy of flexible teaching and learning, it was timely to change the name of the Blackboard User Group to FLUG (Flexible Learning Users Group).

We also needed to extend the group – so a bigger cross section of people involved in flexible options here could muck in and get their hands dirty.

This way the small core of enthusiasts and people involved with the Learning Management System will have more of \”a voice\” in some of the changes which are happening here in our organisation. So the Bb User Group has re-birthed as FLUG.

So…what does this mean? FLUG will hopefully provide information to the newly formed Flexible …committee about operational matters and stuff from the coal face. We also hope to assist in developing some sort of flexible learning and teaching strategy which is meaningful for our learners and staff in the organisation.

So who do we think we are…why should we have a say?
Because FLUG hopefully will represent the \”real users\” because it is made up mainly of people who get it. But do we?

We all know that flexible learning is a very important strategy for quality education.What gets me though is that every organisation seems to be busying themselves with the development of strategies for eLearning or flexible learning and teaching…..but what are these strategies based on?? What everyone else has been doing..or on the unique culture within an organisation? The former I believe because it is easier.

It is also easier to follow like sheep and stay with an LMS like Bb – the same as the others. It is also easier to stay with an imposition model – a model where the learners are told what they\’re getting rather than being asked how they want to approach teaching and learning.

The best model for a flexible learning and teaching strategy which I have seen is the one QUT (Queensland University of Technology) developed called the QUT Teaching Capabilities Framework. See overview at:

QUT surveyed staff and students who were using the LMS (Blackboard), to find out what was important to them as both teachers and learners. The project team took their findings and using a process of wide consultation, they developed a framework. This framework now underpins how teaching and learning is offered at the university, and has informed the professional development of staff.

Unfortunately, we have not gone down this track, but have taken the route followed by many. Additionally, we have also developed a teaching qualification without developing a teaching and learning strategy first. Now staff will be indoctrinated into \”a way\” of teaching which may not be right for our learners…or for our environment.

We have broken the first golden rule! We didn\’t find out what our learners actually wanted first!
As a result, our flexible learning and teaching strategy may also not be based on actualities but on assumptions. I believe we do have time to find out what our teachers and learners actually want, what their experience is to date and what they would like to see happening.

Wont this save time in the end! We are in a good position to really do something different and lead flexible learning in a new direction.

I would really like to see us get out from behind the herd, stop the baaing and mooing and get to the green grass first…for a change.

Watch this space to find out how the flexible strategy and the teaching qual evolve.

Short Essay on \’Rani Lakshmibai\’ (220 Words)

\’Rani Lakshmibai\’ was born on November 19, 1835 at Kashi. Her father\’s name was Moropant. Her mother\’s name was Bhagirathi Devi. Laxmi\’s childhood name was Manikarnika but affectionately she was called Manu in her childhood.

Rani Lakshmibai was married to Gangadhar Rao in 1842. Gangadhar Rao was the king of Jhansi. In 1851, the Rani had a son; he unfortunately died when he was barely four months old. Raja Gangadhar Rao could not bear the shock and after a long illness, he died on November 21, 1853.

Jhansi became a major center of the revolt of 1857. Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, began to strengthen security and started a volunteer army. Ordinary people also contributed to the revolt. In 1857, the kings of the neighboring state of Jhansi, Orchha and Datia attacked. Rani Lakshmibai defeated them successfully. In March 1858 the British army besieged the city of Jhansi. But Rani, with her adopted son Damodar Rao was able to escape. Rani died on June 18, 1858.

Rani Lakshmibai was the great heroine of the First War of Indian Freedom. She was the embodiment of patriotism, self-respect and heroism. Her life is a thrilling story of womanliness, courage, adventure, deathless patriotism and martyrdom. Rani Lakshmibai was the real meaning of the ideal heroine. She was proud of not just India but the world\’s women.

innovation JISC online conference

Innovating eLearning 2006 JISC online conference
A couple of entries really caught my eye and very much match with some of the isssues our institution is currently facing. Peter Miller – University of Liverpool
pointed us to the idea of Shared Learning Contexts (SLCs) which are described in Scott Wilson\’s blog at The diagram of the SLC illustrates a learner-centred model using open source technologies.

