Samantha 09/10

Easy to Fall Behind

    With online classes, I have found that it is really easy to fall behind. I have found myself in a tough position since I took two days off. When I say that I took two days off, I mean that there were two different days that I did not do any reading, contributed to any discussions, or worked on any assignments. Due to those two days, I am now behind.

    In just one class, we are working on our third unit. The unit is encompassed of six chapters, 14 articles, and 8 videos. The assignment for the third unit is pretty long as well. I only have a rough draft for half of the assignment and I am at 18 pages. I imagine by the time I have it all completed my third unit assignment will be between 40-50 pages.

    Although there is a lot of reading and assignments for each class, I am learning so much. All of my classes are very accelerated and we work at a quick pace. There is really no room for lollygagging. I am not sure what I was expecting the master level courses to be like but now I have a much better idea how to divide my time for next semester.

Half way to WHAT?

    The semester is already half over. I can not believe how fast the time flies. Maybe it is because I enjoy being at school or maybe because I am so busy I am not sure what day it is anymore. Whatever the reason may be that time flies, I am counting down till I am done with my Masters. 

    You may be thinking well isn't she in a hurry to get out. Actually, the answer is no. I am not sure of what lies ahead beyond the next year. I do know that I will complete the Masters of Science in Information Systems by next summer but after that I have not a clue. I have been asking myself recently what do I want to do. That  is a harder question than you would think. 

    With a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in ITM and now the MSIS degree, there are so many options out there it can be overwhelming. Some students know from the second they start their program exactly what they will be doing for the rest of their careers. Maybe that is why I thought ITM was so exciting. I am not pigeon holed in to any one position. 

    To help answer my question, I have been thinking about what I DON'T want to do. I don't want to leave the state (not yet at least) and I don't want to work 70+ hours a week. By sliming down what positions would work for me, hopefully I will find the answer to my question sooner than later.

John Gallagher- "Re-Imagining Detroit"

 

This week at The University of Michigan-Dearborn Sustainability Week is just kicking off. There are many events for the week that are planned around educating the students on the importance of sustainability. 

When people think about sustainability they tend to think about the environmental side of things. I asked my seven year old daughter what sustainability means to her and she told me 'going green'. Of course, she smiled and said "...and go blue mommy" in reference to The University of Michigan's colors. 

Beyond environmental sustainability, there other critical factors that must be considered. Looking from the psychology perspective, social sustainability can be the make or break factor. No matter how green we are if society is dysfunctional, it can all end in minutes. Alright, I am thinking pessimistically but it is something to consider.

So we have environmental and social sustainability, what about economic sustainability? Being from the Motor City, we have seen first hand what happened to the economy of Michigan once the automotive industry got in to trouble. What about Wall Street? Does anyone believe the economy would survive if Wall Street crashed, the banks crashed....what about the dollar? I am not going to get into a finance lesson but I am sure you get the point. 

We must have all three factors to truly be sustainable. I am excited to learn more about those three factors tomorrow night at the book signing. John Gallagher from the Detroit FreePress will be at The College of Business discussing his new book "ReImagining Detroit" and his theories behind the revamping of Detroit. Being raised in the Motor City my whole life it means a lot to see others who truly care about the future of Detroit and Michigan as a whole.

 

Takeaways from the AIS Student Chapter Conference

    I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the conference. The material may have been the same as I have heard many times before but there were quite a few student chapters there that were newly formed. I did enjoy the association and networking that went on at the conference the most. It is a great feeling to walk up to another student from across the country and know you have something in common to talk about.

    As I had mentioned previously, I had never attended a professional conference like the AIS Student Chapter Conference. It was comforting to know it was the first time most of the other students as well.  There were students who completely lost their places when giving a speech and others that came not even knowing the topic they were speaking on. There was a large spectrum of students there and it helped open my eyes up to what else is out there.

    I did present on leadership and team building in a panel form. It was so invigorating. Yes, I was nervous but when it came time to answer questions I was being myself and felt very comfortable. The main AIS coordinator attended the panel that I presented at and even referenced back to it later in the day. That was definitely the highlight of the trip.

Going to Atlanta for the 2nd Annual AIS Student Chapter Conference

This upcoming weekend is going to be a fun one. I will be attending the 2nd Annual AIS Student Chapter Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. AIS stands for Association of Information Systems.  The ITM Club housed in the College of Business became a student chapter of AIS last year so this will be our first year attending the conference.

Not only will I be attending but in addition I was asked to speak on a panel about leadership and team building. On the panel, there are two other females from other student chapters throughout the US. One is from Temple University and the other is from Arizona State University.  I have been collaborating with them for the past two weeks now so that we are all in alignment for our speeches.

From working with other students and speaking about our experiences within our own student chapters, I realized that we here at the College of Business are in a much different situation than the rest. I had mentioned the fact that I am use to the commuter campus and one of the other students asked me how we were able to meet and have regular meetings if we were a commuter campus. I had not thought about this before since it is the norm for me.

Attending the conference is going to be a great learning experience. I am very excited to meet new students that I share a common interest with. Speaking at the conference is just the icing on the cake for me. I have never spoke to more than 40 people at  a time so this will be interesting. 

 

Having a class online is not that complicated...

Currently, I am enrolled in the Masters of Science in Information Systems program. The entire program is online. There is not one day that I have to come into campus to attend a lecture or event. It is very convenient for me but there is a down side. Communication becomes that much more critical for success.

