GEAR UP

The Denver Post as recently discussed a new opportunity for local schools.

The U.S department of education has given a grant of 4.8 million dollars to eights schools throughout northwest Denver. The grant was used to create a program called GEAR UP. This stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. This is a seven year grant for students in the sixth and seventh grade. It is aimed to get more students enrolled in college and to help them once they get there. The grant targets lower income students and follows the matched cohort through high school.

One of the primary goals of the grant is to intervene with disadvantage populations early on. In addition, the grant provides scholarships to low – income students. The mission of GEAR UP states that it strives to “close the Colorado Achievement Gap, as it relates to college admissions and graduation, to prepare all students to meet rigorous expectations and to level the playing field for all Colorado’s low income students.” In Colorado, this is the first year of the third cycle for this grant.

Through this program students visit different colleges and are exposed to what college life may be like. At a young age students are presented with the idea of going to college. Those who were not fortunate enough to directly benefit from this grant will indirectly benefit from new structures implemented at their schools. This program serves about 1,500 students each year. Data has shown that GEAR UP students are more knowledgeable about the college process, including financial aid, and have a higher retention rate. Through this program, 85% of students have earned college credit while in higher school. This saves students money in the long run. From what I have read this seems like a promising program. It is unclear to me how the students are chosen. It seems to me that only a small population are being serviced through this grant.

Blog Portfolio - David G Dorr

There were over thirty of us gathered that windy clear day north of the Denver-Metro Area. It was my first time seeing my faculty advisor face-to-face, my first day meeting most of those in attendance, and the first brick-and-mortar academic lecture I had attended in over ten years. I was nervous. I wanted to make a good impression but I had already become aware of my tendency to monopolize discussions. As one who often over-intellectualizes issues my mind oft tends to run off without me! When the primary delivery method of the course was unveiled I was relieved. The great thing about conducting discussion on-line is that you have the option of pausing to reflect before hitting “send!”

The assignment seemed simple enough. Over the course of the term we were to post entries to any of five initial and, later, an additional four blogs topics. The topics touched on nearly every aspect of the contemporary discourse in American Higher Education. There was a great deal of dissensus about whether the medium was an effective one for delivery. As I mentioned, I had not been in a brick-and-mortar program for some time. I had, however, been consistently in both a professional education environment and in academe via distance learning. My Bachelor’s degree had been entirely on-line (most of it I accomplished while deployed to a hostile fire zone in Iraq) and my Master’s degree as well, which allowed me to study while abroad. While many of my colleagues were trepidatious over the medium chosen for delivery, I felt very much in my element. I knew the value-proposition of on-line delivery was sound from my own first-hand experience. I felt that, not only was the discussion enriched by the reflection the medium permits, but it was also allowed for a greater breadth in the conversation as different experiences from individuals geographically separated from each other could be brought to bear in a single, cohesive – and reviewable – dialog. The brick-and-mortar environment often lacks the latter by comparison – the dialog can be captured, analyzed and – effectively - “mined” for every insight it can offer. This is learning optimized!

My background is information systems and performance management in an organizational environment. The perspective I brought to the discussion forums (as we agreed they would not be made public this is as fair a term for the blogs) was heavily emphatic on systems-thinking a la Peter Senge (…or such was my intention…). I always felt my writing was at its best when I was bridging structural-functional and rhetorical “white-space.” While some of the blogs were a bit rushed (as would be expected) there were a few which I was particularly proud to have written.

HIGHLIGHTS

In the discussion about International Higher Education, I raised a question regarding the increased emphasis on recruiting international students. I – essentially – questioned (after reflecting on some issues raised by Dr. H. Giroux of Penn State) that a latent function of recruiting said students is that they will be inculcated with a perspective that is sympathetic to American conduct, specifically in industry. I was pleased with this post because the question was just so far-out. It is an aspect of the discussion that I had not seen considered. These are the questions I like to ask – even if they are completely (or seemingly) out of nowhere precisely because they evoke a reaction without relying on a “shock factor.”

A second post which I felt was exactly on the money – both pertinent and relevant to the discourse was on the topic of Technology in Higher Education. The inspiration was drawn from an article regarding the notorious U.S. News and World Report college rankings. The buzz was that the ubiquitous list was going to include a ranking on on-line learning. The typical questions raised when college rankings enter the dialog are varied derivatives of “Well, what, - exactly – is student success?” But in this case there was another question that needed to be addressed, “What – exactly – is ‘on-line’ learning?” From my experience with on-line delivery I was able to de-generalize on-line learning into a few separate but distinct categories, remarking that each has its benefits and drawbacks and refocusing the discussion on understanding institutional culture in order to make informed decisions about exactly which technology is the best fit for a given institution. The need to understand how technology reflects, impacts, and (in many cases) is diminished by culture is important and, I believe, completely alien to decision-makers in higher ed. All of my writing on this topic focused on - or at least subtly circled back around to - this critical planning issue.

