Being a college student does not have to be a 24/7 job

This link, http://www.hackcollege.com/blog/2011/3/28/how-to-have-hobbies-in-college.html, offers advice on how to survive college while still having a life. Between attending class and doing homework for class it sometimes seems like there is no “me” time or a time to hang out and enjoy what you love to do the most. This blog post written by a college student (so you know he isn’t fooling you!) voices his opinion on how to maintain your two different lives: your student life (class.homework.class.repeat) and your fun self (the self that gets to read a book for fun or go sailing).

 Because college has no defined work/not work boundaries, it is incredibly easy to just work all the time and completely lose any ability to do things that are not assigned to you. This isn’t healthy. Side projects and hobbies (for example, this site) are the sorts of things that not only get you noticed from a pack of job applicants post-graduation, but which make you a non-boring, fully-functional human being.

 This list might make you realize just how much you missed “me” time and how little you get if you don’t prioritize!

-Frangelica

Parent and Family Members Hopes and Concerns: Class of 2015

Please visit our Parent and Family Member’s Hopes and Concerns page for insight into the aspirations and apprehensions family members hold about their students first year at college. They are heartfelt, savvy, and sometimes humorous: http://schoogle.wordpress.com/parent-and-family-members-hopes-concerns-class-of-2015

AMP: Fuzzy slippers not included

What do students like? Succeeding academically, helping each other, and doing it from the comfort of their dorm room. That’s why the Center for Academic Excellence at Franklin Pierce has started a Facebook group for AMP, the Academic Motivation and Persistence forum. If you go to school at FP, please visit us at <http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_179967148703504>!

This semester, keep your motivation up and feel connected to other students across Franklin Pierce by participating in AMP, the online Academic Motivation and Persistence Forum. It’s simple. Click on Join and the administrator from Academic Services will add you to the group. Visit the group whenever you feel like it and post an academic status update: Are you having a good week? Do you have a question or problem? Can you help a group member with advice or encouragement? Share on the group wall!

Cool new features for College of Professional and Graduate Studies students

There are two excellent changes being made for Franklin Pierce’s CGPS students this term.
First, all CGPS students are going to be assigned Franklin Pierce email accounts. These email addresses, which will use Windows Live, will make it easier for students, faculty, and staff to communicate with each other–full digital citizenship for all FP learners!
Second, eCollege, the online learning tool used for CGPS hybrid and 100% online courses, can now be accessed through mobile devices such as iPhones. This will be valuable tool for our busy and mobile 21st century learners.  The address is m.franklinpierceonline.net, and you can view a video about how to eCollege mobile at http://epmedia.ecollege.com/media/eteach/atctrain/studentintro.html

Name it. Share it. Do it.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/3642098619_1b3330f6eb_m.jpg

Keep on keeping on.

Keep your motivation up and feel connected to other students across Franklin Pierce’s campuses by participating in AMP, the online Academic Motivation and Persistence Forum.

AMP is for all students at Franklin Pierce—part time or full time, on any of our campuses or online.

It’s simple. Set up a free account on the microblogging site Twitter, and post one academic goal you have each week. Label it as part of the AMP Forum by including the tag #ampf (#gampf if you’re a grad student). You can post from any computer with Internet access or your cell phone if you can send a text.

Naming a goal will help you notice your own progress and learn from your experience. By taking part in the stream of student goals you can help others by giving them ideas, showing them they’re not alone, or even replying directly and encouraging them by using the Reply button.

Learn more at http://bit.ly/mendhamt_ampf, or email Tracy Mendham from Franklin Pierce’s Center for Academic Excellence: mendhamt@franklinpierce.edu for more information.

Watch who’s AMPing at http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23ampf



Course concerns at Franklin Pierce, the College at Rindge

From "Nadbasher" on Flickr

Rindge students, if you received an email about “course concerns” today, read it and then speak to your instructor within the coming week.

