Tip #7/ Closing Post

Over the course of the past few weeks, I’ve posted various tips on this website regarding how to stay sane at college. I created this website for struggling Rutgers communication students; however, I strongly believe these tips can apply to any student, at any school, with any major. My last tip for staying sane at college is to be appreciative! If you appreciate all the things you get to experience at school, your college experience will be much more meaningful. When school becomes meaningful,  students tend to enjoy it more. As a result, students are more likely to stay sane at college.

To emphasize tip #7, I want to discuss three things I’m appreciative of. The three things I’m appreciative of are all memorable topics I learned in my Strategic Presentation class this semester. The first thing I’m appreciative of is learning how to use the computer program “Screencast O-Matic”. This tool was great because it allowed me to visually show my readers how to stay sane at college. As stated in “Screencast captures what words can’t”, by Job Udell (2016), “I’m reminded how much we can learn by observing software use through the medium of screencasting” (p.2). I completely agree with this statement. I feel that visually showing someone how to do a task is far more effective than having them just read about it! Thus, users are able to learn a lot when watching a screencast.  I’m really thankful I learned how to use Screencast O-Matic in this class, and I believe it will be of great use in the future. If you want to see what a screencast looks like, visit my previous post or look at the image below! 

AGeremia (Photographer). (2017, March 14). Screencast-o-matic [digital image]. Retrieved Wiki

The second thing I’m appreciative of is learning how to use the tool “Pixlr”. Pixlr is an application that allowed me to create the header image for this website! This tool allows one to layer images on top of each other. As stated in “Article from Computation Culture”, by Lev Manovich, layers “redefine both how images are created and what an “image” actually means” (p. 10). Alone, the picture of Rutgers found in my header represents school life at the university. In addition, the meditation image alone represents being “zen”. When layered together, the meaning of these images are redefined; the final header represents staying “zen”, or sane, at Rutgers University. Overall, Pixlr is a really great tool for creating a new image and redefining its meanings. If you want to know what Pixlr images looks like, take a look at my header image below! The picture of the Rutgers building is from Flickr. The picture is called Rutgers Campus and was taken by Rodrigo Bernal on August 22, 2012. The picture of the person meditating is from Google images. The picture is called Meditation Meditate Crossed Legs Yoga Orange and was taken by Clker-Free-Vector-Images on June 16, 2014.

The third thing I’m appreciative of is learning how to make a podcast. This was one of my favorite things I learned while in Strategic Presentation. I listen to a lot of podcasts, so I think it’s really cool that I now know how to make one! At first, making a podcast was not easy. In order to create the podcast , our class had to use Audacity; this was an application I had never heard of. Fortunately, our in-class meetings taught me how to navigate this tool. As a result, I was able to record my very first podcast! After, I was able to upload my finished  podcast to Soundcloud. I’m very grateful I learned how to create a podcast; I think it will be very useful in my future communication studies.  

Yagraph (Photograph). (2010, March 12). Podcast-icon [digital image]. Retrieved Wiki

Overall, being appreciative of the things I learned in school really made me enjoy this past semester. Since I was enjoying school, it was SO much easier to stay sane at college. I really hope tip #7 helps you stay level-headed at school. Thank you so much for visiting this website, I really appreciate you guys going on this journey with me! I wish you all the best with staying sane at college!

Tips #4, 5 & 6/ Talking about Memes!

Hello everyone and welcome back to my website! Today, I am going to discuss  tips #4, 5 & 6 on how to stay sane at college. In order to emphasize tips #4, 5 & 6, I am going to incorporate some memes throughout this post! For those who do not know what a meme is, the article “The Language of Internet Means” defines a meme as “a piece of culture, typically a joke, which gains influence through online transmission” (Davison, 2012, p.122). I hope you enjoy reading about tips #4, 5 & 6, and I hope you enjoy the memes included in this post!

Skateboarding Professor. Know Your Meme, Redditor Trollzor, 4 April. 2012, http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/skateboarding-professor

As one may be able to tell from the meme pictured above, tip #4 for staying sane at college is to chill out! Despite what some may think, it is important to not take everything so seriously. Clearly, the professor in the meme above knows how to have a good laugh and he knows how to “loosen up”. When a Rutgers communication student is able to enjoy himself and chill out, they are far less stressed. As a result, it is easier for them to stay sane at college. I found this meme on Know Your Meme. The meme is titled “Skateboarding Professor” and was taken on April 4th, 2012 by Redditor Trollzor.

