ecampus blog

Now, we don’t want to alarm you, but it’s the fourth week of spring quarter. There’s a very good chance you might be working on some sort of paper. Whether it’s an extensive research paper or not, chances are you’re going to need to do some outside studying to do the best you can. Enter the library.

Not literally. Of course, your local public library is worth a visit every now and then, just to keep it going. But what we’re talking about is the SCAD library and its many resources for students. In fact, if there were a word for how many resources are available to you as a student, it’d be “resourcetastic.” Unfortunately, there’s no such word, so we’ll all have to make do with the phrase “lots and lots of resources.”

We’ve talked a little bit before about some specific databases SCAD libraries offer to students. Specifically, we looked at the big three: JSTOR, LexisNexis Academic and ARTstor. If those names aren’t familiar to you, or you don’t know how to navigate to them, feel free to check out the relevant post at this link.

But the library is so much more than just the databases. It’s people too, real people you can talk to and get help from at virtually any time. Well, maybe not at 11:59 p.m. EST just before the paper is due, but that’s exactly why they’re there at every other time.

And how do you get in contact with a real person? Simple, all you have to do is visit the main SCAD library page and look for Ask A Librarian in the menu bar. You can choose from a variety of different options including IM Chat, email, phone and in-person (if you’re into that sort of thing).

Note that reference librarians aren’t there to help you with your paper’s format/grammar. They’re there to help find sources that work for you. You’re free to come to them with either a general topic or a specific item in mind. Thanks to some strange and mysterious force we can only assume is magic, they’ll be able to find the source that suits your need.

But maybe you already have subject in mind, and maybe even a book, but you just can’t make it to the library? Then prepare to be amazed, because you may just be able to have that book on your doorstep. It’s called Ship-to-Home, and for the eLearning student, it’s one of the most valuable resources SCAD offers.

It goes like this: certain SCAD materials can be shipped or copied and sent to eLearners who are not near any SCAD campus. The key here is to request everything in a timely manner, because the library can’t ship overnight or rush. So yes, while it may be too late for those pesky midterm essays, you can still take advantage of this for finals.

To request Ship-to-Home materials, find the necessary information and forms under Library Services -> eLearning located on the SCAD library page.

The last major resource we’ll go over in this post is the SCAD Digital Image Database. Otherwise known as the art history student’s dream come true. As the name implies, the DID is a large, searchable online database that holds images of works of art available for all SCAD students. And it’s not just your standard visual art. Everything from performing arts and video is represented.

Every artwork you find on the DID comes with the necessary information to help cite it in a paper. With over 100,000 images and growing, there’s more than a good chance that what you’re finding will be on there. And isn’t it better to have all the right information as soon as you find the image instead of wading through Google Image search or taking a chance with Wikipedia?

To access the DID from the main library page, you should go to Library Services -> Visual Resources Center -> SCAD Digital Image Database.

The problem with writing about the SCAD libraries is that there really are too many things to write about. You could spend hours just navigating all the different databases at your disposal. That’s why communication is key.

Take advantage of the Ask a Librarian feature, or keep track of new library developments through the SCAD Libraries new Facebook page. You, your paper, and your professor, will be glad you did.

It’s that time of year again. No, not spring cleaning (although if you find yourself picking up pencil shavings from your bed before going to bed, by all means clean). It’s time to talk about SCAD eLearning’s 7^th annual Spring Social.

The eLearning Spring Social is a chance for eLearning students to get together with staff and faculty and touch base on a face-to-face basis. There are events sponsored by SCAD as well as opportunities to branch out and explore the beautiful city of Savannah. You won’t be left hanging dry.

This year’s Spring Social will take place on the weekend of April 27.  On that first day, we’ll take a gallery hop across three of SCAD’s finest galleries: Alexander Hall, Pinnacle Gallery, and Gutstein Gallery. A list of exhibitions currently showing at these galleries, as well as other SCAD galleries, can be found here.

In addition to the gallery hop, the new SCAD Museum of Art is available for your enjoyment. Admission is free for all SCAD students. Considering it features some of the best work from SCAD’s permanent collection, as well as installation pieces from new artists, we think it’s more than a great opportunity.

