AU Blogspot

I had these in my first year of college and thought I would pass them along to my fellow classmates.

How do we find a proper balance that will allow us to excel in each aspect of our lives?

Tip #1
Family Meeting: Conduct a family meeting with the members of your household. Discuss how daily schedules, chores, and other responsibilities may shift now that you are in school working toward your degree. Delegate tasks to others so that you will have more time to complete your school work. Explain that it is a temporary situation and the resulting benefits to the family that a degree can provide will be worth the sacrifices.

Tip #2
Choose a satisfying career path. Finding and maintaining balance in your lifel means finding work that reflects who you are, and what you truly believe in. Simply stated, happiness requires a sense of purpose. Ask yourself, “What is most important to me? What occupation will give my work meaning?”

Tip #3
Save a day for yourself. You are busy working during the day, doing your schoolwork in the evenings, and spending time with your family on the weekends. Time for yourself is important for maintaining balance in your life, so try not to neglect yourself. Save at least one day a week to do the things you want to do instead of those things you need to do. You will feel refreshed and ready to conqure the world.

Tip #4
Let the housework go. Ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that could happen it I don’t vacuum the carpet today?” or “Is it possible I could the laundryon another day when I don’t have so much reading to do?” Save time and energy by ordering out for pizza on those nights when you have a lot of reading to do. Or better yet, delegate household chores to other family members, relieving you of these duties altogether. Keep the goal of GRADUATION firmly planted in your mind and do whatever it takes to make schoolwork a priority in your house.

Tip #5
Complete tasks right away. For example, whenever you receive an email, decide right then whether to respond to it or delete it. People who “do it now” are more efficient than people who wait till a later date to complete their daily tasks.

Tip #6
Get rid of unnecessary “stuff”. Clutter around the house and office makes demands on your life. If it does not serve a purpose get rid of it. With less “stuff” to take care of, you will feel more relaxed and you will focus on what is really important. For example, sort through papers sitting on or around your computer workstation to see what really needs to be there. If it’s not important, toss it.

Tip #7
Ask for help when you need it. You are not alone on your journey through life. There are people available to support you and guide you when you get lost or feel overwhelmed. Make sure to utilize your support system. Some who can help are family members, friends, co-workers, classmates, academic advisors, and even community services.

Tip #8
AVOID THE GUILT TRIP! Dont’ beat yourself up or feel guilty about not being able to spend as much time at work, or with family and friends as you used to. You made a decision to go to college to earn your degree. That’s important. Replace the guilt with pride that you are on a path to accomplish your goal of GRADUATION. Use your critical thinking skills to make decisions about how you choose to spend your time, and then stick with it! YOU CAN DO THIS!

Betty Ray-Mydland
Student
Ashworth Criminal Justice Program

                  Thanks to clspeace for permission to use this Photo. 

Megan Bowen is an Ashworth High School English Instructor.  You can read some of Megan’s blog posts by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.  As someone who is always thinking of new and dynamic ways to engage her students, it’s no surprise that Megan has begun hosting classroom discussions on the Ashworth Student Forum.  As an English major myself, I’ve personally enjoyed participating in these interactive discussions and have been very impressed by the insightul perspectives students have offered on their latest reading assignments. 

If you’re an Ashworth High School student or a parent of such a student, we encourage you to participate in one of Megan’s classroom discussions.  Our new student forum provides a terrific environment for students, parents, and faculty to interact—so be sure to join our Forum community today if you haven’t already. 

Megan and I hope to see you on the Forum soon!

Here are the links:

Ashworth University Student Forum

Megan’s Bowen Classroom Discussions

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University 

The following article once again reinforces the importance of Web 2.0 technologies in a progressive educational environment, a message that we have been committed to carrying to our Ashworth University students through our own 2.0 applications such as MySpace, Facebook, Ashworth University Blog, and even our preliminary experiments in Second Life’s virtual world.  It’s nice to see the more “mainstream” educational community is finally beginning to recognize that today’s education is web-based, interactive, and network driven.  Here at Ashworth, we’re committed to these principles and encourage our students and their families to become as engaged as possible in the Web 2.0 revolution: where everyone is empowered to create, learn, and connect on their own terms.

