Finals week a new perspective- Finale

Finals are over and so is this project, it was great fun to see the different perspectives on finals week. This definitely made me evaluate my own approaches towards preparing for exams. The last blog entry includes students graduating on Saturday (05.12.2012) talking about their final finals and the future after Slippery Rock University.
 The graduates are Michael Springer, 24, Communications Major, Kyle McCoy, 22, Music Major and Isaac Fisher, 23, Biology Major.
Michael Springer graduates with Information Technology Major and Computer Science Minor. He feels relieved to be finished with university and to go into the “real” world. Springer has already been hired by a company in Pittsburgh as a web developer. The advice he gave to future communication graduates is to start looking for jobs straight away not to wait until they graduate because this shows that they are serious about their future career.
Kyle McCoy graduates with a Music Performance Major, specializing in percussion. He didn’t have finals he just had play in a lot of ensembles which gave him an opportunity to play a lot of different genres. McCoy’s plans after graduation include going to graduate school in Louisville, Ky, to do Masters in Music with emphasis on percussion. He advised future music graduates not to fall behind but to study systematically, also not to get involved in gossip but to focus on the music.
Isaac Fischer graduates with a Biology Major. He had seven finals, so it definitely feels good to be done with them. Fischer is currently looking for a job in a lab and the year after that he plans to go to graduate school. His advice to the future biology graduates is not to let the head or anyone else from the department to get them and to make sure they stay on the top of the material because if they get behind is hard to catch up.
These blog projects have been a real pleasure; they gave me an opportunity to learn how to make videos, photo slideshows, google maps and much more. I hope that all followers enjoyed it because I did.


 

Finals week- a new perspective Part 2

Finals are one day away and as a second part of my project I choose to film professors from different departments talking about the exam period.
The professors we have speaking this week are Dr. George Mihalik, professor at the safety management department, Ms. Stacey Steele, professor at the music department and Dr. Li Pu, professor at the communication department.
 The ways different departments evaluate their students is not the same but they all try and give opportunity to the students to be evaluated in a variety of ways. The exam format which Mihalik provides to the students includes multiple choice questions, true or false questions, matching questions and short answer questions. This way he tries to provide the students with a variety of ways to be successful. He also mentioned that it is important the students to study during the whole 15 weeks not only the week before the exams.
Steele is teaching two classes, elementary school music and music education for the diverse learner. For elementary school music she examines the students with a written exam paper but those students also have a performance exam which is lasts 30 minutes. Music education for the diverse learner class is being examined with a written final. She advised the students not to get behind because this way it will be overwhelming for them during the exams.
Dr. Li Pu teaches four classes, two courses of public speaking, last section of broadcast journalism, and last section of TV field production. For public speaking she uses multiple choice questions, for broadcast journalism and TV field production she grades the students based on final projects covering the material they have been thought during the term. In her view the tests are not too hard as far as the chapters the exams are based on are reviewed and also the power point presentations she gave during classes.


Exams start tomorrow (05.08), I hope the tips from the professors have been useful and everyone will get As. At the end of this week we are meeting students about to graduate who are going to talk about how does it feel to have your final finals and what is it like to have this chapter of your life finished.

From Water Dynamic

Finals week - a new perspective

With finals week rapidly approaching this 3 week project aims to focus on the exam week from three angles. First week will be focusing on students from three different departments and how to they study, second week will be looking at professors from different departments and what do they have to say in relation to the topic whereas the third week will find out how students from different departments that are about to graduate deal with the exam period.
For the first week I have filmed three students from different departments- safety management, music, biology and biochemistry, talking how each one of them prepares for exams and what kind of exams their departments have. The videos include Jake Malenko, 28, safety management, Jack Crellin, 22, double major in biology and biochemistry, and Sean Garee, 26, music major.

From Finals Week

Each one of the students had a different opinion on the topic due to the differences in their majors but it seems like all of them have to deal with certain amount of pressure. Crellin, deals with a lot of pressure as he is a double major and has eight exams coming up. He had found a way to deal with it by having someone from his major studying with him because this way they can give each other different perspective and discuss more ideas. In Garee’s department they have juries in front of whom they have to perform individually. It is a lot of pressure for him because music majors usually perform in groups (orchestra), so when they have to be examined by the jury they have to perform by themselves which could be stressful. He deals with it by embracing the fact that he loves what he is doing and that he is doing it for the audience therefore if he is nervous the audience will sense it and wouldn’t like the performance. For Malenko there isn’t much of a pressure because in his view safety management is not too challenging, it is more of a matter of memorizing thus he sees the exams as not being too hard. Overall finals week causes pressure due to the importance of the exams and getting your GPA up but you shouldn’t over stress and remember to stay hydrated and take short breaks during the studying time.

