Indiana University East

I just wanted to take a couple minutes to remind everyone that Summer and Fall 2011 class schedules will be available in the next couple of weeks. Be sure to check back regularly to see when the schedules are posted. Also be sure to check out Distance Dish as I will be spotlighting some of our exciting online course offerings. As always, if you have questions or if you need assistance with anything dealing with online learning please feel free to contact me at thavery@iue.edu or 765-973-8312.

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Hello on this cold and blustery winter’s day. We’re at the end of the second week of the semester and I hope everyone has gotten off to a good start in their classes. A good way to ensure that you will do well in all your classes, and particularly your online classes where face-to-face interaction is limited, is communication with your instructor and classmates. Many times, students only think of communicating with their instructor when a problem or question arises. While it is a good strategy to ask questions and bring problems to the attention of the instructor, it is only a small part of good communication.

Communication takes at least two active participants; the sender and the receiver. This is You must be an active receiver by checking your IU email account on a regular basis (at least a couple times a week) and checking your Oncourse class sites for announcements at least as often (or possibly more often depending on your instructors wishes). You should also communicate with your classmates through the discussion forums in Oncourse and through email. Good communication involves not only composing your thoughts but also carefully and respectfully reading and considering the thoughts and responses of your peers.

Until next time,

Good Luck in All You Do!

Tom

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Good Wednesday morning everyone!

I hope everybody is keeping warm and maybe actually enjoying the first real snowfall of the season. I sort of have a love-hate relationship with the white stuff. I enjoy watching it come down but hate having to go out and shovel it. I guess I better get used to it as we’re not even officially into Winter yet.

The purpose of my posting today is to talk a little about some new online classes our School of Education is offering in the Spring semester. We are now offering classes related to Special Education, Exceptional Education, Educational Psychology, Educational Technology, and Using Trade Books in the Classroom in an online format. Many of these classes are offered at both the Undergraduate and Graduate level so they would be useful for both the student pursuing their initial teaching licensure and also for current teachers looking to add to their repertoire of teaching skills and to further their professional development. A full listing of these and other online courses can be found in the Schedule of Online Classes or on the official schedule of classes found on the Registrar’s webpage or in Onestart. As always, if you have any questions about theses courses or need assistance in enrolling please give me a call at 765-973-8312.

Tom

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Good Thursday everyone! One week from today is Thanksgiving and that can only mean that Fall Semester is winding down. I hope you are all having a good semester and your classes are going well. Please keep in mind that it is important to maintain contact with your instructor and ask any questions that you have.

I wanted to take a little time to talk about a feature of online courses that almost all instructors make use of; Discussion Forums or threaded discussions. In a threaded discussion either the instructor or one of your classmates starts a discussion with a question or topic and it is expected that members of the class (or group if the instructor has chosen to divide the class into groups) contribute thoughts and opinions about that topic or answer the question. Instructors will look to be sure that your contribution is substantive meaning that you are actually adding something of substance to the discussion. Simply agreeing with something mentioned earlier is not substantive nor is just answering yes or no. Instructors will look to see if you are using research, facts, and material from class to back up your responses and show that you understand the concept being discussed. Finally instructors will be looking at how you interact with your classmates and if you are respectful of their views when disagreeing with them or coming up with alternative answers. In other words treat people as you would want to be treated and treat them as if you were speaking face to face with them. For many online classes, the Discussion Forum constitutes your participation grade for the course and this can be a significant part of the overall grade for the course so it is important to approach your interactions in the forums with the above points in mind.

As always if you have any questions please feel free to contact your instructor, your Academic Advisor, or me and we’ll be glad to help. We all want you to be successful in your online courses.

Tom

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Hello all! I have very exciting news to announce. As you know, IUEverywhere allows people access to IU East courses and degree completion programs all over the country and the world for that matter. The degree completion programs are designed to allow a student who has completed a qualifying associates degree to move seamlessly to complete their bachelors degree online with IU East.  Currently, we have articulation agreements with several area community colleges, including Ivy Tech, to allow their associate degree to easily transfer to the IUEverywhere programs.

Today, I’m pleased to announce a new partnership between IU East and Maricopa Community College in the Phoenix, Arizona area that will allow students from Maricopa to transfer their credit from certain Maricopa associate degrees into the IUEverywhere programs much the same way local community college students currently do. As I said earlier, online students can access their courses from anywhere and everywhere there is Internet access so it just makes sense to develop agreements to make it easier for students anywhere qualify for the programs. Next week, we will be making the trip to Phoenix to meet with Maricopa students to introduce and discuss the programs with them. This is a very exciting time indeed!

Tom

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Hello All!

I hope each and every one of you is off and running in the new semester at Indiana University East. Classes began three weeks ago and by now you should have a pretty good feel for the pace of the class and the schedule of assignments.