The ideal, also known as the concept of this meme, conveys that students should “cruise” through school. This implies that students shouldn’t be so high strung; they should chill out. In addition to understanding the ideal of this meme, it is also important to understand the behavior and manifestation of this meme. Patrick Davison (2012) states that the behavior of a meme is “the action taken by an individual in service of the meme” (p. 123). Thus, the behavior of this meme is taking a picture of the professor skateboarding and manipulating the photo via a computer or phone application. Patrick Davison (2012) also states that a manifestation of a meme is “any arrangement of physical particles in time and space that are the direct result of the reality of the meme” (p. 123). Thus, the manifestation of this meme is the “ordered progression of pixels subsequently uploaded to the Internet” (Davison, 2012, p. 123).

Trying To Get My Grades Up. Know Your Meme, Particle Mare, 4 Dec. 2012, http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/875283-trying-to-get-my-grades-up

Tip #5 on how to stay sane at college is to NOT focus on the letter grade you have in your courses; do not be like the guy pictured in the funny meme above! I found this meme on Know Your Meme. It is titled “Trying To Get My Grades Up” and was taken on December 4th, 2012 by Particle Mare. I know to many this tip may sound insane, but hear me out. Instead of focusing on the letter grade, try to focus on what you are actually getting out of the class. For example, what’s something new you learned that you think will be really helpful to you in the future? College is all about learning, not stressing over grades. If a Rutgers communication student focuses on what they are learning from their classes rather than the grade they have in them, then they will be more likely to stay sane at college.

The ideal of this meme is that school is stressful; however, hopefully we can learn from this meme in order to avoid being like the poor man pictured above. In addition, the behavior of this meme is the the manipulation of the photo which pictures a man trying to put our a fire, and the manifestation of this meme is the pixels used to upload this meme to the internet.

How About No?. Know Your Meme, Brad Kim, 14 Dec. 2006, http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/how-about-no

Lastly, tip #6 for staying sane at college is to know how to say no! Despite what you may believe, you can’t do everything. To emphasize this, I found this meme on Know Your Meme. It is titled “How About No?” and was taken on December 14th, 2006 and was uploaded by Brad Kim. Even though it may look good on a resume, you can’t join every club or take every class offered at Rutgers; it is impossible. It is very important to learn how to limit the activities you do at school. While joining some clubs may help you de-stress, joining too many will make you go insane. Thus, it is important to know when to cut yourself off. If a Rutgers communication student is able to do this, then they will be able to stay sane at college.

The ideal of this meme is that it’s good to say no. You can’t do everything, so it is important to turn down some activities. The behavior of this meme is the software used to manipulate the photo of the bear. Similar to the previous two memes, the manifestation of this meme is the pixels used to upload this meme to the internet.

Overall, I really hope this post was helpful, and I hope you enjoyed the memes I chose to incorporate in this post! I found these memes relevant to staying sane at college, and I also found the memes to be very funny. In general, all these memes originated from a random picture that was taken of someone or some animal. The memes were able to spread so easily because they were posted on some form of a blog site, and as a result, were reblogged, retweeted, etc. I feel a major reason for this is due to the fact that so many people can relate to these memes. In addition to being funny, these memes give a sense of comfort to its viewers. In addition, I feel that the specific manifestations I chose appeals to Rutgers communication students because each meme’s manifestations is the pixels uploaded to the internet. Since almost all Rutgers communications students use the Internet, I feel that memes from the internet are perfect for them; the memes are found on a platform that many of them use, which means many of them will view them and be interested in the memes.

From this post, I hope you learned that it is very important to chill out, not focus on your letter grades, and know when to say no in order to stay sane at college. Good luck!

 

 

 

Tip #3 & Information About My Podcast!

Hello! I hope everyone has benefited from my previous posts detailing tips number one and two on how to stay sane at college! In this post, I’m going to briefly discuss tip number three on how to stay sane at college. For a more detailed description on tip number three, I encourage you to listen to my podcast below!