The Coordinator of Academic Advising and the Academic Services Center ask professors of 100- and 200- level classes to let us know if they have concerns about a student during the first four weeks of classes.  Concerns can be anything from missing one or two classes, not having the books, not doing well on a quiz, or just being really homesick.   We can make suggestions to help students or try to connect the student with resources on campus that can help them.  Students may not know about all the people and offices on campus who can assist them academically.  The course concern emails (also known as Early Alerts or ESI’s) help connect the dots.

So if you have an email like that, talk to your professor (even if you think you know why you received the alert).  Your instructor can tell you what you need to do to succeed in their course.

Tuesday Tech Talk: Free (And Mostly Free) Apps for Students

If you’re on the Rindge campus of Franklin Pierce on Tuesday September 14th, please come to the Library Instruction Room at 7 pm to hear about our favorite apps for mobile devices and tell us which ones are most useful for you and other students.

Top Ten Apps for Students.

Brought to you by the Center for Academic Excellence and the Dipietro Library.

Screen readers and jailbreaks legal!

By James E Leste on Flickr

I think this is good news for students and anyone who uses assistive technology to read books and other online text: The Library of Congress issued a list of exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, including one that will make it legal to work around software and hardware that prevents the use of screen readers or devices to alter the format of digital text.

Also–you can jailbreak your smart phone. Thanks, Library of Congress!

In a July 26 statement James Billington of the LOC said that technology could be legally circumvented for:

Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is happy about this, and you can read more at the Chronicle of Higher Education.

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-169.html

Free voicemail, call forwarding, and phone number in your choice of area code: Google Voice

by Save vs Death on Flickr

Ryan Cordell at ProfHacker has a post about Google Voice.  I’ve been using it since winter and really recommend it.  I use it mostly for texting–you can send free texts from your computer.  Unlike Skype, you can have reply texts automatically forwarded to your cell phone.

Two weeks ago Google announced that users with .edu email addresses will now get priority access to Google Voice. Educational users still must request an invitation to the service’s closed beta, but Google promises that .edu users will receive their invitations within 24 hours of requesting them (rather than the indeterminate time that other users must wait). Though this promotion is aimed primarily at students, it’s also very good news for most readers of ProfHacker.

Check it out–it doesn’t take long to set up, and with the screening, forwarding, and email features you may end up with more telephonic freedom than you thought you could have!

GPS–Your map to success

We have an exciting new program at the Center for Academic Excellence. Our esteemed leader Terri Downing has posted about it on Schoogle’s new Guided Peer Study page:

This summer the Center for Academic Excellence will be piloting a brand new program called the Guided Peer Study Program.  Our aim is to offer support, encourage excellence, and provide undergraduate students with study tips and assistance in their specific subject areas.

We will be offering academic support via

• live chat on Facebook (GuidedPeerStudy),
• Skype (screen name Guided Peer Study  or gps.fpu)
• AIM (screen name of GPSxFPU)
• in-person meetings in the Center for Academic Excellence, located in the DiPietro Library on the Rindge campus.

 The current hours for support are Monday – Thursday from 11:30am – 2:00pm EDT and Tuesday evenings from 6-8pm EDT

The program offers general writing assistance for undergraduate courses offered at Franklin Pierce University as well as specific content support for the following courses:

• IC 105, 106 – College Writing I & II
• IC 110, 111 – Integrated Science I & II
• IC 201 – Foundations of Math
• IC 210 – American Experience
• IC 212 – Challenge of Business in Society
• IC 260 – Twentieth Century
• IC 305 – Science of Society
• IC 360 – Reason and Romanticism
• CIT 140 – Electronic Spreadsheets
• EN 115 - Banned Books

Please visit us our Guided Peer Study page on Facebook to find out more: http://www.facebook.com/GuidedPeerStudy or contact the Center for Academic Excellence – academicservices2@franklinpierce.edu or by phone 603-899-4107