Introduction to the semester:
Entering this class, I was expecting we would be talking about current issues in higher education, but on a much smaller scale. The issues that I regularly hear about are budget cuts, bleak job market, changing numbers and increasing access for students. I think because UNC is dealing with these issues regularly, I naively assumed those were the main concerns of most universities, especially those similar to UNC’s structure and demographics. While I find topics of access and changing numbers interesting to an extent, these topics are not where my passion is within the field of higher education and the constant talk of budget cuts and the competitive job market is anything but encouraging.
I assumed the class was just going to expose me to these topics and force me to stay more current with what was happening within these subjects. I was looking forward to the class and blogging because one of my goals for the year was to stay more current within my job as well as in higher education, and this class allowed me to do both. I regularly deal with issues of mental health, wellness, alcohol, drugs, and tobacco use so staying current is important in order to develop and facilitate effective programming and address issues that pertain to our student population.
I wrote several blogs that I really enjoyed reading and writing about and then participating in the discussion following. The discussion revolving around universities changing their Foreign Languages departments to World Language and Cultural Studies department was a great discussion where we were able to talk about our use of words and how it reflects the university and the US in a very egocentric manner. I enjoyed the discussion about Drunkorexia because it is a topic I already needed to stay current in for my position with D.A.T.E. and we were able to develop some educational resources surrounding the issue. Additionally, the discussion revolved greatly around the need to create more sensitive programming on campus from all departments when it pertains to healthy eating, body image, wellness, and exercise. I also enjoyed the discussion about the Australian foreign aid and how it relates or could possibly influence American aid. Typically I do not feel comfortable discussing financial aid because it is something I know very little about, but I enjoyed the discussion and feedback I received about my blog post.
Reflect on blogging experience and how it affected the course
The blogging experience was initially nerve racking because it can be difficult to be so forward with your opinion about a possibly controversial subject. As someone who typically remains quiet in discussions that can get confrontational, it was a good experience for me to share my opinions about topics and have a conversation with someone who may have disagreed with it.
I think there were many other people who were much more willing or able to share their opinion about topics. There were a few posts about topics I was very passionate about such as some of the athletics posts, which made me more willing to post my opinions. I think that some of the things that were said in this course either in class or through blogging were offensive, and I think it was good practice to appropriately respond and support our arguments. This affected the way I participated in class, however. I started to get a feel for those who had strong opinions and were unwilling to hear anything that challenged that. It seemed worthless to speak up during some of the discussions because I knew what type of response I would have received. I think the blogging contributed to this because it is not often we, as classmates, are continually reading each other’s work and are consistently asked to speak our opinions in such length.
I was disappointed with the lack of participation by several of the people in class. I started to see the same people posting over and over again and consistently posting comments, and many of the people that I had met with and worked with in classes were absent from the blogs. It is discouraging to continually post in a timely manner with thoughtful responses and only have the same articles or classmates’ posts to look at. It narrowed our experience and was frustrating to see the lack if participation. Additionally, I think I valued their opinions less during our class discussion because I felt like they probably hadn’t kept as up to date with the blogs and current issues.
Summarize what you have learned in the course
I have learned several important skills in this course. I have a better understanding of how to stay current in Higher Education and what avenues to take in order to effectively retain and utilize the information I have gained. I think that blogging has helped me to look at reading current events more effectively and to look at the more analytically, which was something I did not think to do before. It has also encouraged reading and me to discuss what I am learning in order to share with the greater community. I am more willing and able to discuss current events in and outside of the work environment and encouraged to discuss current issues with other student affairs professionals.
I tend to avoid confrontation with people, especially with people I do not know very well. I rarely see the point in engaging in a debate with someone who does not seem willing to see another viewpoint, but this course almost forced me to engage in conversation I normally would not feel comfortable or inclined to take part in. Since we read everyone else’s blog posts and the articles that went along with them, I think we had to expose ourselves to opinions and issues that we normally would have passed on. There were several blog posts that I completely disagreed with either the blogger’s opinion or the author of the article’s opinion and I felt inclined to comment. I appreciate that it was required to have to comment on the articles since it encouraged me to express my opinion. I am much more comfortable doing so than before this class.
It was not always conflict that inspired me to write. I enjoyed reading others’ views and experiences that I had not thought of in the context of the issue. I enjoyed the different opinions that were expressed in the athletics blog as well as the international higher education blogs. These were the two topics that I enjoyed the most as well as the “Really, this is unbelievable.” I think that I related most to the articles that were posted in these blogs, which is why I enjoyed them, but I have never had so much exposure to the topics discussed. It was interesting to hear about many of the different protests and cases that were happening in higher education such as the bake sale case posted by Janella, the slut walks that were discussed by many people, and the use of free speech by students during a speaker written by Dana.
I enjoyed that the class was much more than posting blogs as well. Sharing our opinion publically was taken to another level by having to share our opinions in the letter to the editor. It was really intimidating to talk about an issue or a topic that we had experienced and submit it to the public t view but also scrutinize. The memo to my supervisor was an interesting experience because I didn’t know that people actually still sent memos. I enjoyed sharing an experience that I had with students and what that experience meant for our program. I think it was good practice for when I enter into the field as a professional, not just a graduate student.
Overall, I enjoyed my experience blogging. It was a good way to develop my writing in a different avenue and find new and more innovative ways to stay current. I also feel like I have developed a stronger network to communicate with and be able to contact if needed. The classes were also a great way to debrief and discuss in more detail the blogs and the issues that are currently facing higher education. It inspired new blogs and further investigation about issues.
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