Topic #10 - In Closing

Well, cornerstone students, we are in the last final stretch of the semester and it feels great doesn't it? This is our last blog, and like the others, we ask that you reflect. In just a few weeks the semester will be over, and it is a good time to re-assess the progress you've made into the future as well as the past. As interdisciplinary students, we experience a unique educational curriculum, but our professions offer many creative approaches as well, and it's good to start thinking now as you reach your final semester(s) in college. Many of us are far off in our educational development, but where are you generally headed in your professional development? It is never a bad idea to re-assess where you have been and where you are going, because you can't get to where you're going if you don't know where that place is! Ask yourself these questions, then share your answers.

1. How have you used your interdisciplinarity in your professional life?
2. What has been your professional history?
3. What are your strongest and weakest job skills?
4. What can you do to develop and improve upon your weak skills?
5. Identify two professional clubs or organizations that are useful to your chosen career.
6. How have internships or externships helped your professional development?
7. Discuss your personal philosophy concerning your professional life.
8. How is or isn't this philosophy interdisciplinary?
9. How have your career goals altered?

Topic #9

Hi everyone! Can you believe we only have 3 weeks left of class? The year is going by fast and you guys will be graduating possibly this year or early next year. This is the time to really think about what you want to do after graduation and to analyze your philosophy concerning your professional life. For instance, my philosophy is integrating what I do outside of work with what I do inside of work. I am the leader of our volunteer committee at my company. I believe it is important to showcase that you have what it takes to be a leader inside and outside of work. This does influence my work because at work when I come across a challenge I always think of the public, our shareholders, the customers, and the associates. This calls for interdisciplinary thinking. My volunteer work allows me to go beyond the four walls and get to know the shareholders, different customers, and other leaders in the industry. Allowing yourself to learn as much as you can outside of work will improve your relationships and work ethic within the workplace.

This is just an example and a little bit about my own professional philosophy. Everyone has a different philosophy toward their professional life which makes us all unique. I would like you to answer 3 questions this week:

1. Discuss your personal philosophy concerning your professional life.

2. How is or isn't this philosophy interdisciplinary?

3. How have your career goals altered?

TOPIC # 8

We all know that we have unique major and sometimes explaining our major and concentrations can be a little challenging. One tool that we have to our benefit that can really help us explain who we are is our e-portfolio. Making it thorough and clear is important. With that in mind answer the following questions:

How will your e-Portfolio demonstrate your interdisciplinarity?

What is the audience / purpose you're thinking of using?

How would you envision your e-Portfolio looking like? What would you like to stand out?

What things are you thinking could be used as evidence?

Week 7: Reflection

Reflection, according to your text occurs when students evaluate sources of information, demonstrate lines of reasoning from conflicting perspectives, evaluate complex problems or objects, discuss controversial issues, or justify an important decision.

Description, on the other hand, is the act or method of describing.

What I want you all to do is to share your personal understanding of reflection and tell me how it’s different from description?

Also, share how you’re planning to use reflection in developing your e-Portfolio content pages.

Week 6 INTERVIEWS

This weeks topic is interviews. Hopefully everyone has already had at least one interview in their life.

Well you have, maybe not a formal one, but meeting someone for the first time is a type of informal interview.

First thing to do is go to: http://www.perfectinterview.com/ucf/

Now I remember doing this in my Cornerstone class, but it was different. So instead of trying to make it interesting I'm going to post the exact instructions. I hope this clears some confusion about what to do.

1. Complete one "short" interview where the selections are chosen for you. Complete one "short" interview where you make the selections. Choose at least three areas you'd like to work on the most. Note the options of the "Alternate Response" and the "Coach" that can be used.

2.You may choose to either use video capture or no video capture. If you choose no video capture you will be required to type your responses. Save both interviews.

3.Draft a reflection about your practice interview, commenting on the questions asked and your responses to the questions. You might comment on what questions were problematic. What were the strengths of your responses? What could you improve in your responses? How did you responses compare to the "Alternate Response"? What did you learn from the "Coach?"

4.Give one question about interviewing or a piece of advice that you've gained in your interviewing experiences.

5.Click on "Review Saved Interviews." Click on the "Share" button. E-mail yourself your interview and include the links in your posting.

If you can make it through that, then I had a couple side tips/advice I would like to share, since this is supposed to be an open forum of ideas and information.

I always felt that the interview is most powerful tool in getting a job. I have never left an interview where the employer didn't want to hire me. Now I might of scored differently on those idiotic personality tests where they ask you the same question in 5 different ways.

So the first thing I want to discuss is:

Expressing yourself!

