Beautiful Minds
Beautiful Minds is an online peer-to-peer forum that students can access through Moodle. On the forum, students are able to anonymously post any questions/concerns they may have about personal or academic issues and receive anonymous advice from their peers, as well as trained moderators. This forum provides students with opportunities to share their past experiences as well as share the valuable lessons they have learned from those experiences.
Common topics on the Beautiful Minds Forum include:
- Academics
- Stress & Worry
- Sex, Sexuality & Gender
- Relationships
- Health
- Alcohol & Drugs
To access the Beautiful Minds forum, go to the top right of the moodle main page and look for the words “BEAUTIFUL MINDS”. The program will then prompt you how to login correctly.
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Employment Opportunities
Student Coordinator of Beautiful Minds - Job Description and Duties
The Beautiful Minds Student Coordinator is responsible for the day to day operations of the Beautiful Minds online peer-peer advice forum. The Student Coordinator’s role offers a variety of leadership and learning experiences. The Student Coordinator reports directly to the Student Development Counsellor and is accountable to the Student Life department. There is a stipend of $500 for this position.
The student holding the role of Student Coordinator remains anonymous to anyone outside of the Student Life department and the group of student moderators, so as to protect the anonymity of the forum. The Student Coordinator’s responsibilities fall into three broad categories: organizational, technical and supportive. As well as these areas, the Student Coordinator will complete additional responsibilities as needed.
Organizational: the Student Coordinator is responsible for organizing the operations of the forum. This involves working with the staff advisor (a Student Development Counsellor) to advertise moderator position openings, select and train moderators, organize regular moderator team meetings, coordinate advertising efforts for the forum, and to open and close the forum when necessary (e.g. over the holidays). He or she is responsible for reading all content posted in a timely manner so that he or she is “in the loop” and can respond effectively should a problem arise.
Technical: the Student Coordinator is the day to day designer, editor and technician for the forum. This means that typically he or she is responsible for creating new forum topics, adding messages to the homepage, adding icons or images, and opening and closing the forum. Training on these tasks will be provided.
Supportive: the Student Coordinator oversees the forum posts and acts as a resource person should moderators request feedback or guidance in dealing with posts. He or she is “on call” via email or phone and is responsible for telling the staff advisor if he or she cannot watch the forum or answer email over a period of time greater than a few hours when the forum is open. The Student Coordinator may also be called on to substitute for other moderators should someone not be available. The Student Coordinator also moderates the feedback topic area within the forum.
The Student Coordinator’s position is for the 2012-2013 academic year. We ask that the student be available by email contact during the summer of 2012.
Click here for the pdf Application
Beautiful Minds Moderator Job Description
By accepting a Beautiful Minds moderator position you are committing to:
- Monitor the forum one day a week (on your assigned day) by logging in every 1-3 hours and reading new posts (during waking hours). If necessary, then remove or repost problematic posts.
- Follow up on the new topic posts from your assigned day one week after they are posted with a 'moderator post'. If you're unsure what to do or say, please ask for help before the one week mark so you can still post in time.
- Attend regular moderator meetings.
- Check your email regularly (please be especially attentive to emails on weekdays and on your day of the week to monitor the forum). Exceptions for travel, etc are fine – just please tell us in advance.
- Assist with advertising and Beautiful Minds campaign efforts
- Communicate any concerns or questions with the Staff Advisor or the Student Coordinator.
- Complete other duties as assigned.