How 'Rate My Professors' Can Help You with Class Registration

You've almost survived your first semester as Freshmen! Congrats folks, the end is about a month away and with that in mind it's time for you to start registering for classes next semester. With that being said there's an awesome online tool that gives you the ability to look up a professor and see what other UNI students before have to say about their experience with that professor called Rate My Professors but before I get into how useful and easy this tool is to use.....

If you haven't already met with your advisor now would be a good time to do so. You can find out who your advisor is by logging into MyUniverse with your Cat ID, clicking on 'Go to my Student Center' and looking for a box on the righthand side that looks like the 'Advisor' box below.

          

For those of you who already have your major picked out and are already taking classes in your major's field, that is awesome but for those of you who are still in the 'Deciding' phase no worries, LAC courses will keep your schedule full no doubt. Some of the classes you will be looking for when you go to register will have different professors that teach the same course and deciding on which professor to take the class with could honestly make or break your grade. Rate My Professors is a useful tool to help you scope out your options of the different professors who are teaching the same courses. 

Rate My Professors is an awesome tool that you can use to get (or give) feedback about a certain professor from other students who've already taken their class. Professors/the classes they teach are rated on a scale from 1-5 by how helpful they are, how clear they are with teaching materials and how easy they grade which is then averaged out to give you a number of the overall quality and avg. grade of the professor.

Having an idea of what the Professor is like before walking into a class for the first time can be less terrifying than having no idea what to expect at all. Having a professor you enjoy makes going to class that much better, which is why I always use Rate My Professors before registering for classes. So here's how it works in 3 easy steps.

1.

2. Find a Professor by: School/Department or Name

School

Name

3. See how other students rated the Professor.

So what are you waiting for!? Go check out what grade your Professors have and even rate the Professors you're in classes with right now! 

8 Easy Steps: How to Turn in an Assignment on eLearning

I know as a Freshman I had no idea what eLearning was, how to use it, etc. Here are 8 step-by-step screenshot instructions on how one could turn an assignment in on eLearning. 

STEP 1: Visit uni.edu and click on the eLearning tab... I have it shown circled in red.

STEP 2: clicking on the eLearning link from UNI's website will lead you to this page. Click the CatID Sign On which is circled in red. 

 STEP 3: Use your CatID and password to sign on.

STEP 4: Your Courses are shown on the lefthand side, click on the class in which you are trying to turn in an assignment.  (For example purposes I will be showing my Digital Advertising class.)

STEP 5: Once you're on your classes particular "Course Dashboard", click on the "Course Content"
 tab on the lefthand side. (Most professors have their eLearning set up in this way... although your's may not. This step is subject to change depending on your professor)

STEP 6: Most professors do a great job of keeping their "Course Content" easy and simple to maneuver through. For example, my professor has multiple folders all for different things going on in our class; he has a folder specifically labeled "Assignments". (Keep in mind not every professor has their Course Content organized in this way)

STEP 7: The "Assignments" folder has lead me here as you can see the symbols next to these assignments have a pencil, ruler, and blank paper behind them. This symbolizes an assignment that can be submitted through eLearning. So for this example I will just click the top project.

STEP 8: You have a couple choices when it comes to submitting an assignment... If it's a written submission (1) you can click on that and it will expand to give you space to write. If you have a file; like a word document, powerpoint, etc. you need to upload click "Browse My Computer"(2). And last but not least Click SUBMIT.

HOPE THIS HELPED!

Time to StudyBlue!

Click here to sign in via computer and watch a helpful tutorial of how the application works!

STUDYBLUE is a great tool especially for making flashcards. I know we all don't like to admit it but there's this huge habit or problem a lot of us college kids have: procrastination. Our study habits are a huge factor in how well we do in our classes. I will admit that I procrastinate on a lot of projects and put off studying for exams until last minute but StudyBlue has helped me so much, especially with the whole studying last minute aspect.

I think the greatest thing about this app is that it allows us to collaborate with our peers, the people who you sit next to in class, have the same class as but at a different time or maybe that had the class a previous semester. As of right now around 1,739 UNI students are currently using StudyBlue. When you enter in the University of Northern Iowa and search for your classes there may already be "Class Materials" at your hands made by other students to help you study. For instance, if you have to take Principles of Marketing with Iyer I already made flash cards for all the exams......Your welcome. ;) In other cases, your class won't have any "Class Materials" and you may even have to enter in the course number yourself, which isn't hard to do. Either way let's grow our UNI community on StudyBlue!!

