Happy late Monday - even though I wrote this on SUNDAY! :)
So much to cover so hold on tight!
LAST weekend (and Monday... and Tuesday... and Wednesday... and Thursday... and Friday... and Saturday and yeah, even TODAY!) absolutely flew by.... it's been doing that a lot lately!
Last weekend was a normal weekend with extra fiance time... yay! He's helping me redo my nursing portfolio so I'm way excited about that. His way (via Adobe InDesign) is much more efficient and is going to be a life saver since I'm continually needing to edit it and well, my little mess of a document is a nightmare to work with. I started it in Nursing Issues about a year ago, and I really have fun adding to it - it's sort of like my "professional scrapbook"! ;-) Also, Friday I took a webinar through the National Student Nurses Association all about e-portfolios. I guess our dues do go towards something! ;-) It was fun - we watched a live broadcast and could talk and everything. I was the only dork who asked questions and gave suggestions, but that's okay. :) Even though the whole nursing portfolio thing is not new to me at all, I did enjoy seeing amazing ways of putting it online and learning how our field is progressing and is depending more and more on things like our portfolio. (For those of you who don't know, just think of a resume turned into a scrapbook. Basically we SHOW everything we've done instead of tell it. Copies of certifications, journal entries, projects, papers, case studies, care maps, letters from patients, awards..... blah blah blah) Anyhow, it's great to see how nursing is going from exam scores to evidence of optimal practice. I've always hated how nurses are credentialed based upon exam scores - what about the people who just can't take tests well but are phenomenal on the floor?? That's why we're moving towards this portfolio thing. Fun!
In other news, we're cleaning out the basement (slowly but surely!) and I found my old "coin collection" - now don't take it in the literal way, it's nothing fancy. It's just a little box full of money from wherever I've been or wherever my dad has traveled. I am not an avid coin collector or anything, but I am an anal organizer so I have been trying to research how to properly organize and store, well, money! I have no idea if this is the right idea or not, but I ordered some of those cardboard things to put the coins in and then binder sleeves to put those in. For the paper money (my research leads me to believe that collectors refer to my term "paper money" as the more proper term, "currency" lol), I got binder sleeves that are made to hold those. I hope it comes soon because I want to get the plastic box of nasty money off my table!
Oh yes, I gotta tell you about this fiasco I'm in. It's sad and funny at the same time! Well, a week ago, our weather started getting really chilly, and I then realized that I had absolutely no winter pants or nice jeans that fit (I've been wearing capris and stuff all summer) since I've lost a ridiculous amount of weightover the past 5 months thanks to a med I'm on. (I know, I know, I shouldn't complain but I have NOT tried to lose even an ounce, so this really isn't good) Anyways, moral of the story... I had to buy an entire new wardrobe on Friday, and I then remembered how my scrubs seem to be getting huge on me (even though they're already smalls!!) so I placed a huge order at Scrubs & Beyond. Cute?? Umm, YES! Take a peek at my new favorite set (so favorite, in fact, that I got it in 2 colors!)
