A Few Interesting Links on Social Media

10 Golden Rules of Social Media

Twitter Goes to College U.S. News and World Report

ATEC student’s Twitter Video Makes Waves

The Class of Ages: How Technology Divides Workers

10 Ways Universities Share Information Using Social Media

25 Twitter Tips for College Students

academHacK

I am a Bad Blogger

If anyone has actually been checking this thing, you will find I am not a very good blogger. I find it hard to come up with a topic each day to write about. I'm sure things will pick up once Fall semester starts. I do a bit better with Twitter/Facebook updates.

Fall is quickly approaching... August 12 kicks off move-in for the new Residence Hall (that building across from ATEC that someone said looked like an airport terminal) and the opening of the new dining hall. You will be able to eat dinner in the new hall on August 12!


On the topic of not updating much... I will be out next week plus Monday and will return with a new last name.

Do you Tweet?

A recent article on BBC news(http://tinyurl.com/njheur) states that Twitter has over 10 million users. Apparently those users are not really using Twitter, but merely watching as tweets scroll by. In my opinion, Twitter is a bit odd and seemingly pointless at first. It takes awhile to "get it". However, I've found Twitter to be a fantastic resource and tool to use in advising. Nevertheless, I would like to reach more students.

By having my Twitter feeds connected to my Facebook account I can update frequently. Who sees those updates is a gamble. What constitutes as useful information will vary because each persons purpose for being on Twitter may vary.

I tend to post Academic deadlines, articles relating to ATEC & EMAC, events and sometimes just random information.

I would encourage all students to get on Twitter and see what it is like. Try it and come back to it. Utilize it to network and connect with other EMAC and ATEC students, professors and the larger local, national, and global network out there.

Summer Hours

Summer means shorter semesters, fewer classes and longer daylight hours. Summer classes are divided into three sessions, 11 week, and two 5 week sessions. A typical semester is 16 weeks. So basically summer classes are all about cramming a 16 week course into 11 or 5 weeks. This means longer time in the classroom or attending class more often. However, the upside is... getting out of class by 7:00 pm means there is plenty of daylight left to play outside.

There are also fewer classes offered during summer. There are many reasons behind this. One being smaller budgets in the summer and second being that there are fewer professors around to teach classes. Here in ATEC we are looking to offer more specialized classes that may not be offered during a long semester (Spring or Fall); such as Scene Planning for Animation.

The lab tech schedule has also been shortened for the summer.

Gamers Wanted

Attention College Students: GAMERS WANTED!

You want to make you’re passion a career, but always remember:

You are a game consumer first!

Join the ECA for $14.99 student rate and fight for your rights as a gamer, receive discounts on games, gaming products, events and much more!

Join now: http://www.theeca.com/user/register

(.edu needed to validate $14.99 or $19.99 otherwise)

Serious about Serious Gaming

ATEC offers a variety of Topics classes each semester. This is an opportunity to explore and delve into the heart of Animation or Gaming. Tim Christopher is offering a course this Fall on Serious Games.

These are not your little brother's second grade learning games.

If you would like to enroll in this class, please email your advisor.

The ATEC Catch22

ATEC offers quite a few 'cool' classes. We have a plethora of gaming and animation courses. This makes the ATEC degree both appealing and a bit difficult to navigate.

How do you figure out what path to take within ATEC when there are so many classes to choose from? Variety is the spice of life, but the variety can become a problem when you have taken a bit of everything and not enough of something to know what you want to do when you graduate.

So how do you figure out exactly what you want to do with ATEC? Herein lies the problem, because you have to take a few different classes to figure out what you like, but not too many that you end up as a senior without any time left to really delve into your decided interest. I think part of the key to this is self-reflection and exploration.

Utilize your time here to explore your options not just in class, but outside of class.

-Check out the Career Center on campus. Career counselors can help you in assessing your personality, interests, and skills. Assessing some of these traits can go a long way in deciding your career path. For instance, do you like working by yourself, or are you a social person? Do you like using your own ideas and creativity, or are you fine with being told what to do?

-Take a Careers Class. UTD offers a Careers class for a variety of majors including A&H and ATEC.

-Do some information interviews. Informational interviewing allows you as a student the opportunity to talk to individuals in the field you are interested in. You can learn about how they got where they are and what advice they may have. You are not asking for a job. You are asking for more information about the career that you are interested in; what sort of experience is needed, what skills are needed, what the work is like, etc.

-Reflect. Reflect on what you are doing in class. Reflect on what you are doing outside of class. Think about where you see yourself after graduation. Think about what you will need to get there.