The End....



Deena (2011). Twitter-bird-001[Photograph]. Retrieved on April 10, 2012 from http://blogs.geotrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Twitter-bird-logo-001.jpg

This school year has come to an end. Fortunately, I can say my ales204 class has taught me a lot. For example, after being a skeptical about the importance of Twitter and Facebook; this class has opened my eyes to the fact that social networking may be used for something other than socialization. For example, Facebook may be used as a professional page for prospective employers. Furthermore, Twitter may be used as a means to reach out to other people in one’s domain. Another interesting thing ales204 has taught me is LinkedIn. I must admit before this class I had not even heard of it. I have learned that LinkedIn is a website that allows employers, employees, friends and colleagues to connect. Also, I have learned about Audioboo. This website is very helpful, especially when trying to record a short interview to upload and make it available on the web. As for applying this knowledge in my future jobs, I believe LinkedIn will be very useful. It will keep me in touch with other people in my domain and will allow me to connect with them whenever I need to. I do not think I will use Facebook for work. I would rather keep it private for family and friends. Twitter may be helpful to see what is trending in my domain for my own interest rather than my actual career. As for Audioboo, I believe it will only be useful if I am conducting short interviews since it will not record more than three minutes.

Another very useful and helpful skill I learned is how to write business emails and follow business etiquette. The most important thing that I learned is to keep emails formal, short and concise and stay respectful to the person being emailed. I believe these skills are very important, especially for future jobs and positions I hold. It portrays a respectful image of myself, rather than a sloppy unprofessional one.

            I am also proud that by the end of this term, I was able to build my critical literacy skills, as well as proper blogging and communication skills. Looking back at my first two blog posts, they were inconsistent, short, not very detailed and contained many grammatical mistakes. As I move along towards the newer posts, I have notices that they are detailed and structured better. Also, I found it was very hard to write posts at the beginning, but as the term progressed it became easier to express my thoughts about certain topics and relate them back to class.

I have read and commented on five blogs : Jenna, Stephanie, Stace, Courtney, and  Brenda. Each one of these ladies communicated new information and I was able to learn something new about them.



Critical Literacy and Nutritional Advice

         In my Ales204 class, we have talked a lot about being critically literate and thinking about the information presented to us. In this blog post I decided to write about nutritional advice and how important it is to be critically literate when reading.

      

        If a person is struggling with weight loss, a simple Google search will open a sea of possibilities and advice one could follow. Unfortunately, most of the advice given is to follow some fad diet, which sometimes can be harmful to one’s health. For example, one of the main advices that can be found is to cut carbohydrates. Although this may be effective, it is not a healthy way to achieve weight loss goals. A lot of people do not the importance of carbohydrates. Carbs are the main source of energy for our bodies. In fact, the only source of energy that can be used by the brain is carbs. Without carbohydrates, our brain power will decrease, muscle tissues will breakdown and the weight loss that will happen will be mainly lean tissue and water. Cutting carbs is just one of the possibilities. There are also many pills that can be taken to suppress ones appetite or increase ones metabolism. These pills have many side-effects that are also harmful to one’s health. For example, these pills may block the absorption of vitamins or increasing ones heart rate.

      This is where the importance of critical literacy plays in. Before believing everything we come across; we should consider the credibility of the source. Also, it is important to consider if the solution given seems “too good to be true” then it’s probably not the best. The best way to lose weight effectively would be through a balanced diet and exercise.

    I found a blog post by a fellow classmate, Yuhan Jiang, that is very interesting and informative. Yuhan talked about the importance of milk and the vitamins and minerals it provides for our bodies.

Graela. (2009). Only Fish Had Scales [Photograph]. Retrieved on April 9, 2012 from  http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaig/3594705493/sizes/m/in/photostream/

References:

Watson, S.  (2005). "Diet Pills: What You Need to Know"  .  HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved on April 9, 2012
                               from http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/medication/diet-pill3.htm 


Admin. (2011). Learning how to lose weight fast. How to Lose Weight Fast. Retrieved from April 9, 2012
                              from http://www.howtoloseweightfaster.org/

My CSL placement



Siemens, R.  (2009). Students Union Building. [Photograph]. Retrieved on March 31, 2012 from   http://www.su.ualberta.ca/media/uploads/72/sub.jpg


        I am currently volunteering with the Students' Union (SU). I have been working on a research essay to try and find the best ways to communicate with students. 



