Back to School

Four weeks ago today, I started Graduate School at Southern New Hampshire University. I'll be going for an MA in Communications. 

We had a paper due the first week, and mine is posted below. In the paper, we first had to compare and contrast our undergraduate experience with what we expect our graduate experience to be, then give a very brief overview of our chosen program. 

I got full points (45 out of 45). In the comments, my professor, Dr. Gabe Willis, said, "Excellent work here, William! I really enjoyed getting to know a little more about you throughout reading this paper. Great job! Dr. Willis." 

Like most people, when I graduated high school, I looked forward to going off to college. It would be my first real time away from home, and a chance to have some real experiences. I went to school at the University of Maine-Farmington, about 5 hours from home, and it was exciting.  While there, I met people from all over New England and the country. As a science/education major, my days were filled with all manner of scientific equipment and theory mixed with educational methodology.  In between, I took the chance to do some things that I had never done before: go downhill skiing and have my own radio show on the campus station. My undergraduate program was very difficult, but it offered an opportunity to grow and learn in whole new ways.

That sense of growing and learning is a similarity between the undergraduate and graduate level experience, however there are also many differences. The infrastructure, for instance. In Maine, I had actual classrooms and laboratories. Now, twenty-two years later, I am an on-line student. This is something I have to learn how to do. Online learning did not exist back then; the Internet itself barely existed.  In a classroom there are other students right there with you and you can get instant feedback; with on-line learning, you are more alone, and have to wait for feedback—even if it is only for a few minutes. Another difference is I have to take more responsibility for scheduling my work. This program has due dates, but there are no specific class times. I have to be sure to set a schedule that fits with work and life. I have a full time job, so school work will be nights and weekends.

The expectations of graduate school are more specific. As Dean Belanger says in his video, we are here to “become experts in [our] chosen field.” My chosen field is Communications. In order to become an expert, it is important to take seriously all of the assignments, and even use outside experiences. For example, interviewing members of our communications team at work, Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts, to find out how they handle communications in the health field. 

For each of the first two terms, I will be taking only one course. Intro to Graduate Studies this term, and Communication, Media, and Society next term.  The former will give me a good foundation on on-line learning and a solid step back into being a student, while the latter will start my program courses by giving me an overview of what we can do, and have done, in the communications space, which includes Marketing, New Media, and Public Relations, and Health. For the remaining courses, I will first check for prerequisites, and sequence accordingly, remaining with one per term. 

 The Communications program uses the APA (American Psychological Association) citation standards.  These standards are used in such places as business, social science, and nursing.

 Ethical standards vary slightly from field to field. For instance, in the public health space, digital health is coming into the forefront. Practitioners, and all of us, really, must keep in mind the realities of modern technology, and the pitfalls. In his 2015 article ‘5 Do’s and Don’ts of Digital Communication in Healthcare”, Eric Swirsky gives very practical advice to medical professionals on how to handle this technology. For example, if you encourage the use of this technology, explain the risks.

Resources to use in the program include the writing coaches, the Shapiro Library, and all the professors and fellow students. I predict a very successful time here, and a successful new career in health communications.

   

Citations

Belanger, Matthew. (2014, Nov. 24).  SNHU-501 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jICMlNn_SEs

Swirsky, Eric. (2015, July 16.) “5 Do’s and Don’ts of Digital Communication in Healthcare”. [Web Log]. Retrieved from https://www.elsevier.com/connect/5-dos-and-donts-of-digital-communication-in-healthcare

Norwegian Dreams: A Preview

In June of 2016, I took a cruise vacation along the west and north coast of Norway, starting in Copenhagen, Denmark. Along the way, we had flight stopovers in Reykjavik, Iceland. 

 I'm in the process of writing a book about the trip, and have posted below the first half of Chapter 1's first draft, appropriately formatted for a blog. 

CHAPTER 1

COPENHAGEN OR BUST

P

L ANNING started over a year ago, and today is the first day of the plan being put into action.

