Conflict Resolution

This week's class topic was conflict resolution. Between watching the episode of The Office, the lecture on conflict resolution, and the group activity titled Lost At Sea, what are some of the most important aspects of conflict resolution that you learned this week? Discuss a conflict that you were currently involved with. What was the conflict about? Who was it with? How did you resolve the conflict? Did someone win? Did someone lose? Or was there some type of compromise?

This blog reflection is due at 11:59PM on Monday, May 7, 2012.

The semester is almost at the end-point!

Have a great weekend!

SFMOMA - Controversial Art - Extra Credit

This week's class session focused on the Final Project assignment as well as a visit to the SFMOMA. For 100 points of extra credit, please respond to the following questions:

Write a two paragraph response via a comment on this blog.  The response should explain your experience at the SFMOMA and you why you chose the piece as a representation of controversial art.  What was the impression the artwork had on you?  Why would it be deemed controversial, and who would deem it so?  Who do you think would consider this piece “art”?  Why? 

Managing Your Money...Managing Yourself?

Hello All!

This week's class topic/module was on Money Management! Woohoo! We spent the first 30 minutes of class watching a classic episode of the Honeymooners in which Jackie Gleason's character poorly manages a situation in which he finds a suitcase of counterfeit money on the bus that he drives...and although most of us will likely never encounter such a situation, some parallels could certainly be drawn between what some of us have done in the past when it comes to managing money that isn't really ours to spend (credit card usage, student loan refunds, etc)...

From this class session, what do you think you might do differently now regarding money management that you were not doing before? In class I made the following statement, “You should, whenever possible, only incur debt when taking out loans for your education or to purchase a house”. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? Talk about the three C’s that are used to determine whether or not a person will receive credit…are any of these three characteristics of concern to you right now? Is money, and your management of your finite finances a current stressor in your life? Is it keeping you from focusing on your academics? If so, how could developing and sticking to a budget benefit you? And finally, why is it important to budget our financial resources and stick to a budget?

And for real, finally…at the end of the class session I shared that my LA151 supervisor observed that when visiting six different LA151 classes for observations, that in her 20 minute visits, in 5 of the 6 classes the topic of alcohol or drug use was brought up by students. My question to you is…is this appropriate? Should students in college or specifically AAU bring up these topics, as well as topics related to sexual activity in a college course? Why or why not?

I also shared, and I am also guilty of this at times, we choose HUMOR over being PROFESSIONAL. In other words, in certain situations, when perhaps our behavior and actions should be more professional (perhaps in a classroom or work setting) we choose to crack a joke or make a funny when perhaps we should not…is this okay? Has this become acceptable behavior? Or should people be more self-regulating? At what expense might someone choose humor over professionalism? As a result, does a person become less credible? Less...as some of you might put it...legit.

The blog response is due by Monday, April 23^rd at 11:59PM.

We’re going to the SFMOMA next week (BRING YOUR STUDENT ID) on April 24, 2012…but we’ll first meet in the classroom where I will go over the FINAL PROJECT ASSIGNMENT!!

Have a great weekend!

Creativity & Stress Management!

Hello All! It has been awhile since we've "blogged". As I mentioned in class on Tuesday, I am posting about the last two class topics: CREATIVITY & STRESS MANAGEMENT. This blog will be worth as much as TWO blog entries but you only have to write as much as you normally would when covering ONE blog topic.

I hope you all have a great SPRING BREAK! BE SAFE!

CREATIVITY

What is your definition of creativity? Are all individuals creative?  Why or why not? List a few barriers to creativity that you have encountered in the past. What are some of the characteristics of a creative person? What have you done in the past to overcome moments when you are lacking creativity for a project or assignment?

STRESS MANAGEMENT

What stresses you out? When has stress be helpful to you? After Tuesday's class session, what are some strategies you will implement to ensure that you are incurring LESS stress?

This blog is due by 11:59PM on Monday, April 16, 2012.

Reflecting on Public Speaking!

Um...well, this past week's class session was great (except for perhaps my little tyraid on the importance of being punctual to class!!!)....here's one more digression in that regard...class starts at 3:30PM sharp! BE ON TIME!

Regardless, I hope you all enjoying talking about and practicing public speaking and presenting through the various class activities we undertook on Tuesday. If nothing else, I hope you came away with two key points:
1) Becoming a good and effective public speaker takes effort, time and lots of practice (so take every opportunity you can get to speak in public).
2) Being a strong effective public speaker will be KEY to your success in whatever industry you have chosen to work within!

For this week's blog, I ask that you thoughtfully reflect on the following:

• What have you learned about public speaking that you didn't know before and how do you plan to incorporate this new knowledge into your presenting and public speaking efforts?
• What do you think it means to speak with confidence? What might you do moving forward to ensure that you are presenting and speaking in front others in a more confident manner?
• What is your biggest fear as it relates to puiblic speaking? What strategies do you use to overcome this fear when speaking front of others? If you have never found public speaking to be daunting, why do you think that is? What would be your advice to others who struggle with public speaking?
• What was your favorite activity in class? Why?

What's Your Style?

In class this week we spent time reading and discussing the idea of multi-tasking. What were your overall thoughts about this topic? Has your view about your ability to multi-tasking changed? Why?