From artwork that hangs on walls, to artwork that decorates the ground. The day after the gallery hop, SCAD eLearning will have a tent at the 31^st annual Sidewalk Arts Festival. See prospective and current students, as well as alumni, take over the sidewalks of Savannah’s historic Forsyth Park with bright, colorful chalk drawings. As you enjoy the sights, stop by the eLearning tent for some fun, including a cupcake walk and special guests.

If you show up at the tent and participate in the cupcake walk you a have a good chance at winning a delicious cupcake. But the prizes don’t end there. Each person who wins draws the name of an eLearning student out of a hat. That student receives a special gift from either Ex Libris, the university bookstore, or ShopSCAD, the university’s art store. This way, even if you can’t make it to the tent, you still have a chance at winning. If you want to be eligible for the prize, just email ecampus@scad.edu using your SCAD email address.

Of course, we won’t have just cupcakes, although we’re sure not many people would complain if we did. We’ll also have special guest speakers who will join us through special filmed segments. There will be a TV available under the SCAD eLearning tent for those at the Sidewalk Arts Festival, as well as an online live stream for other students. It promises to be a great time for every student involved.

While not part of the Spring Social, one other very important event is coming up soon: graduation. With it comes SCAD eLearning’s traditional graduation celebration. Of the 143 graduating eLearning students, 96 have signed up to come to Savannah for commencement. We’d like to invite you, as well as anyone else who decides to come, to the party. It’ll be Friday June 1, from 4 to 6 p.m. EST. The party will be held at Pulaski Square, just outside of the eLearning offices and around the corner from the Savannah Civic Center, where graduation practice will take place.

Our advice is make a day out of it. With graduation practice so close by, it’ll be easy to come down for the party. Afterward, head down to Forsyth Park, where the annual senior concert will be held. Make friends, have fun, and enjoy nice day of relaxation before the big day.

We hope to see you at the Spring Social and/or the graduation celebration. We strive to make these events as fun as possible, and to make them great places to meet your fellow classmates as well as professors. So stop by and have a good time.

Hello everyone! All of us here at the eLearning offices hope you had a good winter break, and that you’re settling into a new quarter (and a brand new Blackboard design) smoothly.

Well, winter quarter is finally here, and just like the last installment of Student Aid Scramble said, it’ll soon be time to consider financial aid for the next academic year. We’ve already taken a look at the scholarship opportunities SCAD provides, so it’s only natural that we now look outside of SCAD.

Paradoxically, the first taste of outside scholarship opportunities comes from SCAD itself. The financial aid section at SCAD’s website includes a sub-section that lists a number of outside scholarships. If you find yourself intimidated by the prospect of setting out into the wild Internet, then this page serves as a good stepping-stone. You can access it by clicking here.

Of course, the list is not exhaustive by any means, and not all of the scholarships listed apply to every student. Like it or not, you may find yourself having to search for scholarships on your own. Staring at the Google search bar, trying to come up with a good term to search for can be daunting, but even in the untamed Internet there are easier ways to do things.

There are hundreds of websites that compile searchable lists of available scholarships. The most extensive and up-to-date is Fastweb. Of course, the most important for any student on a budget is the price: free. All that’s required is a simple online sign-up form and then you’re on your way to finding scholarships.

Like with anything on the Internet, there are some things to keep in mind. While use of the site is completely free, it does throw up ads while you’re navigating between pages. Be sure to read carefully before agreeing to anything you’re not sure is a scholarship. You don’t want your email inbox flooded with spam.

On the positive side, Fastweb gives you the option of completing a profile that automatically narrows down scholarships to those that match it. It’s an easy way to navigate a website that has so much information to go through otherwise.

There are, of course, other websites that collect links to scholarships, but there are so many, and only a limited number of scholarships, that you may as well make your life easier and focus on one.

There is one last way of searching for scholarships, and it’s probably the first thing you might do. A simple search engine search might be an easy way to get started, but much like when searching for material for research, it can lead to some iffy places. Feel free to use it as a starting point, but unless you have a specific scholarship in mind and just forgot the web address for it, stick with a website like Fastweb.

