UIS online students build community for "mid-lifers"

Amy Reeves decided to return to school after applying for a new position at her place of employment when she was told she would need a bachelor’s degree to be considered for an interview. Madeleine Ward said she simply wanted to continue her education in a more structured manner, so she is better able to contribute to society, and now hopes to go on to law school.

Reeves lives in Carlinville while Ward resides in Chicago. The two women met through the liberal studies program at UIS and bonded over going back to school in the “third age,” the age identified as being after young and middle but before “old.”

“Madeleine and I discovered we were in that same age group. We had a project to do about verbal arts and community, and Madeleine suggested a new community of older students (50+),” Reeves said. “It sounded so unique and on target that I jumped at the chance to work on it with her. The more we talked and the more Madeleine, in particular, dove into our subject matter, the more we realized just how much we could hopefully do for others like us.”

Reeves and Ward are now using social media tools to their full advantage to create a community of “third age” students. They hope to bring together other students who are in their age range and who need a community of support and encouragement to continue and finish their education. According to the office of Institutional Research at UIS, there were 277 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral students who are over the age of 50 at the university both online and on campus in fall 2009.

One of their first steps was creating a blog, found at www.midlifecoed.blogspot.com/.

They created the blog so that others might help to enhance and complement the community of third age students and add information about the difficulties or successes of their school experience. Though the blog was started for a class project, they have plans to continue posting, increase readership and provide resources to other students.

The pair are currently blogging under the pseudonyms Betty and Veronica, who are characters from the Archie comics, popular when they were pre-teens and teenagers. They said they feel the history of the Archies is a bridge from their youth to today’s mid-life coed.

“It is important that a mid-lifer who is new to blogging or new to our blog realizes that we truly understand them; we’re from the same generation and remember many of the same things that happened throughout the years,” they wrote in a paper for class.

Reeves and Ward have also set up a Twitter account (ArchiesFriends) and Facebook page to bring together older students returning to school.

“They need to know they are not alone, and instead of getting information by trial and error, we can answer each other’s questions without each having to re-invent the wheel,” Ward said. “We would love to attract more students; all are welcome to join.”

Because so many older adults who return to school take classes online, especially at UIS, the two classmates felt that an online community made the most sense.

“I just hope we can reach out to others, who are debating about attending school,” Reeves said. “It’s so much different now; my program is solely online so I can work at a different pace that if I had to attend a class two or three times a week. I didn’t know online programs were even offered until I discovered UIS’ programs. How many others are out there like me?”

If you are interested in more information, contact Ward at 312/590-6129.

Karen Swan researches educational technology as Distinguished Professor

Dr. Karen Swan admits that she became an education teacher “by default.”

Swan was a single mother when she got a grant from the government to return to school.

“There were only certain things you could do, and one of them was education, so that’s what I did,” she said.

Swan, a professor in the Teacher Leadership program at UIS, now serves as the James J. Stukel Distinguished Professor in Educational Leadership. Her investiture ceremony took place in the fall. She has been at UIS for about a year, after coming from Kent State University in Ohio, where she was an endowed chair for research on educational technology.

Swan’s family moved to Chicago, but she was still commuting to Ohio when she heard about the opportunity to fill the professorship at UIS.

“It’s a perfect fit; I truly love it,” she said. “It’s specifically for online learning, which I couldn’t do very much of at Kent, and it’s kind of my hobby. I can teach again, which I love, and the people are fabulous. I just think it’s a wonderful opportunity.”

The Stukel Professorship was created by the University of Illinois Foundation to honor James Stukel, the 15th president of the University of Illinois system. The professorship includes support for research and grant work and was created for a candidate who possesses expertise in and scholarly accomplishments relating to online teaching and learning issues.

Swan became interested in the field of technology within education while completing her graduate assistantship.

“I had a graduate assistantship teaching gifted kids. The only thing they insisted on was that we use computers, and that was the beginning of computers,” she said.

“I'm an old hippie, and at the time, I thought they were the devil,” she laughed, “but I did it anyway because it kept me going in school. I took a computer class, and it changed my life. I suddenly started understanding math, which I never understood before, and it turned out I was a good programmer. And the rest is history.”