Then, Mom got the idea of taking a water exercise class... she took it before with her friend because it helped their backs. Since my back is pretty much throbbing all day long these days, she signed me up and well, it looks like I'm joining a pool full of old people to do "exercises" - whatever that entails. Why do I picture a line full of 70-year-old women with those goofy hats doing synchronized swimming?? Oh, my..... My mom and her friend were the youngest in the class last time, so that means I'm going to be like the babyof the group. But anyways, back to my story... so I realized that I don't have a swimsuit that fits. Not a good thing in Ohio in October. Since the pool in question is completely loaded with chlorine, I didn't want to get a really nice swimsuit, so I logged onto Target.com and ordered a smorgasbord of swimming apparel. In the way picked over clearance section, no less. I saw a few sets I adored on Gap.com - cute patterns, low tops = no tan line problems... Absolutely perfect!! But then I got to thinking... did I really want to get a top that low for old-people-swimming-exercise-class? For my backyard pool, sure, but in a pool full of Grandpas?? EWW. Riiiight... So that's why we went with Target. Not that those are much better. But I don't know. I guess I'm not going to fit in with these septuagenarians unless I get a floral one-piece from Sears with an attached ruffle skirt and huge hibiscus flowers on the boobs or something (ahh!!) so alas, Target won. Well sort of. The order came and go figure... it was all too big except for an adorable brown and coral top and black bottoms with a cute white and black floral fake belt thingy. Umm, yeah. Brown + coral on top, black on the bottom (with a tiny bit of white on the belt thing no less) = AHHHH! Fashion trainwreck!! So this should be interesting. Who knows, maybe I'll just have to get a nice swimsuit and get it ruined in the chlorine. (Yes, we do put chlorine in our pool here, but not that heavy duty, way potent public pool stuff.) Absolute craziness.
In other news, I've gone wildly craft happy. More than usual. Like there are no words... I'm knee deep in scrapbooking projects, a quilt, a craft apron, coasters, a few ATC swaps, and some blankets. Yes, seriously. Pictures when I stop starting new projects and actually finish the first, k?
Ohhh and yes, this is BIG news - Monday, my mom volunteered to help me clean out the mess we call my room. We're about halfway through the worst of it - my closet and the half of my dwelling rectangle that I fondly refer to as my "scrapbook room." Not quite finished, but almost!! Here's what the closet USED to look like, and look how it sparkles now! ;-)
Annnnnd (told you I had a lot to say!) just because I love you... here's some fun links!!
Real Simple wallpapers: so cute with inspiring quotes Design Freebies: FAB blog! Links to free wallpaper, printouts, cute things, etc. all over the internet
Top 10 Ways to Organize Your Paperwork: Mia Binn's great new blog with a very informative, creative article! Amy Atlas: She's an event designer/planner. Click on her gallery - you'll be completely blown away!
Thinking thinking.... I know I did way more than that in the past week or so...
Well in school news, had a quiz on Thursday. I didn't do too hot thanks to my previous month of running on about 4 hours of sleep a night. Not by choice. I'm struggling inside and the nights are so hard on me. So yes, my waking hours suffer. And I'm tired all day. And my brain is mush. We'll see on Tuesday what I got on the quiz.
I am excited though, because for that class we all have to do a project on a disease. I, not wanting to adhere to monotony, chose a fascinating liver disease, sclerosing cholangitis. Coincidence, but it's what I have had since I was 5, so I should have known that my slight research and project love and addiction would have combined with the personal aspect to create this huge, like we're talking dissertation huge - research endeavor. Oh man, you have noooo idea. So far I've collected over 200 journal articles and my books? HA! Only a picture will suffice. ACTUALLY, it won't suffice. I couldn't fit all the books in a picture. I have probably about 40 books checked out and a ton more coming in from other colleges in the country. Yes, I'm soooo serious..... But I LOVE this!!!
Told you I'm going overboard. But this stuff fascinates me so much! And when I read one thing, it leads to another, and another, and another.... and by now, I have books on not only PSC itself, but childhood trauma, pediatric issues, pulmonary complications, cardiac topics, reproductive technology, and the impact of chronic illness on a person, families, and spousal relationships. And no, I'm not done. I have a list of more books I want to check out, and my folder on EBSCOhost is packed with more articles I have to look up. I could seriously research every single day. I'm really good at it, too, and it doesn't take a toll on me physically like floor nursing does. I could get a PhD in Nursing Research. Who knows. I do love my patients though. I don't know.... But anyways, I will only need a couple hours to do my little school thing, but this is just so much fun that I won't be able to stop for awhile. :) Plus, since it's personal, I'm learning soooo much and retaining it so well. When I was little, I wanted to be a doctor, and honestly? I'd be great at it. Oh, okay... rambling...
