Prior to this semester, I had not blogged before. Honestly, I am not sure that I will be doing it again...unless I am required to. In admissions, we use student bloggers to write about their lives on campus, and I do read those regularly. That has been my only exposure to blogging. So when this semester began, I could not imagine how this could be scholarly enough for graduate level work. I quickly learned that this tool would very easily translate to academia. Since the beginning of this course, I have noticed blogs all over the place...general news sites and electronic academic journals, in particular. I have begun to read these commentaries when I see an interesting topic.
I am not sure why I did not enjoy writing my own blog, because I really enjoyed reading other people's posts in the class. However, I certainly am appreciative for the experience of blogging, I see where it had a significant role in this course. Through this course and the exercise of blogging I learned that I do need to pay attention to the discussion and the news on a daily basis because there is so much to pay attention to in higher education. I found that I enjoyed the articles and blog posts that were about federal policy, local decision making, and access to higher education the most. I know I would not have taken the time to read most of the articles referenced in the blogs if it were not for other people who had a greater interest in each topic providing the highlights and offering an opinion. I am grateful for the diversity of interests among my classmates and of the multiple perspectives they offered on both familiar and unfamiliar topics.
I am most proud of my very first blog, Bridging the Gap in Colorado. As my first attempt at a blog post, I wrote and rewrote my entry a couple of times prior to posting. I could not get away from a mental block that I had imposed upon myself. I was too worried about having an opinion and sounding like I was on some sort of platform. I wanted to report on the issue, without taking a stand. I quickly realized that the purpose of the class was to look at issues differently, and the only way I could do that would be to take a stand. This entry, found in the Access and Cost of Higher Education, forced me to state my thoughts on what I believed to be a problem in Colorado. This really was my opinion....yes, based on facts, but still, just an opinion. I had to remember that not everyone would be reading the is blog post. I had to remember that those who did read it might not have the professional context to understand the issue, and I had to remember that other people might have a different opinion, and that would be okay.
My post with the most interest, based on comments from my peers was my second entry, College Students, Homeless?? Not So Unbelievable. This entry garnered 11 comments, most of which were to tell me (as I interpreted it), that this was an even bigger issue than I gave credit in my post. From my professional perspective, my campus was just doing a cool thing by helping previously homeless students by going to college. What I learned, however, through the peer comments was that homelessness is may be a significant problem that takes different forms depending on where a campus is located. I learned about people using financial aid as rent, others obtaining food from campus food banks, and others living on the streets. This also became as an in class discussion, where I learned so much more about the financial aid process and was forced to think about whether or not financial aid is a form of welfare. That was a great class discussion!
The post that peaked my interest the most was Governing Boards in Higher Education. I began the blog simply because of an article that I skimmed and it seemed to be a fresh topic for our class. As I blogged, I realized that this was really something I knew nothing about. I actually wondered if I had any right to be writing about something I was completely unaware of. The more I wrote, the more questions I had about how governing boards ran. I really found myself plotting out a research study to talk with individuals who serve on boards that run colleges and universities. Interestingly, I did not get a single comment on this entry. I guess I was the only one who was interested....at least my fictional research population will not be saturated!!
Blogging was significant for learning opportunists in this course. I learned so much from my peers. The blogs were a great way to determine topics that were of most interest and provided a solid platform for classroom discussion. I grew to apprecitate the need to formulate an opinion, take a stand and sound like you knew what you were talking about. I was no longer worried about not sounding "academic" and began to just write from what I was thinking at that moment. I also learned how to value others professional experience. I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet new people working in Denver and to understand how things can be the same from campus to campus, but also how those same issues may play out differently due to the local dynamics of the community an institution resides.
I also found that reading blogs in advance of the class enriched the classroom experience. It was often difficult to find only or two topics to participate in for discussion, but it was nice to have had read the basic concepts from each issue to feel connected to every conversation.it is difficult to sum up everything I learned, but it is safe to say that I learned every issue is intertwined with other issues. I can no longer take a stand on one issue without fully understanding what that issue means for the entire population.
No comments:
Post a Comment