Winning with Winter Term
A guide to making the most of your extended break
Whew! By now, your finals and projects are wrapping up. Your well-deserved break is just around the corner. Finish strong if you have a little more work to do. We’re cheering you on.
Winter Break and Winter Term encompass the six weeks between the end of the first semester and the start of the second semester. It’s a great time to enjoy holiday festivities, catch up with friends and family, and rest and recharge. Winter Term is also a great time to focus on a few ways to help your future self prepare for spring classes and your career. We’ll provide some resources to:
- Create and/or update your LinkedIn profile
- Practice networking
- Organize your files
- Start or complete an online Microcredential
- Learn from a podcast
- Have a little fun and show your Miami spirit
Tips to Update Your LinkedIn Profile
Wherever you are in your student journey, a great step toward the career that you want is creating and maintaining a LinkedIn profile. Do you have one? A wonderful and free resource is Miami Online’s Professional Education Developing Your Digital Profile course. This brief course is entirely online. You can complete it at your convenience and earn a digital badge upon course completion.
Pro-tip: You will have something exciting to post because you can share the badge that you earn from completing the course on LinkedIn and your resume!
Make Some New Connections During Break
Networking can be intimidating, but Winter Term is a great time to practice talking to people about your research or career interests with family and friends. Someone in your circle can help connect you to a colleague with whom you could set up an informational interview or job shadow for a few hours. The Winter Term may also be a time to research internships or summer job opportunities. Check out these easy network-building tips from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Organize your Digital and Analog Files
Take some time to organize and archive files from fall semester. Set yourself up for spring semester success by cleaning up your inbox, archiving old files, and clearing your browser cache. Microsoft offers some great tips for organizing digital files in this article.
You can also return or sell textbooks that you no longer need.
Learn a New Skill with a Microcredential from Miami Online
Microcredentials are a collection of one to four courses that focus on a particular skill area. Technology, business, psychology, Spanish, and engineering are some broad categories of available Microcredentials. Miami Online offers more than 50 credit-bearing Microcredentials that can also count toward a bachelor’s degree — most can be completed online.
Learn more about Microcredentials by visiting the website or talk to your advisor.
If you’re ready to enroll in a Microcredential program, apply now.
Listen In — Gain New Insights from Miami University Podcasts
Another “easy win” for Winter Term includes catching up on a podcast or two that interests you. Some recent episodes that we recommend include:
- Major Insight: Become someone you never thought you’d be
- Beyond High Street: Mark Ross, Farmer Business School Alum
- In Such a Place: Lessons in leadership with Lt. Col. Bob Umholtz
This past summer, we recommended some additional episodes that may be of interest to online students.
Just for Fun — Cheer on Miami Redhawk Football at the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl
Miami University will return for the second year in a row to the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop, and will play Fresno State, on Dec. 27, at 4:30 p.m., EST. Watch the live broadcast from your couch, or if you’re feeling adventurous, plan a trip and see it in person. Fans raved about the energy that Snoop brought to the event last year.
How will you Win with Winter Term?
We wish you a restful break and encourage you to take advantage of the extra time to earn some more credit, make meaningful connections, and continue learning.
Content is written by Miami Online Staff.