     I could never really explain why, but I have always wanted to visit Scandinavia. It never mattered which country, as long as I got there.

 Two weeks from now, the question would be answered.

  In the meantime, after all the planning, phone calls, making reservations, and exchanging of money—by which I mean both paying bills and trading US dollars for Danish and Norwegian krone—we are on the way.

 It is Friday, June 3^rd 2016.  I took the day off from work, although I technically could have worked from home. Last night, when I got home from work, I proudly exclaimed “I’m on vacation!”

    

The weather has been nice all day, sunny and warm. Pretty typical weather for this time of year. 

Flightline, the local airport transport service, has come to pick us up in Salem, NH to take us to Boston’s Logan Airport. “I have one other pickup, and then we can hit the road,” the driver says. Fifteen minutes later, we are on Route 93 South headed to Boston. It’s about 4:30PM, and while the northbound traffic is heavy with people trying to get home from work to start their weekend, it’s pretty smooth sailing on our side. That is to say, it was smooth until we got to the Fellsway.

 When I drive to Logan, I would take the highway to Exit 24B towards the airport on Route 1A.

This, however, was not what our driver did. By the time we got to the Fellsway, southbound traffic was almost as bad as the northbound, so he got off and took the back roads.

     Having no idea where we were, I watched neighborhoods go by which I had never seen before. We also hit just about every red light possible. It was getting later, and although we weren’t boarding until around 8:00PM I was getting very concerned with the time. This was not my first international flight, but it was my first flight to Europe, and I wanted to make sure there’s time to get through security. When you add in my near-phobic hatred of being late, well, it was not good. Finally, over an hour after leaving the house, we pass under the Tobin Bridge—a few minutes later, we were there.

     Logan Airport originally opened as Boston Airport on September 8^th, 1923, and was rededicated on June 12^th, 1943 as General Edward Lawrence Logan Airport. Logan was a lawyer, judge, military officer and politician from Boston. The airport is located on 1,700 acres of land in the East Boston neighborhood, and had four terminals: A, B, C, and E.

    All international flights from and to Boston come through Terminal E. This is where we are now.

     By the way, if you want to fly in or out of Boston, this is the airport you want. Do not get this confused with Manchester-Boston Airport, which is located in Manchester, NH.

     Do to modern security procedures, we cannot drop our bags off at the curb, instead we have to bring them into the terminal and up to the counter.

     All our flights for this trip are on Iceland Air. We find the appropriate counter and check in. We are told we will be leaving out of Gate E2A. It is a little after 6:00PM. My worries of being late, as usual, are unfounded.

     We get through security with almost no incident. Operative word being “almost.” As I walk through the scanner, it goes off. “Do you have anything in your pockets?” the TSA agent asks.

     “No.”

      “I’m going to have to pat you down.”

     “Uh, OK.”

     TSA begins the pat down. Upon reaching my left pocket, he notices something. No, not that. He asks me to reach into my pocket, and I discover that one lone penny had wedged itself into the corner, and that had set off the machine.

     Stupid penny.

     Having passed security, we make our way down to the gates, stopping for something to eat along the way. Mom and Dad got sandwiches, and I got my favorite airport pizza: two slices of cheese and a medium soda from Sparro’s.

     As we ate, we talked about the trip. This trip was going to have a lot of firsts for me—first overnight flight, first trip to Europe, first time using Iceland Air (on which are all our flights), first cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines. It is all very exciting.

     After dinner we headed back to the gate. Dad took out his Find-A-Word puzzle book, Mom her magazine, and I started making the first notes in my travel journal, which I got for Christmas. That journal would eventually become this book.

     Soon, we heard the words I’ve been waiting for announced over the intercom: “We will now begin pre-boarding for Flight 632 to Reykjavik.” Now, I’m going to put aside my feelings on the phrase “pre-boarding”, after all, that is what we were already doing. What’s really happening is “boarding”. In any case, we all line up and wait our turn.