Anywho... ;-)
So yes, our brand new Hobby Lobby opened early (they weren't supposed to until Monday) so my mom drug me in. Mistake. Big mistake. We were on our way to JoAnns for their huge Columbus Day sale (I needed interfacing and I LOVE when the clearance fabric gets double clearanced!) but umm, let's just say we never made it to JoAnns. We did go to Target though. Target puts me in my happy place! Today, I got a clearance nightshirt for $2.49, not kidding, (and not really my style, but in the wintertime, well, what I usually wear tends to be FREEZING so maybe I'll have to embrace the whole sleeves concept), a fun Halloween mask (I have a cute poodle skirt, but since I'm only going trick-or-treating with my lil buddies, age 5 and 3 and not to an event type thing, I'll probably opt for comfy and WARM and wear black plus the little tiger-whatever-it-is mask. Rahhrrr, right? So hot, I know! ;-) I am sad though because this was going to be the year that little miss Haylie was finally old enough to be the French Maid - seriously people, I've been eying this costume since she was a baby!! She's been a ballerina, a pumpkin, umm... I forget what else, but this is what she needs to be... Oh well, there's always next year!
Yesterday and today were extra great because weekends = FIANCE TIME!! Annnd, yesterday, our friend had a housewarming party:
....and then I had to run to the mall to pick up some... well.... newly super-super-tiny me cant even fit in my UNDERWEAR anymore. Poor Boytoy had to go to like 16 stores while I walked around in circles trying to find something I liked. (Shopping with me is nuts... I'm so picky and anyone who shops with me will tell you I walk in "circles" whatever that means) Buuuut, we finally found some... and got a snack... and got "pulled over" in the mall and got CARDED! (Our stupid mall has a rule now where if you're under 18, you have to be accompanied by an adult after a certain hour. So the "forest ranger", aka security guard, came and got us and was kind of embarrassed when he saw that we both have HORIZONTAL licenses meaning in our state, we are OVER 21 (forget 18! lol). Interesting.
Anywho... then we chilled. :) Jonathan had a crazy week, too, so it worked out. I love the weekends when we have extra time to be together. It keeps my crazy mind at rest for a few days at least. :)
So, that's a nice summary for ya. I've been so busy I can't even stand it. I didn't even watch Grey's till SATURDAY!! (YES, I thought I might just die...)
If you're just jumping in, this is part 3 of 3 in a little (okay, BIG) college/productivity internet tools series I have painstakingly (haha, just kidding) put together. Last Friday, I was the featured guest blogger on my friend's site, Hey Stephanie! To make a long story short, I had more resources than I thought I did, so I decided to make it a mini series and continue with two additional posts back here. :) Part 2 went up Monday, and today is Part 3!
So here they are... the random other tools that are helpful in so many ways! Along with Parts 1 and 2, these links should "fill in the blanks" to give you a personal toolbox you can use for projects, school, and most importantly, everyday life. You now have all you need to be the organized, smart-studying, non-time-wasting student/fab person/whatever you are ;-)
MATH
Mathway (this site is amazing!!) .............And now for the calculators...
Bartleby - several reference books, all a click away.
STUDY HELP
Study Guides A freshman? A senior who never really worked on those study habits? Realizing it's time to grow up and you still can't manage that whole "time management" thing? It's okay - check out this site, a great resource for organization, prioritizing, and study skills. Group projects, presentations... this stuff comes up long past college, so I think a lot of people could benefit from this one. I will warn you, the site is a little boring and you might want to click back, but the info is totally legit - they share tips I've been using for the past 3 years and will continue to use through grad school. They also have great math and various English brush-up pages that have helped my friends, and if you do enjoy the articles (or need to know more), they suggest additional sites for further reading.
Cliffnotes & Sparknotes Do I really need to explain this one?? Notes, tips, easy-peasy, the stuff that makes you wonder why your professor couldn't have said it that way the first time. I love how so much on here is free. They're trying to sell their books, but hey, maybe they're just nice people! I do want to mention that they have math, science, etc. - I know I was surprised to know that these companies reach far past things like Shakespeare. (Which I don't recommend taking in college, but hey... that's another story!)