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University 

                    Thanks to Olivia for permission to use this Photo. 

George Siemens is acknowledged as being one of the most innovative minds in the education field.  Through his groundbreaking analyses of how educators can use technology to their advantage rather than fearing its’ radical capabilities, Siemens has had a major impact on how teachers, students, and just about anyone involved in the education field perceives how our traditional learning models must evolve in order to effectively provide the knowledge and skills most vital in tomorrow’s “connected” world.  In the following slideshow presentation, Siemens outlines some of his main thoughts on what tomorrow may look like if we begin taking the necessary steps to reform our educational system today.  This presentation is a solid introduction to George’s theories.  We’d like to thank him for being an Ashworth University contributing blogger and would like to encourage everyone to check out his amazing elearnspace Blog.  Thanks George!

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

 
              Thanks to juanjoseixas for permission to use this Photo.

With the public school system failing, one wonders whether the federally mandated emphasis on pass/fail standardized testing (reactive) rather than ian investment in the comprehensive reform of our educational models (proactive) is anything more than a political “red herring.”  The following video features an influential educator by the name of Ken Robinson.  Mr. Robinson eloquently discusses the creativity crisis that our schools are suffering from and proposes possible alternatives to policies that undermine student creativity rather than provide an environment conducive to its’ development.  At Ashworth University High School, we take great pride in our ability to customize our program studies to meet the diverse learning styles of our students.  We’d love to hear from our home school parents out there.  Please share your perspectives in the comments section of this post.  We’ll talk again soon.

Ryan Rode
Ashworth University

There’s an interesting change afoot, and it relates to the use of social networking in education.

MySpace and Facebook are just two examples of social networking sites, but unfortunately, their early prominence has created a stigma around social networking that the technology itself doesn’t deserve. The understandable concerns created by these early and popular networks have overshadowed some amazing changes that are taking place in educational environments when the tools of social networking are being used with students and teachers.

“Social Networks” are really just collections of Web 2.0 technologies combined in a way that help to build online communities. In December, Classroom 2.0, the social network I started for educators interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies, won the 2007 EduBlog Award for “best use of a social network for educational purposes” and now has nearly 5,000 members. The twist here, of course, is that Classroom 2.0 is a network for teachers (yes, adults, those sometimes called “digital immigrants!) who are interested in the use of Web 2.0 in the classroom and who are using the site for personal professional development. The ability to have productive, engaging dialog with others in a community is a natural fit for all ages in education. (more…)

               Thanks to Jason V for permission to use this Photo.

I like John Connell’s statement in Our Duty to Protect through Education: “how do we teach our young people to make responsible use of the web tools and resources at their disposal if we are completely unable to access them in school?”

I fully understand and respect the need for security in schools.  

But, as John indicates, schools are about preparing people for the world…not protecting them from the world. My children are currently “blog-less” in school, which is to be expected as we are still in the early stages of a hype cycle (actually, we are well past the early stages in my eyes, but classroom reality suggests otherwise).  

While still young, they realize that access has been removed. (more…)

              Thanks to pizzapancakes for permission to use this Photo.

Here’s an interesting podcast interview with educational guru and Ashworth
University contributing blogger Steve Hargadon.  The interview focuses on progressive uses of technology, alternative learning methods, and the overall need to reform our current educational model.  As always, Steve makes some excellent points.  Click on the image above to listen.  Please feel free to share your thoughts with the AU community. 

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

           Thanks to David Bleasdale for permission to use this Photo.

Here’s a very timely and thought provoking interview with George Siemens.  For those of you not familiar with George’s work, he’s one of the most innovative minds in the education field.  In designing the learning models of the future, George understands that we must dramatically transform the ways in which we define “learning” before we can fully maximize the potential of tomorrow’s technologies for ”educational” purposes.  Listen to this podcast interview by clicking on the image above. 

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University