This latest seminar at DePaul was complete breakthrough. I don’t know exactly why, perhaps it was the compressed time frame or the opera rehearsal to follow or the pressures of the academic season, but each of these students brought such an earnest and heart-felt contribution to this discussion. I have to call it a breakthrough!

I was very glad to have Rob Krueger, the Associate Dean for Administration stop by the seminar. I had met Rob originally while I was a student at DePaul a few years ago. Then I was able to reconnect with him at the NETMCDO Conference in NYC last month. He and his team provide a very supportive environment for students. Their goal is similar to mine — to help students take that ever-challenging jump into a fulfilling, stable and lucrative professional life.

We followed a compressed version of the organizational seminar, and began introducing elements from the new electronic workbook. I learned a bit more about how to facilitate a computer-focused discussion.

For one thing, I believe my future seminar attendees should download and install the e-workbook before the seminar. This can save us a lot of time. I typically like to customize and tweak the workbook right up until the seminar, so I will have to get more disciplined about making changes, but I think this is the direction to pursue in the future.

It could be that singers will even complete a section or two of the workbook on their own before the seminar, then we can begin the discussion by focusing on the results, rather than the process. It could be that I develop a two-part e-workbook in the future — part one is due to be submitted before the seminar starts, it is a pre-requisite. Then we will take part-two as a group, which will help us analyze, process and synthesize. I’m liking it.

Thank you Jane Bunnell, thank you Rob, and thank you to the dedicated and sincere students at my alma mater, DePaul University. Go Blue Demons!