This podcast begins with an introduction that mentions my website “Staying Sane At College” and the purpose of my website. It also informs the listener that they should expect an interview format for this podcast. I decideded to do an interview format because I thought interviewing a fellow Rutgers student would help emphasize tip number three on how to stay sane.  

After the introduction, I dive into tip number three. Tip number three for staying sane at college is to find an outlet which can take your mind off of school work for a little. It is really important for students to de-stress by participating in another activity that they enjoy. This activity will help students clear their mind and have fun. As a result, their overall happiness will increase, and they will be able to stay sane at college.

I mentioned in the podcast that a great outlet which will take a student’s mind off of their schoolwork for a little is volunteer work. Volunteer work is something many students enjoy, and it is an activity that helps students clear their mind and stay level headed.

To further discuss how great volunteer work can be for staying sane a college, I interviewed a classmate named Alex Freeman. Alex is apart of a volunteer organization called Project Sunshine. Project Sunshine is a club that does crafts with children at local hospitals. Alex feels that Project Sunshine is a great way to give back to the community. She also believes the club is a great escape from her schoolwork. The club focuses on making children happy, so her mind is never on homework when she’s at the hospital. It’s easy to get caught up in schoolwork, so Alex is thankful that Project Sunshine gives her the opportunity to take a step back and de-stress. For more information about Project Sunshine visits their Facebook page Project Sunshine: Rutgers Chapter or visit their Instagram page found at the username ru_projectsunshine.

After the interview, the podcast features a quick PSA. The PSA states how another great club to volunteer for is the Red Cross. The purpose of this organization is to provide disaster relief and emergency services. Their mission statement is “Sleeves Up. Hearts Open. All In”, so their target audience is anyone who is willing to help others. More information about The Red Cross can be found at the URL redcross.org.  A picture of the Red Cross can be found below! I know this picture is legally reusable because I found it through the Creative Commons search.

Vigneault, E. (Photographer). (2006, February 20). NOLA Red Cross [digital image]. Retrieved from Flickr

Overall, a great way to stay sane at college is to find an outlet which can take your mind of a school work for a little. Project Sunshine and The Red Cross are two great organizations in which to get involved; however, if these organizations aren’t for you, check out involvement.rutgers.edu to look at more volunteers organizations!

The podcast concludes by listing some other websites that may offer some helpful tips on how to stay sane at college. The websites “Her Campus at Boston College” and “Rutgers- New Brunswick Blog” may offer some great advice! These websites are linked on the homepage of my website, so definitely take a look at them.

In addition, if you want to listen to more podcasts that promote volunteer organizations like the Red Cross, check out Eunice Lee’s website titled “Isle of Movies” at the URL cinemalee.wordpress.com, Pavel Aparcana’s website titled “Paction Productions” at the URL pactionproductions.wordpress.com/, Harry Caminero website titled “2017 Gaming Holiday Haul” at the URL holidayhaulblog.wordpress.com, and Jeevan Hubbard’s website titled “Everything Car Tech”, at the URL thatcartech.wordpress.com. All of these websites have a PSA about the Red Cross, so definitely give them a listen.

Overall, I hope this podcast really helps you, and good luck with staying sane at college.

Tip #2!

Hello freshman communication students at Rutgers University, I hope you’re finding the information on my website useful! Today, I am introducing tip number two. Tip number two suggests that to stay sane at college, you must manage your time and stay organized. To emphasize the importance of time management and organization, I filmed a screencast tutorial, which I included below. I think you will like the screencast tutorial because according to Christine Wolf in DIY videos on Youtube: Identity and possibility in the age of algorithms, the “dynamic nature of video watching someone via a video is easier than reading a printed page — makes it a preferred source of information” (Wolf, 2016, p.6). This implies that my tutorial will be enjoyable because it’s easy to watch, and it gives struggling freshman communications students a quick tip on how to stay sane at college!