From Finals Week

Next week, the professors in SRU will be under the lens of my camera sharing their opinions and views on the examination week.

Sarah Hammond an over achiever or just someone who loves what is she doing?

Originally, Sarah wanted to play string base when she was in third grade, but there were only two in the whole Hanover Public School district and they were all already taken. She was encouraged by her parents to play violin as it was more a more versatile instrument. Sarah started playing violin when she was seven years old and continues to this day. Her music instructor back in high school was the conductor for the Hanover Symphony Orchestra, who eventually recruited her for his orchestra when she was only 12. Sarah remembers it as a “weird” time because there were mainly old people playing in the orchestra and they gave her the impression that she is not welcomed there because of her young age.
She left after one season because the people in the orchestra were belittled her. After that Sarah became the concert mistress of the orchestra in Hanover High School and the president of the orchestra in the school. She was also involved with string quartet and played in the district honors orchestra for two years.  Other music involvements included playing steel drums for seven years and taking guitar lessons for four years which led to being part of a band called “Psychedelic Bath Tub” which was mainly rock and alternative music. Aside from music, Sarah was also involved in several other sports. She ran track, played a goal keeper for the field hockey team and was the captain of each of these teams for two years. The team played in the National Field Hockey Festival in Arizona. She also played in door hockey and was the boys’ basketball student athletic trainer which meant helping the guys if they had any injuries.

During high school Sarah was the person that you are likely to see almost everywhere because as she was involved in a high number extracurricular activities. Things like being the class secretary, student council corresponding secretary, and chairman for most of the committees they had were just some of the things she was responsible for. Sarah was also the one to construct and held workshops at both of their districts and state conferences. Other of her activities included being the head of the spirit committee, winning home coming queen, winter formal queen and prom queen which led to her been voted most spirited and most athletic person of the high school.

 “That was all achieved with hard work and lots of late nights in the school,” she said, “It doesn’t feel like I am pushing myself because I love everything I am doing.” According to her, she spent more time in this school than some of the faculties. It all paid off at the end because she won nine scholarships and she can’t remember exactly how many awards she has but as she puts it “I won a bunch of medals, plaques and certificates.” There were lots of opportunities in her high school so she took advantage of all of them. When Sarah came to SRU she got herself involved with the orchestra, became building. B house council treasurer, ARHS member. Next year she is going to be the vice president of programming for ARHS and the secretary of French Club.
 Her view on why she joins so many things is that she has lots of free time during the day, so she is just one of those people who like to have something going on all the time. She sees it as a great way to meet new people and create connections.

Terence Collins adresses sustainability and encourages actions towards it.

Terence Collins, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute for Green Science and known for his pioneering in “green chemistry”, gave the lecture “Green Chemistry: Setting the Compass Toward a Sustainable Future” on Friday April 6 at 5 p.m. in the ATSH.

Prior the lecture there were technical difficulties in the assigned lecture theatre therefore the seminar had to be moved into a different room but this didn’t ruin the mood of the audience and they approached the room enthusiastic to learn more about sustainability.

Collins started by identifying the term sustainability according to the chemists. He stressed the importance of sustainability for the future and how currently we are not doing “the job” properly. “There is no negotiation with Mother Nature,” Collins said. Collins introduced the compass that he made to deal with natural gas. According to him technology impacts this compass in two ways- they are either physically or chemically degrading of the ecosphere or they are not or they are toxic or eco toxic with respect to the ecosphere or they are not. After his presentation Collins was happy to answer the questions that the audience had. Overall it was a good lecture full with lots of information regarding sustainability and encouraging actions towards it.

Holocaust Survivor Fay Malkin Shares Her Story with SRU Community

Google Map of the churches in Slippery Rock

View Slippery Rock, Pa Churches in a larger map

More Churches

Churches

Video Collection from Pittsburgh and Slippery Rock

Japanese Tea Ceremony in Wizenfluh Dining Hall conducted by Hiroko Shimbo, the best selling author of "The Japanese Kitchen and The Sushi Experience". Japanese thought by Hiroko Shimbo, the best selling author of "The Japanese Kitchen and The Sushi Experience". Basketball game at the ARC, SRU. Drums Workshop with some dancing at the August Wilson Center in Pittsburgh. "Wild Stock" performs in SRU Union.

Dr. Kathy Humphrey address the SRU Community

Dr. Kathy Humphrey, the fifth presidential candidate, met with the SRU Community in an open forum on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

Is fashion making you look good or is it just a way of separation?