So far we’ve looked into how to find scholarships provided by SCAD and those provided by places outside of SCAD. These are by no means the only kind of financial aid available. However, they are some of the best forms of aid if only because you don’t need to pay them back. In the case of SCAD scholarships, they’re easier to apply for and, for outside scholarships, they can be quite a hefty sum.

It’s our hope that these articles have helped shed light on resources you might not have known about. Paying for college really can be a messy experience, to say the least, but if you take advantage of these opportunities you can continue studying what you love.

The end of fall quarter is just around the corner. It may not feel like it but before you know it, winter quarter will be halfway through and you’ll have to give serious thought to next year’s tuition and fees. Arguably, tuition and fees are the messiest parts of the college process, but any pain they cause can be mitigated by a dosage of scholarships and financial aid.

It’s never too early to think about ways to save money, especially large amounts of money. That’s the best kind of money to save. With that in mind, we’ll be highlighting different ways students can alleviate some of the pressure of tuition and fees.

This week’s topic: SCAD scholarships and the students who love them.

A lucky number of you reading this post right now qualified for either the Academic Honors or Artistic Honors Scholarship that SCAD gives out to incoming students. As the names suggest, these scholarships are given out to students who show a strong academic background and exceptional portfolio work, respectively. A few of you perhaps received both. You must obviously be a new kind of “super student” in which case please remember the help we’ve given you when you take over the world.

But maybe you weren’t awarded an Honors scholarship, or you’d like more aid to cut down on money borrowed from loans. Luckily for you, as a current student you can take advantage of scholarships offered by or through SCAD.

First thing’s first: According to Patricia Young, Director of Student Financial Advising, “eLearning students are eligible for the same scholarships offered to continuing students at SCAD.” What this means for you is that you have access to a fair number of scholarships that are already grouped for you and easily broken down by major. The obvious downside is that competition for these scholarships will be high. But have confidence in your work.

Second thing’s second: There are two ways to find these scholarships for continuing students. The easiest way is to click the link at the end of this sentence to go directly to the scholarship section of student financial services. There you’ll find every scholarship in alphabetical order, along with a description and the requirements you need to meet in order to qualify for the scholarship.

The second way of finding these scholarships is to log on to MySCAD, click on the Student Workspace tab and find the Scholarships for Current Students link located on the Student Toolkit channel. The advantage to this method is that once you’re on the page that lists the scholarships you can apply. (Note: Scholarships for continuing students don’t begin to accept applications until around April. Mark that on your calendars.)

While there’s certainly a vast number of outside scholarships to search for, it’s always less daunting to start somewhere familiar. SCAD scholarships have simple applications (they usually don’t require more than your information and a reference), come from a familiar place and don’t require you to spend hours searching for them. We’ll be taking a look at other ways to receive aid, but it’s always good to start with the easiest process and work your way up.

Outside scholarships or SCAD scholarships may sometimes affect the amount a student is eligible for in federal loans.

So you’re working on a project for class, and you need to do research. Luckily, SCAD’s library website offers links to some of the most thorough online databases. This post will go through some of the most popular databases available.

To find the following databases you’ll have to navigate to SCAD’s library homepage. To do so you can either log on to MySCAD and click the Library tab, or go directly to the library website. Both options will lead to the same page, so this step is more of a matter of convenience and ease.

Once you’re on the library’s homepage, you’ll see a row of drop-down menus. The left-most option, titled “Library Services” has a link called “eLearning.” Clicking that link will take you to a page detailing all the different services offered through SCAD’s library system. For now, focus on the section titled “Online Information Sources.” Click on the hyperlinked “Databases” and it will take you to this page. There you can search for databases based on subject, title, and source type (video, image, journal etc.).

If you’re confused by the amount of databases available, here’s a couple that have proven to be reliable and trustworthy.

JSTOR: Arguably the most used journal database, JSTOR features articles from scholarly journals spanning a broad area of subjects. From Finance to Paleontology, there’s something for everyone here. JSTOR’s homepage is simple to use. You can either browse journals by subject, or you can input a specific search term. The results will include all journals that use the term you searched.

Like all databases featured in this post, JSTOR has an advanced search option. It allows you to narrow down your search by language, item type (article, review etc.) and subject. This is probably the better option for those of you that have a clear idea of what you’re looking for.