This app, which I have on my iPhone, allows you to carry the flashcards you make with you at all times. With StudyBlue I can literally be walking to class last minute flipping through the cards, on my bed watching Netflix taking a generated quiz of terms, or I even have the capability to print out a review sheet of all the terms and definitions. There's so many great opportunities you can do with this application and I encourage you all to join STUDYBLUE.

You are the future of UNI, collaborate amongst yourselves and PASS YOUR CLASSES!!
You can do it!

College Hill- Where Art Thou?

When I hear someone say "the Hill" I always tend to think about the night scene, the bars including: Beck's, the Other Place, Social House, Ginger's, the Octopus, SudsUpstairs, the Hydrant, Sharky's, etc. but the Hill has so much more to offer than just the night scene aspect.

Since we all know the Hill is code for "Are we getting drunk tonight or what?" I will start this blog off with talking about some of my favorite places to go on the Hill, back in 2011 and now.

I remember my Freshman year like it was yesterday... Oh the joys of the Hill back in 2011. Walking through campus late at night when it's empty and quiet, except for the faint sound booming from SudsUpstairs, Beck's, ICE, Sharky's, Mojo's, the OP, etc. The Hill was lit up and alive with people anywhere from Freshies to Super-Seniors to Alumnis. The best thing about the Hill back in my day as a Freshman was that there were more options for underaged students to get in. For instance Mojo's and ICE were two of the infamous hang outs for those who had to sneak in water bottles full of alcohol because they weren't old enough to buy it themselves. Times sure have changed since then though.

After Mojo's and ICE closed, the Hill was definitely lacking in places for night life activity (especially for youngsters) so for most of my sophomore year I would make my way on the drunk bus down to Main. Ginger's and Social House (where Mojo's and ICE used to be) opened up around the same time which brought life back to the Hill. The only stipulation with those two bars is that they are 21+ bars. Since the Hill was transforming with these two new bars opening up, Sharky's,19+ bar,  sort of fell from being the popping bar all upperclassmen went to now to a place where most underaged drinkers gather. The Hill never fails to provide us all with great times, with great friends, and leaves us with great memories.

 Now don't get me wrong... The Hill is not all about the night scene, the partying, the drinking. There are also many helpful places that you as students may need to reference in the future. For instance, CopyWorks is a super helpful place if you needed something to be printed out in color, in bulk, or a different size than the normal 8.5x11 the campus printers provide us with. It's located right by the University Book and Supply and is super inexpensive when it comes to colored copies.

First Class Cell Phone Repair is another useful tool that may come in handy to any of you that have technology devices. They do screen repairs along with a lot of other "techy" services one may need if say your computer crashes, or you drop your iPad and shatter the screen.

If you're not looking for a bar type setting to eat at, the Hill has other options to offer you. Sidecar is a great little coffee shop where you can sit and enjoy the out door seating while the fall weather still permits and work on your homework. A good ol' cup of Joe beside you while you're busting out those midterms, projects, papers, etc. may just help you stay awake long enough to get the job done.

Sub City and Jimmy John's are both on the Hill and Jimmy John's as we all know delivers, but there is just something about a Sub City sandwich one can just not describe. So I am encouraging all of you to get out of the comfort zone of Jimmy John's being delivered to your dorm and take a nice stroll on down to Sub City for a sub that will blow your freaking mind

(P.S. Sub City also delivers but the service is great and they even slice the meat and cheese right in front of you.)

Mohair Pear is a trendy store where you can find vintage, retro, or even new modern apparel. They also do body piercing at a low rate of $20. If you stop in around this time of the year they even have Halloween costumes. Right next to that is the Octopus which is a modern, edgy bar that is booming with live music and tons of different events to attend. Check out their Facebook page for all the event information.

I only got to take you through a couple of the wonderful businesses the Hill has to offer us as students but take time out of your day to tour the Hill in all it's glory for yourselves. Help keep our College Hill alive and booming by visiting the different businesses, bars, restaurants, stores, and more!

