Thursday, July 22, 2010
Are you still a teenager? If so, read this. If not, read it anyway.
Here's an interesting article on how to learn more without studying more. It's about the teenage brain, but has some good ideas for anyone: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-parenting/2008/09/02/7-ways-to-learn-more-without-more-study.html
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Advice on setting up your own internship
Can't find an internship? Make one for yourself. This article on the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation's blog tells you how: http://blog.directworks.org/?p=71 Some of my students have done this in the past. Doing it requires a little initiative, but hey, if you don't have initiative you might want to re-evaluate your career choice!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Saving Money on Textbooks
There's a rebellion against expensive textbooks going on in universities around the country. $200 plus for a book you'll use one semester is a crime, I agree. So here are some ideas to save money.
First, every college student knows the obvious ways of saving money on textbooks, such as buying used books from other students rather than the bookstore, and buying them from the Internet. If you want a new book, you can try finding international editions on the Web, which are often identical or nearly so to the U. S. edition and less costly.
But more innovative ways are also possible, if you can talk to the professor a few months before the course starts. You might ask the instructor if the class could write and illustrate its own textbook as a semester project using a wiki. Sounds like a lot of work? Not when the entire class is collaboratively writing it. I think you'll learn a lot more this way, and save that $200.
Another possibility arises when you know that the instructor only covers a few chapters from the textbook. Why buy 21 chapters when you're only going to talk about 8 of them! Ask the instructor if he or she can order a "custom textbook" from the publisher that only includes those 8 chapters. Why would a publisher be willing to sell only 8 chapters? I don't really know, but one obvious reason is that selling 8 must be better than selling none. Another reason may be that a used custom book may not have much value and so won't compete with the publisher's own books, later. In fact, you may not be able to sell it to anyone, afterwards, but buying a custom book for $50 or $60 may look better to you than shelling out $200 and getting $100 later for it.
I'd love to hear from you if you can add ideas to the above list.
First, every college student knows the obvious ways of saving money on textbooks, such as buying used books from other students rather than the bookstore, and buying them from the Internet. If you want a new book, you can try finding international editions on the Web, which are often identical or nearly so to the U. S. edition and less costly.
But more innovative ways are also possible, if you can talk to the professor a few months before the course starts. You might ask the instructor if the class could write and illustrate its own textbook as a semester project using a wiki. Sounds like a lot of work? Not when the entire class is collaboratively writing it. I think you'll learn a lot more this way, and save that $200.
Another possibility arises when you know that the instructor only covers a few chapters from the textbook. Why buy 21 chapters when you're only going to talk about 8 of them! Ask the instructor if he or she can order a "custom textbook" from the publisher that only includes those 8 chapters. Why would a publisher be willing to sell only 8 chapters? I don't really know, but one obvious reason is that selling 8 must be better than selling none. Another reason may be that a used custom book may not have much value and so won't compete with the publisher's own books, later. In fact, you may not be able to sell it to anyone, afterwards, but buying a custom book for $50 or $60 may look better to you than shelling out $200 and getting $100 later for it.
I'd love to hear from you if you can add ideas to the above list.
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