Having to learn through basically a website, Blackboard, is much harder than most would think. There are subsections for everything. In my IT Security course right now, there are multiple content folders. Those folders hold subfolders and those subfolders hold multiple documents.   It is somewhat deceiving when you first look at the course.

When trying to work on assignments, each word of instruction from the professor is analyzed over and over. Yes, sometimes we as students make it harder than it really is but it comes down to understanding what the professor is trying to illustrate by assigning that specific task. For example, there is a case study I am working on and it seems that I will need to write up a Standard Operating Procedure for this fake company. There are many components that must be included. I could make the assignment twenty pages long or I could simply meet each requirement and call it a day.

The most important aspect of the courses is the discussions. It is very exciting to be working with other students from around the country. I can learn from their experiences and perspectives. One of my classmates’ works for Universal Studios in Florida and another is in Texas working for a national lab. Since I do not have a lot of experience in IT security, outsourcing, or project management, I can still walk away from the class using examples of my classmates as learning moments. 

 

Helping the USO

    As you all know, I have been working with the ITM Club now for a few years. During that time, I have been able to become acquainted with a gentleman named David Cagle. David is a marine that has served his country for many years now and has been deployed multiple times. David will be deploying again to Afghanistan in the spring. Before he goes, the club has been working on some ideas to show that we here on campus appreciate what he has done for his country. Not only do we want to show our appreciation for David’s dedication but also to the other individuals that have risked their lives for the sake of ours.  

    I am currently working with the USO (United Service Organizations) to set up an account so as to raise funds for Operation Call Home. Operation Call Home was established in 2003 and has made a world of difference to those service men and women who have been deployed to other countries. The program takes donations to provide our service men and women with calling cards so they can call home. Since the USO has been working on the program for the past 7 years, they have even been able to develop a private telephone network (PTN) which is also funded based on donations.

    I know the clubs effortS to work with the USO is important to them so they can show David the appreciation we have. Beyond that, I have always felt it was important to recognize our service men and women. I have to agree with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s thought about the military when he said “Freedom is a right ultimately defended by the sacrifice of America's servicemen and women.”

 

Online Masters

     Online courses can be wonderful for those students who have the determination and self-discipline to keep on all of the readings, assignments, and class work. Online courses can also be a nightmare for those students that have to be reminded assignments are due, participation is required, and readings must be completed. The reason I point this out is since my Master’s program is entirely online. There is no attending lecture or meeting with a group of students for the final project.

I personally enjoy online courses because it allows me the freedom to work on my classes according to my schedule. Yes, I do have certain deadlines but I am able to work on the material throughout the day and not have a window from 6-9pm that I have to set aside. This is very important to me since I am the mother of two and I volunteer my time with a few different organizations.

In my master classes, I have noticed that the classes are notable smaller. In one class in particular, there are six students and in the other classes there are no more than 15 students. I imagine working with a smaller group of students will enable the group of us to become acclimated to each other over the semester and will intensify the learning. We cannot wait and hope someone else brings up a point that we are confused about. Each of us has to take the initiative to start and continue conversations as well as ask questions.

This semester is very exciting for me especially since it is my first as a graduate student. It is a little nerve wrecking but that will pass with time. Once I am comfortable in my classes, it will be time to begin the winter term. I am sure the fall semester will fly by as it always does. 

Is it over yet?

Ready…set…go! It is almost that time of year again to begin a new academic year. Summer has been very exciting but I am ready to get back to the routine. After being in school at The University of Michigan-Dearborn for the past three years, I have become accustomed to the daily routine. I never thought I would miss the scheduling yet I found that I desperately need it.

Summer is a time for relaxing and getting the list of ‘to-dos’ that I ignored all year taken care of.  Yes, I did get a lot done over the past few months but I felt lost at the same time. In the three months’ time, I came to the realization that I NEED SCHOOL. Okay, maybe the homework can be mundane or overbearing but I need the human interaction, intellectual conversations, and thought provoking lectures. Talking with kids all day everyday has made my brain go into ‘limp mode’. (Just for those of you who do not have any mechanic knowledge, limp mode is when your car’s computer detects something is wrong and it will govern how fast the car will go & will allow the transmission to remain only in the lower gears.)

Three more weeks seems like a lifetime at this point. I feel like a young child waiting for elementary school to begin again. I remember when summer recess began when I was in elementary school, it seemed like it was three years before I would have to go back again. A typical adult would say, ‘Where did the time go?’ while I am saying, ‘Can it be over yet? I want to go back.’

Officially Done

I can’t believe I am officially done with my Bachelor’s Degree. It seems like it was yesterday when I started to attend the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Yes, I am happy I have made it to this point but I just as happy to know that I will be continuing on to my Master’s Degree. For the next 2 years, I will be attending classes online to fulfill my requirements for my Master’s of Science in Information Systems.

Through the years, I have met some wonderful people that are also moving on to bigger and better things. A few of them will probably end up being CEOs of big firms one day and I can’t wait till the day comes when I can say, “I went to school with them.”

Well, at least it is summer and I can enjoy the down time with my children. For the first time in a few years, my kids and I went to the beach. We stayed out and played in the water all day. I know it is fun and relaxing now but by the time fall rolls around I will be itching to get back to school.