At UIS, Swan teaches a course on educational research tools and a capstone course for the Master’s in Teacher Leadership program, as well as a technology course occasionally. Being a part of UIS’ online teaching and learning has been exciting, she said.

“UIS is known throughout the online learning community as being one of the best schools in country,” she said. “Little UIS in the cornfields is really far ahead of almost any other place I've known. It's amazing.”

Online learning has been shown to be just as engaging as face-to-face learning, Swan said, and new trends continue to emerge in online learning, including using social media in online courses.

“Online learning is growing still by leaps and bounds; we thought it would flatten out, but it hasn't yet,” she said. “Blended learning – the combination of face-to-face and online learning - is growing even faster.”

“Ray Schroeder (director of the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service) just gave me a Google Wave account, and we’re thinking Wave might replace the learning management platforms we have now,” she added. “There are all sorts of trends outside of educational computing involving social networking which I think are going to become part of mainstream educational technology. People are now trying to figure out how to use it.”

ITS multimedia education coordinator presents social media session at Museum

Munindra Khaund, Multimedia Education Coordinator for Information Technology Services at UIS, is presenting at a brownbag session at the Illinois State Museum on Wednesday, December 9.

The topic is "Building Communities of Interest with Social Media: Using Facebook." The session is geared toward organizations looking into Facebook as an outreach tool to build communities of interest.

More information on the session can be found online here. The session is free and open to public.

Professor pursues love of singing outside the classroom

By Courtney Westlake



Dr. Michael Lane, Clinical Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at UIS, participated in school choirs when he was young, but then he found the trumpet in 6th grade and continued to play through junior high and high school. However, when he married his musically-inclined wife, Cathy, and moved to her hometown of Rushville, Illinois, he found a love for singing again.

“There is quite a fine arts orientation to that community,” he said. “They have a very active theater and put on many musicals both through the school and in the community.”

In around 1990, Lane and his wife had the opportunity to join the newly-formed Madrigal group in the area and became very involved with the group. The group performs two out of every three years, practicing every Sunday starting in September (and memorizing between 20 and 25 pieces) until they begin one week that includes three performances in December.

“It’s a full Madrigal performance, which means costumers, sometimes jugglers, dancers, strolling minstrels, and they serve a full Madrigal meal,” Lane said. “It’s been a wonderful experience and very well-received. It’s a bit grueling at times, but we get very good audiences; usually our shows are sold-out.”

Lane currently teaches in the College of Education and Human Services at UIS. He had stepped into just about every position possible in the public school system during his career - from coach and teacher all the way up to superintendent - but when he decided to retire, he couldn't step away from his life-long passion that easily.

So Lane finished up his doctoral degree and came to UIS to teach other teachers.

“I had taught as an adjunct professor in the Educational Leadership Department for a few years, and then I had the opportunity to come here full-time,” he said. “I really enjoy the university; I like the size of the university and the caliber of the students that are here. I feel the university does a good job in supporting us in the opportunity to be creative in our courses.”

When he first began college, Lane was a marketing major, but he found he “just missed school,” he laughed.

“I always liked school; I always very much enjoyed education,” he said. “I thought that I’d really like to teach and coach. So for many years, I taught English and physical education, and I coached football for 11 years, track for 8 years, and 2 years of basketball.”

Both teaching and singing are family-wide interests in the Lane clan. His wife Cathy minored in music in college and taught music full-time when they were first married. In addition to the Madrigals, the couple has also sung with a group called the Schuyler Singers for many years. His grown children - a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Elizabeth (also called Libby) - have both sung and performed throughout their lives as well.

“My wife is very musical; she plays many folk instruments that she learned to play on her own,” Lane said. “My son didn’t pursue music in college, but my daughter got her bachelors degree in fine arts and musical theater from Millikin and got a masters degree from Western in theater performance. She still does regional theater on weekends and evenings.”

Though getting a doctorate was always a goal of Lane’s, he didn't find the time to actually pursue one until his kids were grown and away at college because of all of his musical and family commitments.

His responsibilities at UIS now, among others, include supervising clinical experiences for students in his program, who must complete 240 hours of clinical activity experiences in about two semesters. He also teaches a blended learning course called Supervision of Instruction, so the class meets both online and in the classroom.

