Frequently Asked Questions

There are many teams on the Progressive U Faculty, and each has a distinct purpose. Below you will find an explanation of each of the teams.

Editorial and Policy Development Team

This team is primarily concerned with day-to-day moderating on the site. Members of this team deal with flags received by users and other Terms of Use violations they find on the site. Additionally, this team works with a Dean to revise and create new policies for the site, both for regular members and faculty alike.

Member Services Team

This team deals with the day-to-day happenings with members on the site. They are responsible for developing the Progressive U Incentives Program, which includes bonus point opportunities during the scholarship contest. They also assist with running and developing the features on the site. Members are expected to answer questions about the site and scholarship posted in the forums, as well as provide feedback and encouragement to members of the site. Members may also be asked to greet new members (usually upon the publishing of their first blog), and to give helpful hints to promote reads.

Some members of this team also monitor the helpdesk for questions relating to deletion of accounts, change of passwords, etc.

Public Relations and Communications Team

This team primarily deals with communications off the site. They work with other organizations to form partnerships, and also publish press releases about the on-goings within Progressive U. Members of this team are also responsible for publishing information about the Blogging for Progress Scholarship on various scholarship search engines. Work Study positions are available in this team.

Technical Support and Product Management Team

This team is responsible for dealing with the technical aspects of the site, including coding of various features, and bug reports. Members will work with JIRA and Drupal to correct problems on the site, and test new features to make sure they work smoothly. You should be capable of working with HTML and PHP coding to be on this team.

News Team

This team keeps the Topic of the Week and News pages up-to-date. There are work study positions available on this team.

Featured Blogger Team

This team keeps the featured blogger page up-to-date, including processing incoming nominations, sending out questionnaires, and posting new bloggers each week.

Between the Lines Team

This team gathers content for the Between the Lines column. This can include, but is not limited to, performing interviews, book reviews, television reviews, or other information article. There are work study positions available on this team.

Fund Raising Team

This team comes up with ideas for fund raising, and also submits grant proposals with some regularity. As we give out scholarships on a regular basis, and also require funds for our upkeep, this team is one of the most important teams. Since it does deal with sensitive information, though, it is unlikely that new members will be granted a position on this team.

Service Learning Team

This team is responsible for developing and maintaining Progressive U's Service Learning Program, which brings Progressive U into high school and college classrooms across the nation. There are work study positions available on this team.

Other

None of the teams above meet your fancy? Well, that's ok too. We are constantly developing new teams (only the first four listed here were in existence when this system was developed) and new positions. So, if none of the above suit your interests, feel free to suggest another position. We're happy to hear you out.

Progressive U's Faculty, made up exclusively of volunteers, does most of the work running the site. There are several jobs done by the faculty members, both on the main site and behind the scenes.

The faculty are distinct from other members on the site in that they are required to be active, and are not permitted to participate in the scholarship contest.

The faculty is divided into several teams, each of which has different responsibilities.

The teams have the following responsibilities:

Editorial Team: Reviews and promotes posts, explains good blogging and journalism practices, provides guidelines for rating posts and making the most out of your writing, etc.

Members Services Team: Provides support and encouragement to users, answers question, enforces terms of use, etc. Additionally, oversees the various incentives in the Progressive U Incentives Program.

Public Relations and Communications Team: Promotes ProgressiveU to the "rest of the world," writes press releases, seeks out partnerships with other sites, etc.

Technical Support and Product Management Team: Deals with the more technical aspects of the site, including working out bugs that appear in the site. Additionally, helps to develop new features or improve on existing features.

News Team: Manages news feeds and highlight news sources that may be of interest to users.

Featured Bloggers Team: Reviews Featured Blogger nominees, selects those to be featured, writes up pages on each new featured blogger, etc.

The following users currently make up Progressive U's Faculty (click names to visit their profile):

Progressive U Team, manager
Art, manager
shayla2004, Progressive U Spokesperson

Note: Please do not contact the preceding three people. Contact the team leads instead. Thank you.

Fallon, Director of Public Relations, Editorial Team Committee
Fanaile Essence, Technical Support team leader, Volunteer Services Coordinator, Editorial Team Committee
mvenus929, Director of Member Services, Member Services Team Leader, Editorial Team Committee
AdamLabo, Assistant Director, Fundraising Committee
Reboloke, Assistant Director, Editorial Team Committee

• BurningExample
• Ediblewoman
• sawaboof
• Whispers Awnesty
• DragonWolf
• Bamers
• _Meke
• Jsaj
• Child of Light and Dark

This program is designed for individuals who wish to help out with the workings of the site, but don't want to give up the chance to win the Blogging for Progress Scholarship.

