Follow these simple steps to embed podcasts into your Blackboard course.

1. Find a podcast that supports your learning objective. YouTube.com is a great source of podcasts.
2. Preview the podcast to make sure it is what you want.
3. Locate the embed code to the right of the miniature viewer screen.
4. Click on the code to highlight it and then press [CTRL]-[C] to copy it into your keyboard buffer.
5. Open up the desired content area in your Blackboard course.
6. Click on the item icon.
7. Press [CTRL]-[V] to insert the embed code.
8. Enter a title if desired.
9. Click submit to complete the update.

When you are done you will see a view window appear in your content area like the one below.

Epstein’s dream of becoming a veterinarian are shattered by a left-brained guidance counselor.

We are the dream weavers. People come to us to build a better life. A few have a full blown dreams with every detail worked out while others have the seed of a dream and need help to create a plan to realize their potential. More come in search of a dream because of the dissatisfaction they feel in their lives. Our avocation is helping each and every one work toward their dream no matter where they are. Sometimes they fail. Sometimes the succeed. Sometimes the dreams change. But our job remains the same, we are the dream weavers.

It is wrong to ever discourage a student. We can point out the difficulties along the path of realization but we should never tell a student their dream is impossible because they just might prove us wrong.

I was once a kid without a dream. Then I met a Claude Beavers who had more faith in me than I did. All I wanted to do was go back to high school and get my diploma. Yes, I was a dropout. Claude challenged me to skip attending high school and enroll in college. I never found out what he was smoking but I got hooked when he made a bet with me. So I took it and enrolled at Lansing Community College knowing full well I couldn’t cut it. However, I would soon have some of Dr. Beavers’ hard earned money in my pocket. I lost the bet to my own amazement. College was fascinating. The professors were beyond interesting. I was inspired at had all A’s at the end of the first term.

Claude was the only person who believed in me and because of that I began an intellectual journey that would go far beyond a doctoral degree. I’ve been a professor, software engineer, engineering manager, and now I’m a professor again. The most important lesson I’ve learned in my life is the power of encouragement.

Claude Beavers was a dreamweaver and we ought to be too.

I think Sam and Dave have something to say…

Vinnie gets some tutoring from a brainy girl and gets harassed by the sweathogs in this episode of Welcome Back, Kotter.

Sometimes learning involves growing pains. It can be scary changing your environment and the people you hang out with and old friends may not understand. This is a time when personal mistakes may be made.

Many of my students are first generation college students. Their families are supportive of their studies but don’t understand many of the things being taught. They often find it difficult to talk with the folks back home about their studies and new lives and this can be a demotivator. I bet you have some students like this too.

As like Lou Rawls says…

This is an opportunity for mentoring. We can help students understand their conflicted worlds are really one place. Show them the commonalities are greater than the differences. And most importantly show them someone understands and cares. After all, “We’re all in this together!” (Red Green).