Geoff Stead\’s statement summed it up really – \”VLE fervor has put shackles on a lot of creativity from people like ourselves who earn a living using technology to service learning. Five years ago we were creating learning tools that assisted low-literacy learners to find their voice and publish themselves online. We created project-based environments to share problems and strategies for dealing with low maths skills. But these things are impossible within SCORM (the standard VLE materials need to comply with) Almost 100% of the demand we get for resources to support learning need to fit into the lowest common denominator of VLEs … namely: a single thread of learning objects, each one insular, curriculum mapped, with no connection to the learning process, no inbuilt dialog / saving / thought origination for the student. So yes, they have provided an excuse for less adventurous staff to hide behind. But they have also imposed a set of standards on all purchasing that have ended out stamping out a lot of creativity that was previously embedded in the resources as well. And all with the best intent! \”

Some of the replies to this statement, referred to the usefulness of VLEs for staff new to eLearning. My thought on this is that we have basically trained people up to expect the VLE or Learning Management System approach whereas if the use of a variety of tools could have been \”sold\” to staff early on – through really good resourcing and support – we wouldn\’t all be caught up in using the corporate, expensive, proprietary tools. Tools which suit the company not the teachers and learners.

There was a very good article on one of the discussions – an evaluation of the use of blogging in a course related to technology.

Reflecting on professional practice by Annette Odell, University of East London. \”Applications of Learning Technologies\” is an accredited professional development course. Assessment is by means of a portfolio of work built up during the course and a key component within this is a reflective log, kept online using a blog.

This presentation describes the use of blogs on this context; briefly discusses different uses of blogs; reflects on personal experience with using blogs for different purposes and why the \’reflective blog\’ appears to be a consistently successful use; discusses factors that promote success and problems to be oversome; and summarises the participants\’ perspective on the value of keeping a reflective blog within this course and as part of their professional development record.

Short Essay on \’Rani Lakshmibai Jayanti: 19 November\’ (145 Words)

\’Rani Lakshmibai Jayanti\’ is celebrated on 19th November every year. It is the birth anniversary of Rani Lakshmibai. Rani Lakshmibai was born on 19th November, 1835 at Kashi. Her father\’s name was Moropant. Her mother\’s name was Bhagirathi Devi. Laxmi\’s childhood name was Manikarnika but affectionately she was called Manu in her childhood.

Rani Lakshmibai was the great heroine of the First War of Indian Freedom. She was the embodiment of patriotism, self-respect and heroism. Her life is a thrilling story of womanliness, courage, adventure, deathless patriotism and martyrdom. Rani Lakshmibai was the real meaning of the ideal heroine. She was proud of not just India but the world\’s women.

Rani Lakshmibai Jayanti is celebrated grandly in the whole country. On this occasion, cultural events, speeches and seminars are organized at many places. \’Deepdan\’ and \’Mashalyatra\’ are also held at number of places on this day.

Awesome 3D Painting

Facilitating flexible learning

Today three of us ran a workshop about facilitating flexible learning: how to give great feedback and still have a LIFE.

Overall, I think it went well. Lots of discussion and questions and people were keen to make contact at the end of the class….always a good sign.

It appears that the title and the content offered were timely. There was a big contingent from one school who have a push on to put courses online. This was excellent. They did have concerns, however, about how to get their content online. They were advised to work with the programme developers, and offered assistance to have people work alongside them, but not do it for them. The mentality is still there to get stuff on Blackboard, rather than thinking how they would like to present content and activities, and what technologies could assist.

There was some discussion about models where content is handed over to a team to create resources. Leigh made a good point about models he had seen which didn\’t work and had cost lots of money. He believes it is best to start with finding resources which already exist and can be re-used…if possible. This makes a lot lof sense.

Some institutions which are heavily in to distance education – open polytechnic, UK, Athabasca university have production units but this makes sense. Open university in NZ used to do this as well, but has found it is more cost effective to enable staff to take charge of their courses and they have moved to Moodle. It would be interesting to talk to someone and find out how it is actually going.

The total number who enrolled was 13 but 3 people didn\’t turn up. The group were very interested and gave positive evaluations.

I started the workshop off with an overview of facilitating online learning…well I sort of took charge of it really…we did brainstorm how we would approach it earlier in the week, but the actual content we presented was up to us individually. At the 11th hour, I felt the need to slap together some slides…too many bullet points..but for next time I will develop some concept maps.Hey I can try out CMAP.

I will try and get them done before this group finishes their online discussion. This will continue on until the end of the second week in May. Easter in the middle sort of interrupts the flow. The timing for the next workshop will be better. And hey next time we will try out Elluminate for the initial session.

