While technology offers many resources that facilitate the learning process, it can equally slow it down. We’ve all been there: there’s an assignment due through blackboard that you didn’t get a chance to read for, what do you do? Open up Google and pray that you can find the answers.
Having the ability to find answers online reinforces students’ procrastination and laziness. There seems to be no purpose in reading and staying caught up when one can get an A on the assignment by simply taking a few seconds to search on Google.
The rise of the use of technology has certainly affected the credibility of the grading system. If you take into consideration the school system prior to having computers and search engines, earning an A back then meant more than earning an A today. Nowadays students can achieve A’s for online quizzes and assignments by putting in minimal effort. This has certainly changed the way that grades and GPAs are interpreted.
A study done by professors from Princeton University and UCLA analyzes the difference between taking notes by hand or by computer. Typing notes means that you are able to take them faster and verbatim, but your brain does not process them.
When handwriting notes, students need to be more selective. This requires the brain to process the information since you are summarizing, paraphrasing and relating concepts to each other while taking notes. It can be argued that typing notes down quickly, word for word, is the same as if the information went into one ear and out the other.
Learning on computers can also get distracting if one does not have enough discipline. Facebook, Reddit, YouTube and Imgur are a few of the many websites that students get lost browsing for hours. You could decide to take a quick five-minute study break and before you know it, you’ve spent hours getting lost in random threads or looking at memes.
Although the internet provides access to one of the world’s largest information sources, the credibility of the information can vary greatly from source to source. Since the publication of materials on some websites are not regulated, students can be exposed to incorrect or biased information. Students need to proceed with caution if using internet resources to learn.
To put it this way, too much of the good can be bad. Computers can give students a huge leg up in their studies, but they can also hinder their learning process and efficiency. The younger generations may face issues due to their dependency on technology to help them succeed in school.
The post Cons of Technology in Education appeared first on The Retriever.
]]>After being at UMBC for just over two months, the class of 2020 is beginning to feel at home in Baltimore. Moving to college is often one of the biggest and most daunting changes seventeen and eighteen-year-olds have yet undertaken.
While some students dive right into university life, others find it more difficult to acclimate to a new environment away from home. Fortunately, UMBC’s freshman class is adjusting well to life as Retrievers.
In a survey conducted on the class of 2020 Facebook page, 12.5 percent of the 152 responding freshmen responded that they were a five on the one to five scale of satisfaction offered, meaning that they are extremely satisfied with their experience at UMBC thus far, while an additional 67.76 percent responded with a four.
Many freshmen have been pleased with the people they’ve met on campus, the diversity and the many community activities offered by organizations such as the Student Events Board. From ping pong tournaments in the dorms to events like Big Crazy Fun Night, Breakfast and Bingo and soccer games, students in the class of 2020 have been busy having fun and getting involved in campus life.
The freshman class has expressed appreciation for opportunities such as Involvement Fest that promoted participation in the school’s community, and are now trying to find the right balance between their social lives and their academics.
Freshman global studies major Maheen Haq said, “I was scared I wouldn’t find (passion) here,” but she has been thrilled to find that her academics and social justice work, once separate areas of her life, are now completely intertwined. She indicated that this makes her “feel impassioned,” has made her “into a more intellectual person,” and has ignited her love to be around other “conscious and deep social thinkers.”
The freshmen 2020 class has generally echoed this sentiment, excited to be more in control of their academics for the first time with other people who genuinely care about learning.
Although many students have been delighted with what they have found at UMBC, they still harbor some complaints. While some students lament the gratuitous number of stairs and a disappointing dearth of milkshakes at Chick-fil-A, others were more seriously displeased with the lack of student life on campus on the weekends.
Despite this being many freshmen’s first experience living away from home, many find themselves returning to their hometowns after classes on Friday simply because of a paucity of activities and people on campus. Other freshmen have found it difficult to adjust to the workload of college classes and complain of unreliable and finicky internet access throughout the campus.
The transition into college can be scary for many, but the class of 2020 has taken it in stride. Despite frustration over a shortage of things to do on the weekends, freshmen have generally expressed pleasure with the sense of community they have found on campus.
Freshman theatre major Nicholas Melicosta said “This is the first time I’ve felt actually accepted in a while,” continuing on to say that he has had an amazing time at UMBC so far.
With four full years still ahead for the class of 2020, this nonetheless seems to be a promising start for a new litter of bright young Retrievers.
The post New dogs in the house appeared first on The Retriever.
]]>By simply mentioning the “21 years and older” restriction in America, one is bound to receive passionate responses against it. The common arguments in opposition to the National Minimum Drinking Age Law of 1984 are the most obvious: 18-20 year olds can vote, buy property, work and essentially live as an adult, join the armed forces, but are stopped at the liquor aisle.