Visit the site advertised all over your textbook! I think I forgot to mention this before, but most textbooks these days have a URL directing you to some sort of "Online Learning Center." They're always helpful, and depending on the subject, I've seen some completely packed with practice quizzes, outlines, games, virtual flashcards, and so much more.
PDF Hammer - add/delete/rearrange pages of a PDF, no software necessary!
You Convert It That crazy professor of yours like to send documents in weird formats? This site to the rescue! On YouConvertIt, you can easily convert just about any type of picture, video, document, audio file, or archive into any other format. Bonus: save any YouTube (or Google Video) to your computer, send a big file to a friend without jamming their inbox, or take "Convert" to the most literal level and click over to find the most sophisticated conversion tool I've ever seen. How many ounces are in a gallon? Simple. In nursing school like me? There's a "Flow rate" category. Science nerd? Electricity, light years, and all kinds of words I've honestly never seen in my life.
MindMeister - Need to do some brainstorming or mind-mapping? This is the place! Check out the interactive demo on the homepage.
Free Graph Paper (and more! Graph, notebook, accounting, musical, dots, engineering... you name it!)
Pocket-Mod (my favorite! Indispensable for nursing students doing clinical rotations! Great for many other uses and seriously fun to make! Watch the video to make it easier.)
MORE RESOURCES
Librarian Chick The side of her page clearly says she supports "Free Educational Resources," and she's not kidding. Among other features, her site boasts nearly 30 topics, each with a clearly organized list of legitimate, free places around the internet to help with all kinds of learning, researching, organizing, and project creation. Some of the topics are actual subjects as well, so no matter your major, you're sure to find valuable learning resources too! Thi s isn't a quick-visit site. If you really want to utilize the best that the internet has to offer, you can definitely spend awhile checking out all the links here.
Crazy Miracle (because I have tons more I'm excited to share!)
_._._._
Whew! There you have it. That's my college toolbox in a nutshell. How about you? I hope you find some of these resources really useful. All it takes is one person to show you something that can make your life a lot easier, and my wish is that I have been able to show you a thing or two to do just that! :)
Apology: Also in Part 1, I miscited a fabulous Ning social group for nurses. NursesConnect is now CampusRN2RN. The site can be accessed at http://www.campusrn2rn.com/ .
Last Friday, I was the featured guest blogger on my friend's site, Hey Stephanie! I kicked off my 3-part series of college/productivity tools on the internet by exploring the social media-geared options. (Stephanie is a social media guru!) The response to the first post was really great - I was excited to see a lot of you started trying out new services and sites that you had never heard of before. I hope you continue to enjoy those resources as well as these, as we kick off Part 2! (Part 3 will go live - here on my site - on Wednesday, and if you missed Part 1, it's over at Stephanie's.)
And I can't help but tell you a little secret... I have so many research paper hacks I'm dying to share, so next time I have to write a major paper, guess what? ;-) And I have a few favorite note-taking tricks, too. See, I'm just all about the secrets.... I'm a school pro. That could be good or bad. lol But we all know that too much school = bad. So 1-2-3, series over, so don't expect them next week or anything. :) But here we go... Quick review:
This really is not my focus, but I do want to touch on it because a few small things can truly make a huge difference...
You need a quiet study spacewhere you can focus without distractions, but you also can't make it so cold that you feel like you're locked in a jail cell. Keep the noise low (but non-distracting music has actually been proven to help concentration for some people so if it helps, keep it!)
I like to keep all of my most important textbooks right on the shelf of my desk for easy access. If your major has any vital go-to books, keep those within an arm's reach at all times, too. Keep pens, pencils, highlighters... whatever you prefer, and make sure you have good lighting. (Trust me, this always works on moms - "But Mom, my eyes hurt and you always said doing work in the dark would ruin my eyes. I think I believe you now...." Play those cards, baby...)
