End of Internship Week 26: Chasing the Wow Factor

The Blackboard Vista site is almost complete. All updates will end on March 22st. I am still waiting for any possible revisions from Charlene. So far I have not heard from her. I know what her schedule is like; and I know she will get to it when she can. I have done what was needed on the pages and really like what I see. Once again, the true test is when the students use the site and it works for them.

Last week, I went to see Charlene regarding the set-up of the Turnitin page. She was showing me how it worked, when she made the comment that without having taught in a community college, the candidate would need a “WOW Factor.”  So how does one define what that means for department chairs in criminal justice or social science departments? I really don’t know. I just know that they would have to look at my site and ePortfoilo and say, “WOW.” I don’t think I am at the point yet.

My mom used to say, “…a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.” Right now most of my opportunities are in the bush and not in hand. Or in other words, I have not done the teaching part yet. If I do not get the opportunity to teach at Bellevue College, I might very well need a Wow Factor to teach online anywhere else. I do not have a Ph.d nor have I spent a lifetime in criminal justice field positions or working as an investigator, intelligence officer, etc. I am not an attorney and well versed in winning criminal law cases. I have never worked for the DEA or any other similar position. My work with the FBI really doesn’t qualify me either. So what do I really have to offer a potential employer that would “WOW” them?

I am not a WOW kind of person. I entered the university system while I was the mother of 6 children and divorced. I had only finished my GED. I dropped out of school after my tenth grade year to get married. I was sixteen years old when I got married and had my first child by the time I was eighteen. I was thirty-three years old when I first went to the university to get an education. I was poor, on welfare and had six children to care for. However I had a vision. I believed if I worked and studied hard enough, I would finish my studies and would never again have to be on welfare. I hated to take the money and food stamps. Each time I had to take a hand-out…I lost a piece of myself. Getting an education was something I believed no one could ever take away from me. Once I earned my first degree I was ready for a new university and my bachelor studies. I moved from St. Cloud, Minnesota to Salt Lake City, Utah with my children, new husband and with determination as a mind-set.

By the time I earned my bachelors in Sociology, I was determined to take on the challenge of changing my major and mastering in Political Science. I worked hard to learn as much as I could during those years. Eventually I applied for my doctoral studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Even though I was turned down I moved there with my husband and family, took a sabbatical and wrote a new research paper, submitted it a year later and was accepted into the program. The first quarter of my doctoral studies I had to drive circa 160 miles round trip everyday through every kind of weather. Along with my doctoral studies I had to raise my child at home, fulfill my duties as a U.S. Army officer’s wife; and I worked in a local shelter for battered women as a volunteer. I had no time to be tired and was even more determined to get my doctorate…until my nineteen year old son committed suicide in Utah during my first fall quarter at the university. I was devastated and consequently my marriage fell apart. Saddled with student loan debt and facing a divorce I dropped out of my program, after completing my course work and living for a time in Germany researching my dissertation topic.

After fourteen years of being alone and not finding a job I really wanted to do, I longed to fulfill my dream to teach. I did not have the funds and my student loans were more of a burden than I knew what to do with. Nevertheless, I found a great man to share my life with and decided to try the new program at Bellevue College called, “eLearning for Instructors.” After the first course I was convinced this is what I wanted to do. So why am I telling anyone this story through the pages of my student posts? Is this really too personal? In my opinion, it should serve as a beacon for anyone wanting to give up or not believing something really good could come out of so much hardship and disappointment. That being said, I intend to find the “Wow Factor” a department chair wants.  But, I will accomplish this in my own way.

I have surrounded myself with books and studied on my own for most of my life. I have had to play “catch up” as far as getting educated for most of those years. I had a personal learning environment long before I knew what one was. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt what it means to be a self-directed learner. I know what it means to overcome adversity and succeed. I hope to teach others that you can be anything you want to be with hard work, determination and the help of those who truly want to give you a hand up and not a hand out. I managed to get an education and not just degrees by refusing to give up. I have never let what society thought (regarding my personal life) stand in my way. I have never let being poor,  having a handicap or being an older adult stand in my way.  I believe with all my heart we can all get where we want to be by following our vision, living our lives fully in our own way, refusing to give up and by chasing the Wow Factor!