As I mentioned in the video, Google calendar is a big reason why I am able to manage my time well. Google calendar allows me to schedule my activities, homework assignments, and social events in one spot. Therefore, I never forget when I have an event, and I never accidentally schedule two things at once. Knowing exactly when all my activities are reduces my stress levels. When my stress levels are reduced, I am able to stay sane at college. Google calendar is really easy to navigate, and I highly recommend using the application.

Although Google calendar works well for me, I realize that some students may prefer physically writing down their activities, assignment, etc. That is why I also mentioned buying a cheap planner in my screencast tutorial. The picture below is an example of a cheap planner you can get from almost anywhere online. This picture was taken by Amanda Randolph on February 7, 2017. I found this image on Google images, and I know the image is legally reusable because it was approved by the Creative Commons. For more about the Creative Commons, please read my last post.

Randolph, A. (Photographer). (2017, February 7). Planner Open Tombow Pens Month Spread [digital image]. https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=planner&tbs=sur:fmc#imgrc=pJKHfzK2eZJpyM:

Organization is another important component to staying sane at college. That is why I included a picture of my desk in the screencast tutorial; the image is picture below. I took this picture myself on October 12, 2017. It’s important to keep your materials in a specific spot so you do not lose them. If you lose an important assignment for a class, then you fail that assignment; this leads to  stressing out. In order to stay sane at college, we want to avoid stressing! Thus, you want to stay organized. I feel that my audience will like that I included this is my screencast tutorial because in DIY videos on Youtube: Identity and possibility in the age of algorithms, Christine Wolf states that people enjoy videos that are “helpful for the participant not only in identifying what tools are needed, but also the name of those tools and what they look like” (Wolf, 2016, p.6); I feel that my video was successful in doing this.

Mehan, J. (Photographer). (2017, October 12). Organized Desk. New Brunswick, NJ.

I am confident that students will see this video because in  DIY videos on Youtube: Identity and possibility in the age of algorithms, Christine Wolf (2016) states, “algorithms enact narrow experiences, privileging notions of preference and predictive satisfaction” (p. 5). I am confident that many people in my targeted audience will be searching for ways to stay sane at college on youtube. If I am correct, then this quote implies my video will be seen by them because it will be similar to the other videos they are viewing. Thus, it will pop up as a recommended video and they will watch it.

Overall, I really hope this screencast tutorial helped any struggling freshman communication students at Rutgers University. Feel free to check out any other content on my website and look out for more tips coming soon!

Tip # 1 & Header Information

At any age, being a communications student at Rutgers University is tough; however, it’s especially tough if you’re a freshman. As a freshman, it’s difficult to manage your coursework, extracurricular activities, and social life; college is very different from high school. I struggled a lot the first semester of my freshman year, so I am here to share my tips and tricks on how to stay sane while at college!

My first tip for staying sane at college is to find time to relax! Many believe that if you take a break from your busy schedule, then you aren’t being productive; however, if you never find time to relax, you’ll burn out! You’ll become overworked and exhausted, and it will be difficult to stay motivated and accomplish tasks. Relaxing allows your mind and body to “recharge”. Once a person is “recharged”, they can return to their coursework energized and motivated.

Personally, I take a break from my hectic schedule at least once a day. I relax by hanging out with friends, watching an episode of TV, going for a run, or taking a nap. To ensure that my website conveyed the importance of relaxation, I included a picture of a person meditating in the website’s header. This image emphasizes that Rutgers students should take frequent breaks from their coursework and extracurricular activities. Thus, my header was able to meet the information needs of my audience because it conveys my first tip on how to stay sane at college.   

Overall, the production process of creating my header was not difficult. I found the images on Flickr and Google images through the Creative Commons search. Since I used the Creative Commons search, I knew I was able to legally reuse the images.

The picture of the Rutgers building is from Flickr. The picture is called Rutgers Campus and was taken by Rodrigo Bernal on August 22, 2012. The picture of the person meditating is from Google images. The picture is called Meditation Meditate Crossed Legs Yoga Orange and was taken by Clker-Free-Vector-Images on June 16, 2014.

To make the mediation image stand out , I used the brightening tool to make the image a bold white, instead of it’s original dull orange.  So, the image featured on my header is white, not the orange pictured above.

