I finished my last midterm of my undergraduate career this week, and my reading week break officially started today! Well, it sort of started. I’m going to Toronto with my APSC 400 TEAM group to speak to a company that will help us with our research, so I guess I am still technically doing work for school. As for my reading week plans, I’m going to Montreal on Monday with a friend of mine for a few days. Most people in my year this year is going to Cancun or Punta Cana or the Dominican Republic to celebrate the last year of undergrad, but I decided to play it safer by going somewhere within driving distance instead.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about my last 2 months of school. On one end I’m super excited about finally finishing my undergraduate degree and going out into the work force, but on the other end I’m also scared and anxious about the future. I am still in the process of looking for a job, but I’m not too worried because I know it will all work out in the end.

One interesting thing about my job search right now is that I’m participating in a program offered by the on-site Business Career Centre called Direct Connect. Basically what this program does is that it matches each participant with your own career advisor and through bi-weekly meetings with him/her, you develop your soft skills related to job searching, including learning how to network and build connections within your industry of choice. The purpose of Direct Connect is to help you develop skills that can enable you to tap into the other 80% of the job market that is hidden.

I’m currently in the process of meeting with my advisor and I’ve found the sessions very useful because in trying to get to know more about me, she asks me things that I’ve never really thought about on my own. Not only is it a great way to develop my networking skills, it has helped me learn more about myself. In addition to the skills-building, the program also helps me connect with people who work in my field of interest through informational interviews, and build upon my existing network. Of course we also do things such as go through my resume and cover letter to get me ready for the job application process.

This is probably a little bit farther down the road than many of you are in the process of considering, but I don’t think I’ve heard of any other school offering a program like Direct Connect. It is definitely an advantage that the Queen’s Commerce program offers, and something extra to consider when you decide on where you want to be for your undergraduate degree.

- Sheila Pan, COMM 2011

Have you ever needed your access to your computer documents but didn’t have your laptop with you? One quick and easy solution would be to take advantage of free cloud computing services. Cloud computing gets its name from the fact that the data storage/applications processing is done remotely on a server and is not hosted or dependent on your own (client) computer – in other words, the data/service is “up in the clouds”.

Cloud computing provides a great service that many students within the Commerce program have used to increase their personal productivity as well as group productivity.

A very popular option for basic and free cloud computing is Dropbox.

I will briefly outline the two main advantages of Dropbox below:

Using Dropbox as “mobile” data storage

Dropbox creates a folder on your computer as well as a duplicate folder on their server. Any files you put on your local Dropbox folder (the one on your computer) will be replicated in the server folder. What’s neat about this is that you can logon to the Dropbox website with your credentials on any computer, upload some files, and those files will also be replicated onto your personal computer (assuming that it is connected to the internet) in real time. This way, you will have access to your documents anywhere you go as long as you have an internet connection – think of it as an online USB that’s always updated based on what you have on your computer. You can also install Dropbox on multiple computers and all the computers will share the same files, based on your Dropbox login credentials. In the same fashion, any files added to the Dropbox folder on one computer will be replicated on the server, as well as on all other computers that are registered to that account in real time, assuming that these computers are connected to the internet. If the other registered computers are not connected to the internet, Dropbox will reconcile the files the next time the computers have access to the internet.

Using Dropbox for collaboration

Not only does Dropbox allow you to sync multiple computers, you can even “share” folders with other users. For example, if I were working in a group project, I would share a folder with my group members that we can all use to submit our content as well as to read other people’s content. This way, If I ever need any files from my group members, I can just look inside the Dropbox folder instead of emailing them for it. This saves a ton of time.

How to get started?

You can download Dropbox here. With a free membership, you will receive 2GB to start. If you refer another person to use Dropbox, you will receive an extra 250MB. If you register as a student (.edu or any other authenticated educational institution i.e. queensu.ca) you will receive double per referral.

Software like Dropbox is becoming widely popular in the technology world as many companies (including Google) believe that cloud computing will be the the future of personal computers, making personal computers more bare-bones and server computing more robust.

The collaboration aspect of Dropbox makes it a must-have for Commerce students who want to increase group productivity.

A similar program to Dropbox is Evernote – an easy way to take notes in class and sync it with multiple computers.

Jason Liu

B.Comm ‘13

Before you head off to university, I highly recommend that you create a time management system that works for you. This article will outline a method that I use to keep track of day-to-day schedule through the use of a few simple technologies while studying at QC. Please note that I am no expert on the topic! This system may or may not work for you – It’s not perfect but it’s a good starting point.

• Using your Outlook/Apple Mail

When you receive your NetID for Queen’s, you’ll have the ability to access your webmail as well as many other online resources. A good first step would be to setup Outlook on your windows or Apple Mail on your mac. This will allow your computer to actively check for emails without accessing your inbox through a browser. IT Services has thorough guides here.

• Outlook Calendar/iCal

Once you have your mail client setup, the next thing you want to do is properly configure your calendar software. You may want to wait until you’ve received your schedule before configuring this as it will be the framework you will use to build your calendar.

Start the process by placing your classes. Make sure to indicate the location as well as the section (this will come in handy later). You can make things easy for yourself by setting the reoccurrence to weekly for each block after you’ve finished your entire weekly schedule. I recommend colour coding your courses so they’re visually separate from your other engagements.

During the school year: You’ll want to set a time once a week or so to set your schedule for the upcoming week(s). Sundays worked well for me in my first year. Try to be as thorough with your schedule as possible. Book-off study/reading times if necessary – this will help you keep on track and get things done. Chances of following a schedule to a tee are slim-to-none so always put in some contingency slots.

