Talking to Myself in the Library

Week in Review: A Reflection of February 20– February 26

I wasn’t technically talking to myself in the library; I was talking to my video camera. On Saturday I filmed my video entry for the Futuremaker Video Competition. I was a one-woman film crew, lead actress, director, screenwriter, and editor. I planned everything as much as possible before filming, and the processes went smoother than I expected. If you haven’t done so already, check out the video entries. You can rate the videos if you register.

You can see and rate my video, “I am Amanda,” at this link: http://wearefuturemakers.com/videocompetition/entry/id/264

After my video was edited and submitted, my scholarship form mailed, and my homework completed, there was enough time this past weekend to attend a last minute Oscar party at my friend’s place.

Because we’re always looking for an excuse to dress up, we put on our nicest gowns for the event. My friend had some red fabric she put in the hallway so we had a “red carpet” to walk down leading to the living room. We played a few Oscar-related games before the ceremony started. It was a really fun and unique way to spend a Sunday night.

The Ox May Die

“The ox may die” is just one of the many sentences I’ve had to type this semester at Moraine Park. Since I tested out of the keyboarding class, I went straight into the next class. Now that we’re a few weeks into the semester, I can tell you all about my Document Processing class.

By using software, we learn how to increase our speed and accuracy in typing. The software gives us typing exercises, and we type directly into the software. At the beginning the software gave me a lot of random sentences that did not correlate with each other. I think I found “The ox may die” sentence funny because it made me think of The Oregon Trail game, which has resurfaced as a nostalgic pastime for my generation.

My speed and accuracy has increased quite a bit, and I now know where there’s room for improvement. Those darn numbers and symbols keys can be difficult to reach!

I should mention that I’m not just learning how to type fast and error free. I’m also learning how to accurately format business letters, memos, and reports. The book and software gives me tips on grammar and teaches me about commonly misspelled words in business documents. It is much more interesting than I expected for a class I thought would be just advanced keyboarding.

And just for Oregon Trail fans: The good news is the ox lives, but you will have to ford the river or wait to see if conditions improve. Choose wisely or the oxen may die.

More to Do for School than Homework

Week in Review: A Reflection of February 13 – February 19

When you go to college you generally expect to spend several hours every week doing homework. Well, this week I spent a lot of time doing school-related activities but none were actually considered “homework.” I had homework to do, of course, but I had a few other things to keep me busy (and away from the beautiful glow of the TV set).

For my scholarship application I need to write a statement about what I will take with me when I leave Moraine Park Technical College. It took longer than I expected to figure out how to state my answer, to write it, revise it, and then revise it again. It’s nearly complete, but I want to check it over again. I’ll need to get it done soon, though, because the application is due at the beginning of March.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m looking into the Individualized Technical Studies associate degree. I want to create my own individualized degree that encompasses a few of the programs offered at MPTC such as the IT-Web Designer/Developer and Office Assistant technical diplomas. I’ve been researching the course catalog to see what classes will fit my career needs. There is no deadline for this, but I would like to get things in order before I sign up for fall 2012 classes. Believe it or not, that’ll be coming up soon, too.

One activity I haven’t worked on much lately is my Futuremaker Video Competition entry. I can’t believe the deadline is at the end of this month! This coming weekend I’m going to devote all my time to this project. It’s a great opportunity to represent Moraine Park at the state level and win some money if my video is chosen. If I win, I’d like to get one of those sleek-looking Mac Book Pros that the Interactive Media students are walking around with. I’m not going to lie, I’ve got computer envy. If I take some Interactive Media classes for my ITS degree, I’m probably going to need one. Yay!

Web Developer Club – Fun and Field Trips to Look Forward to This Semester

It was good to see a lot of returning members as well as a few new faces at the first Web Developer Club meeting of 2012 at Moraine Park Technical College. We spent the hour discussing our club’s website, a field trip opportunity, and, as always, links to really cool websites.