A word of warning: JSTOR does not, unfortunately, have the most recent journal volumes online. Generally, volumes from two to five years ago are not available.

LexisNexis Academic: Besides boasting a name that would make Lex Luthor proud, LexisNexis is also the go-to database for newspaper articles, legal news and documents and company financial information. In contrast to JSTOR, LexisNexis’s homepage is slightly more cluttered. The upside is that search options have already been divided, meaning you can search for something specific as soon as you enter the site. The amount of searchable material is also very large, including most major newspaper publications (from the 1980s to today) and information from 43 million companies.

ARTstor: Of course, there’s no way to ignore a database for images. This is SCAD after all. ARTstor contains over one million images encompassing nearly the entirety of art history. It’s a pretty broad area to search without a specific term in mind. Much like JSTOR, ARTstor features a simple search option on its homepage and an option to browse artwork by broad categories like area and classification. Additonally, the database offers an advanced search option that allows you to search artworks by geographical place of origin, time period and more specific classification (painting, film sculpture, etc.). There’s no need to worry about using the actual images as sources in your paper. As long as it’s for educational purposes, you’ll be allowed to print or download images from the site.

This is just a small sample of the databases available to you. Though they’re the most popular, they’re by no means the only ones. In order to make your project the best it can be, you’ll have to decide which database bets fits with what you’re going for.

Let’s be honest, one of the major reasons people go to college to get a degree is to qualify for good jobs. Eventually that depends on you putting yourself out there to find the job you want. While there’s no replacement for the tried and true method of going out to different social and professional events and networking, sometimes that’s either not enough, or not an option.

This is where the Internet comes in. There are, of course, almost impossibly large amounts of job search sites available online. Today, this post will focus on those that are specialized for creative careers. It will feature three sites that stand out from the rest. Let’s begin:

1) Krop: Krop’s homepage is refreshingly simple. Jobs are listed as they appear, meaning the newest postings will be the first ones you see. Additionally, you can search for jobs by location and keyword. There’s no option for searching by industry, but the keyword search has proven to be good on its own.

Like most job search websites, to take full advantage of Krop you have to sign up and create a profile, resume and portfolio.  There are two types of accounts: a free account and a pro account. The free account has all the basics that the website offers, including your own URL address and space for up to 10 images. The pro account, which costs $9.99/month, includes unlimited image space and video embedding. You can upgrade and downgrade any time you want.

Over all, Krop is a very professional website, good for students that have amassed a presentable portfolio.

2) Behance: Behance.net’s job list section looks slightly similar to Krop’s. Once again jobs are listed in the order in which they are posted, and you can do your own search to narrow down the jobs you see on the page. The main difference between Krop’s search features and Behance’s is that Behance does have a way to narrow jobs by industry.

A drop down menu next to the keyword search field reveals options ranging from Blogging to Video Game Design and seemingly everything in between. If you have a clear idea of what you want to do in the art world and what type of industry you want to go into, Behance is an easy way to search for jobs in that industry.

An important advantage that Behance has over Krop is that according to their tour page (scroll down slightly to see), their membership and hosting service is unlimited and completely free. This means you can put as much text, audio, image and video projects on your personal space without having to pay extra. For college students or recent graduates on a budget, this is a big plus.

3) Creative Jobs Central: What makes this site stand out is the sheer amount of categories that jobs are divided into. If you’re looking for a website that goes the extra mile to make searching for a specific industry easy, then just look at this homepage.  Creative Jobs Central has a section for everything from theater jobs to beauty jobs.

The catch is that all those choices is that they don’t come cheap. Membership fees for the site can run pretty steep for a student on a budget. 1-month membership is $10.99, 3-month membership is $26.97 (plus $15 dollars if you want access to all job postings and not just one specific industry) and 6-month membership is $47.94.

If you already have some money to use, and you don’t mind using it for your job search, you could do worse than this site. Otherwise, a good way to use it is to find job posts that list company contact information, and contact the company yourself. All’s fair in love and job searching after all.

These sites represent a tiny fraction of the different kinds of job search websites that are at your fingertips. Whether they have optional fees, are completely free or have required fees, they all serve the same purpose. It’s ultimately up to you to choose the one that best suits your needs. But hey, at least you have the entire Internet to search.

