IMC courses—a glass-half-full approach

Last week, a girlfriend of mine posted a little “Ode to Moms” on her Facebook status. I thought I would share it with you first and then explain why:

•  At the age of 4: Mom knows everything!
• At 8: Mom knows a lot…
• At 12: Mom doesn’t really know everything…
• At 14: Mom doesn’t know anything!
• At 16: Mom doesn’t exist.
• At 18: She’s old fashioned.
• At 25: Maybe Mom does know about this!
• At 35: Before we decide, let’s ask Mom…
• At 45: I wonder what Mom thinks about this?
• At 75: I wish I could ask my Mom about this…

I was chatting with a friend of mine, Nicole, who just started the IMC program this Fall. Feeling a little intimidated and overwhelmed, as we can all relate, Nicole asked me for some tips for success. One of the most helpful tips I’ve gotten actually came from my own Mom. It’s served me well not only in the IMC program but in school in general. At the risk of sounding like Forest Gump (“Mama always said…”) here is what she told me:  

“You start every class with an A+. You’re not earning your grade—you’re maintaining your grade. Whether you keep an A+ in your class is entirely up to you.”

Think about it. When you read your new class syllabus each semester, it’s a little overwhelming to think, “Geez, I have to earn 415 (or whatever) points to get an A+ in the class.” It’s much better to think, “Hey, I have 415 points and an A+ in this class! Now I just have to prove how awesome I am!”

In my own warped little head, I took Mom’s advice a step further to create “Stacy’s IMC Game.” Here’s how it goes: Each week is like a level in a video game—so 9 levels in total. You are allotted so many points each week. Your goal is to not screw up your assignments and discussions to keep as many points as you can. The more points you can keep by the end of your 9th level, the better your grade will be!  That’s way more fun than reading a grading rubric, huh? 😉

Thanks for the advice, Mom! ❤

First day of school jitters

Happy Early Fall everyone!  Another semester is now underway, and I’ve got mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety swirling around in my head (and stomach). I love the first week of classes because it’s a fresh start and a blank slate. It’s always fun to “meet” my fellow IMC classmates, and to see exactly what I’m getting myself into as far as coursework.

Early Fall is going to be a busy one for me! I have IMC 612 Audience Insight with Dr. Lisa Fall, and IMC 615 Creative Strategy & Execution with Dr. Larry Stultz. What about you guys? What are you taking this semester?

One last thing–I want to welcome all the new IMC students who are currently enrolled in IMC 610. If you guys have any questions or comments about the program I’d encourage you to post them either here or on the IMC Facebook page. I’ve gotten several helpful responses with questions that I’ve had so far from IMC  faculty and current students .

Good luck this semester, everyone!  🙂

It’s about that time again…

Hello, IMC friends!  I’m trying to make the most of our last few days off, but the not-so-subtle reminders of buying textbooks and paying tuition sort of brings me back to the reality that our summer fun is coming to an end. Time to stop wasting away in Margaritaville and get back to business … *sigh*

Mark and I became official Parrotheads last week @ Jimmy Buffet in Pittsburgh

By the end of last semester I felt like I had a pretty good schedule worked out for myself, even with two classes. But the Early and Late Fall semesters bring something entirely new to the mix—something that must be factored in. I’m talking about football season. What to do, what to do about football season?

If I watch the Mountaineers on Saturdays (mostly) and the Steelers on Sundays (mostly), when am I going to get my homework done? I can hear my Mom in the back of my head saying, “Prioritize, prioritize! Budget your time!”  That’s easy for her to say. She’s not the one with two homework assignments and 10 discussion posts due each week. So, you IMC veterans who are also football freaks like me: How do you successfully budget your time to include football? Tips and advice are welcome … 🙂

Hi. My name is Stacy, and I’m a Foursquareaholic

Hello IMC friends! I hope you’re enjoying your extra free time over the summer break. My family and I just got back from the beach a few days ago, and after a week of contemplating, I’ve come to the conclusion that I have a Foursquare addiction.  

For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Foursquare is a location-based social network where members “check-in” to different locations to earn rewards and badges. You have probably seen people post check-ins to different places on Facebook using the Foursquare app. There are a few other similar networks out there (Gowalla, Loopt, etc.), but my friends and I all use Foursquare—mostly because of its gaming component. For example, after so many check-ins at one location you can earn a badge or even become the “Mayor” of that location. When someone checks in more times than you, he or she will oust you as the Mayor of that location. After you become the Mayor of so many locations you earn the “Super Mayor” badge … and so on, and so on.

I’ll be the first to admit that there are a few problems with Foursquare. The biggest problem that I’ve personally noticed is that Foursquare is creating a “Farmville effect” with my non-Foursquare friends on Facebook. My friends who don’t Foursquare are getting really annoyed with me for oversharing my whereabouts, similar to me oversharing news about my Farmville farm (which I recently gave up).  And in the past few days what I’ve realized is that I am indeed a Foursquareaholic. Why?  Because I honestly don’t care that I’m annoying my friends. These days, the only thing I’m concerned with is becoming the mayor of a new venue or earning a new badge …

My friend KCB and I are Super Mayors

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I’ve noticed that just in the short time that I’ve been Foursquaring that businesses are really starting to catch on to and benefit from this budding social network. It’s a great way to advertise—or even better—allow patrons to advertise your business through WOM. Now, not only are people checking in to different locations, they are leaving tips for others about what to do while there. When I was at the beach, I checked into several places that I hadn’t previously been to, and I got some useful tips on favorite foods, discounts, specials, best times to come, etc. As future IMC professionals, it’s going to be our job to stay on top of technology like this, and hopefully have a lot of fun while doing it!

On a totally unrelated side note, a friend of mine shared this link on Facebook this morning about free Amazon Prime for college students.  Amazon Prime members receive free 2-day shipping on all orders from Amazon:

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info

I thought you might be interested in joining to save some money on shipping when you order textbooks. I already signed up using my MIX e-mail.

Have a great weekend, everyone!