Use of technology inside and outside of class...

...becomes more and more important.
I can't think of a presentation that I have prepared or listened to during college where PowerPoint was not used. I think that not using PowerPoint is a missed chance to provide clarity and to support your arguments with visual statistics and images.

Tools such as Blackboard are very useful for group work. I used my group's file exchange a lot to make sure that I do the work that I'm supposed to do and in order to make work efficient by checking the status of my group member's work which in turn made it possible to work on a group project without having to meet every other day.

I believe that technology, because of its potential efficiency and productivity, will become more and more prevalent at Universities and in the work place.

Powerful situations...

We looked at a Memo in class. It was written during the Nazi regime and it talked about murder, which took us about 15 to 20 minutes to find out, because of the abstract and secretive language that was used.

We were debating about the reason for the choice of language and one obvious answer was that the writer knew that he or she was involved in murderous, unethical business but in depth did not want be a part of it. Why did the person not refuse to do what he or she was told to do since it was not right which every person with a healthy mind must have known?

I just learned in Psychology 201 about the power of certain situations and the conditions that promote obedience. Obedience is often a good thing. Imagine running a hospital without employees obeying to their superiors. It would be impossible to work effectively. Unfortunately, obedience also has a very dark side demonstrated most extremely during the Nazi regime.

A mixture of desperate people looking for change, a bad economic situation, and a vulnerable governmental system made it possible for a sick person to put a whole nation into a situation where disobedience for the majority of the people was not an option.

Social psychologists indentified some of the social pressures that underlie a person's willingness to follow a malevolent order. Some of the pressures include the social norm of obedience to authority figures, the difficulty of saying no to an authority who is immediately present, and the absence of a model demonstrating that disobedience is legitimate.

All of these examples of social pressures are found to be a factor of obedience even when there was no punishment for disobeying.

So, going back to the Memo I believe that the person who wrote the Memo and many others found themselves in a very stressful situation where the fear of deadly punishment and the lack of a disobeying model besides other social pressures was too overwhelming for many to even think about refusing.

I think and hope that we all learned from this horrific example.
My personal goal is to never stop thinking critically about whatever is said by whomever. No matter if it is a parent, a professor, your boss, the president or the pope, we should always stay alert and think about our own definitions of right and wrong.

Miscommunication...

seems to be the major (failing-)factor when it comes to efficient planning and organization of social groups.

I remember the day when my Track and Field team was supposed to depart for a competition and either of the two parents who were in charge for transportation thought that the other person would take us to the meet. After several calls the confusion was clarified and the group was able to get to the competition. However, we were late and some athletes were really nervous about not having enough time to warm up which led to some average performances.

I believe that miscommunications like that are unnecessary and easily preventable. Structured planning that is reported on a written plan could prevent miscommunication and would clarify everybody's responsibilities within a group.

More Presentations....

I liked Erin's presentation about how to provide first aid because she actually was in a situation where she had to use her first aid skills. She also showed us helpful video clips that showed how to give proper CPR and other techniques in an emergency situation.

I have never used an e-portfolio program. So I definitely need to know how I use such a program effectively.

Class Presentations

I really liked Kevin's presentation about the school mascots because it was a topic that related very well to the audience and with his visual aid he presented the issue, that I did not know anything about, very well.

I liked Kenneth's presentation about the Boykin Spaniel because obviously he brought his own dog which was an attention catcher and he presented some interesting facts with an effective PowerPoint presentation.

I also liked Scott's presentation about the Jetlev-Flyer because it was something totally different. His video-clip showed impressively how the new innovation works. It looked like Scott was passionate about his topic which he showed through a convincing speech delivery.

Cover Letter

After looking at the advice about cover letters on collegegrad.com, I agree that including a testimony from a credible person can have a big impact on your chances of getting invited to an interview. I would not include it as a quote in your resume though, instead, I would attach it to the resume and make it a separate document. I don't like the postscript part of the website. I think that if you have something outstanding to report, you should include it into the paragraph where you emphasize the skills that are going to be useful to be successful in the new job.
For the future I will keep in mind that I want to talk about skills that are important and meaningful to the reader/employer rather than me, because the list of priorities might not be 100% compatible.

client project

The client project is about being a part of the healthy campus initiative and the task for our group is to come up with some creative ideas about how to introduce a healthier life style to Clemson University students. My group was mostly interested in the organic farm project on campus and how to make it a more popular food choice for students. I have never heard about the organic farm before which is the first problem. We have to make sure that students know about the farm and where to find it. I am still not a hundred percent sure about the role of my group within the whole project. Is our interest in the project supposed to focus on one specific purpose (make the organic farm more popular)? What are our resources (paper, print, etc.)? I think our group is going to be more productive as soon as we know the specific purpose of our investigation into the project. Right now we are trying to do some research to get a better idea about the project and what other people might have already done in that field.