As you go forward as a SCAD student, it’ll become more and more important to keep in mind where you want to take your art career. Thankfully for everyone involved, this is another one of those situations where you don’t have to go alone into the big, wide world.

Some of you may already be familiar with the Career and Alumni Success office, at least marginally. You may have received Job Wire emails that come from that office. And if you haven’t, you should. Trust me, I realize how strong the temptation is to just ignore those emails or throw them in your Spam folder. Considering how hectic emails can get for eLearning students you may just gloss over them accidentally.

But despite it all, they’re actually a really good resource. They drastically cut down on the time you spend manually looking for internships or job opportunities. And any time saved in searching is time gained in applying. Those emails also normally include names of students who have gotten internships or jobs already. If nothing else, that can be a motivator to work even harder to find one of your own. To sign up for Job Wire newsletters and to see archives of past newsletters, just go to this page.

Of course, to really take advantage of the Job Wire emails, you need to know about another resource available, Student Central. Student Central is a searchable database of internships and jobs that is updated on a fairly regular basis. Because you specify what school you go to when registering, you can even search by what majors companies are looking for.

Along with Job Wire and Student Central, you can also take advantage of the Career Toolkit available on the Career Services website. It includes links to several pages and PDF documents that help you with everything from finding career options for your major to writing a good resume. Everything is explained in a way that is easy to follow and helpful. The set of PDF files that deals with building your resume, for example, breaks down each section into clearly labeled individual parts. It makes a task hat could be daunting and confusing and makes it easier to accomplish.

This is all in addition to the career advisers available to you. Every school has its own career adviser, making it easier to talk to somebody who you’re sure knows the field you’re interested in. They’re also the ones to go to if you have any questions about the resources mentioned earlier. A full list of advisers, what schools they represent, and their email addresses can be found on this section of the Career and Alumni Success page.

It’s no secret that right now is an economically tough time for everyone. But there’s no reason why you can’t take steps early on as a student to ensure that when you graduate, you’ll be better prepared to face the world. You’ll get your foot in the door, and best of all, you’ll be more likely to get a job after graduation.

Let’s be honest. It’s not easy being a student. There’s a lot of pressure put on you, by yourself and other people. Then there are the pressures of everyday life outside of school. And then you add the fact that your major more than likely forces you to use your creativity in new ways each and every day. It can get exhausting, frustrating and sometimes downright depressing.

But there’s no reason to go at it alone. SCAD’s Counseling and Student Support Services offer therapy services for every student, including those that are part of SCAD eLearning. You may be a little hesitant to believe that someone as personal as a therapy session can be taken seriously in an online format. That’s normal, but from the information given out by Dr. Tamara Knapp-Grosz, director of Counseling and Student Support Services, you shouldn’t feel worried at all.

According to the information from Dr. Knapp-Grosz, “counselors are available to assist all students with short-term individual counseling, group support and provide self-help resources.” The key word is “all.” You don’t have to feel like just because you’re not at the Savannah or Atlanta campuses that you don’t have access.

Quite the opposite, Counseling and Student Support Services are more than willing to accommodate the needs of every kind of student. For eLearning students this means providing online counseling through Skype or Adobe Connect. This is one of the most important things to highlight. It means that you won’t just be talking on the phone to some nameless voice; you’ll be able to see someone’s face and interact with a person.

Every session is also free (the tuition you pay goes toward more than just classes), and confidential. And it’s as easy as emailing counseling@scad.edu, filling out some basic forms, and setting up a meeting time.

Maybe you’re not in need of a counseling session though. Maybe what’s really bothering you is your creativity. Feeling like you have none? Like you have too much? Just having trouble keeping it in check? Well it just so happens that Counseling and Student Support Services has several options for creativity coaching.

Creativity coaching helps you deal with the stresses on your creativity that school and life can cause. Coaching comes in two different ways at SCAD. Group sessions take place 9:00 a.m. (EST) or you can schedule individual sessions on Fridays. All this is done by emailing counseling@scad.edu. Additionally, there’s a general support group available to students on Thursdays 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. (EST). To pre-register for the group email cgarskie@scad.edu.