Take the time NOW to get your classes organized into binders with dividers (or whatever system works for you) in the beginning. Somehow it just doesn't end up being productive when, in November, you realize you can't study for finals with your notes somewhere between three stacks of random papers, so you head to Staples to buy a binder and some dividers.
Do you have a calendar? Dry Erase boards are definitely fun for dorms, but get something that you can dedicate to yourself only, and make it something that you can easily take on the go or hang. My solution to this is to print a monthly calendar at ePrintable. I like to cut off Saturdays and Sundays, and then I write every single assignment on the day it's due. Each class gets a different color pen, and exams are a little bigger and get stars by them. Do whatever works for you, but having my school schedule in a nutshell at my access at all times is really great. I hang it on the corner of my desk where no one can see it but me, and if I need to, I can take it off and bring it to class, but I always have a special place for it when I get home. I can't believe it, but I'm showing you a top-secret peak at one of mine:
As for making the most out of a small dorm room, check out this post over at Student Hacks.
YOUR TIME
Read these posts. Read them. I don't care what else you have to do. Read.
And only because I like you. And you like movies. And probably being lazy. :) So now, I present, How to Pass the Test When You Haven't Read The Book
YOUR WEB
So your dorm's all tidied up, you know how to study in style, you have all these time hacks that have you done with tasks in no time. Plus, thanks to College Web Secrets Part 1, you are the expert on using the internet to get you answers fast. Perfect! Right? Wrong.
For one, you still need tomorrow's post which will give you a short and sweet run-down of links that you're going to wonder why you've missed your entire life. Secondly, is it really your web? Are all of your sites and services integrated to save you the most time? Are you using the most efficient browser and programs? For you blog readers, are you still checking your favorites by hand, or have you learned how to use a "feed reader"? On Friday, I went over several products and services that could very well fit under this category, but they mostly shared one trait: being somehow "social media"-related. Here's a few of my all-time favorites that will make your life easier, simply by simplifying. (And honestly, it would take hours to go into detail about all of these, so for a few, I'm going to link you to articles and reviews that I have handchosen just for you.)
Feed reader - you need one! My favorite is Google Reader. Some like Bloglines. There are many others. This video is actually fun and it'll tell you all you need to know!
Evernote - integrate your life on your computer, cell, internet, whatever. This document/image/hosting/whatever-you-wanna-call-it/does-it-all is amazing and free. Yeah I know, I didn't believe it either!
I Want Sandy Oh, may I do the honors? Sandy is my personal assistant. See, anytime I think of something I should be doing or should do on a certain date, I just shoot her off an email, a text message, a tweet (on Twitter), etc. She gets it, confirms it (unless I want to turn off confirmations), and then I'm off on my merry way. So what's that? Part 3 of Amanda's College Tips goes up on Wednesday? Not a problem - you could whip out your phone, text Sandy: "r wed amanda's blog college post" and on Wednesday, in your daily digest (a run-down of the day's events), there it would be! Ahh, Sandy, she's my girl! I don't use her for actual calendar-type things, but for a to-do list of sorts, or especially "remind me every October 1 that Grandma's birthday is coming up" or "remind me in 6 months..."... you know, things you don't want sitting on your brain but you really want to trust that it's taken care of. I was skeptical at first, but Sandy's never let me down. I can send her the most abbreviated to-do list and she sends me back an exact confirmation run-down within seconds. Amazing. She's awesome! Don't You Want Sandy Too? (Another review)
HONORABLE MENTION
Looking for sites to integrate your entire school experience? They're new and not anything I'm ready to use yet (I've tried them both), but given the chance and a little more time, here are two up-and-coming sites you may want to check out. My Grademate and My SchooLog.
That’s all for Part 2!
