Blog Reflection

Prior to Blogging

As someone who experience with blogging prior to this class consisted of posting notes on Facebook, the idea of blogging as a part of class seemed like a monumental feat. I had participated in on line classes during my undergrad, in which contribution to blackboard discussions was mandatory. My experience in 100 level on line general elective courses, led me to believe that such an activity was only beneficial in the sense that the contributor learned about whatever subject it was that they were contributing; and there was little group learning that occurred because it was seen as busy work. Therefore my expectation was that I would learn about whatever it was that I was blogging on but little on what others were blogging on.

The topics we discussed in my previous on line discussions were not particularly varied, and often times seemed redundant. In addition my general education courses, while interesting, held very little applicability to my life meaning the discussion boards were informative but not relevant. My expectation of blogging on Current Issues in Higher Education was that while I might learn some interesting information that would be the extent of my engagement with the topics.

Lastly receiving daily emails about that day’s top stories in higher education and student affairs, seemed daunting and like it would be very overwhelming. Prior to blogging began, the task looked as if it would be on that was overwhelming and would require a large weekly time commitment; with minimal learning that could be applied to my work as a student affairs practitioner.

My Best Blogs

While blogging, there were several topic that interested me more than others; and also those seemed to be the topics that I wrote the best on. The first one was about social networking and institutions of higher education limiting students’ freedoms.

http://currentevents695e.blogspot.com/2011/09/social-media-and-classroom.html

The second was about the standards set by private institutions of higher education, their freedom from accountability to the U.S. Constitution and how that applies to religious clubs and organizations on campus.

http://currentevents695a.blogspot.com/2011/10/vanderbilt-v-chrsitian-clubs.html

The third was about students’ second amendment rights on university and college campuses.

http://currentevents695a.blogspot.com/2011/10/guns-on-college-campuses.html

The last of my “best” blog topics dealt with differential tuition for graduate students and the possible implications of a free education for those entering “serving” fields.

http://currentevents695j.blogspot.com/2011/11/graduate-tuition-is-expensiveor-maybe.html#comments

The Blogging Experience

When I first began blogging, I believed it would be difficult to find topics that interested me and would fall under categories other than “Really this is unbelievable” or “Technology in college and universities”. My first few blogs did fall under these categories but soon I was able to find more diverse subjects to write on; I found these topics through the daily emails I was receiving from “The Chronicle of Higher Education” and “Inside Higher Ed”. Also as someone who does not have television and does not frequently access newspaper or online news, connecting to a daily email with updates from around the world, allowed me to stay somewhat up to date on current issues, although they were filtered through the higher education filter.

As someone who considers brevity in writing to be my strength, instead of lack of length to be my weakness; finding topics I could write on for four hundred or more words took some searching. While reading articles in my daily emails I would intentionally search for topics that truly interested me or ones in which I had previous knowledge on the subject. Doing this proved to be very useful, although occasionally I would have to wait five to six days to find a topic that I knew I could blog about. When I was lucky enough to find something that was exceptionally interesting or controversial, I found that it was easy to write on and would surpass any word count expectation I had set of myself. Most of my “best” blogs are examples of topics that I wrote on without worry of meeting word requirements.

When it came to writing blog comments, I utilized a similar method; searching for blogs I had interest or knowledge in. This too often required much patience, but usually I found that I was able to learn a new perspective or issue from the blogs I read while waiting to find ones to comment on. And when I wrote a blog I was particularly proud of I would find myself checking it multiple times per day to see what was being commented.

After completing a semester of blogging in a graduate level course, I had a different understanding of on line discussion as tool for education. The topics that were discussed were far more relevant and well researched than the ones I encountered in previous classes. Also the diversity of the people in the class facilitated great debates because of the diverse opinions on the topics.

What I Learned

In my blogs, I learned about various topics in student affairs and higher education including; circumpolar higher education, various perspectives on guns on campus, where institutions of higher education get their funding, and how public and private institutions engage themselves with their students’ rights and responsibilities.

Although I learned a lot of applicable factual knowledge, the most important and potent thing I learned was not something that I read in any blog or article. When the blogging began I noticed that for the most part, there was little debate on the ideas being presented. However as time went on we began to pick topics that were provocative and sides began to be taken. Reading blogs about hot ticket items, such as gun control, suicidal student rights, and separation of church as state; became fascinating. The discourse that occurred over these topics encouraged me to take part in the debates.

This participation helped me learn that art of argumentative writing, and to practice this I would look for those heated blogs and argue the authors points, regardless of my own opinion. So in addition to learning how to write argumentatively, I improved my ability to look at multiple perspectives of an issue and write about one of them.