Fashion has changed a lot over the history and it varies from place to place around the world.  It is influenced not only by cultural stereotypes but it also on weather, beliefs, values and sometimes even the government.  For example, in China only the emperor was allowed to wear the symbol of dragon on his clothes.

Despite all these, the primary reason for the importance of fashion is the fact that people want to look good. It is also true that the significance of fashion has to do with other factors such as beliefs that being fashionable helps you to achieve success. Often fashion is seen as a tool for success, fame and well being. The path for earning name power, success and money in this business seems easy and attractive. In the world today, even kids are conscious what are they wearing. And all of these contribute to the increased importance of fashion.

On some levels fashion can be used as a tool of self- expression. Some people dress to identify with a particular performing artist they admire. To a certain point famous people have always been an influence for the way we dress. For example in the 1950s everybody wanted to look like Elvis.

 Another fashion influence is the separation of people into groups. In high school you have “Goths, emos, skaters, hippies”; different styles are way to express yourself but they also create separation and stereotypes between groups. Some people may go even further and judge you by the brand that you are wearing.

The fact of the matter is that we are living in a global society where fashion is important to anyone who is wearing clothes; dressing can be considered a way of communication, expression or separation. Despite our temperature towards fashion, we cannot escape it. It is ubiquitous.

Saad Mohseni, the Rupert Murdoch of Afghanistan? 

Saad Mohseni, 45, was named by Time magazine, one of the most influential people for 2011 and the most influential media figure in Afghanistan..
Chairman of Moby Group, one of Afghanistan’s largest media companies, Mohseni owns ToloTV and Arman radio; the country’s most popular TV and radio networks. He also owns a music-recording, a second TV network, an advertising agency, a television and movie production company, the magazine Afghan Scene, and two Internet cafés.
Saad Mohseni is called the Rupert Murdoch of Afghanistan.  An extravagant comparison but it gives an idea of his influence and accomplishments. In 2009 he partnered with Murdoch’s News Corporation to create the Farsi 1 satellite network, which packages entertainment programs in Dubai and beams them from England into Iran.
Mohseni has been widely criticized and been denounced as “un-Islamic” by fundamentalists for allowing women to appear alongside men on his TV and radio networks. Also, for allowing women to compete alongside men on one of his hit shows “Afghan Star”, and for showing unveiled women on Indian soap operas. He has also been threatened with arrest for his comments and reports on government incompetence, vote fraud and corruption. He has been called a Zionist in Iran and an Iranian sympathizer in Afghanistan. He has been accused to be an American agent for his opposition to the Taliban and staunchly pro-American “propaganda.” As a result, when he travels, Mohseni is met at the airport by three sport utility vehicles filled with gun-carrying guards. 

If I get the chance to interview him, my question would be: After all the threats that you have received, do you think it was worth it?

The sources that I used in addition to Time are The New Yorker, NPR and USA Today.
I chose those media outlets because they are big names that have a large number of readership and they have proven over the years to be reliable sources of information.

For starter:

First things first… Hi there! My name is Ekaterina Dimitrova and I am a Bulgarian, studying in Scotland on an exchange in Slippery Rock University. I am studying towards a degree in Public Relations and Communications. As with most students, I have a Facebook page however I haven’t had much experience with Twitter until it became a requirement for my New-Media Journalism course. I have been meaning to start a blog for my intercontinental experiences but with so many things happening at once, it keeps falling down in my list of priorities but watch this space! 
I have never done blogging before so this is kind of a challenge for me but, as people say, there is a first time for everything! This blog is also an assignment for the New-Media Journalism course so I will endeavor to make it a good read. New-Media has always been of interest to me because I find quite astonishing how fast things are changing and evolving. No one would’ve imagined such innovations to be possible twenty years ago and I often wonder what will be here in twenty years time!
The changes that media outlets have accomplished over the years are impressive indeed. It is interesting to observe how media continually evolves to adapt to the adjustmets in the way we communicate with each other. Or, indeed, how the way we communicate, emerges concurrently with new media. One of my favorite examples of traditional media outlet is The British Broadcasting Company (BBC). It provides a variety of stories from all over the world which reach everyone and every taste. It still has its traditional taste but it is also trying to be more innovative by using blogs in order to keep on track with the new trends and to attract younger viewers. I also admire the BBC’s adherence to its royal charter which legally binds it to report news as objectively and factually as possible. A new media outlet that I like is TED; a video based website where people address a different range of topics within the search and practice of science and culture. McLuhan once wrote of a Global Village, a space where people from all over the world can unite and discuss topics of mutual interest. I believe TED is a positive example of this phenomenon as it allows people to overcome the barriers of space to discuss world issues via the universal languages of science, technology and culture.
Well, that's it for now, hope you enjoyed it.