The most essential and repeated argument for lowering the drinking age is that 18-year-old individuals can enlist and die in military service, but they cannot buy or consume alcohol. This message is rightly received by many with a hypocritical edge; somehow a drink is more dangerous and harmful to someone under 21 than going off to war and potentially never coming back.
The Vietnam War and the drinking age don’t particularly seem to correlate; however, it was at this time that 18 became the official U.S. age of adulthood and the 26th Amendment finally gave the youth of America the right to vote.
The argument for the 26th amendment parallels the one now: those drafted in the Vietnam War and even as early as WWII, were usually too young to vote or drink alcohol. Through passionate protests against this discrimination, the amendment was passed and 18 became the age signifying adulthood in the United States.
Consequently, one could reason that the law authorizing adult status to 18 year olds was essentially used as justification for sending those same 18 year olds to war. Circling back to the drinking age, the same issue presents itself.
Adulthood comes with many new perks as well as responsibilities. For some as young as 18, it includes taxes, mortgages, jobs, insurance, military service, further education and freedom. This freedom should also extend to the ability to make and appropriately handle adult decisions, which includes alcohol consumption.
Such decisions are still being made every day across the country. Whether the law is in place or not, “underage” persons who are not technically underage will continue to drink. The real danger lies in society not giving them the safety net of drinking within the law.
There are a plethora of reasons to lower the drinking age to 18. A 2014 study showed that 65 percent of teenagers have had at least one drink by 18. Another study revealed that 90 percent of people aged 12-20 who bought alcohol consumed it through binge drinking, which is an extremely dangerous activity which can lead to stomach pumping and even death. However, operating under the fear of arrest, suspension and or expulsion from school, or even parental disapproval creates a fearful environment which can prevent measures to help underage alcohol poisoning victims.
The normalization and the destigmatization of 18 and up alcohol consumption could help young adults behave more responsibly and enjoy a drink in a healthier, more controlled environment, while at the same time teaching them about responsibility and decision-making.
The post America’s drinking dilemma appeared first on The Retriever.
]]>With one of the most controversial elections in recent history looming just over a month away, many people are feeling disenchanted with the choices before them and are considering whether or not they should even vote. This is especially true for millennials and college students.
As this is likely the first time that many college students will be eligible to vote in a major election, some are finding it difficult to justify voting for either candidate in the midst of all of the current controversial political discourse.
While some have decided not to vote in an election where they do not believe in any of the candidates, it is more imperative now than ever before that voter turnout be as high as possible among all demographics.
Youth voter turnout has fluctuated in recent elections, falling from 48.5 percent in 2008 to 41.2 percent in 2012. Millennials account for around 25.5 percent of the age-eligible electorate today, but less than half of young people overall are registered to vote. The United States hails itself as a bastion of representative democracy, but if large portions of the population are not voting, our democracy cannot truly be representative.
When voting in the Nov. 8 elections, one should remember that they are not only voting for the president, but also for members of Congress and other important state and local officeholders. Election ballots also contain important referenda on issues such as reproductive rights, public school control and discrimination laws.
For example, in the last four years, four states have legalized recreational marijuana through the ballot without requiring any sort of new legislation or Congressional action.
Unfortunately, the Electoral College and gerrymandered congressional districts leave many feeling as though their vote is inconsequential. Despite this discouraging belief, voting ensures that your voice is heard. Communities with higher voter turnout are noticed by elected officials, who in turn award them with more attention and more public funds.
It is also important to vote because an individual is capable of making a dent in a candidate’s margin of victory. Even if a candidate that you despise wins the election, your vote for the candidate of your preference could help to moderate the winning candidate’s policies in order to make it more likely that they will get re-elected.
If the candidate that you voted for wins, then your vote contributes to a larger margin of victory that will make it easier for them to push their agenda while in office.
When asked how many of her friends will be voting, junior chemical engineering major Jessica Ramsey said only around half of her friends were going to make their way to the polls in early November. Ramsey said it is important to vote because it gives “a voice to the policies you’d like to see made” and to the policies that will affect you the most as you start the next chapter of your life.
Since many young voters will be getting a job, owning or renting a house, starting a family and paying for healthcare in the coming years, it is vital that more college students make their mark on the ballot. So get out there, make sure all of your friends are registered and planning on voting. Make sure your voice is heard on this historical election day.
The post Get out and vote! appeared first on The Retriever.
]]>According to UMBC’s Clery Statistics of 2013-2015, campus reports of rape have been on the rise since 2013: there was one reported case in 2013, one in 2014 with two reported to campus officials but not to the police, and 10 in 2015. Of the ten documented cases in 2015, none were ever reported to the police. This could be because campus officials have an alleged history of discouraging rape survivors from going to the police – as claimed in the Title IX case against the university.
