And So it Begins… (Introduction)
When I originally read the syllabus for this class and saw that blogging was going to make up 50% of our grade, I’m embarrassed to admit that I thought it was going to be easy. With the experience I have in reading other people’s blogs, it seemed like writing a 400-1000 word blog each week would be a simple task. The comments on other’s blogs were obviously going to be a little extra work on top of writing our own blog but I thought the entire blogging idea was manageable and would not be incredibly time consuming.
Having never blogged before I was fairly excited about the idea of hosting a blog and what that entails as far as being able to share my ideas and perspectives on different topics. As anyone who has met me for more than two minutes knows, I’m a fairly opinionated person without much of a filter. The thought of being able to share my opinions and thoughts in an academic manner was something that I was really looking forward to.
Since I work in the Office of Admissions, when I first thought of current issues in higher education, my initial ideas were on a much more micro level than what this class entailed. While being a student affairs practitioner makes one aware of a number of current issues, it is easy to focus on the issues that are relevant to you on a daily basis, as opposed to the more macro-level issues across the field. I was excited to see what others view as most relevant current issues and hear their opinions as well.
I think anyone who works on a college campus can pretty easily pinpoint a number of issues in their current position, office, campus and field. Having the opportunity to discuss these issues with other professionals over the course of an entire semester was incredibly exciting. Needless to say, my initial thoughts on the effort this course would take and how the blog would impact learning were vastly different than how it would turn out.
My 2 Cents (‘Best’ Blogs)
Are Women Really Gaining Speed in Gender Equity? in Changing Numbers October 13
Sexual Harassment at DU? Or Maybe Not… in Higher Education in Colorado October 26
Accreditation and the Winners (or Losers?) of Tighter Policies in Protest and Conflict November 20
What We Brought to the Table (Blogging and how it Contributed to Class)
Part of the reason I chose my three favorite blogs ties into what I believe were the best parts of the blogging experience and how the blogging contributed to class. The first blog I chose was on gender equity in different fields; I chose this blog because it was an opportunity for me to have a bit of a feminist rant about something I feel strongly about. The comments on this blog also brought up different questions and viewpoints that I hadn’t considered.
The second blog I chose was on a sexual harassment case at the University of Denver. I believe this blog was a good example of how blogging benefits this course. I took a stance on the sexual harassment case and posed a couple of issues, a stance and a number of questions. In return, there were a handful of comments that brought up further discussion of the topic and different ideas. The comments also brought up a valid point that I agreed with but didn’t make clear in the blog. The third blog I wrote hits close to home because it has to do with my job on a daily basis. The blog gave me a platform to write about something that I deal with on a regularly that I really care about. What happened with these three blogs are great examples of the interactions that blogging allowed.
Going into the semester I did not imagine that the blogging portion of this class would be the largest and most impactful section of the course content. However, in retrospect, it seems silly that something so many of us spent such a great deal of time on would not have had such a large impact. I originally thought that our class discussions would be a bigger part of the educational part of the course content. However, the blogs and the discussion they created ended up being the most educational part of the class for me.
The concept of blogging and what it allows is really what made this class interesting. With so many people writing about a current issue, taking a stance on the topic and then bringing their personal experience to the blog, a lot of different thoughts, perspectives and beliefs were brought to the table. The fact that a blog is inherently opinionated or personal helps the forum for this class. Furthermore, the comment portion of the blog assignment allowed for discussion and different insight and opinions about each of the topics. The opinions and perspectives as well as the opportunity to create discussion were an invaluable part of this course.
In the End… (Summary)
I’ve learned a lot more about current issues in higher education and the world of blogging from this class than I ever would have imagined. The thought that I considered blogging would be easy is an absolute joke. Especially in the beginning I really struggled with picking a topic and being able to form my thoughts and opinions into a cohesive mass of tangible writing. For me, this had to do with a number of things.
First, I struggled a little bit with finding topics that I cared enough about to form a stance and blog about. Because I was focused on the daily issues in my job that all relate to higher education, I struggled to dive deeper into some of the issues on a macro level. Furthermore, it was hard for me to take a stance on some of the current issues because of what I felt like was a lack of knowledge in regards to that topic. For example, in my daily job, I am aware of what works, what does not, and what could be improved because these issues are part of my every day interactions. When it came to taking a stance on bigger issues, I struggled to put myself out there (very similar to our Letter to the Editor project) because there are so many other people reading our blogs and many of them are much more knowledgeable on specific topics.
Another aspect that I valued about the blogs and the class in general and learned a great deal from was the different people and perspectives that were part of our dialogue. It was incredibly engaging and educational to have people from a number of colleges bringing their thoughts to class. Of course each person brings a different background, experience and viewpoint to each of our classes but it was nice to have numerous institutions represented in this class, as that is not always the case.
Perhaps the most glaring lesson learned from our class blogs and discussions was all of the issues we discussed all tied back together in some way. It amazed me how often I would be commenting on a blog that related to another blog but the topics seemed to be completely different. Also, we would be discussing a current issue in class and before long, it seemed like we were off on a tangent when in all reality, the issues are closely enough tied together that one discussion led to another. The other point the relationships of all of the issues brings up is how complex the issues all are; the fact they all intertwine and weave together is proof that there are no easy answers for the macro-level issues we discussed in class.
While blogging and keeping up with thirty-some blogs was much more complicated than I originally imagined, the set-up of this class was a good platform for the topics we discussed. Even as the course is wrapping up and I reflect, I am surprised by how much I was able to learn from a blog-based interaction. Overall, I enjoyed the blogs and while I struggled with parts of blogging, it was an educational experience for me.
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