In this program, you could get a variety of benefits, including points towards the scholarship contest (based on work completed) and free merchandise.

Below are the positions we have open. Benefits are negotiable, but will be proportional to the work done. We are always open to new suggestions, so if you have an idea that isn't mentioned below, send us an e-mail at info[at]progressiveu.org with your proposal.

1. Book Reviewer - We are always getting requests to review books, but can't always find someone with the time and/or interest in reviewing them for the Between the Lines column. Our book reviewers would be given the opportunity to receive these review copies, and would then be expected to post a review within a reasonable amount of time. In addition to the book, these individuals would likely receive points for each review they submit. Limited to 2-3 individuals.

2. Other Column Writer - We want our Between the Lines column to be more than just book reviews. As such, we'd like to have writers that might write about an interview, an educational television program, perhaps an explanation of a law currently being discussed at some level of government. We don't want these entries to be like regular blogs, and would not accept them if they are already posted to a specific user's blog. These individuals would receive points for each column entry they submit that is accepted for publication, and this position is open to all.

3. Campus Representative - As we kick off our Service Learning Program, we will need help in opening this program to various schools. These representatives will become knowledgeable about the program, and will be able to propose and explain it to various instructors at their school. They will be the in-house contact person for the program, and can refer instructors to the Progressive U Faculty for more information.

4. Reporter - Do you have a news feed that you read through? Would you like the chance to have a news feed on the Progressive U News Page? Or how about a topic on the Topic of the Week page? It only takes a few hours a week, and we'll think of some compensation to give to you. There are openings for 3-4 Topic of the Week persons, and 3-4 News persons.

Of course, those who are active and hard-working in their position will be able to get letters of recommendation for college or graduate school (or perhaps even a job) if they so desire.

If you are interested in participating in this program, please submit a volunteer application (make sure to select "Work Study" under type).

There are many ways you can help Progressive U achieve its goals and realize its mission. Blogging is one way, but that's just the beginning.

As you might have noticed, this is a student-run organization; most of the Faculty members are students who began blogging just like you are now. In their time spent on Progressive U, they developed a desire to help through more than just blogging. They wanted to reach out and guide other bloggers, develop new features, improve on existing features, and help maintain the web site.

Chances are, you may feel the same thing! If so, then continue reading through this short FAQ about volunteering at Progressive U and submit your letter of interest through this form.

You can volunteer for as many or as few hours as your schedule allows. However, here are a few things to consider when deciding where and how to volunteer:

It depends.

If you wish to join the ProgressiveU Faculty, then no, you are not eligible for the Blogging for Progress Scholarship. You might want to consider this while you consider whether or not to become a faculty member. If you're currently in the Blogging for Progress Scholarship and you volunteer, your name will be withdrawn from the list of participants. For some of you, this might create a dillema if you think you are winning or stand a good chance to win. For others, this won't be a problem if you truly wish to help support Progressive U and no longer want or need the scholarship monies.

However, while you may not be eligible for the scholarship, you can continue to blog and comment on others' blogs and enjoy the community of Progressive U. Additionally, there are other monetary awards for volunteer Faculty members.

On the other hand, if you wish to volunteer in the Work Study program, you will remain eligible for the Blogging for Progress Scholarship. Also, as a thanks for participating, you may earn points towards the contest, or other benefits, depending on which position in the work study program you choose.

Yes!

If you do not wish to participate in the Work Study program, there are several things you can do to help out.

Running a website that has as much traffic as Progressive U takes a massive amount of effort from so many people! There are always things that, while they may seem small, are in actuality incredibly important to ensuring that Progressive U remains a leader. If you can't commit to a volunteer position, but still want to help out, here are just a few of the things we need assistance with from regular users.

Once again, there is no commitment to joining any team. You are only requested to remain active on the Faculty site in order to maintain your additional privileges on the sites.

There are some volunteers of the Progressive U Faculty who don't even moderate as general faculty members. Rather, they choose to work on a specific project separate from all teams.

For example, you may join Progressive U's Faculty with an idea for a new scholarship or developing a separate, related web site; you may work on developing and promoting this scholarship or web site, and nothing else related to moderating Progressive U.

Just be sure to let other members of Progressive U's Faculty know what you're working on, and stay in contact with the directors.

If you are a Work Study student, you may come and go as you please, as your privileges are based on your participation in the program.