Lane said he has found new approaches to technology, such as blended learning, very appealing at UIS and commends the university for its willingness to explore new technology.

“I find this campus to be very dynamic and on the cutting-edge of technology,” Lane said. “The Center for Online Learning, Research and Service and Tech Support are so supportive. It’s wonderful to have that technical support here, and the university is not afraid to explore whatever is most up-to-date in technology, and that’s rather impressive.”

Schroeder addresses conference at UM

Ray Schroeder, director of the Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning, gave a plenary address at the annual Teaching and Technology Conference held recently at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

See a pdf copy of The Messenger, the UMSL newsletter, for additional information.
TheMessenger.pdf

Director of first-year programs passes on love of learning

By Courtney Westlake

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In 1981, at the age of 41, Dr. Marcellus Leonard was working in retail and found himself out of a job.

He decided to take a college course in creative writing with no plan to obtain a degree. Eight years later, he walked out of Illinois State University with a Ph.D. in the teaching of writing.

“I discovered not only that I was a pretty good student but also that I loved writing and was pretty good at teaching others how to write,” Leonard said. “I decided to take maybe a course at the graduate level and found it came easily so I got a master's as well. I went to the doctoral program at ISU and found that I loved it even more.”

With a Ph.D. in hand, Leonard moved to Springfield to begin a new career with Sangamon State University 19 years ago and eventually became the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at UIS.

Before returning to college, Leonard said he didn’t quite grasp what it meant to “be an intellectual.” But learning about himself, gaining knowledge in his studies and communicating to others how to write raised his self-confidence, and he wanted to share that with other young adults.

“The CTL fits my plan very well,” he said. “Here we help people; we challenge students to do better in writing, math, chemistry, study skills, time management and more.”

The center holds academic sessions when students can come to practice what is taught in their classes, Leonard said.

Building off of several introductory classes in English, chemistry and biology, students come to the CTL after they have gone to class, and a graduate assistant who sat in on the same class with the same instructor holds a session in that course. Students are able to review homework, discuss aspects of the class they find challenging and ask questions.

The center also offers one-on-one tutoring with graduate assistants, student tutors or even the CTL staff. Leonard, a poet and author himself, has a passion for helping students to gain writing skills and appreciate the art of writing.

“I’ve always enjoyed helping people to put their writing together,” he said. “I personally write essays, poetry, nonfiction. I’m very much in love with words and painting with words and helping students to paint with words. I try to get them to see that writing is less of a chore and assignment and more of an expression of self.”

Helping students to explore and learn to enjoy writing, math and other academic skills is just one way the Center for Teaching and Learning welcomes and mentors students. The department, filled with comfortable couches and study areas, also serves soups and stews and other snacks occasionally during study sessions that are held throughout the year.

“I think it's a wonderful program we have here,” Leonard said. “From every center that I have visited, including my own alma mater of Illinois State, they can't touch us. This is all in the interest of creating the home and hearth hospitality that will tell students that you are welcome here, and we will nurture and help you if you want to help yourself."

In keeping with the hospitality and welcoming atmosphere of UIS, Leonard will be taking on a new role at the university as the director of first-year programs starting this fall. As the director, he will be working with various offices around campus such as the Diversity Center, Disability Services, Counseling Center and more.

“We want first-year students to be successful at every level,” Leonard said. “We have programs that are designed to help students be successful and I have been fortunate enough to be the person selected to help coordinate this effort. It’s an honor to be part of this effort at the University of Illinois at Springfield.”

Kenneth Oldfield addresses national coalition

Kenneth Oldfield, emeritus professor of Public Administration, gave an invited presentation at the annual conference of the Coalition of State University Aid Administrators, held in April in Huntington Beach, California. Oldfield spoke about "Welcoming First-Generation Poor and Working-Class Students to College."

Professor notes importance of women in history

By Courtney Westlake

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Though there weren't many women in the field, Deborah McGregor decided that she would get her Ph.D. in history when she was 12 years old.

She managed to finish everything but her dissertation when she realized she needed a change, so she got married and started a family. The move, though delaying her degree, ended up benefiting her, however, because when she returned to school to obtain her Ph.D., a focus on women's history began to surface from the overall field of history.