Interview mistakes

If I was the employer I would be very disappointed to find out that an employee was lying in his or her interview and even worse, I would not be able to fully trust that person's reliability and loyalty anymore. I think honesty always works best. So if there is a question where you truly do not have an answer it is not a shame to eloquently explain that you are lacking knowledge or an answer to that particular question. The best way to avoid those kind of situations is to prepare as much as you can, especially when you are a person who tends to be very nervous in an interview situation. I would recommend to learn as much about the company or institution as possible, because it can be either impressive to know some facts and details or it can be very embarrassing not to know what the company or institution is all about.

the 5 minute university

I am taking the class "introduction to psychology" and one part of the first class really stuck in my head. The video clip about the 5 minute university. It is talking about how we can basically wrap all the information that we learned throughout college into a 5 minute crash course and that would represent what we remember after graduating from college. Of course it was not a serious or scientific report, but I have to acknowledge that the message carried a certain amount of truth with it. What do I remember from biology 103 or chemistry 101? I would not know where to start because I simply cannot remember a whole lot, and whatever I can remember could certainly be condensed into a 5 minute review. So why do we go to college? I think that it is not so much about how much information you are able to remember but how you use the information you learn. I believe that college is teaching you a lot about yourself and basic principles of life which is nothing that you are supposed to memorize, but it is information that gives you the chance for application in your own life in order to give yourself the chance to develop and find out what role you want to play in life.

10 years from now...

I usually work from one short-term goal to the other since you never know what is going to change in the long-term. Anyway, I am planning on graduating from Clemson University in December 2010. I would like to go to medical school afterward, which would be in fall 2011. In the meantime I would like to gain some practical experience in the medical field either at home or in a Spanish speaking country. After completing medical school, I would like to go back to Germany to find work, to settle down and hopefully to have my own family. If everything works out like I just explained, in ten years, I will live somewhere in Germany (or Europe). I will be fluent in at least two languages. I will have found a place where I want to stay for the rest of my life. I will have a partner with whom I want to stay for the rest of my life and I will planning on having my own family.

The Machine is Us/ing Us...how Web 2.0 affects our lives

I think the title "The Machine is Us/ing Us" means that it is humans who feed the machine with tons of information every day no matter if it's consciously (having a Web page or blog) or unconsciously (buying something online...credit card information). Therefore, the Web consist of precious, personal information that is readily (ab)used by the modern economy, society...world.

For someone who is about to enter the workforce it is crucial to have good computer working abilities. Different jobs require different ways of communication, and very often the advantage of computer based communication is favored because it's fast and flexible. Even if communication does not require the Web, most of the data is recorded and saved electronically, which in turn requires specialized skills.

Someone who is already in the workforce will need to develop the skills that are necessary to stay compatible with someone who went through a more updated and more computer based training program, and who could possibly manage to work the same job more effectively.

In the end we have to be aware that the Web was established by human hands. It consists of human ideas, information posted by humans, revised by humans, manipulated by humans, used by humans to create new ideas that lead to new information that ends up on the Web as well. "100 billion times per day humans click on a web page" where they receive, share, link, or trade information. Information always has a source, but can it be original after 100 billion clicks, and a couple of thousands of "copy" and "paste"?

Hey everyone!!!

I'm Liane, I'm a health science major and this is my 5th semester here at Clemson University. I'm originally from Germany but I'm here for about two years now and i enjoy it a lot. The most frequent question that people ask me is: "Why did you come to Clemson or how did you find out about Clemson?" and one of my answers is: "Clemson actually found me." I got recruited via mail by the Women's Track & Field coach and they offered me a full scholarship. The timing was perfect because I was about to apply for University in Germany and I thought it would be a great opportunity and the last chance to study abroad. I took the chance and now I'm here:)
The Track & Field season is just about to start, so if you are interested you should definitely come out to the track and support us. Our schedule is posted online. I hope I will see you there!!!