Progressive U has grown in two years to an organization of more than 36,000 members. There's a lot of work to be done!

Primarily, monitoring the site for plagiarized content is the responsibility accepted by most volunteers. But there's also a slew of other tasks to be handled:

• Totaling points for the Blogging For Progress Scholarship participants
• Handling email submissions
• Creating Press Releases to announce winners, features, and other happenings
• Basic web site and database maintenance
• Beta Testing new softwares and features for use on the Progressive U site
• Creating content for the column Between the Lines

Most of the tasks you can volunteer for depends on the team you'll be volunteering for, but there are tasks that don't fall under any one team.

We'll even provide references!

As a volunteer, you may list this experience on any resume or application that requires such a submission. At any time, you may also contact Fanaile Essence, the Volunteer Services Coordinator, to attain evaluations regarding your participation as a volunteer and to write up a recommendation or reference based on your commitment.

This is a volunteer opportunity, not a paying job. As such there is no guarantee as to whether or not you will receive compensation or what type of compensation you may receive.

We are currently developing new methods for volunteer recognition and volunteer appreciation that may include incentives such as monetary rewards, certificates of achievement, and exclusive Progressive U swag.

Currently new faculty members receive informal training from directors and veteran faculty members, however, we are in the process of developing a more formal training program. Having a formal training program will help to ensure that all members receive equal instruction in a timely fashion.

Some teams require volunteers to learn new software or programs, for example the Tech Support and Product Management Team uses JIRA Bug/Issue Database, and the News Team uses Google Reader. Your team leader(s) and other faculty members will provide some training for any new software or programs, and you will be afforded an appropriate amount of time to familiarize yourself with it before being asked to take on any tasks.

Some members of the Alumni Faculty dislike reviewing blogs and comments for TOS violations and are much more interested in other areas of maintaining and developing Progressive U.

Once again, there is no rule that you would have to moderate blogs or comments to volunteer for the Alumni Association Faculty. Just be sure to communicate that you don't wish to do such things.

We want you to be comfortable with your decision to volunteer, and with the tasks you decide to undertake. You will never be asked to do something you dislike or are uncomfortable doing.

Submitting a letter of interest to volunteer does not place you under contract to continue volunteering for any length of time.

If your schedule changes and you are no longer able to volunteer, or are forced to cut back on some of the tasks and hours you originally signed up for, simply contact the appropriate team leader or a member of the Alumni Association's directors and let them know.

You may end your volunteership at any time and without notice. However, it would be appreciated if you contacted another moderator to inform them of the fact that you are leaving.

Essentially, there is no difference between "Admin" and "Moderator" with Progressive U. These terms are used to describe permission levels of individual users on the Progressive U site.

Once volunteering to join the Alumni Association's Faculty, you are granted "Moderator" permissions on the Progressive U Main site. Should your permission level need to be changed, you may, at any time, be granted the "Admin" permission level.

Being granted the "Admin" permission level in no way constitutes any other type of "promotion." Any member of the Faculty can be granted this permission level. However, this permission level does grant you access to other areas of the Progressive U site that the "Moderator" permission level does not allow for.

Generally, everything that a Faculty member may need access to is granted under the "Moderator" permission level; however, occasionally some faculty members will need further access to help them carry out their work on the Faculty. Such details include managing the blocks and menus on the web site. Most Faculty members will never need to create a menu item or a Forum Container; but depending on the exact project you are working on, it may be easier to grant you the higher permission level.

If, at any time, you feel that you should be granted a higher level of access to the Progressive U web site, you may contact any of the Alumni Directors and discuss your accessibility needs.

In terms of the Progressive U web site, there is no difference between a member of the Progressive U's Faculty or a Dean. Both are voluntary positions that work to maintain the overall mission and vision of the Progressive U web site.

However, as a faculty member, you have chosen to volunteer and dedicate any amount of time as you see fit to help maintain the web site at ProgressiveU.org. This could mean anything from developing Bonus Point Opportunities to editing or promoting blogs for others to read. Although you may volunteer and help the Progressive U Deans, the majority of your time will be spent on Progressive U's web site.

Deans are volunteers who have chosen to volunteer and dedicate an amount of time to promoting and maintaining Progressive U as an organization, beyond the ProgressiveU.org web site. While this may entail developing Bonus Point Opportunities or promoting blog entries; this also entails developing working partnerships with other organizations, securing funding for the organization, developing other aspect of the organization and meeting other organizational needs. Although the Deans will be working with the Faculty on the web site, the majority of their time is spent off-site in an organizational capacity.