One of our members set up a Content Management System (CMS) website for the club. We spent the majority of our meeting learning about it. It looks like it’ll be easy for members to add content to our site. I’ll be uploading our meeting minutes on there since I am the secretary of the Web Developer Club.

In other club news, our advisor for the club informed us we’d be going on a field trip next month to tour an Internet company. It’s something the club decided we wanted to do last semester. I’m glad the company is kind enough to extend an invitation to us to visit and learn from them.

Our president of the Web Club shared with us four websites I didn’t know existed. I always make sure I write them down, because you never know when they could come in handy. I still need to go online to my social bookmarking account and add those links so I don’t loose them. I liked to use the site Delicious http://delicious.com/ to save links to sites I want to revisit. I learned about social bookmarking last spring in one of my classes.

It looks like it’ll be another fun, educational semester for the Web Developer Club!

Taking a Break from Winter

Week in Review: A Reflection of February 6– February 12

It took me six hours in the computer lab to finish my homework, but I was glad I did it before the weekend. I needed the weekend to be free from academic obligations so I could host a party.

To beat the winter blues with its gray skies and cold winds, I held an indoor beach party at my place. I decorated the inside with artificial plants, windsocks, backdrops of tropical scenes, and even attempted to create a paper waterfall (It was more like a “waterfail,” but oh well). We sat on beach chairs with foot rests, put little umbrellas in our drinks, and batted around a beach ball. It was easy to forget it was winter (unless you looked out the window and saw the snow).

I’m still hoping that we can plan a beach party on campus for the end of the semester. I wasn’t able to do as much as I liked at home due to a lack of space, but having a beach party at the West Bend campus would allow us to do more as far as games and decorations. There is another Activities Committee meeting coming up soon, and I think we’ll be voting on the topic at the following Student Senate meeting.

If you’re a student at Moraine Park’s West Bend campus and have a suggestion for an event you would like the campus to host, write it in the comments on this blog. Better yet, come to the Student Senate meetings. You can find out when and where the meetings are by logging into your myMPTC portal, going to the Student Life tab, and reading the Student Events section.

Well, I guess I’ll stop daydreaming about palm trees, sand, and ocean and get back to my assignments.

February’s Lunch ‘n’ Learn

I had just enough time between classes to go to this month’s Lunch ’n’ Learn about relationship wellness at Moraine Park Technical College. These Lunch ‘n’ Learns always include a discussion about a topic that pertains to college students, but this time we also got to do something a little extra in honor of Valentine’s Day.

Kathy, who leads these events, brought colored paper, markers, and envelopes so we could make valentine cards. It was fun and surprisingly relaxing to work on a project like that after being in class. We talked about the different kinds of love, including friendship, so I decided to make a valentine for my former roommate.

We also talked about what makes a healthy or unhealthy relationship. It’s important to realize the difference, because negative relationships can have a negative impact on your life. It’s good to talk about these things to bring awareness about unhealthy relationships.

On the other side, it’s important to be thankful for the people in your life that are supportive of you and make your life better. One good and simple way to show how much you appreciate someone is to tell him or her. I think sometimes we don’t show enough love and gratitude towards people in our lives, especially those relationships that are not romantic relationships.

So, even if you’re single this Valentine’s Day, don’t forget to tell your family and friends how much you love them because they love you.

Planning Events at the Activities Committee Meeting

Even though it still seems early in the semester, our Student Activities Committee meeting involved a discussion about the end of the semester. A lot of decisions, planning, and preparation go into creating campus events. Therefore, we need to start coming up with ideas for what we want to do for our end of the semester bash. It’s something we have at the end of every semester.

We came up with a few ideas, but my favorite one would have to be a beach party themed event. This event could possibly include a make-your-own-sundae bar and a raffle to win summer related prizes such as grills.