Below is a screenshot of one of my busier weeks last year. Use it as a reference to see the typical spacing of classes. (Click to enlarge)

• The Smartphone

You have it with you all the time so might as well make use of it. If you plan on getting a new phone for university, I would highly recommend that you choose a smartphone of some sort. When used correctly, smartphones can be a great time management tool. Most of these devices have calendar sync capabilities. For example, you can use your Blackberry along with the Blackberry desktop management tool to sync your BB calendar with your Outlook or iCal. Why is this useful? This way, you’ll always have access to your schedule no matter where you are. You’ll also know exactly where your classes are as well as which section you’re in (just count the number of times next year when someone asks you during an exam which section you’re in. You’ll understand). Best of all, you’ll never have to remember what you have to get done during the day. As long as you keep with setting your schedule at least once a week, you’ll have you’re entire day planned out in the palm of your hand.

It works wonders to take it one day at a time. As long as you complete what you need to get done today, you don’t have to worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will have it’s own schedule to follow and as long as you keep up with proper planning, that assignment due at the end of the week will be taken care of.

Aside from your calendar, keeping a to-do list on your phone is also a great way to get things done. Make use of the prioritization systems and timed alerts to set reminders.

• The Pen & Pad

Although I’m absolutely obsessed with gadgets, there’s just something about a simple notebook that makes it irreplaceable. Carry one with you in your bag just in case. Sometimes you just need to write a quick checklist that would be more than bothersome to type out on a BB. Also great for leaving quick notes for people.

Hopefully this got you thinking about creating your own time management system. I’ll be posting another article soon about free and effective productivity software and why you should jump into cloud computing to reduce wasted time.

Happy Holidays,

Jason Liu, B.Comm ‘13

Its November! I seriously cannot believe the semester is already over. I’m already almost halfway done my last year of university! However, November usually means that its group presentation season and I had my second group presentation of the year yesterday with my COMM 439 Business to Business Marketing group (my first one was for COMM 401 Business Policy where we presented on Microsoft XBox and their new Kinect). The presentation yesterday was on a cable welding company based in China. That case was probably the perfect example of cross-function applications because we had to take content from various classes and apply it to that case. We spoke about not just the business side of it, but also the cultural side of doing business. Overall I thought it was pretty well done because we were able to bring focus to the more “human” side of business rather than just the technical.

At Queen’s, we are fully encouraged to develop our knowledge on International Business. This is why the exchange program is one of the most developed in the country with 70% of the 3rd year class who participate. There is an International Business credit requirement to graduate, where you must take a certain number of IB courses. Most people opt to take these courses on exchange, but I really love the variety of IB courses offered right on campus.

My favourite is (yes I am blatantly advertising for the course I TA for) COMM 376, which is Business in the Asia Pacific. I probably have to say this is one of my favourite courses that I’ve taken because Asia is becoming so important right now in the world economy, this course has really helped understand more about Asian culture and the way people do business in Asia. I also found this to be one of the most useful courses too because so many cases we receive now are about Asia (for example the case I just presented on from my COMM 439 class), and that class has really given me a lot of knowledge I could use to solve other cases.

I believe I have 2 or 3 more presentations this semester, and then I’m all done. Next semester I will probably have a few too; you will usually have at least one presentation in each class. I’m definitely becoming more comfortable with presenting because of all the training and practice I’ve had during my time at Queen’s. After presentations are exams, and I’m very happy to say I only have one exam this year (yay!), so I will be spending almost a month at home. This definitely beats the 10 days of winter vacation I had last year.

Until next time!

- Sheila

I’d just like to welcome everyone back to the new school year. It must be an extremely exciting time for all of the new students to be here and Goodes Hall is back to being busy and bustling. It is a very exciting year for me personally, because I am in my fourth and final year! I’m also doing a few things this year that are kind of outside of my usual comfort zone, which I will elaborate on later. To all of the students who were away on exchange last winter, welcome back as well and hopefully everyone is settling in okay after a few months of being “off.” And lastly to the students who are away on exchange this year to enjoy it to the max because you’ll probably never get another experience like this!

So to elaborate on what I spoke about earlier, I am doing a few things that are outside my comfort zone this year. This includes taking part in a course called TEAM. TEAM is APSC 400, Technology, Engineering and Management, which is a fourth year course hosted by the Faculty of Applied Sciences but open to students in Commerce and Law. You may or may not know, Queen’s does not have Co-op, so TEAM in a way is somewhat like a co-op position where you will be working in industry consulting on a variety of real-life issues and applying what you learn in school to help companies solve their problems. The School of Business also has a course like this called COMM 504, but it is open to Commerce students only. So when you are in your fourth year and you feel like you want to apply your classroom knowledge to the real world, both APSC 400 and COMM 504 are great options for you to explore. The only difference between the two classes (that I can think of) is in APSC 400 you will be working in a cross-functional team with students from various faculties and backgrounds. For me personally, I feel that I really needed to get outside of the Commerce “bubble,” (I lived in the Commerce floor in first year so I wasn’t able to meet that many students outside of Commerce) which is why I chose APSC 400, so I can explore friendships and networks outside of Commerce.

Another thing that I am doing this year is I am the Teaching Assistant for COMM 376 Doing Business in the Asia Pacific Rim. I may or may not have talked about this course last fall when I was taking it, but it is definitely one of my favourite courses (not just because I am the teaching assistant, of course!). Coming from Asia, this course really helped me to link business with the culture that I am so familiar with. If you’re not from Asia or if you’re not familiar with Asian culture, this course is also a great eye-opener to learn what life is like on the other side of the globe.

If you do end up seeing me around in Goodes, please do come say hi to me. I never really know who is actually reading this blog, so by saying hi to me I know people are actually reading this and I’m not just writing to nothingness =)