How would you like to have guaranteed admission to George Mason, UVa, or Virginia Tech?

Many NOVA students plan to transfer to a four-year college to complete a Bachelor's degree. But not nearly as many know that starting your college career at NOVA and completing your Associate's Degree (rather than transferring before you've graduated from NOVA) can be your ticket to the school of your choice. NOVA has Guaranteed Admissions Agreements with colleges across Virginia (including George Mason University, the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary, Virginia Tech, and more) that give NOVA graduates a real advantage. To learn more about how these agreements work and what you need to do to earn Guaranteed Admission to the college of your choice, visit this website, and then follow up with a NOVA counselor if you need further guidance or information.

ELI Tip #4: Use the Course Information Pages

Students often call ELI before their classes begin, asking how to get information about course textbooks and course content in advance of the start date. It's a great idea to get as much information as you can before the course begins--but as most ELI students know, ELI courses are usually not visible to you in Blackboard until a few days before the course begins (and sometimes not until the actual start date).

But don't worry! You can still find out lots of useful information about your course before you can view the course in Blackboard. ELI provides basic information about each course we offer--including the required textbooks (so you can order them early), basic course description, types of assignments included, and instructor name and contact information--on our Course Information Pages. Just go to the ELI website, click "Course Description" on the right, and then click on the correct discipline (English, Economics, Math, or whatever). Find your course in the list and click "Description," and you'll have lots of useful information to tide you over until the course officially begins.

Google Apps Tip #5: Google Scholar

Could you use some help in doing research online? Google Scholar provides an easy way to search online for books, abstracts, articles, papers and other scholarly literature. You can search by author, title, or topic. There is even an Advanced Search option which allows you to narrow down your search, especially if you are looking for something specific.

When you log into Google for your email, choose the Start Page in the upper left for some additional Google options. The Google Scholar Search is one of those options. By typing topics or key words into the search box (next to the rolled diploma), you will receive a list of many available sources.

For example, if you enter success and online learning, your list will include thousands of entries. Some of the listed books and journal articles are full text, others provide an abstract, and still others require a paid subscription to open the link. If you are interested in one of the paid subscription sources, make a note of the citation, then go to NOVA’s remote library access to see if you can access the source there.

It’s a great way to begin your research. For more information about Google Scholar, click here.

Free 411!

Hey, Everyone!

I just learned about a new 411 service and was so excited about it that I thought I’d share it with you. GOOG 411 is a quick and easy way to look up phone numbers of local businesses and it’s FREE! Simply call 1-800-GOOG-411 and tell the operator the name and location of the business. You will be connected for free. Google will even text you map directions to the location if your phone has Internet services. Check out their short video here to learn more.

Google Apps Tip #4: Google Calendar

Google Calendar is one of the neat applications that’s available in your NOVA student email account.

Have there been times when you have a course with regular due dates, but you have a very busy work schedule and it’s all pretty overwhelming? There’s a Task List in Google Calendar that can help you organize your busy schedule. If you use the Task feature in Google Calendar to create a to-do list, tasks that have due dates will automatically appear on your calendar, and you can even sort tasks by due date! If you view your calendar by clicking on the “Agenda” tab, your tasks and the events on your calendar are listed as an agenda.

To create and use your to-do list,

1. Open Google Calendar and click on the “Tasks” link on the left hand side;
   The “Tasks” module appears on the right hand side where you can add new tasks and assign a due date to an existing task;
2. To mark a task that is completed, click on the task’s check box, which will cross out the task on the list. Or, you may just delete the task from your to-do list.

You can also sync your Google Calendar with a mobile device, such as your Windows Mobile Phone, iPhone, or BlackBerry, so you can check your schedule anywhere! To do this, just follow the directions in the Calendar Help provided by Google.

Here's another use of Google Calendar: How many times do you have to email your group mates back and forth to schedule a group meeting? Google Calendar can help, because you can have more than one calendar in your account. Your group can create a shared calendar to manage the group work. Each of you can block off the time that you are not available for a group meeting so it is easy for the group to find the best time to meet. You can also break the group project into small pieces and set up a due date for each piece. To create a new calendar,

1. Open Google Calendar and click on the “Create” link at the bottom of the “My calendars” module on the left hand side;
2. A “Create New Calendar” page appears where you can give the calendar a name and share it with the people in your group.

Here's to staying organized! What else do you use Google Calendar for?

Luck and Hard Work

Lucille Ball (the great comedienne from I Love Lucy) said, "I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it, and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: hard work--and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't."

What can you do in your studies at NOVA to focus on your own hard work, and finding the opportunities that are out there for the taking, rather than thinking about what you achieve in terms of good or bad luck? Do you have any wise words for your fellow students about how you do this?

