In the past two decades, online learning has evolved by leaps and bounds, with traditional classrooms reinvented as websites and apps, and social media serving as the virtual hallways, libraries, and common areas where students meet and share their experiences. 

We are surrounded by information, but how do we know information is relevant, accurate, and credible? It comes at us from all directions, all the time – from phones, computers, TVs, social media, and even from other people. To find credible information, we must be information detectives and critically consider the information we access.

It can be overwhelming to find the information that we need without spending all our time digging through information that is not relevant or accurate. This is especially true when time is ticking away at work or for a classroom deadline.

Hallelujah, it’s winter break! Congratulations on forging through and doing your best to stay on top of your studies. Now it’s time to sit back and relax while enjoying the festivities that the holiday season has to offer. 
 
While you’ve been working hard, studying incessantly, and focusing on your academics, it’s important that you take advantage of this break to rest, recharge, and get yourself prepared for what’s to come in the new year. 
 

You may have seen me floating around the facebook groups of the University of Arizona Global Campus serving as an online community builder, subject matter expert, and all-around academic cheerleader. My name is Natalie Mell, and I am an AU-grad-turned-community-manager for Ashford University’s social channels.

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Used almost exclusively for professional purposes, LinkedIn stands apart from other social media platforms—you’ll find very few cat videos and food photos on LinkedIn profiles. Instead, people tend to use the site as an online resume. Most modern professionals seem to understand the need for a presence on LinkedIn, but they may not always understand how to create an effective profile.

Distance runners have long known, and science has proven, that there’s a literal high that comes from the endorphin buzz after a workout. It happens when nature’s opiates flood the brain and bring with them a flood of good feelings.

The University of Arizona Global Campus supports excellence in our students. To further this effort, we are sharing some important resources for Black Americans seeking opportunity in the workplace. From interesting articles and job boards to associations and magazines, the following are recommendations that will help you on your journey.

Our life is an exhilarating journey. It is exciting to make new discoveries as we move forward and find new passions or re-discover passions we once had. But what is passion? As an educator, I find the following quote from “Life Launch – A Passionate Guide to the Rest of Your Life,” Hudson and McLean (2006), to be very powerful:

Dr. Mingzhen Bao lives in sunny San Diego, but it’s the cloudy, rainy days that bring a smile to her face. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I love the beach,” smiles the associate director for the University of Arizona Global Campus Center for Enhancement of the First-Year Experience. “I just love to go when it’s cloudy, during May, or what they call ‘June gloom’ here.”