"At that time, women's history started to emerge, so I had that option for my emphasis. So I was actually fortunate," McGregor said. "It was not until the 1970s that people became aware of women's rights as an issue."

McGregor, who has been teaching at UIS since 1986, developed a strong interest in several topics within women's history, including health and healing, the history of medicine and the history of childbirth.

"In a very immediate sense, I have an interest in childbirth because it was part of what happened in my life," she said. "It was really interesting to think about the history of childbirth, and I had never really read about it. Childbirth was not really a topic in women's history for a while. But it was a connection for me between real life and scholarship; I'm glad I made that choice."

McGregor has written several publications about the history of childbirth in the 19th century, as well as the history of gynecology and obstetrics. She is also the author of the book, "From Midwives to Medicine."

McGregor, whose husband Robert McGregor is also professor in the history department at UIS, teaches a broad range of classes since she came to UIS with joint appointment in general history and women's history. Topics she has taught include 19th century history, history of the family, U.S. women's history, and minority women, as well as several general education classes and seminars for graduate students in history.

And though she has studied and researched women's history in depth, McGregor acknowledges that she is always learning more. While she was teaching the course "Who Am I?" for a class of Capital Scholars, she realized how closely related identity and history are, she said.

"History is about identity; I believe that more and more. We come out of our past -our family past but also social past, political past and economic past," she said. "Without women being in history, we'd have a hard time understanding who they were."

McGregor said throughout the years, she has noticed an increasing interest from students in women's history and related topics, especially this academic year, and she hopes it will continue.

"This semester, I feel so much interest, which is exciting. The feeling I get from my classes is very positive," she said.

Global Experience Takes Students Across the World

By Courtney Westlake

The Program:

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Student Experiences:

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It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience right out of National Geographic for graduate student Melissa Smith when she spent three weeks over the summer in Australia with one other student studying at Charles Darwin University.

"It was so much better than I ever thought," Smith said. "We got to camp out in the Outback for five days and learn from the Aborigines. You see that kind of stuff on National Geographic, but it was amazing to be able to go there and do that."

The Global Experience program at UIS offers students the opportunity to spend time furthering their education in another country and to experience that country's culture. The summer programs are oldest and most popular, said international programs director Jonathan GoldbergBelle, and in summer 2008, UIS will offer summer programs in Jamaica, Australia, Quebec, Japan and more, as well as an internship program in Romania.

UIS also has exchange agreements with universities in Japan, Mexico and Australia - and is in negotiations with China and the United Kingdom - to allow UIS students to study at those partner institutions for the same tuition paid at UIS.

"We didn't have Global Experience when I first came (nine years ago), so just the fact that we have an exchange program shows tremendous growth," GoldbergBelle said. "What we've seen is an increase of faculty who are interested in taking trips, and we've been seeing more interest from faculty and students in exploring different exchange programs overseas. We will work with a student to get them almost any place they want to go."

Leslie Reutter, a sophomore at UIS, said she jumped at the chance to study for two and a half weeks in Ashikaga, Japan. Her group, which studied Japanese language while there, stayed with a host family and traveled around the area, including Tokyo for two days.

"The people are very kind; they'll talk to you about anything," she said, adding that the Japanese enjoyed practicing their English with the UIS students. "The history was very eye-opening. We went to museums, city halls, shrines and temples; it was very different than anything I'd learned about."

The impact of studying abroad through the Global Experience program is extremely positive, GoldbergBelle said.

"The benefits are really gaining an understanding of the world; the state of Illinois has tremendous international connections, and it's important for our students to have some understanding of that, both on the economic side and on the cultural side," he said. "And what students come back and say is 'I really learned a lot about myself; I became interested in things I didn't know existed before'."

Both Reutter and Smith had no hesitation as they answered a resounding yes when asked if they would recommend the experience to other students.
"To be able to have that kind of opportunity to go to Australia, while you're still in school, I'd suggest to anybody to jump at the chance; whether it's Australia, Europe, Japan or any other place," Smith said. "Just the opportunity to travel while you're in school, I'd take the chance and do it."

To learn more about the Global Experience program, click here.