Once the committee figures out what we would like to do, we’ll bring the idea forward to the whole Student Senate so we can vote on it. We’ll need to approximate a cost, and that will need to be approved by the Senate. So as you can see, it’s a long process to set up a large event and we need to be thinking about the end of the semester right now.

There are a few events we talked about that would be happening earlier in the semester. We’d like to have a free root beer float day sometime soon. With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, we’d like to get something together quickly for that. We’ll be meeting again in two weeks to talk more about that. Hopefully we’ll come up with some great ideas that students will like for this semester.

Exploring the Idea of an Individualized Technical Studies Degree

Week in Review: A Reflection of January 30 – February 5

It has been a very rough week. On top of being sick, catching up on in-class work, and finishing assignments, I also accidently cut my finger pretty badly. The beginning of the semester has been unexpectedly stressful. However, I’m very thankful my classes post activities and assignment requirements on our online class portal so I have access to anything I might have missed. My classmates have been helpful as well in getting me up to speed with everything. Thank you, guys!

Although I didn’t have extra time to do much of anything outside of class work, I did manage to contact the Dean of General and International Education to ask for information about the Individualized Technical Studies degree (ITS). I’ve been thinking about creating my own tailored degree, which is something you can do here at Moraine Park Technical College.

There are a lot of great programs I am interested in that interrelate. It would be impractical and time consuming to complete three or four entire programs. But, with the ITS degree, I could combine classes from different programs to make one that suits my career goals.

In my case, I’m interested in classes from the IT-Web Designer/Developer, Office Assistant, and Interactive Media Design programs. All these academic programs teach a wide variety of software that is used to communicate ideas in a digital format. It looks like there’s a lot of paperwork to complete and I would have to find a mentor, but it’s a great opportunity to pursue a very specific career path.

Student Senate is Back in Session

I feel so official now that I’ve received my Student Senate nametag. It has a magnetic backing so there’s no chance of accidently poking myself. I’ll be able to wear it to events I’m involved in with the Student Senate.

Student Senate meetings are a great place to learn about all the upcoming events on campus. At the West Bend campus there’s a Valentine’s dinner and show on February 13, a blood drive on February 22, and several BINGO events coming up. The representatives of other student clubs shared info on what they’re doing this semester. Check the “Events” tab on my page for further information and upcoming events.

I was hoping to go to the NACA Conference for Student Senate this spring since I couldn’t go to the other conference last fall, but due to a scheduling conflict I won’t be able to go to this one either. Members who have gone to those events in the past say they are a lot of fun. There are numerous entertainment acts to preview at this conference. Based on what the students see and like, they come back to campus to make suggestions on entertainers we should bring to the campus.

I’ll be seeing some of the Senate members again soon during our Student Activities Committee meeting. We’ll be discussing and planning future events for the West Bend campus.

If you’re a student and looking to get involved, you can find information about Student Government here: http://www.morainepark.edu/services/student-life/student-government/ - student-life

Communication Technologies Class

Wednesday’s Communication Technologies class was packed with activities, much of which was done together as a class or in small groups. We learned about and used all kinds of online tools. There are online tools to create your own sticky notes, flowcharts, and even comic strips. As part of our next assignment, we are creating comic strips. I didn’t even know that was something you could do.

Our class uses several communication tools online. We have a wiki set up where we can post information and share URLs. We use Twitter to share information by using a special hashtag in reference to the class. While I was absent last week my classmates learned how to create Twitter accounts. I had to catch up by creating an account really quickly during class. So many things are covered in class that I feel like I missed a month’s worth of material. I am, however, caught up now.

We spent a few minutes discussing our reading assignment. I’ve read the first chapter of the book, and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. The book talks about how companies are connecting with consumers in a way that benefits both parties. I find it interesting how the Internet, and more specifically, social media, affects our daily lives.

The class ended with watching video introductions of each other. We filmed and posted videos to our online classroom portal. I hope we’ll be creating more videos later in the semester, because I’m looking forward to the opportunity to film and edit again!