Blog of the Week: Favorite Class

Dear Readers,

This week we are asked to discuss one of our favorite classes that we have taken here at ASU. To tell the truth, my favorite class has not been a social work class; however, it is directly related if you think about it.

The class that I have enjoyed most is a SOC class called "Death and Dying". I took this class for my ALD minor, and ended up really loving it. Everything from the text, to the teacher was amazing. This class is only being offered by two different teachers, and is often not during prime class times, but it is worth it.

Overall, the Death and Dying class covered death in all its forms, it covered all ages, cultures, rituals, beliefs, not to mention even the really disgusting things that no one ever wants to see. It was a manageable work load, and provided me with lots to think about and discuss outside of class. I suggest this class to anyone who is interested in Social Work just because after hearing about CPS, School Counselling, and Family Interventions, it is nice to be exposed to a different group of people in different situations who need just as much help.

As far as social work classes go, it is very difficult to pick just one. The reason why is because the classes are built to melt into each other from semester to semester. This means that the core classes are not on different topics, but on the same topics, only with different information, different levels of expectations, of professionalisms, and so on. The kind of advancement makes each class more and more challenging, but also provides chances to improve, and practice skills before reaching perfection. Compared to other majors, social work is very much so about learning a set of behaviors to internalize, rather then a set of knowledge, or equations to memorize.

Signing Off,

Amyann

Follow up for ALD class

Dear Readers,

Earlier this week I posted a blog about one of my professors using a mentor to help him with his online class. I also mentioned how as a student, I was very happy that he had been able to thurally explain what he wanted and expected from his students.

Just as a bit of a follow up on that idea, I wanted to say that he has done something that I have also never seen before. Now last semester my eyes were opened up to the fact that my Micro Human Behavior in the Social Environment teacher used this Adobe program to have sessions with his students in groups so that you would click on the link nice and easy, and everything would show up. With that program I could see my teacher, I could see his screen, and I could type questions I had and see what other students were typing as well.

This new thing that my teacher this semester is using is much more difficult. I happen to not be the only one who is having a little bit of difficulty with it. Through itunes, my professor uploads videos for us to go watch, and depending on what he wants, comment on in our discussions. This sounds great, but to actually get to the videos, you need to have itunes on your computer, then go through a series of websites, and then scroll through several different sections all containing videos, and then finally find the class you are in and download.

For the 6 videos that my teacher put up at once (he was having trouble with uploading them), it took about 30-40 minutes for me to download in order to watch. Although the videos are quite interesting, altogether, the whole process does not seem very user friendly or accessable. So I give him an A+ for effort and choice of videos, but a D for process and program. So that evens out to about a B-, which is not too bad.

Signing Off,

Amyann

Mentoring for Online Teachers

Dear Readers,

So I have three online classes this semester, two are for my Social Work Major, and one is for my Aging and Lifespan Development (ALD) Minor. Unsurprisingly enough, for the most part, the teachers in my ALD classes are not that savvy with technology; however, my current teacher has decided to do something that has obviously helped him, and hopefully will be beneficial to me too.

My ALD 494: Elder Abuse teacher Professor Helgeson took it upon himself to get a mentor for his online classes. He follows his mentor's organization, and rules, such as when posts need to be done, how many per unit etc. In this, he has given clear cut guidelines for what he is expecting of his students.

To all future students, the one most important thing in every single class you will ever take no matter what, is whatever the teacher tells you he or she wants. (If the teacher does not get what he or she wants, no matter how much effort you put in, you will never get good grades.)

So three cheers to your Professor Helgeson for (so far) giving the students exactly what they need in order to achieve their goals.