I hope you enjoyed it. Don’t forget to check back Wednesday for the last part, our Toolbox of Bookmarks. I'll sharing lots of other links plus my favorite free service-sites for doing things that would have taken a ridiculous amount of time or cost a pretty penny a few years ago! And there's a lot! :)
And as always, let me know what you thought. And final call for any perplexing school-web-college-studying-whatever questions. :) Do you use any of these sites already? Do you have other favorites you want to share? Definitely let me know and if they're not already on my list for Wednesday, I'll give you and your blog a shout-out!
And from me, to you.... (umm, or from that site on the bottom of the picture, lol)
Watch out for this:
You may laugh, but it happens to the best of us! Combat it with the productivity tips! :)
Today’s Guest Blogger is Amanda from This Crazy Miracle Called Life where she blogs about all aspects of life and whatever “random fabulosity” that comes to mind. Amanda is currently in college earning her nursing degree, and in her spare time, she enjoys traveling, creating, spending time with family and friends, and planning her upcoming wedding.
...
Since it’s Back to School time and a lot of us are getting back into college, I figured what better topic for Stephanie’s monthly Social Media Guest Blog than helpful scholarly resources. Now sure, some of you are done with college or chose other plans, but these things can work for many different things as well.
I will admit right off the bat that I had many more favorite sites than I ever thought I did so I’ll focus on the “social media/web 2.0″-geared sites in this post, and rather than go crazy with the world’s longest post, next week, I’ll post two additional posts on my own blog with many more resources. (Plus, as the semester progresses, I have a few more things to share, such as note-taking tricks, research paper hacks, and more!)
With social media overtaking the internet, if we can learn to search smart we will save loads of time. Take Mahalo for example. It’s a “human-powered search engine,” meaning instead of sifting through results that waste your time, everything that comes up is usually relevant to your topic. Mahalo is still in beta, and it doesn’t have a search result page for every topic, so it has its flaws, but for general information, this is my search engine of choice!
Chunk It
Chunk It is brand new, in beta, and it’s totally rocking my world!
If you’re just writing a simple essay where a few Google sources are fine, here’s what it can do:
Are you up against a deadline with an 8-page research paper due in the morning? Working with huge databases and journal articles? Check this out…
Their site has many more examples, but what this can do in PubMed, EBSCOhost, [insert your major's preferred database here] will just amaze you.
Social Bookmarking
This is social media, folks. Social bookmarking, in essence, is where users save their internet bookmarks (or “favorites”) onto a site of choice and “tag” them with keywords to make them easily discoverable both by themselves and friends, the public, groups, etc.
Many of the common sites can now sync with browsers so not only can a user access their bookmarks on the site, but they can also access them traditionally via their browser’s Bookmarks menu.
I used to enjoy Ma.gnolia but it was too limiting for me so I stopped using it. However, it just went opensource, so it’s definitely something I would keep an eye on!
How can social bookmarking help you? Well organization, for one. Also, it’s a great way to search and discover information for projects, study help, personal learning, etc.
Note: There are other similar sites like StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Furl, but I’ve found that those sites contain more “check out this cool story I found today” vs. the above, “here is my bookmark collection.” Of course, people will use any of those sites either way, but that is just my personal opinion. Try these last three for more news-type articles, or you can always go to Google News.
Learn How to Work Google
Most of us think we’re great at Googling. We use it as a verb, so of course we are! We know what * and + and ” does when we put them in the little Google bar. Well, did you know you can do much more than that to really narrow in your search? Just learning a few more tricks can save hours, I’m sure. I find myself using the same little Google operations in many other search engines as well - these really are imperative to any successful college student’s technological knowledge base. So if you don’t think you’re using Google (or large search engines) as efficiently as you’d like, if you’d like to review, or if you just want to learn a few more advanced tricks like how to search for only a PDF, check out these useful links:
Oh, I cringe to talk about Google again… But if you don’t mind (usually) ugly websites and sometimes what can amount to pretty deep digging, many professors have too much time on their hands and build extravagant websites dedicated to the subjects of their greatest adoration. There’s a couple ways to go about finding these sites that are usually information and link-packed.