For me, it was making sure I represented myself clearly. Answering all questions with at least some insight, not just yes and no. I think it is necessary to give some story to your life, but not go so far into depth that you are boring the interviewer.

Know the business!

If this is a career job, then most likely you would have done some type of research in the field you want to work in. In some cases though this isn't always true. So this tip is based on knowing the business, lets say you are applying for Bank Of America. You don't need to know that they were once called Barnett bank and was bought out by Nations bank, then became Bank of America (In most places). Yet I would feel it is necessary to know the internal hierarchy and different positions within the branch you want to work at. If a potential question is what do you want to do here? You answer by saying I want to be the lady that counts the money. VERSUS saying, I want to start out as a teller and move my way up until I have created new accounts and managed loans, so one day I can be trained to manage multiple accounts. Or whatever. The idea is simple. Know the ins and outs and create somewhere you want to go within the business.

Display your emotions!

Well in a positive way. Make sure you smile and laugh and make some slight jokes. Show that you are a positive individual that is going to be light to the company. Chances are, in today's market that most job offerings are coming from people being fired or laid off, or some type of closing. You have to show that you won't be another employee that is going to be a problem.

Ask Questions!

There comes a time where you want to ask questions, it shows that are selective and not just trying to get any job you can find. The asking questions period usually comes towards the end of the interview, or in the second/third interview. Usually it is as simple as the interviewer asking you if you have any questions. THIS IS YOUR TIME!!! Don't be afraid to start asking about whatever you feel is relevant to that part of the job. I always ask about advancement, I ask about different long term options the job has to offer, such as stock or 401k, etc. and I then ask questions that might pertain to my personal life/schedule or inquires of that nature. This shows that you are going to be invested in the job and you are looking to put some effort in.

That's all I basically have for right now. I hope to expand this into the posting and responses.

So to recap: Do the interview through the link, and follow the steps outlined above. Then after that is completed and posted, you can chose to post some tips or stories of your own interviews that you have had. I would like to see at least one tip or question you have that could possibly help you or someone else in the future.

Blog Topic #5

When you go to apply for a job, the biggest influence you make on a future employer is how you carry yourself - your attitude and demeanor can give direct cues to your personality and knowledge. But in this day and age, your attitude, demeanor, work experience and personality are all showcased in your resume – often times we don’t meet face to face with future employers until they have already sifted through hundreds of resumes. Experts in the field say that recruiters spend an average of 20 seconds looking at each resume. So how do you get yours to stand out? Well, one way I have found very useful is adding a cover letter - it adds a personal touch if done right.

To draw from my personal life, let me share a factual story about resumes. Last year, my family business was looking to fill an entry level position. We put out a few ads in hopes to receive a pool of 10 – 20 applicants. Within only 2 days of posting, we received much more than expected, a whopping 150 resumes – and trust me this was not an easy task! It was a huge endeavor sifting through these applicants, as the number of applicants kept increasing, many of the resumes fairly similar.

We can’t depend on the amount of resumes sent to employers to drop, but we can make ours stand out among a pool of others. Of the ones I sifted through that day, ones creatively composed and/or included a cover letter stood the best chance of a call. When I noticed general layout problems, misspellings, large blocks of text, and broad objective statements, I often found myself skipping forward to other applicants. Even though you may be applying for an entry level position, or one not creatively inclined, a little creativity goes a long way. Employers want to see your unique personality, your sparkle, shining through in a clear, concise fashion. Remember, short and sweet. Below I've posted a few questions to ponder this week while drafting your own distinctive resume. We also ask you to share your favorite cover letter, and any resources you find helpful.

But first, I'd like to share with you my favorite resource for resume building. Smashing Magazine is a website and blog, they have loads of useful information, and a bit too much to cover here, skim through it for some great tips! Follow this link for a great blog they did on cover letters. I also recommend to bookmark this link in your browser for future use.

1. What are ways your resume can highlight your interdisciplinarity?

2. What are some questions about cover letters you may have?

3. What are some questions about resumes that you have and/or share some advice?

4. Share your best cover letter.

5. Share any resources you've found about cover letters and/or resumes.

Blog Topic #4

Research is a large part of our lives! We are always conducting research without even realizing it. We of course conduct research in our classes, but we also find ourselves doing research when buying a new car, looking for a good restaurant to eat at, or looking for a good deal in town for shopping. These are just a few examples, but there are plenty more! This week we would like you to answer the following questions:

1. How might we use research in our everyday lives? In school? At work?

2. Which specific skills are used when completing a research project?

3. How might these skills be translated towards future employment?

4. How might your ability to solve problems from and interdisciplinary perspective be valuable to a future employer? Current employer?

5. Create a potential (fictitious but believable) work scenario where your research and problem solving skills as an interdisciplinary thinker might come into play.