Women's Center Director Makes Big Things Happen

By Courtney Westlake

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Upon entering the Women's Center, located at one end of the Student Affairs Building, a visitor can't help but feel welcome by the colorful decor and comfortable furniture throughout the room.

It's a feeling that director Lynn Otterson wants to be sure to convey to the campus community, especially the women, who come through the door.

Despite a small space and a limited budget, Otterson and the Women's Center have reached out to the campus time and again through a vast array of social events, programming and education efforts to promote important women's issues and safety.

Otterson first started with the Women's Center in 1995, a year after the center opened. Currently, she works with one graduate assistant, Amanda Looney, in running the center, and receives additional help and support from the Women's Issues Caucus, which is a separate organization but still works closely with the center. And the Women's Center is never lacking in activity.

The Rape Aggression Defense program, in coordination with campus police, and the WhistleStop program are two efforts currently at the forefront of the center to educate the campus about sexual assault. Last year, for the first time, the Women's Issues Caucus Club teamed up with the Women's Center to put on a play, and the center also hosts many social events, including the UIS Women's Holiday Party, which is very popular with the women on campus, Otterson said.

In the spring, the Women's Center is planning a large campus event called "Take Back the Night," which is also a national event, Otterson said. In connection with Lincoln Land, the two schools will host the first-ever LLCC-UIS Take Back the Night.

"We'll start at one school and have a rally and then we'll do the march and probably have a party at the end to signify taking back the night," Otterson said. "So women can be free in the night to have fun or go to school or whatever they want."

The Women's Center also recognizes the efforts of others on campus with the annual Naomi B. Lynn Award for Outstanding Contributions to Women at UIS, through which each recipient is given a certificate and plaque, as well as something placed in the Peace and Friendship Garden in their name, such as a tree, bench or birdhouse.

In future semesters, the Women's Center hopes to add space to the program as well as the program called CARE - Campus Acquaintance Rape Education. With UIS growing not only in numbers but also adding freshmen and sophomores to campus, a program like CARE is essential to campus, Otterson said.

"It's so positive because they can talk freely with peers," she said. "It's really state of the art; it's really the bottom line for good schools now to have an intensive peer educator- acquaintance rape education right at the front for all the students."

Otterson said she sees every day how important the Women's Center is to UIS.

"I have a great time in here just about every day," she said. "A lot of people come in and out. Sometimes they're needing connections or a sense of community, and sometimes they need something specific or just wanting to find copacetic people to be active with or be in a club with and share ideals."

"I try really hard at getting good students in here," Otterson added. "The right kind of people, as with my current graduate assistant Amanda, that if I'm not here, and someone comes in and says "I've been raped," they can, first of all, be the right person but then turn around to our referral books and give them the right advice, people to talk to and resources. Sometimes our women just need a lot of support, and I think we do well with that."

Service Learning Provides Unique Opportunities for UIS Students

By Courtney Westlake

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Cristina Bowman, a UIS sophomore and Springfield native, hadn't given much thought to homelessness and hunger until she decided to take a service learning course at UIS.

Bowman's class, Learning and Serving: Hunger and Homeless, requires that everyone meet certain amount of hours toward assisting and bettering the local community.

"We spend 20 hours at St. John's Breadline, and 40 hours working on group project, which is collecting items like plastic bags, small plastic containers, tea and sugar (for the clients of the Breadline)," Bowman said.

The Service Learning Program was started as an effort to get students involved in volunteer and service opportunities, and is currently led by service learning coordinator and professor of applied study Kathy Guthrie.

Under the new curriculum set by the campus senate in 2005 called ECCE (Engaged Citizenship Common Experience), students must fulfill 13 hours in various categories such as U.S. Communities, Global Awareness, a Speaker Series and more. Guthrie sets up courses that connect community service to academic credit under the ECCE requirements.

Past and present courses on community service focus on issues, including hunger and homelessness and the environment, Guthrie said. There are also online courses that center on general service and a new course that will be offered in the spring on social change and leadership.

"It's important to get not only students but any individual to think about how they can be active and involved in their community," Guthrie said. "Everyone is passionate about something, but it's finding that passion and actually acting on it."


