the encouragement lounge: What's next?

Friday, June 12, 2009

What's next?

Some of you have just graduated, or are about to very soon. Others are on summer break and will get back to classes in the fall. And a few of you (brave and ambitious souls) are in accelerated programs and will continue with classes right through the summer! Regardless, when we are immersed in school, sometimes we can only see the work, we get so deep into it, we can't see beyond.

So today's question is, what's next? If you are graduating... what will you do to celebrate? Refresh? Re-energize? And what challenges are next on the horizon?

If you aren't graduating... take a step back and look at the big picture. Are you getting what you want from the program? Have you kept your focus while also allowing new ideas and pathways to emerge?

And for my teaching colleagues who read this blog... what is next for us? How can we make the most of the summer and both restore and refocus, while also getting ready for next year?

Enjoy the trees... and look beyond...

cheers

Harriet

Photo by HLS

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Working adult students, on my mind...

I hope this blog will be helpful to friends and others involved in a variety of endeavors. However, I created the blog with students in mind and continue to develop it with that specific group as my focus.

I believe that with the increase in evening, weekend, and low-residency programs, students are working more and more in isolation. If we were all full-time students on campus, we would have the informal support that comes with being able to go down the hall and talk with a colleague, etc. But instead, we are working late nights and weekends at home in front of the laptop.

With that in mind, I hope the encouragement lounge provides brief moments of respite and energizing connection. This does not at all replace valuable face-to-face contact. Many aspects of the academic journey can only be addressed via in-depth conversations with colleagues and teachers. And I would always rather sit down and talk with someone than to communicate online. Nonetheless, my aim is to give you one more channel for quick hits of support.