Campus Resources

I first want to say that Kaylene and Christina did a great job with their lesson tonight on campus resources and referral techniques. I liked the approach they took with the lesson by having the majority of the lesson being based on student interaction and keeping the lecturing to a minimum. This is an approach I want to take for my lesson with Megan coming up in a few weeks, and as much when co-teaching the recitation class next fall. 
       I'm really looking forward to teaching this exact lesson next fall because I know how helpful it's going to be for the incoming freshman, and with this being my fifth semester at Iowa State even I learned some new things about the services offered to Iowa State students. One of my favorite sayings is that "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and I really think this is what the campus resources and referral techniques lesson is all about. Sometimes students can be hesitant to seek help, especially when they don't know what resources are available. With this lesson we as peer mentors can answer a lot of questions before the questions are asked, especially those problems or situations that seem inevitable  during a college career and especially freshman year. It's pretty safe to say that at least one student for each recitation class is going to need to see a doctor, have a prescription filled, drop a class, take a class pass/fail, have their computer crash the day before a final paper is due.  It only makes sense to let these resources at Iowa State be known by the students who pay for them at the beginning of each semester. This lesson is a great way to get the students out of classroom, enjoy the weather, and get better oriented with the campus. 

     

My thoughts on Twitter

Since our class on Wednesday I've tried to make twitter a part of my social media/communications routine with phone calls, texting, email, Facebook, and Linked In. I followed a few of my peers, KCRG News from Eastern Iowa, and Jim Cramer from the show Mad Money by having tweets sent to my phone. From what I've experienced so far with the mobile tweets I'm not a a big fan, mostly because I don't like receiving text messages that aren't going to directly effect me, it gets to be too distracting and counterproductive for me  It seemed like every other class period in the middle of class my phone would be vibrating with a text message about something that was irrelevant to me, and was more of a hindrance to my education and work.It's not that anybody did anything wrong, it's just not for me, and if I don't like it then I can just turn off the mobile setting.

Does Twitter have some potential to be an effective tool for members of a family, team, group, cohort, or business to stay better connected, and on the same page to become more productive and efficient? Yes, Twitter has major potential to be a very valuable tool, and will continue to become more widely adopted for years to come. So advice I'd give to thosewho might feel the same way as I do about Twitter is to not resist it, try to understand at least the basics, and find out what limitations with Twitter are going to bring you the most positive experience.