Prior to enrolling in this course, I had never blogged on a regular basis. Therefore, I was excited about the idea of having a running conversation with my 40 classmates and was curious to see if we could remain both academically focused and civil to one another even when we vehemently disagreed with what was being said. I believe that we did an excellent job of both, which puts this blog among the few that I have ever seen meet both of those criteria. My second challenge of the semester was keeping up-to-date on current issues in higher education. It amazes me how much time it takes to read through even short reviews of current events on a daily basis, let alone generate a thoughtful 400-1,000 word summary and brief discussion of a topic. Early in the semester, I found myself spending every moment of my bus commute from Longmont to Boulder reading either the Chronicle of Higher Education or Inside HigherEd’s daily updates. Several times, I found interesting topics only to discover that by the time I got home to write about them, many of my classmates had already done so. I expected that we would have lively conversations regarding the ever-increasing cost of higher education within the USA and that somehow athletics would find its place in our discussions. I was right on both of those points. At the same time, however, I was surprised by the thoughtful discussions regarding controversial topics such as the right to carry a concealed weapon on campus and the appropriate use of what some consider vulgar language for the purpose of student empowerment (Slut Walks) or recruiting (including the “f-word” campaign by Oberlin college).
In addition, the sheer quantity of information generated by a few dozen students and a thoughtfully engaged professor turned out to be a bit overwhelming early in the semester. In total, we created more than 350 blog postings and related comments that required close reading and careful consideration. In all honesty, I was unprepared for the time commitment that it would take to keep up-to-date with assignments and going through each person’s response to each blog posting. As the semester progressed, however, I became more comfortable with the expectations for what was required and what was not required of a substantive comment to a post, and that allowed me to become more efficient.
In my opinion, my so-called best blogs included Graduation Rates - What are Other Countries Doing Better? and The Master's Degree is the New Bachelor's Degree. I say this because each generated a substantial number of comments (10 and 11, respectively) and initiated conversations in directions that were unexpected (at least to me).
The Blogging Experience and its Contribution to this Class
One of the most effective outcomes of blogging for this class was that it allowed those individuals who were not comfortable (or outspoken enough, depending on your perspective) to voice their opinion in the classroom environment an equal opportunity to be heard. Also, for better or for worse as most of us have learned, online “conversations” seem to encourage more honest and open feedback. The asynchronous environment of a blog allows people the freedom to craft what they want to say which also may lessen the possibility of a person’s saying something in haste that could be misconstrued or not fully express the speaker’s true opinion.
Another positive outcome of this class was engaging in conversations on topics which I had not previously considered, and topics that I would not have discussed if it were not for one of my classmates’ willingness to bring the topic to light. For example, Steve Willich mentioned early in the semester that he did not expect to discover relevant topics to discuss in the college athletics blog. Similarly, college athletics did not seem to be an area of discussion where I would have felt comfortable entering a discussion. I am aware that I have prejudices against college athletics (but do my best not to project those on the athletes themselves), and was not sure that I would be able to hold those in check to the level necessary to have an intelligent, academic conversation. As a former “98-pound weakling” both literally and figuratively, athleticism has been always been a sore spot in my life. Steve’s blog on the topic of transgender athletes and the administrative hurdles that they face when it comes to participating in college-level sports piqued my interest in an aspect of the topic that I had never considered.
Discussion of that topic gave me new insight when I read an article in the New York Times this week about boys who are on girls’ high school swim teams for reasons of compliance with Title IX legislation, and what happens when the boy ends up breaking the girls’ state championship records. Is it “right” for a boy to hold the girl’s state championship record, especially in the 50 meter freestyle event where strength can beat out technique or talent (according to the article)? Prior to having the in-depth discussion regarding biological males competing with and against females in college-level sports, I would have jumped to a conclusion regarding the swimming question. Now, I have to critically analyze my response to Steve’s article and decide if my opinion differs for a transgender swimmer and a cis-gender swimmer. I am guessing that I am not the only student in this class to have this new awareness regarding the complexity of issues discussed this semester.
Summary of What I Have Learned this Semester
Although I was initially dubious about the pedagogical outcomes of blogging, I have learned that this activity can lead to in depth, thoughtful, and critical evaluations of topics that I might previously have skimmed over when reading the newspaper. I believe in the concept of systems thinking where there is never a simple answer to a complex problem because any intervention in one part of the system leads to intended and unintended consequences in another part of the system. The topics we discussed this semester were indeed complex and none of them has a simple answer. It is important for both academics and the public to be aware of the interrelatedness of so-called solutions when it comes to improving some aspect of higher education in this country. In my opinion, no one aspect of the system should be blamed for its shortfalls such as high dropout rates or rising tuition rates. For instance, it does no good for people to blame under-prepared students for higher education’s need to offer remedial coursework. To solve the challenge of how to better prepare those entering college, people of differing values and philosophies need to work together to identify systemic solutions that both improve the preparation of incoming students at all levels and utilize limited financial resources most efficiently.
I also realized that once you become aware of concepts like neo-liberalism and mature industries, it is easier to identify and understand perspectives that drive certain policies and underlying expectations of those involved at all levels of education policy. Specifically, I now recognize some of the varied perspectives of policy makers who are working to appease constituents with opposing views of whether the public should support the costs of higher education or whether higher education provides mainly an individual benefit and therefore its expense should be primarily borne by the user via tuition. Also, I now have the background information and perspective necessary to form an educated opinion regarding whether or not graduation rates and other quantifiable data are truly indicative of the success of higher education given that today’s students demonstrate a wider range of academic preparation than those of the past and that they are less likely to be solely focused on taking classes and more likely to be juggling work and family responsibilities alongside their class responsibilities.
Through the letter to the editor and memo to my supervisor assignments, I learned that it is difficult to fully explain both a situation and your perspective on that situation in a limited number of words. The letter to the editor was a challenge to me because as Matt mentioned, they are typically so short that although an author may have originally submitted a cogent and clear argument of 750 words, what is eventually printed has often lost the entire crux of the author’s statement. In the future, I will be more tolerant when reading letters to the editor and will assume that seemingly unintelligible perspectives may actually have suffered from an editor’s overzealous abridging.
Overall, now that I have completed this course I feel better prepared to discuss varied perspectives of many of the complex issues that higher education student affairs administrators face today.
No comments:
Post a Comment