We also spent time discussing the topic of learning styles. Hopefully, I was able to emphasize that there's no such thing as a "good" learning style or a "bad" learning style. Success can come with many different learning styles. There is no "right" approach to learning. We all have our own particular way of learning new information. The important thing to be aware of is the nature of your learning style. If you are aware of how your brain best learns, you have a better chance of studying in a way that will pay off when it's time to take an exam or retain a new design method.

What is your preferred learning style? Why do you believe this to be so? Based on the various strategies we discussed in class this week, what are some things you may do differently when trying to learn something new? Are there times when you feel you have to use a different learning style then the one that you prefer? Please give an example.

Since I have posted this blog assignment so late in the week...it is not due UNTIL 3:29PM on Tuesday, March 6, 2012.

Have a great weekend!

Managing Your Time??!!

This week's class session on time managment and procrastination seemed to garner a great deal of interest. Most of you, since the first time we met as a class, as well as in your previous blog entries, have mentioned that your biggest challenge or obstacle to finding academic success is an inability to manage your time effectively or that you simply procrastinate TOO much.

Hopefully, since we met on Tuesday, many of you have begun to reflect on our class discussion and are being more mindful of how exactly you do spend your time on a daily basis. Additionally, an aspect of this week's homework requires that you chart where you spend your time...

So...where are you spending your time...and do you feel good about how much time you are allocating to everything you need to do on a daily/weekly basis?

For this week's blog entry, please respond/comment on the following:

1. Are you spending the most time during the week on things that are important to you? What is most important to you? Why is it important to spend time on this?

2. Does where you spend the majority of your time help you to accomplish your goals? Both your short term and long term?

3. Are there things that you can cut out of your schedule that you would consider time wasters? What are some things you have already "wasted" time on this week?

4. What are THREE practical things you can do differently to better manage your time this semester?

SMART GOALS

This past class session we discussed and reviewed motivation and I asked you all to recall a moment during the past week in which you were pressed to get something done and had to find the motivation to move forward with task completion...thank you to those of you who shared your insights!

The topic of the week was goal setting and we specifically discussed the idea of SMART GOALS. If you recall, I share that in order for a goal to be more likely to be accomplished the following should be true about the goals you set for yourself:

S = Specific: The goal outlines the what, where, why, who, when, etc...of what you want to accomplish

M = Measurable: If you can't measure the goal, how will you know that you have accomplished the goal?

A = Achievable: It is important to only set goals for yourself of which you have the capacity and control to accomplish at this point in your life

R = Relevant: If the goal has no meaning for you at this time in your life, then you are not likely to stick with it.

T = Timebound: All SMART goals must have a specificed timeframe in which you plan to reach your goal.

For this week's blog entry I ask that you do the following and write it as a comment in response to this blog entry:

   §  Write out three academically focused SMART Goals that you wish to accomplish this semester.

§  Why did you choose these goals and why are they important to you?

§  What are some obstacles you can anticipate encountering this semester that might stand in the way of achieving these goals?  

Your blog entry response is due by 11:59PM on Sunday, February 19, 2012.

What is Motivation?!

I thought this week's class was great! For the most part, everyone was participatory and engaged in the conversation and activities! Everyone brought their unique ideas and perspectives to the dialogue and that made the class a quality experience. I hope we can continue to remain committed to engaging in such quality class sessions every week!

For this week's blog entry response, I want you all to continue reflect on motivation...and why it is you came to AAU and what has kept you motivated (and what has stood in your way to maintaining motivation) to this point...

Blog Entry # 2 - What Motivates Me?

Write a blog entry that encompasses a response to all of the following:

·         Before coming to the Academy of Art University, what motivated you to pursue your career in art/design? What were the factors that motivated you to enroll at AAU and pursue your college education? What does possessing passion for your art/design have to do with staying motivated?  

·         What are things right NOW that continue to keep you from completing tasks or meeting deadlines?

·         What is a strategy or strategies you plan to implement to help you maintain better motivation this semester?  How will you implement these strategies?         

·         What did you think of the Motivational DNA exercise? (please provide honest, yet appropriate responses to this question)

Your blog entry response is due by 11:59PM on Sunday, February 12, 2012.

Welcome to LA151!

I'm very excited to have you all enrolled in LA151 and to serve as your instructor this semester. It was great to meet you all today! I truly believe that this is the beginning of your own personal journey towards greater academic success! Through your involvement and active participation in this class, I am confident that you will walk away with at least two things:

1) A better understanding of yourself
2) Develping skills and abilities that will assist you in your academic pursuits at AAU

Blog Entry Assignments -
Any time a blog entry is assigned for homework, each of you is responsible for coming to this BLOG and posting a comment in response to the most recent blog posting (I will post each initial blog entry that you will respond to on a weekly basis). Yes, this does mean you will be able to read what your classmates also write but this is completely intentional. I firmly believe you all have a great deal to learn from one another. This learning will come not only from our classroom discussions but also from what you share in your comments and responses to the questions posted in the blog...


Blog Entry # 1 - What are your thoughts about being enrolled in this course? What are you hoping to gain from the experience of being enrolled in LA151? Name one thing that occurred last semester that likely led to academic struggles. If you could travel back in time, what might you have done differently? (Please respond to each question completely and thoughtfully).

It is expected that you will post your response to this blog posting by 12midnight on Sunday, February 5, 2012. Your response can be as long or as short as you choose...but you do need to respond fully to the questions from above!

I'll see you all on Tuesday!