As sexual assault reports rise on campus, it has become increasingly clear that UMBC takes relatively few steps to inform its students about the meaning of consent. While students are asked to take a brief online class before they come to school, there is little mention of it afterwards, and if it is not taken, nothing happens. However, if a student doesn’t complete the alcohol education module they are met with multiple emails reminding them they must complete it.
After this, the issue of consent is almost never brought up save for the consent posters that hang in residence halls, which are often ridiculed by students. This lack of education, paired with the joking attitude of students makes consent and, ultimately, sexual assault a lighthearted thing. It is not.
The humorous attitude that UMBC students seem to have regarding sexual assault only exacerbates the problem. Attention is often shifted away from real problems that should be the focus of the community when they are turned into jokes. During the spring 2014 semester, there were reports of a man who would wait in parking lots for women on campus to walk by. When they did, he would expose himself, masturbating in front of them. Students began calling him the “phantom fapper,” turning an unspeakable act into a joke.
Another thing that desensitizes UMBC students to the problem of sexual assault is that UMBC is not considered a “party school.” In fact, many students consider UMBC to be the furthest thing from it, but this doesn’t mean that UMBC is immune to cases of sexual assault. Sexual assault isn’t something that is restricted to a certain environment and a lot of people don’t consider that.
People tend to believe that if something doesn’t happen commonly in their community, or they have not seen or experienced it, that it doesn’t happen. This is the kind of thinking that plagues the UMBC community, making it an uncomfortable and unsupportive environment for people who are victims of sexual assault.
The issue of sexual assault on campus is a big deal, though nobody seems to be taking it seriously. Some students go through Green Dot training, a relationship violence awareness and prevention class, though they are mostly students who are in leadership positions. It also deals with bystander intervention training.
If sexual assault and violence are going to be considered issues of importance by the university, all students should be required to take this course at orientation. The students who are taking these training seminars are a select few who volunteer to take it, that may already support the awareness of the issue and are not representative of the entire UMBC community.
The problem here is not that the resources for proper education are not available. The problem is that UMBC is not making proper education mandatory and instead relies on students’ willingness to seek out said education. In most cases, students won’t.
The post Uninformed UMBC community creates ignorant culture surrounding sexual assault, needs mandatory education appeared first on The Retriever.
]]>The UMBC women’s volleyball team was defeated by American East Conference rival the University at Albany this past Friday at the RAC Arena. A balanced offensive attack by Albany’s front line and unforced errors by UMBC led the Danes to victory in four sets (22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22).
Despite the tough loss, UMBC’s head coach, Ian Blanchard, prefers to focus on the positives of the outcome.
“I thought we did a pretty good job of executing our game-plan tonight,” he said. “When you lose a game in close sets, it’s ultimately going to come down to one or two plays.”
The Retrievers came out strong, defeating Albany in the first set 25-22. Senior Abbie Mirabella and junior Ashley Ramos each recorded five kills. Sophomore Kristin Watson also played solid defense, evidenced by her ten digs. Statistically, UMBC out-hit Albany with help from redshirt freshman, Emily Panchak and a strong group of upperclassmen, but as Blanchard notes, the service game is what cost the team in the end.
“We didn’t serve as well as we would’ve liked. If you look at the numbers, we had zero aces and 15 errors – that’s not a very good ratio,” he said. “We do a lot of things in practice to try to simulate those situations, so it’s a little disappointing to have that happen.”
Strong defensive plays slowed down the Retriever’s momentum, as Albany totalled 11 blocks and 82 digs. The Danes defense was led by standout sophomore Nicole Otero who had 25 digs in the match. The Retrievers rallied and matched Albany’s pace, but fell short in the end.
“It’s called the 2 percent rule,” Coach Blanchard noted. “I think if we were 2 percent better on some of the plays then we would have won the match.”
This was the 34th meeting of the Retrievers and the Danes in the all-time series. Albany improves their record to 26-7. It was the first meeting of the two teams in over a year.
The Retrievers must rebound quickly as they face another AEC rival, Binghamton University, on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the RAC Arena. Blanchard hopes that the team will improve upon their previous performance when facing the Bearcats.
“We have to be a bit crisper at the service line during high pressure situations,” he said. “We also had a couple of kids who weren’t feeling that well [during the Albany game] and couldn’t hit at the level they normally do, so hopefully we will get healthier so we can execute better in our next match.”
UMBC hopes to improve their conference record to 2-1 with a win against Binghamton to cap off Homecoming weekend.
The post Volleyball suffers tough loss to Albany at homecoming match appeared first on The Retriever.
]]>Recently, the University of Maryland, College Park and UMBC have been handling Title IX matters in a controversial manner. University of Maryland, College Park’s student government has proposed to implement a $34 fee on students in order to fund the Title IX Office where sexual misconduct is discussed.