Signing Off,

Amyann

This Semester

Dear Readers,

As part of this semester, the StAR Team is reintroducing the idea of themed blogs. This week we are writing about things we are excited for, or things that we are dreading for the semester. From a social work student point of view, I can tell you two things I am dreading the most:

Thing One: I am a junior, and at this time in my school career, I am required to apply to the School of Social Work. I know that sounds funny, and you are probably thinking, now Amyann, are you not already a social work student? The answer is, yes and no. I have been taking social work classes, but have yet to be formally accepted into the program. Every declared social work student who gets to SWU 310, must complete an application that includes two references from specific parties, a written statement, and some signatures. Now this may not seem like a big deal, but I have some issues with getting my references at the moment as they need to be from specific places.

Thing Two: Although this is not as specific to social work as some other worries of mine could be, but recently, because of the Tucson component of the School of Social Work, and the fact that many of the students work other jobs, and have busy lives in general, some of the classes have been made into online classes. This semester I have two in-class classes, and three online classes. So I dread the fact that I may miss online deadlines. In fact, I sometimes loose sleep over this. I just hope I do not lose points in my classes for missing deadlines I was unprepared, or not knowing of.

I do not want this to sound negative, as I find there are many good things about the social work program, but at the moment, these are the two things that are hanging over my head most. I do want to say though, this semester I am looking forward to the things that I will be learning in my 310 class with Professor Lietz. From what I can tell, she is really excited about her job, and that only encourages me to want to be excited too.

Signing Off,

Amyann

St. Vincent De Paul

Dear Readers,

Yesterday I went and volunteered at the St. Vincent de Paul dinning hall closest to the downtown campus. I waited a day to write about my experience because I wanted time to reflect on it.

As a social work student, it is a very good idea to get involved in the community and do volunteer work whenever possible. Not only is this good for experience, but it will look good on resumes for the future too. Volunteering can also help open your eyes to the fact that you may really want to work in an area that you never thought about working in before.

My experience at St. Vincent de Paul's yesterday was unfortunately not all that great, there was little direction, and I felt like I did so little good that it did not encourage me to want to go back. Now this coming week I am going to see if I can get a tour of the facility and some of the things that happen there, and then the next week I will be going back again to volunteer for another few hours. The next time I hope like my efforts and time spent will be a little more rewarding even though I am sure that this is not the population I want to serve in the future.

Signing Off,

Amyann

Why Social Work?

Dear Readers,

I have recently been asked to tell the story of why I chose the field of social work. I actually started out as a business major. I was interested in starting some kind of store and running it. When I started working with elderly people however, I knew that I really wanted to continue to work with them in the future. So eventually, as I was talking to a business advisor, and telling her that I really wanted to work with a specific population, she mention the idea of social work to me, and walked me over to the School of Human Resources.

Ever since that day, I have only gotten more and more enthused about the future and what I am being trained to do. I find that the things I am learning in most of my classes are relevant and will be helpful when I finally get out into the field. I feel that the internship that I will be applying for shortly will be one that will only further my understanding of the opportunities that I will have, and help explain to me the things that I will need to know.

Signing Off,

Amyann

Social Networking

Dear Readers,

So today at our StAR meeting, we were highly encouraged to use public media to promote our blogs. This means Twitter, Facebook, and all other medias that we can possibly think of. Although I talk to several people about my blog, especially when I am giving tours, it seems weird to network in the places I am supposed to be talking to my friends.

Not to completely block out one area of media, but I do not think I could promote my blog on my facebook. I have always used my facebook only for my friends, which is why never have more than about 70 friends at any given time.

Although using facebook as a way to get people to read my blog is not exactly my cup of tea, I am very willing to get involved on Twitter. Now do not start thinking that my Twitter page is only going to have "read this", "read that", "I wrote a blog" and other such things 5 times a day. As the reasons for doing that are purely advertisement based, and as a Social Work student, that is not how I work. So expect me to start getting used to Twitter, and probably mentioning things I am doing during the week, places I might have gone, and projects I might be assigned in classes.

So if you are at all interested, look me up on twitter as "heyheydouble_A".

Signing Off,

Amyann