People liked the different cases we presented. Merrolee had lots of practical advice and talked about how she managed the online discussion. It is good for people to hear the nitty gritty stuff from someone so experienced…well I am too. I talked about how assessment was linked in strongly to the discussions. We gave tips for managing prolific postings and motivating people to go online. I really have to do something about the amount of content in the evaluating eLearning for best practice course though…I will definitely be going with the learner-generated model for next year. hopefully i will still be teaching it then.

Leigh gave a very insightful overview of alternatives such as egroups, and how they are very useful platforms for handing over ownership of material to students….giving them something they can take away with them when they leave their 3 yr programmes…when they are locked out of the institutional platforms. Some of the OTs were very intrigued with the idea of having a community of practitioners able to remain in contact about professional issues.

It will take time but the ideas are filtering through. All we need are enthusiastic staff who act as \”hotpoints\” in their schools and talk about what they are doing to others. I do love running workshops with staff, and seeing the lightbulbs come on.

The next offerings will need to be a practical show and tell with staff demonstrating what they are doing. Oh when to schedule all these? We have two visiting speakers coming in May and June, Peter Mellow (AUT) on the Study Txt mobile learning project – article. Also John Milne (Massey) who is coming to work with us on the TEC eLearning guidelines an ECDF project. Exciting stuff.

Short Essay on \’Indira Gandhi Jayanti: 19 November\’ (265 Words)

\’Indira Gandhi Jayanti\’ is celebrated on 19th November every year. It is the birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi was born on 19th November, 1917 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Her full name was \’Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi\’. She was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamla Nehru. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru led India\’s political struggle for independence from British rule, and became the first Prime Minister of India.

Indira Gandhi took active part in the freedom struggle of India. She became the President of the Congress party. In May 1964, Indira Gandhi became minister of information and broadcasting in Lal Bahadur Shastri\’s government. She became the third Prime Minister of India. She became Prime Minister after the death of Lai Bahadur Shastri. She served from 1966 to 1977. She was married to Feroz Gandhi and had two sons- Rajiv and Sanjay. She was assassinated on 31st October, 1984.

Indira Gandhi was the first lady Prime Minister of India. During her Prime Minister ship, India won the war against Pakistan in 1971. In 1962, during the Chinese-Indian border war, she coordinated civil defense activities. She was a great social worker and had introduced several schemes for the country. Indira Gandhi was a true patriot and will always be remembered as a bold Prime Minister of India.

Indira Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated grandly in the whole nation. Lots of work are carried out to celebrate this day. On this day conferences, seminars and speeches are held at various places. The struggles and contributions of Indira Gandhi are highlighted. Cultural programmes are also held at many educational institutions.

bronwynhegarty doctorate meanderings

I have been reading this work by Hope Hartman:

Hartman, H.J. (2001). Developing students’ metacognitive knowledge and skills. In H.J. Hartman (ed.), Metacognition in learning and instruction. Kluwer, 33-68. Academic Publishers: the Netherlands.

I like the models she proposes:
Executive management metacognition – plan, monitor and evaluate progress.
Strategic metacognitive knowledge – what (facts), when and why (context) and how (procedures).

These models would enable participants to use metacognitive strategies for the three tasks in their course. This would help them develop metacognitive control and knowledge and also reflect.

For each task participants will be asked to plan, monitor and evaluate their progress using self-questioning techniques and reflect using a blog.

Why do I like the models she proposes:
1. Discipline diverse – these models can be used in a number of disciplines as they relate to any type of learning. The examples in the chapter relate to reading, maths, science social studies, writing.

2. Self-questioning is used and this can be modelled to encourage learners to create their own questions. The answers of course are generated by the learner.

3. Critical thinking – the models encourage this and by scaffolding the learning, critical thinking questions can be developed by the students themselves.

I also like the components of the BACEIS model and the internal and external supersystems.B = behaviour
A = affect
C = cognition
E = environment
I = interacting
S = systems

The cognitive system includes metacognition plus critical thinking, creativity and learning strategies. It would make it too big a project I guess to also look at motivation, affective self-regulation and attitudes (affective system) which are also part of the internal supersystem.

The external supersystem includes culture and instructional techniques as well as teacher characteristics etc as influences on thinking but they are not really relevant for this project.

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“Must have strong oral and written communication skills.”

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