After finding the images, I layered the mediation image on top of the Rutgers image. As Manovich (2011) states:  

Layers change how a designer or an illustrator thinks about images. Instead of working on a single design, with each change immediately (and in the case of physical media such as paint or ink, irreversibly) affecting this image, she now works with a collection of separate elements. She can play with these elements, deleting, creating, importing and modifying them, until she is satisfied with the final composition – or a set of possible compositions that can be defined using Layer Groups. (p. 11)

I was able to make use of the image editing techniques discussed by Manovich by using the layering tool, which allowed be to design and move the images separately. This enabled me to easily design a header for my website that perfectly conveyed the intended message to my readers.

Pixlr is a great site to use if you are looking to edit images; it was the site I used to layer and edit my images. Pixlr is a very useful tool, but it is very different from the production process of that of a single-layer bitmap image. When referring to the production process of a single- layer bitmap image, Davison (2014) states:

While more ‘advanced’ programs, such as Photoshop or CorelDRAW have swelled with ‘must-have tools’ or ‘major feature enhancements’ (Coreldraw.com, 2014) such as layers, filters, QR code generators and customizable interfaces, MS Paint has remained comparatively familiar and accessible since its initial  incarnation in 1985. (p. 2)

So, my experience was different than a single-layer bitmap image because the website I used was much more advanced and offered many more tools. Although bitmap images influenced a lot of the new editing technology, it is different from the production process I used for my website.

Overall, I hope you enjoyed my first tip on how to stay sane at college, and I hope you enjoyed the information about how I created my website’s header. Stay tuned for more helpful tips coming soon!

Welcome!

From an outsider’s perspective, college seems like a place of endless fun. A place where students party all the time, and a place where students have no “real” responsibilities; however, anyone who has attended Rutgers University as a communications student can tell you that this simply isn’t the case. Within the first week of school, you are assigned multiple papers and projects. You receive a million emails about job fairs and future internships, and you’re told to join clubs while also maintaining a perfect grade point average. Best of all, within a month of being at school, you usually get hit with a nice, big RU screw.

Herring, A. (Photographer). (2011, April 20). Studying with a view [digital image]. Retrieved from Wikimedia

Typically, you look similar to the girl pictured above. Although this image was not taken at Rutgers, this is what most freshman communication students look like. Freshman communication students at Rutgers University usually do not know how to manage their busy schedule. Thus, they spend long hours stressed out in the library. This image is from Google images. Google images is a great website to retrieve photos from because it is a site supported by the Creative Commons search. Creatives Commons is “a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools” (Creative Commons). It’s a great way to ensure that you are not violating any copyright laws when reusing an image!

Overall, it’s super easy to feel panicked and overwhelmed while at college, but luckily I am here to help! As a second year communications student at Rutgers University, I feel that I’ve mastered the art of staying sane throughout the school year. My first semester of freshman year was definitely tough. I didn’t know how to handle the workload and often found myself stressing about everything I had to get done. Fortunately, I turned things around my second semester of freshman year by finding tricks that helped me make it through the semester without going crazy. I learned that although it’s important to do well in school, it’s even more important to stay happy and healthy! With this website, I hope to pass on some of my tips and tricks for staying levelheaded as a communications student at Rutgers. If you’re a freshman communications student struggling at Rutgers University, I really hope this website helps you mellow out! Rutgers is a great and beautiful college; just look at the picture below!

Sulcer, T.W. (Photographer). (2013, July 14). “Rutgers” spelled out in a hedge on the College Avenue campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey [digital image]. Retrieved from Wikimedia

This picture is also from Google images. It was accessed through the Creative Commons search. As mentioned before, it is important to ensure that you are reusing images legally. According to Columbia University Libraries , “To determine whether you are within fair use, the law calls for a balanced application of four factors” (Columbia University Libraries). These four factors include the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount or substantiality of the portion used, and the effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the work (Columbia University Libraries). Fortunately, this post takes those four factors into account when reusing images; the images on this website are reused legally!  

The Rutgers picture shown above reminds us that we should enjoy college. It’s supposed to be an amazing experience, so instead of totally stressing we should try to make the most of every minute! Just remember, there are always steps you can take before going into full-on-panic mode! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy my tips and tricks!