Title IX is “a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any program or activity that is federally funded.”
According to BuzzFeed News, the director of the Title IX office, Catherine Carroll, stated that she required more money to hire more staff “to keep up with a growing number of sexual misconduct reports [which she was not] getting from the university administration or the state.” Charging students is not something usually done; however, A.J. Pruitt, the Student Government Association’s vice president of student affairs and the sponsor of the measure, stated that there was no other way to provide adequate funding.
According to BuzzFeed, Sejal Singh from UMD, coordinator for the nonprofit group Know Your IX, stated, “It’s shocking to hear by the university’s own admission they may not be in compliance with Title IX and what is even more astonishing is the university has apparently chosen not to take action on that.”
As demonstrated by a University of Maryland, College Park survey, “13.8 percent of women on the campus are raped by the time they graduate,” which is a statistic similar to other universities as large as UMD with about 38,000 students. However, the Title IX office at UMD only received $725,000 in the 2016 fiscal year.
A.J. Pruitt discussed that the average time to investigate alleged sexual misconduct was 142 days, while federal guidelines call for 60 days. This is not the first time that an university has had issues with determining what exactly is considered sexual misconduct. According to WBAL, “There are 205 post-secondary institutions that have pending sexual violence investigations against them.” In Maryland itself, that includes Frostburg State, Johns Hopkins, Morgan State and Mount St. Mary’s.
In June 2016, Mount St. Mary’s University was under federal investigation for how they handled a sexual violence complaint. According to Frederick News Post, “Eight rapes were reported on the Mount St. Mary’s campus in 2014, according to most recently available federal data.”
UMBC is currently under federal investigation due to the school’s alleged mishandling of sexual assault cases. This federal investigation is a result of attorney Wendy Murphy, whose client was advised by a UMBC official “not to file a criminal complaint with the Baltimore County Police Department because the university’s standard of proof was lower than that of local law enforcement.”
Wendy Murphy’s client was a UMBC female student who was “drugged and violently brutalized” within the past year. According to Murphy and WBAL, the federal investigation against UMBC involves allegations that the university did not adhere “with Title IX or Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Both laws obligate schools to respond with ‘promptness and equity’ when addressing sex-based assaults and violence and to treat sex-based assaults exactly the same as race and ethnicity-based assaults because they are exactly the same – legally – on campus.”
Murphy told The Retriever that, “Our complaint identifies numerous aspects of UMBC’s separate policy relating to violence against women that are substandard, meaning they subject victims to second-class redress in campus hearings. All other students from all other protected classes, such as race and national origin, receive ‘gold standard’ hearings under civil rights laws.”
The post University of Maryland, College Park and UMBC: Title IX Issues appeared first on The Retriever.
]]>Join Kristin Waters, Undergraduate Admissions, and Rochelle Sanders,
Human Resources as they present a brown bag lunch session on
teleworking. Kristin recently completed her doctoral dissertation on
teleworking, and will provide an overview of her recent research. She
will also share current literature, tips, and trends of teleworking.
Rochelle will review the current UMBC telework policy and information on
its use. Come to this session to learn more about the policy and topic
and to see if teleworking fits for you!
Emotional distress is an expected part of a college student's experience, whether the source is academic, personal, social, family, or financial. Some students are able to cope effectively, with little adverse impact on their academics or social life, while others struggle to varying degrees. Due to your presence on campus and the amount of interaction you have with students, you are in a good position to recognize those students who exhibit troubled behavior. While it's certainly impossible to notice and assist all of them, being observant and showing that you are concerned can go a long way toward helping a struggling student. Come and learn more about supporting students at the UMBC Counseling Center session: Notice and Respond. Spots for 30 ppl. Don't miss out!
Two attendees will be randomly selected to their choice of 1 acupuncture or massage session.
View event post and let us know you're coming.
Join us at Flat Tuesdays for the PSS Beer Tasting (4 to 7 PM). RSVP on myUMBC. Free beer samples and snacks! Make sure to bring proper ID (state ID and UMBC red card).
Full pint purchases can be made with cash or campus cash on your UMBC red card only — NO credit cards accepted.
Join us at Flat Tuesdays for the PSS Social Hour (4 to 7 PM). RSVP on myUMBC. Free snacks! Make sure to bring proper ID (state ID and UMBC red card).
Full pint purchases can be made with cash or campus cash on your UMBC red card only — NO credit cards accepted.
Join us at Flat Tuesdays for the PSS Wine Tasting (4 to 7 PM). RSVP on myUMBC. Free wine samples and snacks! Make sure to bring proper ID (state ID and UMBC red card).
Full glass purchases can be made with cash or campus cash on your UMBC red card only — NO credit cards accepted.
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