I actually have a real life example I would like to share with everyone. I used to work at the Wynn in Las Vegas as an assistant manager for hotel operations. Our vice president broke down the top ten problems of the hotel and created task force groups and hand-picked employees to be a part of them. I was one of the ones chosen and my group consisted of ten other employees from different departments. We researched the problem from every department’s perspective. It was amazing how each department was effected differently from the same problem. We had to research each department and analyze their procedures. We then put our problem solving skills to work. Using all of our different knowledge and skills set we were able to come up with one action plan. This plan was successful because we used different departments (or what we could call different areas of focus, just like what our majors entail). Using interdisciplinary research resolves problems more efficiently because we think of every aspect that relates to come up with one solution.

Blog Topic # 3

In this era of information overload critical thinking is of the up most importance. We have to be able to filter through information and figure out what is valid and pertinent based on what answers we are searching for. In relation to our interdisciplinary approach to study we have to be critical in the way we are able to integrate our various areas with valid and insightful information.

This week we will visit our own critical thinking and reasoning with the Virtual Philosopher.

1. Click the link below which will take you to an interactive exercise called Virtual Philosopher developed by Dr. Wade Maki from the Philosophy department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Virtual Philosopher Link (must have updated FLASH to play correctly): http://web.uncg.edu/dcl/courses/vicecrime/vp/vp.html

2. Comment on your critical thinking reasoning that led to your decisions for all three scenarios: the friend's problem, the lifeboat problem, the liver problem.

3. Explain where your critical thinking gave way to your values, ethics, and beliefs. Comment on the differences you perceive between "ethical" and "critical" reasoning and what kinds of problems it caused in doing or reflecting on this exercise and even in your academic experiences.

4. Comment on how the Virtual Philosopher scored your response. From the comments you received about your responses, what insight have you gained about your own critical thinking and reasoning?

week # 2 Topic: Integration and Interdisciplinarity

In this week's topic we're going to talk about integration and understanding what Interdisciplinarity is all about. As Interdisciplinary Studies majors, the notion of integration is strongly emphasized throughout your coursework. In your book, Repko mentions the analogy of a fruit salad as well as a smoothie. Where the fruit salad is an example of multidisciplinarity,and the smoothie represents interdisciplinarity. Combining the use of all three of your disciplines into a unified, quintessential realm, where logic is utilized interchangeably to solve complex problems, continues to remain the most critical component of interdisciplinarity. Based from Repkos, "Interdisciplinary Research," and from your own knowledge, I would like you all to
respond to the following questions in your own words:

What is integration? What are some examples?

How have or haven't you integrated your areas and minor?

Why is integration of areas/minor important in terms of professional, academic, and/or personal
developing?

How can your areas/minor be better integrated?

Remember to respond with complete sentences as well as the use of appropriate grammar.

Welcome to the Mentor/Mentee Blog!

I want to start of by saying that as a group we feel that we can really provide some good information and support for everyone, not just the mentees, to elevate education and career goals to the next level. As a group we will be separately posting the weekly topics, but we hope to all join in on the discussion as a whole, during the week.

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My name is Tim LeGendre, I am currently 24 yrs old and reside in Mt Dora. FL. I have been going to college for seven years now, and will graduate this semester with over 140 credit hours. I have been tossed around in the community college system, and even been batted around in the UCF system. I feel that I will be a great influence to any transfer students out there, because I have been in those shoes and I know what it is like.

I will try to keep this short, because we all know that every assignment seems to get longer and harder as you go along.

This week we would like YOU, to basically introduce yourselves, and start the discussion with something simple: Why are you doing this? I ask this because there have been many late nights where I would be working on an English paper and I would ask myself, why am I doing this? I would spend those last five minutes before going into a Biology test scrambling to look over my notes, then I would ask myself, why am I doing this? I would have spend all summer partying or working, then fall would come around and it would be time to pick classes, again asking myself, why am I doing this? It is so easy to get caught up in life, and lose your sense of direction. So I would simply like you to post an introduction and state why you are doing this?

This is a simple critical thinking type response. Feel free to be as creative as you like. For those that aren't use to a critical thinking type response, and need to see more of an outline/structure, then make sure you include these topics:

A: State your name and basics about yourself.

B: State your areas of study, including your minor.

C: State some advantages/disadvantages you feel apply to an IDS degree

D: State why you picked this degree, or state what you tell your friends why you picked this degree.

Keep the responses in complete sentences and use appropriate grammar. I suck at grammar and spelling, but if I can use a spell check, so can you!

test post

Maybe everyone when they come, should do a quick test post, maybe test out the comments, to get use to it?