         First, I started by asking myself why do students need to know more about SU? The answer to that question is that students might complain and have certain issues regarding policy, classes, tuition etc and don’t know who to go to or if there is anyone that can help them to begin with. Also, student’s knowledge about the SU will help the SU and governance take into consideration students concerns because the students are involved and are voicing their opinions.


          Next, I started looking at different means of communication, and considering the pros and cons of each. For example, the pro of newsletters, emails, and Facebook is that one is spreading the knowledge/ information in an accurate, unified way. Also, the students will have the email/newsletter for future reference. The con is that not many students will read emails and notifications from the university; hence less people will get the information. Moreover, the con of this type of communication is that there is no personal engagement between students and the governance. This will decrease the interest of students and may lead to student apathy. Moreover, the pros of in class talks, word of mouth, and personal networking is that the information will be heard more than via email or newsletter. Also it will spread faster throughout the student body. Furthermore, students will trust reps and leaders more if they get to know them on a personal level. Students concerns will be addressed directly and on spot rather than later via email. On the other hand, the con of this mode of communication is that if the information is not said in a proper way, it might be misunderstood or misinterpreted by students causing some problems. Finally, after considering these pros and cons, I believe that the best way is a mixture of both social networking (emails, Facebook etc) and personal engagement.


               Being in CSL part of the class, I did not have to write any Wikipedia stubs. However, I would still like to comment on my colleague Jami Frederick  that was did one. His post was about Blackleg, apparently it is a bacteria infection that affects cattle and sheep. I did not know anything about blackleg, after reading his blog post and the Wikipedia page, I learned a lot about this disease and its symptoms.

References:

Lizzo,A., Wilson, K. (2010). Students participation in university governance: the role conceptions and sense of efficacy of

                                    student representatives on departmental committees. Studies in Higher Education.34:1 69-84

Professional Facebook



Almaouie, L. (2012). Professional Facebook page.[screenshot]. Retreived from http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lina-almaouie/370931242922803



           Today in my ALES 204 class we were asked to do a professional Facebook page. I did not know that was possible. I have always thought of Facebook as a social networking tool, not as a database for employers. I think it is really interesting to use Facebook for that reason rather than just as a mean to waste time. It is good to have resources that enable an employer to research the people he/she might be hiring. Also, it is easier for employers or research institutions to find potential employees, since a person's Facebook page can be a resume. A downside to this may be that Facebook users have to be more cautious of their comments and pictures. This is because it might cause them problems, especially if the content is improper and contains inappropriate language. For the people out there that want to have a separation between their social life and work life; there is a solution, and that is to create a professional page. 


        It was very interesting to see people use Facebook for the better good of society rather than just socialization. For example, through David Suzuki's Facebook page, a person is able to donate money to David Suzuki's foundation. There are many other influential people that have been using Facebook for the greater good and I am glad to know about them now 


      I found my classmate Jenn`s blog to be very useful and en-lighting. She has brought up many points and ideas that were useful. 
     

Who is Lina?

US dept of Agriculture. (year unknown). [Photograph]. Retrieved on January 19,2012 from HTTP://en. Wikipedia.org/wiki/food_guide_pyramid

           My name is Lina Almaouie and I am currently in my 4th year at the University of Alberta. I am working towards a degree in Nutrition and Food Science as my major and human ecology as my minor. Hopefully, I will be graduating next year which is very exciting.


        
        My first year was a struggle, since I was unsure what I wanted to major in. After taking a whole bunch of courses, I found myself very interested in Nutrition and Food Science. I have always had a habit of reading labels and wondering why ingredients were added in certain foods, or what is the chemical structure or component of a certain ingredient. These habits made me enthusiastic to learn more about this field. My after graduation plan is to get into Nutrition and Food Science masters degree in order to learn more about this topic.


         Ales 204 has opened my eyes to a whole new world of communication I did not know about. We can use technology for much more than just shopping online and chatting with friends. We can use it to better our education and communicate with other people in our field. After learning about blogs and twitter, I have found many blogs that are related to nutrition and can increase my knowledge. For example, http://nutritionblognetwork.com/  is one of the blogs that I found useful with a lot of interesting information. I really hope that I can keep my blog as interesting and full of information that will interest my followers. Also, by following fellow student's blog has helped me learn more about my classmates and their domain. For example, Lynda Forsyth blog is very interesting and I would love to learn more about her degree.