Recently, students taking the course on environmental issues created an anti-littering campaign for city and worked with waste and recycling manager within Public Works. The students recruited high school students to pick up trash one day around the State Fair Grounds. Fifty to 60 high school students showed up to work with three UIS students, which sparked residents in the surrounding area to join the students in cleaning or offering them beverages, Guthrie said.


There is also a current group of UIS students performing service at the Animal Protective League, working with the animals and providing advocacy for the animals, she said.


For her hunger and homelessness class, Bowman is working on an additional, individual project that includes videotaping the guests of the Breadline, asking questions such as "how has the breadline helped you?" Then she will compile the information for the Breadline to help them better their services.

"It's really opened my eyes to the problems in the community," Bowman said. "We do need to help the homeless around here. My projects may seem a little small, but I know I'm doing my part in helping the community of Springfield."

As for the future of the service learning program, Guthrie is working to start an immersion program for students to provide service in other parts of the country or internationally.

"There seems to be a lot of interest in that, so once those (courses) get established, that will be quite popular because it's taking people out of the area they're used to living in and being engaged in and taking them to another part of the country they've never seen," she said.

Ideally, Guthrie hopes to build the program up and inspire students to find their passion and make a positive social change.

"I think a lot of time people get stuck and think 'I can't make a difference' or 'I can only give one hour of community service a week, a month or a year' and so then they feel it's such a small amount, they don't even do that," Guthrie said. "That hour does make a difference."

UIS Online Programs Find Success with Students

By Courtney Westlake

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Kaley Noel is busier than most college students are – working more than 40 hours a week at her two jobs – but fortunately for her, going to class doesn’t get in the way.

To submit her homework, take part in class discussions and even complete tests, she simply heads to her living room and turns on her computer.

The University of Illinois at Springfield began online learning in 1998 with just 30 enrollments in two classes, said Ray Schroeder, director of the Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning. UIS now offers 16 bachelors and masters degrees completely online in areas that include English, computer science, public administration, history and more.

The online programs through UIS have grown tremendously in the past few years, with an increase of 11.5 percent of online students just from fall 2006 to fall 2007.

“UIS has a wonderful online program; we have more than a thousand online majors,” Schroeder said. “This semester, very nearly one half of all our students are taking at least one online class.”

Noel, who is originally from Monmouth, came to UIS her freshman year with uncertainty about what major she wished to pursue. By her junior year, she decided on mathematics, and after a couple of semesters, she found that the upper level math courses offered at UIS are primarily online. Now, as a first semester senior, Noel is taking four online classes.

“I like the freedom of not ever having to go to class and doing things on my own time,” she said. “There are still deadlines, but you just have more freedom to do your work whenever you want, wherever you want.”

Some students living on campus are in the same situation Noel is in, but many of her online classmates are from cities and states across the country, she said. Such is the case with Colleen Joyce, who connects to her classes, and the whole university, from New Jersey.

Joyce said she began searching online for universities that would allow her to finish her degree online, which she started at her local community college.

“My main focus was to find an accredited university that would offer a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies,” she said. “I looked at many universities, and my searches always came back to UIS. Once I called and spoke with Andy Egizi, online program coordinator for Liberal Studies, I was sold.”

Joyce agrees with Noel that freedom and convenience are the biggest perks of online classes. She said she has enjoyed each of her classes, especially one on the Chinese Century, which led her to travel to China.

“If I want to travel, I do not need to worry about missing my classes because my classes come with me,” she said. “Another great thing about online classes is the convenience that is offers. You log on and do your work, within a certain time period, of course, when you want to do it.”

Noel estimates that she spends about three hours working online each night. Different classes all have different deadlines for submitting homework assignments and discussion posts, she said, so it’s important to stay organized. Noel said she has just one piece of advice for her fellow online students.

”Don't procrastinate,” she laughed. “I was really bad about that when I first started, but you get a little more responsibility as you go and learn to not wait until 10:00 at night when things are due at midnight.”

With so much success in online learning, Schroeder said the university is now looking into “blended learning” programs, in which some of the class sessions are online and the rest are traditional, “face-to-face” classes.

“We have developed a large cadre of online learning programs, and now we’re beginning to look at blended learning programs, so that we can better serve our local community by reducing the number of visits they have to make to campus,” he said.