HOMECOMING 2014

WELCOME TO UNI FRESHMAN 101! The blog for mainly Freshmen (or transfer students) about all things UNI, bleeding purple and gold, and enjoying your first year as a college student. From tips on tailgating, to the different organizations you can join, to surviving your first "finals week" will all be found right here at your convenience. As high school seniors you were the big dogs on campus, at the top of the totem pole... Now you have become "Fresh-meat" or "Freshies", right back to the bottom like where you started high school. Bottom of the totem pole can be intimidating, but don't be so indulged in your intimidation and become a recluse in your dorm room. Since I was a Freshman myself not too many years ago I know what you're going through and I'm here to advise and help you out with your first year at UNI. 

To kick-off my blog this week it's no surprise that I will be blogging about..... you guessed it.....  UNI HOMECOMING: Students by Day, Panthers by Night! This week is exploding with awesome activities for the whole university to get excited about. Today if you didn't get free food at the Campanile from 11-1 you sure missed out on some great, big"dogs", delicious chocolate chip cookies, and chips. There are two more activities tonight to be apart of: the Amazing Race Traditions Challenge is taking place at the Alumni House at 6 pm and a HYPNOTIST is going to be a the GBPAC at 6:30 & 9. If you didn't make it to the Hypnotist during your first week at UNI here's another chance to get hypnotized. 

Campanile:
As most of you may not know Campanilling is a UNI homecoming tradition that has been around a lot longer than most of us students today... so make sure you hit up the Campanile Friday at midnight! One of my best guy friends went to Campanile last year to try and get the girl he's had a crush on. He was standing right by her when the clock struck midnight... BUT unfortunately she turned and kissed the guy standing on the other side of her completely shooting my friend down but hey, at least he tried!! Don't be discouraged to go if you don't have a significant other to kiss, other people there will be alone too... One of my friends actually met the guy she's currently dating at Campanile. It's one of UNI's oldest Homecoming traditions so don't miss out on the making out! 

Tailgating:
If you're not sure where to go for tailgating, that's okay! Grab a friend and just walk around in either C lots and I'm positive you'll run into some nice, slightly intoxicated folks to cheer on the Panthers with! If the drunk munchies are already hitting you around noon, head to the Bender Field for some Free Food and an awesome student tailgate. 

Royalty court:
Are you missing high school? Remember prom king and queen? The royalty competition kicked off Monday night, but don't miss the reveal of the King and Queen at the pep rally Friday at 9:30 pm in the McLeod center. 

Football Game:
I mean let's be honest all you freshmen ladies out there, how many of us wouldn't want to see yummy guys in tight football pants??  If you're going to the game on Saturday there's a few things you can't afford to forget: Your keys to shake during the kick-off, your student ID, and most importantly your PANTHER PRIDE! Let the game begin and let's cheer em on for a win!

Game-Day Apparel: 

Those outrageously purple and gold overalls you see on game days can be found at the University Book and Supply if that's the look you're going for this weekend. The Bookstore also has some awesome apparel and accessories like dri-fits, flashy headbands and face tattoos/stickers! If you're going for a more subtle look and still wanting your purple and gold to shine through, hit up UniversiTees at College Square  Mall for a variety of different shirts all in one place. (They're cheap too, 2 for $22, who can complain about that?)

Now with all the being said, DON'T be dumb this weekend. Here are some HOMECOMING SAFETY TIPS to keep you out of the county jail. ;) 

1. Always stick with your wolf-pack. (aka stick with your friends and try not to get split up. It's going to be a busy weekend in Cedar Falls and you just never know what could happen.) 

2. Be Responsible! Don't drink and drive or get into a vehicle with a person who's been drinking. Call Dolly's Taxi: 319-242-2011

3. Don't be obscenely belligerent, especially in the presence of a cop (duh).  

4. Avoid antagonizing the bouncers, bartenders and cocktail waitresses... They ARE the ones who make your drinks and determine if you even get in.

5. Don't make any sudden movements or frantically put your drink down right when you see a cop (that looks uber suspicious) 

6. HAVE FUN! For a lot of you this is your first college homecoming. Make the best of it and support our Panthers this Saturday! 

GO CATS!