Home - LCAST: FORUM

4/28/2008

The summer yawns before us, but we know it will fly by like the lightning of its storms. How might you approach summer travel or summer service, especially if it is abroad? How might you approach your family, and living with them, after not doing so for a full nine months? How might you approach summer studies and courses? How might you approach a summer internship---or even a brand new position? And, for completion: How might you approach not having a job at this moment? I answer all these questions in six minutes in this cast, then follow with a manic blues tune that I put together in my dorm room in Seton Court. Enjoy---and Happy Summer!

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4/14/2008

Tips for Success on Your Final Exams

Final exams can be a major source of stress. I've taken about 100 of them and have advised students on---and graded---thousands of them. In this podcast, I share some tips on how you can best succeed on your exams---tips for you to employ now, tips you can use as you prepare for your exams, and tips you can execute during the exams themselves.

Do you have tips you would like to share, as well? Drop them in right here as comments so that others can gain from them!

Best of luck throughout your exams---do well!

Enjoy,
TLS

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4/1/2008

Most Important Moment

Every semester has a sort of rhythm associated with it, as does each academic year. In this podcast, I explain why this very moment is the most important one you will experience,why doing well now will help you succeed, and how you should approach what happens between now and the end of classes.

Please be sure to share your thoughts on this cast, past casts, or anything that interests you---right here!

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3/17/2008

Today's Students: Your 3 Biggest Strengths...and 3 biggest challenges

Pretty much every day, I hear somebody comment about "today's youth." Usually, the comments are rife with heavy-handed criticism, largely about what "today's kids" just don't get, relative to previous generations. Well, that can be a problem with today's adults too! : )

In this podcast, I describe what I find to be the three greatest strengths and three greatest challenges for today's college-aged students. What do you think yours are? What are those of your friends? Feel free to use the comment feature of this page to share your thoughts. Thanks to all those listening and participating!

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2/25/2008

LCAST 3: Professors as People

What kind of person becomes a professor? How does a person become a professor? And what features of professors should guide the way you work with them? In this cast, I identify some key themes that virtually all professors share, but whose importance many people do not recognize. Along the way, I discuss a topic that mystify many: tenure---what it is, and why it is important for all of us. Because the world of professors is varied and vast, I touch only on the basics---but I hope they help you!

Please comment here about what you have learned about professors, and how you have used that knowledge to accelerate your learning!

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2/8/2008

LCAST 2: What To Do When You Get Stuck

Everybody who has engaged in learning has reached that point where the desired knowledge, skill, or technique just isn't happening. What to do!? The frustration of hitting the skids can be devastating, calling us to question our abilities and selves. This podcast is designed to help us understand why we feel this way, how we might understand the situation better, and what we can do to help ourselves when we hit that wall.

Has this helped you? Let me know! Better: Do you have tips to share with others? Blast them out...right here!

Enjoy and Best,

TLS

Posted at 8:14 PM by Timothy Snyder | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (9)

1/26/2008

for Nerds, and with Thanks

Hi, this is the page for nerds who enjoy the technology of podcasts and other media. Here I discuss how I make these podcasts. I end with heartfelt thanks for those who made the casts possible.

I make the podcasts at home. All the content, voice, music, mixing, and so on are written and performed only by me. The mic I generally use is an Audio Projects B1. It looks like a figure-8, but it is really a cardiod mic. I pump it through a TC Electronic Konnekt 8 USB audio interface into an IBM/Lenovo laptop running Windows XP version 2.

For the podcast recording, I do original (and admittedly simple) music using Propellerheads Reason 4.01. I Rewire that to the Cubase 4 DAW (Digital Audio Workstation (software)). I do the music on Reason and the voice on Cubase. The two are roughly automatically mixed using ducking settings of db-audioware's Sidechain Compressor. I also recompress the vocal track, relatively softly.

None of this could happen in any way without:

Rich Sigler, who explained podcasting to me, helped me with tone and length, and helped organize folks who created our 'casting Web site;

Amy Filardo, who, along with Rich, encouraged me, shared my elementary testcasts with colleagues, and figured out how to help you learn that I was doing this;

Hans Underwood, who stripped my Lenovo machine of its boatloads of additional, alarmingly stultifying software, turning it into a legitimate machine;

David Blohm and Scott Sax, who made the site happen, including giving us one-button subscription services, this very blog, and more;

The Faculty and deans of Loyola, who, along with colleagues from Student Development, do the ultimate teaching of Loyola, in whose honor each of these complementary casts are made;

and John Devecka, of the wonderful WLOY, who, while swaddling a flu, recognized my urgency to get going on this project and hung around to select and share some worthwhile mics and cables, while still allowing me to bother the student radio gurus about why they do not worship Radiohead. : )

Posted at 11:25 PM by Timothy Snyder | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (1)

LCAST 1: The Number One Tip for Academic Success

I hope you enjoyed my first-ever poscast---LCAST 1: The Number One Tip for your Academic Success. I plan to get one of these out every two or so weeks, at the most, this 2008 spring term. Be sure to remain tuned in with me for more tips on how you can succeed!

"LCAST" is Loyola College Academic Success Tips.

Please let me know your thoughts about what I am sharing with you, including tips of your own, how I might help you better, and things you or others might enjoy me covering.

Enjoy the term---do well!

Best and Thanks

TLS

Posted at 11:20 PM by Timothy Snyder | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (9)

LCAST: FORUM