Search for your course (Try chemistry not Introduction to Chemistry for Nursing Students if your college has weird course names) If you’re in college, don’t forget that a lot of basic college courses are called the same things as things you took in 10th grade. Remember our Google tricks? This is where typing +college +chemistry helps. That is still pretty vague though, so sometimes, I’ll type in the author of my textbook so I know I’m getting a better, closer match. Sometimes you have to dig, and creativity never hurts in your search term selection either.
Try running an .edu site-only search. (reminder: type this in the box site:.edu) Just because you don’t go to a certain school doesn’t mean you can’t use their links!
Two pretty similar sites, Scribd and DocStoc both serve the same purpose - hosting documents (many filetypes supported) that you can share (or make private) with friends or the entire world (via the sites or neat tools like embedding). The sites even look similar, so you can browse both. You can find all kinds of things like course notes, articles and papers on huge ranges of topics, scanned copyrighted documents (SparkCharts, scanned textbooks and study guides), and so much more. I’ll kind of leave this one at that, but I do want to warn you to use your own personal moral/legal judgment with the scans, and use extreme care as far as plagiarism goes. Just because someone posts a paper on Scribd doesn’t mean you can download it, turn it in, and your professor will be sure you wrote it.
FYI, SearchDocs.net has the ability to search both sites as well as others, but that’s all it does.
I’m keeping an eye on sites like ShareNotes and Incredicampus. They have a lot of growing to do, but you might be able to find something, and ShareNotes especially seems to have a lot of potential.
PROJECT PLANNING
Notefish
Notefish is a lot of fun. In Internet Explorer or Firefox, you just a need a little browser addon, and while you research your project or paper or whatever it is you’re working on, you can clip bits and pieces to add to the page. You can move things around, organize them, and basically, make your own little scrapbook of plans. You can share it, too! Check out this public page for a good example: Trip to NYC Notefish
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Yahoo Answers
Clueless on that last trig problem? Confused on a topic and you’d like to talk to a few professionals (or self-proclaimed “professionals”…. hey, we’re talking free here, people!)? Or feeling wise with your new scholarly knowledge and want to help others out? Yahoo Answers is the place. You can’t show up and post your entire chemistry worksheet and hope for someone to do it for you. You can, however, jump right in and search past questions, ask questions of your own, and use this site to explore, get help with specific things, ask for clarification perhaps on a math concept you don’t understand (maybe with an example problem), etc. Make sure you help back though - you lose “points” for asking questions and gain points for answering questions. Note that this is not a homework-help site - it’s a site for asking any question about anything, and a lot of the people there are really great about helping with educational/career/project questions.
Ning is the site where anyone can start their own social network for any topic! This has several applications for us:
Start a course Ning for all the members in your class to share notes, discuss, etc. Many professors are starting to do this as well.
Search for non-private course Nings already open. There are several professor-headed networks for people who need help in certain subjects or for students passionate about specialized majors. Also, there are several major-specific networks to join where you can make friends, share tips, blog, have discussions, post pictures, videos, etc. (Nursing major? We have almost 1200 nurses on Ning at NursesConnect) The bigger the groups, the more fun they are! (And Ning is definitely not just for school - run a few searches and you’ll find a group for just about anything!)
CHEAP TEXTBOOKS
Textbook Revolt
Sick of paying too much for books? Well we all know there’s power in numbers and our generation kind of rocks. So, why not boycott the textbook companies and start using sites like Textbook Revolt? I have yet to complete a successful “transaction” on this site, but I’ve heard many success stories, they just got a new owner, and the more students that join, the more the site will help us all!
Price Comparison Sites
Two of my favorites are Campusi and BigWords. I never buy from campus bookstores anymore and I lost track of how many hundreds of dollars I’ve saved. Seriously.