     I’m in seat 11D, and the boarding is about half complete when it’s my turn. Mom and Dad go with me and we take our seats. I like having the window seat and love flying. Looking out the window down at the world gives me great pleasure. Soon, we would be over the open North Atlantic Ocean, leaving behind not just my country, but my continent. Land I would not see again for two weeks.

     We have a roughly five hour flight to Reykjavik, but there’s plenty to do on our Boeing 757.  In addition to whatever reading material or electronics you bring with you (all Iceland Air planes are equipped with Wi-Fi), there is also the inflight entertainment which is accessed by the screens located in the seatback in front of you.

     Using this system, you can access all manner of movies, TV shows, games, music, or you can even call up the GPS system and keep track of where you are. Here, you will see the plane’s location along with the time at destination, time at departure point, air speed and air temperature at that altitude, and on the ground at the destination. All this is shown in English and Icelandic.

     While I did keep an eye on this since it was starting to get dark and so couldn’t really see anything out the window, I flipped over to see what was available for TV shows. The Big Bang Theory was an option. If you know me, I obviously had to watch, choosing two episodes: “The 43 Peculiarity”, and “The Parking Space Escalation.” These are particularly good episodes. Mom started in on Downton Abby, Season 1. Dad stuck with his puzzles.

    A good thing to do when travelling to Europe is to keep on your same schedule from home. By this time, it was about 11:00 PM, so I shut down and tried to get some sleep.

     Instead, I started thinking about postcards. Who should I send them too? Obviously Duncan and family. But wait, here’s a great idea. Send one just to the kids. No, better idea. Send one to each of the kids.

     Then I started thinking about time differences. When it is more than an hour, time changes really mess me up when travelling. The difference here is, going east, you are moving ahead. I’m used to going west, usually to visit my sister. This should be interesting. Copenhagen is six hours ahead. I looked at my watch. It’s already something like 5AM there, that’s when I usually get up. 

     While I did, at some point, fall asleep, it was not for very long.  

    

Mr. Akeley's Secrets To Success In Business

A couple years ago, I participated in the Career Enhancement Program at work. Recently, we had a reunion attended by people from all classes of the program.

Our keynote speaker was Steven Akeley, currently the Director of Member Services. He has been with BCBSMA for 33 1/2 years, during which he has held many positions in the company. He also made it through several re-orgs and layoffs, including one in which his entire team was let go---except him!

After telling us his career progression story, he laid out his top 10 list to success in business. They are:

1. Work Harder Than People Around You:   This means not only in your current position, but look around and see what other things you can learn outside your current position. The more you can do, the more indispensable you will be.

2. Have A Broad Network:  Networking is so important. Don't be afraid to get out there.

3. Fully Understand Your Strengths And Weaknesses: The better you know yourself, the better start you will have.

4. Get And Use a Mentor:  Seek out people you can work with to have support and learn from. Keep mentors all throughout your career.

5. Stand Up For What's Right, Not What's Easy:  This is not the easiest thing to do, but when you know you are right, don't give up.

6. Let People Learn From Mistakes, Then Immediately Forget About Them: Everyone makes mistakes, but don't dwell on them. Let them correct it and move on.

7. If Something Goes Wrong, Accept The Blame: This is a sign of leadership.

8. Prioritize: You can't do everything. Prioritize the most important and delegate if appropriate.

9. Think About/Act Upon A Strategy:  You don't want to just put out fires all day. Make a plan and think about how you are going to execute it.

10. Put The Company's Success Before You're Own: A company is a group of people working together to achieve a common goal. Success comes when everyone is all in to accomplish those goals.

Dude With Thoughts: The Book

Well, I always had it in mind. And now, it's happened. This blog is now a book.

Chock full of updated and expanded essays taken from this blog and other sources, this 120 page book  also includes full color pictures and a list of selected websites.

Published on the CreateSpace platform, it is printed on demand and is also available on Kindle.

So, if you still believe in the power of an old fashioned book, pick up Dude With Thoughts: The Book! Available now for $17.00 for the book and Kindle for $3.00.