North Carolina offers an NTSO program

I am really happy to be adding an NTSO (Nontraditional Student Organization) to the North Carolina State Page today. It is located here: http://www.ncat.edu/~evenings/ntso.htm at A T and T State University, which is located in Greensboro, North Carolina.

I will be putting it on the North Carolina State Page at the Nontraditional Student website as soon as possible. I found it doing a search online today.

Here is some information about the benefits of joining the NTSO at A T and T State University:

"The benefits of membership in NTSO include, but are not limited to:

• receiving support from other non-trads for academic and social interaction
• gaining valuable leadership skills and experience
• helping to shape the organization's directions, initiatives, and services
• having your voice heard by the university community
• giving back to the community through service activities
• extending a hand to new non-trads who can benefit from your experiences"
  

A Constitution and Bylaws are also posted, with contact information too. This is a great page and I am sure it has helped nontraditional students find support and help for their educational journeys.

Another web page I liked here was the Tips for Success Page. This is a great resource, too.

Until next posting, I am Nontraditionally Yours!
E. Sheppard

Visit the Nontrad website 
Visit the North Carolina page at the NT site
Join the Yahoo Nontrads Group
Visit the Nontrads Forum
Add your group or info. page to the Nontraditional Student website!

Some of my links:

The Nontrad site and blog
The Betsyanne page and blog
My Squidoo Pages and referral

Forming a Nontraditional Student group

Are you going to trade school, community college, getting your GED, or attending college?

A great idea is to join a Nontraditional Student Group. You can share ideas, parenting tips, stories, and more at group meetings, which can be held weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.

If there is no group at your school, you can start one.


Five Ways to get a nontraditional group started

1. You can advertise in a school paper (it usually doesn't cost a lot and is worth it...)
2. You can talk to other nontraditional students you see at school about it and see if anyone wants to help with it.
3. You can make a list of interested students and send an email to them or call them and let them know when the first meeting is, or plan a Interest Meeting.
4. You can put notices up on school bulletin boards with your email or phone number attached to let others get in touch with you.
5. You can talk to other groups at nearby schools to find out how they got started.

You might also talk to the school staff about it. Often, a staffer will be happy to help you start a group. Sometimes a teacher will be assigned to your group, and sometimes it will be up to you to find a teacher to be your group's mentor or sponsor. Other members who are interested may know of somebody who is interested. Maybe a group was once active and just needs another new start to become active again.

Schools like new groups. These groups help students stay in school by giving them support and making the experience more fun. Just check with your school and they can give you all the paperwork to fill out. After you are official, it will be easier for new members to find your group.

Then, after you have formed your Nontraditional Student Group, make sure to list it on the Nontraditional Student website, on your State Page.

Good luck, Nontrads!
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Some of my links:

Nontrads on Twitter

The Nontrad site and blog

The Betsyanne page and blog

My Squidoo Pages and referral

Hot Topic: Cheating and the Nontraditional Student

You are taking a test. You notice another student has placed a notebook under his or her desk. It is sticking out and seems to have notes on it. Do you tell the teacher?

Another student takes out a cell phone in the hall right before a test. Do you look to see if that person is cheating… by looking at an answer key text message from another student?

These questions and more can arise for nontraditional students in both high school, trade school, and college classes.

I personally remember a cheat sheet being passed from hand to hand in drafting class when I was in 9^th grade. I just knew my grade would not be terrific, but I just couldn’t use it, nor could I tell on the students who cheated. I was conflicted. But I hoped the other students would get caught. Why didn’t the teacher look up and see it? I hoped he would, but it didn’t happen.

Later, as a high school teacher, I found some students handing in papers that were exactly the same. I guess they thought I would not read them and they would get away with it. But I DID read both of them. Word for word. And they definitely did NOT get away with it. But they did not have a very severe penalty, as would have been the case in the high school I attended. (Like actually flunking the class….)

I do know that in college the cheating student DOES face expulsion for blatant cheating in some cases.

So is letting some people get away with cheating today actually condoning it? Is a slap on the wrist enough? Or should all students face more severe penalties?

Whether or not people are caught cheating, I know that it exists in all areas of society. All you have to do is turn on the news to hear about yet another scam or lie.

Once I was asked to sign papers saying I was at a non-existent meeting. I didn’t sign them. Another time, I discovered that some people covered up their mistakes by blaming somebody else. They actually forged an entire pile of paperwork to “prove” it. Luckily, I found the originals that had been changed. That made me feel a lot better to find that proof, even though I was not able to use it.

Cheating incidents happen every day, but this has not made me a negative person. I know there are plenty of people who believe in honesty. I like to think that MOST people are honest people and do not cheat.

When I was teaching, I did run across cheating in my classroom, and even caught some of the cheaters. But I believe that most of my students tried to do their best without cheating. And I believe that most people are honest people.

What is YOUR opinion?

Read more about this hot topic subject below:

Are online students more likely to cheat? By Jamie Littlefield

What Makes People Cheat? By R. Morgan Griffin at Web M.D.

Cavon Test Security Resources and articles

How to prevent cellphone cheating in classrooms by Jean Ferrell

Academic Dishonesty among College Students by Andrea L. Rittman, Missouri Western

This principal, John J. Brady, has a plan against cheating – and does not want to ignore the problem.

Employee Fraud and Student Cheating, by Success Performance Solutions

Turnitin: the site that helps teachers find essay cheaters

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Some of my links:
The Nontrad site and blog
The Betsyanne page and blog
My Squidoo Pages and referral

Nontraditional Housing - who wants to stay on campus?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/ / CC BY 2.0

To the dorm or not to the dorm?

It used to be that some colleges and universities offered family housing. Many did not. Nowadays, with the huge influx of older, nontraditional students, some colleges are doing a great job at offering family housing and older student housing. Some are listed below (and please let me know of others so I can add them...)

I can definitely understand not wanting to be in a dorm with all-younger students. And for families, this just is not a choice at all. Other single older students can feel they don't have much in common with much-younger students. Their life experiences have changed them, and they don't like the same things they used to like when they were younger. (Examples: loud music, staying up all night, etc.)

So I think it is wonderful when schools recognize that some students would appreciate having a choice in housing just like younger, traditional students do. A choice can be so helpful. Kudos to those schools that are offering this to their nontraditional students going back to school after a break.

Related Links:
From the Old Dogs, New Tricks blog: Nontrad students and housing at UC
Arizona State University offers choices in housing for families
Check out the options for families at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Discrimination? You decide (I still haven't figured this one out...)
Dorm life for a nontraditional student (from Freetalk Live)
Choices for student living at Western Kentucky University
WKU plans apartments for nontraditional students
Rule changes for older students at SLJ Maranatha Bible College who live in a dorm

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Some of my links

The Nontrad site and blog
The Betsyanne page and blog
My Squidoo Pages and referral

Some professors speak out!

Some REALLY funny twitters by college professors...

You are REALLY going to like these. Plus, it is fun looking at things from a PROFESSOR'S point of view. This is a group of professors really telling it like THEY see it.

I found this group of professors on Twitter yesterday. I started reading their tweets and really had fun. Here are just of few of the comments you will find there:

#1: i failed students for an entire course for the first time today. it felt good.

#2: Hey students: It's fun seeing you livetweet your evening out, esp after you DM'd me saying how sick you were this morning. 

Want to read some more? Go to The Annoyed PR Professor on Twitter. I know you will get a kick out of these professor tweeters.

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 And while you are on Twitter, you can Join the Nontrads Twibe. We would love to have you in the group.

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Some of my links:

The Nontrad site and blog

The Betsyanne page and blog
My Squidoo Pages and referral