That’s all for Part 1!
I hope you enjoyed it. Don’t forget to check my blog next week (Monday and Wednesday) for the rest. I have more links and surprises that you will not want to miss!
Thanks to Stephanie for letting me share my expertise, and thanks, readers, for listening! Feel free to comment with your favorite sites, and if you are struggling with anything college-related that you think the internet may be able to solve, go ahead and post and I’ll see what I can do to address it next week.
Ahh, the weekend... finally... and just real quick, I have some BIG NEWS for you.
This past week, I traveled across the internet once again to guest post on a friend's blog. Run right over to my friend's site, Hey Stephanie! to see my post that kicks off my
3-part College Web Secrets series
Stephanie is a social media guru and blogs about fun ways that the internet can help you accomplish things faster and smarter. Every month, she features a guest blogger, so for my turn? Naturally, I chose to share the ways I use social media/web 2.0 resources to maximize my area of expertise, studying productivity and school efforts. When I started writing the article, I soon realized that the internet pretty much helps me in everything I do when it comes to productivity at school, so one thing led to another, and I realized there was no way it was all going to fit into one post.
SO...
Check back here on my blog Monday and Wednesday for parts 2 and 3. For Part 1 (jam-packed with over 2-dozen links!), go over to Stephanie's, and send all your friends, too. The focus of all 3 posts is college "hacks," but I can definitely see ways many other people can use these for several other uses. The overall key is productivity and timesavers... who doesn't need a little more of that, right? I'm so excited about my guest post, and I'm just as excited about what I have to share this week so please, please, please, tell your friends and check back, and I promise even you savvy techies will learn something! :)
Part 1: Social Media, College & You (Up at Hey Stephanie!)
Search Smart
Notes & Documents
Project Planning
Questions & Answers
Ultimate Interactions
Cheap Textbooks
Part 2: Get Organized: Your Space, Your Time, Your Web
And of course, if there's something you'd like me to especially cover, make sure and comment and I'll see what I can do. :)
Lots of things to blog about... 1:30am and tired... talk later, k?
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c*est moi!
Amanda
I am 22 & currently spend my days nannying my itty bitties + going to college (working on my nursing degree, goal: pediatric oncology) & am honored to be a published writer in a nursing anthology & a contributor to many scrapbooking publications. i love hanging with my amazing friends, sister & family. i love my baby puppy haylie brooke and our silly doggie ri-ri. in my rare spare time, i read & get crafty. i thrive on organization, my mac repertoire, learning & absolute fabulosity. my favorite place in the world is paris. my favorite color is pink. i love being a nurse & i believe each one of my patients is precious. i'm a night owl & wish my lifestyle promoted such habits. i like lazy jammie days. i believe in god and am thankful for his hand on my life. i believe that life is too short to be anything but happy, & i’m thankful that a chronic liver disease + the effects of a car accident have taught me important values that most people learn far too late. i hope that the world will find hope, and my idea of a good day is one in which i made someone smile :)
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Near and dear to my heart...
I am honored to be a part of this anthology on nursing and hope. Click to take a peek inside. :)
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I take my professional nursing standards very seriously. Please scroll to the bottom of the page to read about the promises I make to you regarding my site and any medical information found within.
I am excited though, because for that class we all have to do a project on a disease. I, not wanting to adhere to monotony, chose a fascinating liver disease, sclerosing cholangitis. Coincidence, but it's what I have had since I was 5, so I should have known that my slight research and project love and addiction would have combined with the personal aspect to create this huge, like we're talking dissertation huge - research endeavor. Oh man, you have noooo idea. So far I've collected over 200 journal articles and my books? HA! Only a picture will suffice. ACTUALLY, it won't suffice. I couldn't fit all the books in a picture. I have probably about 40 books checked out and a ton more coming in from other colleges in the country. Yes, I'm soooo serious..... But I LOVE this!!!