It really can be very hard to be a college student sometimes. It doesn’t matter who or where you are, the pressure gets to everyone sometimes. That’s why it’s good to know that all this is at your fingertips.

Ever made a great piece of art and wished you could show it off to the world? Maybe you’ve even done a particularly good assignment for class and wanted people other than your professor or classmates to see it. Well make yourself comfortable and get ready to be educated, because for the next several paragraphs we’ll be going over a great way to make that possible.

Does the term SCAD Myriad ring any bells? Don’t worry if it doesn’t, there’s no test on this (yet…). SCAD Myriad is a new student media website/e-zine/online party house for eLearning students. Taking advantage of the power of the Internet, Myriad allows students to showcase their work in a format that’s easy to distribute. Say you want to show off your best piece to family and friends. Conveniently for you, it just happens to be up on Myriad. It’s just a simple process of sending links to everyone you know. Or everyone you don’t know, if it’s a particularly good piece.

You may be wondering how exactly this works, and you won’t be satisfied with the original answer of “Magic.” Well, the real answer is still pretty simple. If your chosen piece of art is visual, it must be saved as a JPEG file; if it’s a poem or story or other, then it must be saved as a DOC file. Once that’s done with, you send your piece to myriad@scad.edu. After a highly scientific and partially pseudoscientific process, the best pieces are chosen and displayed on SCADmyriad.com.

Remember, you shouldn’t feel restricted. Have an illustration that goes with a funny story? Send in both together as one piece. Have a friend in a class that you want to collaborate with? Feel free to do so. The most important thing to remember is that Myriad is a site geared towards eLearning students. You make it your own.

Of course, Myriad is still a relatively new concept. Being a young start-up, when you go to SCADmyriad.com, you might find it a little bare. That’s where you come in. As the future users and content providers for Myriad, we want to hear your ideas on how to make this one of the best perks of being an eLearning student. Drop us a line at myriad@scad.edu or comment on this post with your thoughts. And remember to start sending submissions and tell other eLearning students you know.

As hopefully all of you know (and if you don’t, shame on you, but we won’t hold it against you) Kickstarter co-founder Charles Adler will be speaking at the SCAD – Savannah campus Monday, September 26. Of course, we’ll have a livestream session up on SCAD eLearning’s channel so everyone in the eLearning community can take advantage of Mr. Adler’s talk. Our personal recommendation: If you’re watching it from livestream, make yourself some popcorn and grab a drink, and then feel awesome because the students at the lecture can’t.

If you need a little background information on Kickstarter, then you’ve come to the right place. It’s a website where artists can raise money for projects. It’s completely online, making campaigning for funds easier than ever. You make a page advertising your project and post it online so people know where to go and donate. You have to set a specific goal you want to reach and the date you want reach it by. If you don’t get enough funds by the date you specified, all donations are returned to the people who donated.

That doesn’t mean you should hesitate to try this resource though. It’s an incredibly fast and easy way of raising funds, and the fact that people might get their money back actually works in your favor. Don’t believe us? Picture this: You’re advertising your Kickstarter page around the Internet and someone stumbles on it and really likes your project idea. But, oh no, they’re not sure if they want to take the chance that you’ll just run off with whatever money you get. Thankfully, Kickstarter’s policy of giving donations back if the goal isn’t meant eases this imaginary person’s fears and they donate. Now imagine that scenario playing out multiple times. Pretty sneaky, eh?

The best part is that as a SCAD student, you have a built-in support network for your Kickstarter campaign. SCAD has its own page that features links to student work that need funding. And as the SCAD Kickstarter page shows, Kickstarter is not just for films.

You might think that the only projects that get any attention are movies, but one look at that page and you see that’s false. A cursory glance reveals links to pages for everything from photography projects to accessory design projects. If you have an idea, you can get funding for it. And thanks to its presence on Kickstarter, SCAD can give you an edge over other artists on the site.

A little more interested in Kickstarter now? No please, no need to raise your hands, I can imagine. If you want to learn more about the site and how it became such a success, be sure to check out the livestream session on Monday, September 26 at 6 p.m. EST/EDT. And don’t forget the popcorn.