If you have read my updates in the past, you will know that having good time management and being self-disciplined are essential qualities of successful distance learners.  By now, you should be familiar with the syllabus and schedule for the course. These may be the most important documents you will ever receive in an online course because they contain the due dates for all of your assignments and the dates for quizzes and tests. They will be your roadmap for the class. Since you will not be meeting weekly in a classroom, you not have someone constantly reminding you of these dates. The responsibility is yours!

In the online classes that I have taken in the past, a simple strategy has allowed me to manage the schedule of the class and also be proactive about due dates. I purchased an inexpensive weekly planner (one that you can lay open and see an entire week on the two pages that are open). When I got the schedule for the course that I was taking, I immediately wrote in all the assignments, and the quizzes and tests, in red ink on the dates that they were due. I then went through the planner and made a note one week prior to the due date about assignment or test. For example, if there was an exam scheduled for September 27, I noted that on September 20. This I wrote in blue ink and then highlighted to make sure it got my attention. I kept this planner, open to the current week, next to my computer for the duration of the class. In this way, every time that I got on my computer I had a visual reminder of the important dates for that week and also reminded of the assignments that were approaching for the following week.

You may choose to use my system of scheduling for the course, or come up with one of your own, but the important thing is to have a system in place for keeping yourself on schedule in the class. If you do this the first weeks of class, you will have laid a solid foundation for managing your course for the rest of the semester.

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I thought I’d devote a little time to an online class that’s being offered at IU East for Summer II semester starting July 6th. MUS Z393: History of Jazz is an online class open to non-music majors that covers the history and influence of jazz on many other forms of popular music today.

Last Saturday night, my wife and I saw Harry Connick Jr and his Jazz orchestra perform in Cincinnati. Ever since I took a history of jazz course to satisfy an elective requirement almost 20 years ago, jazz has become one of my favorite types of music and watching it performed live is a special experience just watching the musicians play off of one another and interact with each other. It’s a genre of music I never appreciated or realized it’s influence on American music until taking that class. Looking back on it, the class probably had as profound an impact on me as any class I took during my undergrad years.

There is still time to register for this class. You never know, like me, it could be one of the most unexpected influences from your time with IU East.

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Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is one of my favorite books and I find myself coming back time and time again to it despite the fact that it was first published over 20 years ago. My favorite of the 7 habits just happens to be the 7th one; Sharpen the Saw. Just what does this mean? Covey defines it this way:

“Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have–you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual.”

I think this habit should hold special meaning to college students in general and especially online college students. One of the reasons that people take online classes is because they are juggling multiple responsibilities including work and family in addition to their education. Being so busy with so many different things people sometimes forget to take care of themselves and their needs. Covey would say their saw is becoming dull and in time this dullness will make them less effective in all the other areas of their lives. Summer is the perfect time to possibly take a step back and assess just how sharp your saw is and think about ways to sharpen it. Maybe it means taking a vacation or volunteering in a Summer youth program. Maybe it means taking that class that you’ve always wanted to take but never had the time or just making time for a walk each day. For me, Summer weather allows me to do the physical outdoor activities of biking and running that Indiana weather often prevents the rest of the year.

There’s really no limit to the possible saw sharpening activities. There’s as many activities as there are individuals doing them. The really important thing is choosing the activities that you love; those that rejuvenate and ground you, and then making time for them and going out and doing them

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Hello All!

I just got the latest issue of What’s Up! the student email newsletter for IU East students and saw two items that should be of interest to all of you.

One, our Department of Information Technology is having a used computer surplus sale this week. This could be an excellent opportunity to purchase a PC for your home; especially if you need one for online learning.

Two, beginning in the Fall semester our bookstore will begin renting textbooks at a substantial savings over purchasing new books. While many people look to save money by purchasing used books, this will allow you to have a new book for your class.

For more details please click on the What’s Up! link above.

Until next time,

Good Luck in All You Do!

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Hello all!

I had the opportunity and privilege to spend last weekend in Chicago at the Higher Learning Commission meeting. While there I got to listen to colleagues share what their schools are doing to better serve their students and increase student learning. A consistent theme that came from all the presentations I attended is that a very large amount of student learning comes outside of the classroom. For example, students who participate in campus organizations such as clubs and student government develop problem solving and interpersonal skills, student workers develop customer service skills, and students who do internships and co-ops develop and apply skills that are needed in their careers.  At IU East the Office of Campus Life, Career Services, and Office of Internship and Co-op all work with students to help provide these out of classroom learning opportunities.

I realize that as an online learner, you likely have many other life responsibilities and it’s possible that you live a distance away from our campus, but I strongly encourage you to think about ways that you can develop and apply the skills you are learning in your classes to real life situations. This real life learning will beef up your resume and provides a way to show prospective employers that you can actually do what they need you to do. Please feel free to contact me at thavery@iue.edu or 765-973-8312 if you have any questions about experiential learning or if you need ideas for ways to actively apply your learning. I look forward to hearing from you!

Tom

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