Google Apps Tip #3: More on Using Google Docs

Your Google Apps account is a great tool for working in groups. You can begin a web site, document, presentation, or spreadsheet and allow others in your group to help build it. You can control who can view and who can edit it. You can even view a list of the changes made and who made them. I’ll use a Google Docs word processing document as an example to tell you how; the procedures are similar for Google sites, presentations, and spreadsheets.

To allow others to participate in writing and editing a document, start a Google Docs document and open it for editing. Click the Share button and choose Share with others in the drop-down menu. Type the email addresses of your teammates in the text box (separated by commas). Be sure to use their VCCS email addresses; otherwise, they may have to create a new Google Docs account to access your document. Now click the Invite Collaborators button. An email form pops up. You can choose to send or not send the email, which will give your teammates a link that takes them directly to the document. If you don’t send the email, your teammates can still access your document from their list of documents when they log into Google Docs.

You and your invited teammates can now access and edit the document from anywhere that you have access to Google Apps. If two or more of you try to edit at the same time, Google will allow the first person who opens it to edit the document; everyone else may view, but not edit, until the first person has saved or exited. Everyone can see what edits were made, who made them, and when they were made, by clicking Revision History in the Tools menu.

When your group’s document is finished, you can allow your instructor and others in the class to view it. Go back to the Share with others function and click the box next to Anyone at Virginia’s Community Colleges may view this document. (Make sure the dropdown box says view, not edit.) Notice the document URL below this line. Copy the URL and send it to the class or post it in a discussion forum. Anyone who clicks the link will be prompted for their VCCS username and password and then be shown your document.

Anyone who has experienced the confusion of editing with multiple files from different people will like this way of working collaboratively. Give it a try the next time you have a group assignment in one of your ELI courses.

Google Apps Tip #2: Google Docs

Do your courses ever require you to work in groups? This can be a real challenge in an online course. It can be hard to get everyone together at the same time and even harder to share ideas! Well, thanks to Google Docs, the mechanics of group work just got a little easier.
This application allows you to create, edit and share documents online while collaborating with group members in real-time. No more playing email-tag just trying to organize the group’s contributions. You can create documents from scratch or upload existing files. And, the familiar desktop feel makes editing a breeze. It’s easy to do all the basics, including making bulleted lists, sorting by columns, adding tables, images, comments, formulas, changing fonts, colors and more. A real plus is that you select who can access the document. Edit any time, from anywhere, because files are stored securely online.

Start exploring Google Docs by clicking "Documents" on the upper left corner of the page once you've logged into your student email account. There’s a good, quick video overview to orient you to using Google Docs here: Google Docs in Plain English. Also, mobile phone users can browse their Google Docs documents in a mobile browser – real handy for postings and notes to files.

Give Google Docs a try - especially when it’s time to work on your resume with an advisor or counselor. You can’t beat the price - it’s FREE! In our next blog entry, we'll share even more tips for using this great feature of Google.

Do You Wordle?

Want to create a cool image for a website, poster, flyer, or even term paper cover page? Check out Wordle, a site that creates "word clouds" based on text you enter. Put in some text and the site will create an image that shows the words you use most in a neat graphic, with different sizes and emphases on each word according to how often you used each word. You can even have the site create a Wordle for a whole website or blog. Once your Wordle is created, you can play with the layout, font, colors, and more to make it look the way you want. Try it out and see what you think!

Making Use of Google Apps

Did you know that your student email account comes with a whole host of free applications, called Google Apps, that can help you keep on schedule with your schoolwork, complete group assignments more easily, and much more? When you log into your email account, be sure to explore the links across the top of the screen (Calendar, Documents, Photos, etc.). And, to help you understand what all these tools can do for you, we'll be posting tips on how to use these tools over the coming weeks. So, keep your eye on ELIfe and get ready to try out some cool new apps!

The Mysteries of GPA--Solved!

Do you know how your GPA is calculated? Do you know what it currently is? How about figuring out how the grades you expect to earn this semester will affect it? Check out this site, which describes how NOVA GPAs are calculated, tells you what GPA you need to earn to achieve different academic honors, and, toward the bottom, gives you a link to a GPA calculator.

Setting Goals

Anita DeFrantz, Captain of the 1976 U.S. Olympic Rowing Team, says about setting goals, "Your goal should be out of reach, but not out of sight." In other words, your goal should be something you have to stretch and challenge yourself to achieve, but still something that is achievable with reasonable effort (so that you don't get too discouraged trying to reach it).

Do you set goals like this for yourself? How to you help yourself keep moving toward them?

Another Online Radio Option

Last week, we pointed you to Pandora for listening to free music online. Finetune is another option, and like Pandora, it creates a "station" just for you based on the artists you like. And, like Pandora, you can download finetune for your iPhone as well as using it on your computer.

Has anyone used both Pandora and finetune? Which one do you like better, and why?