The piece which I was most proud of also incorporated culture and climate (essentially “change”) but had very little to do with technology in higher ed. One of the late arriving topics was Protest and Conflict and, naturally, the Occupy Movement featured frequently in this discussion. In one particular blog entry I wrote here I discussed the rather trivial fact that some in the movement were starting to wear merch from one of my favorite films, the mask of the character “V” in “V for Vendetta.” For this piece I explained the significance of the mask – both in the context of the film and in the context of the medium which inspired it – Japanese Noh theater. This posting allowed me to bring to bear not only my formal education and professional training in organizational change management but also a number of my personal passions and interests. I received very positive mention from a few of my colleagues on this posting. It also assembled, perhaps, more seemingly unrelated pieces of the puzzle than any other single submission making it the posting I enjoyed writing the most.

EXPERIENCE

The blogging experience for this class, though often plagued by technical difficulties (I believe I isolated this down to the security settings on my company laptop – something I cannot change without hacking the administrative rights – something that I think would be ill-advised) was, overall, very rewarding. As I mentioned above, I over-intellectualize and over-analyze practically everything in life and often draw abstractions which – while inspired by discussion – are not always related to the particular segment of the discussion at hand. Because of this there were many lost opportunities in the weekend lecture and discussion sessions which were held throughout the semester. Being already aware of having stepped on a few toes during group conversations I was particularly prone to biting my tongue. There were also a number of times during which I felt awkward about what I wanted to say – uncomfortable in saying it – because of the ideological balance of the group which was, at times, diatonically opposed to my own. (There are also times I enjoy playing the devil’s advocate – right or wrong - simply for the sake of inspiring new reactions to the issues which, in turn, generate new questions about them.) Being able to reflect and comment at my leisure and from the safety of my own space, the forums allowed me to add my voice to the dialog in an informed and sometimes oppositional manner – the latter often to surprisingly positive response I certainly would add! I believe the format allows us to strip away the emotional layers of an issue and surface our own assumptions about it, thereby cultivating more informed judgments. The experience was, for me, very democratic as well. In a time-delayed format each voice can be heard – instead of the loudest or, as is sometimes the case with mine, most meandering and monopolizing one! I was very grateful for the opportunity to engage these issues in this way. While we, as professionals in our field, need to be able to speak intelligently on-the-fly about the issues faced in ours’ and others’ professions, I did not have the prior context to contribute as poignantly as some others around the table. This medium, I feel, allowed me not only to do that but also to develop my own baseline for understanding of the dialog.

LESSONS LEARNED

It seemed each week new takes on the same old issues were surfacing in our discussion. This was an amazing opportunity for enriched learning. I sincerely hope we will continue to have access to these blogs because I feel there is still much to be gleaned from reviewing them – for all of us! For myself there were a few key areas to which I always directed my attention.

Any time technology arose, obviously, I wanted to see how my peers in the class understood its role in today’s academy. What I found was that, my knowledge on the matter – which I always take for granted – exceeds that of several of my peers and those writing in the field. Granted, I may not understand banner very well (who does?) but I do understand the ramifications of not being informed both about the climate of implementation and the platform or solution being implemented (did I mention Banner?). We are often told to assume your audience knows nothing about your topic but I think the lesson in this for all of us is to never assume that what we know is of no use to our peers. Another great example of this is in administrative and procedural issues – which I know nothing about the specifics of in higher education! I understand the dynamics of culture and I know plenty about organizational development – but my knowledge about OD in Higher Ed is abysmal! Fortunately for me a number of my esteemed colleagues are administrators in some capacity or another and their contributions to the discussion were both humbling and invaluable to me! While I may not have always responded to entries which took up the banner of administration in American higher education I believe I read almost all of them and those which I could make sense of in my ignorance on the matter were an amazing benefit to my context.

Finally, any discussion of culture in higher education (which, it could be argued, they all were in some way – depending on one’s understanding of culture) was both fascinating and quite enjoyable to me. As I said, I have some small level of general knowledge about culture and how it plays out, but to be given the pieces which constructed a field-specific lens for this knowledge-base was absolutely one of the single greatest value-propositions of this activity.

The issues raised by each topic and the myriad of manifestations and perspectives in and with which they were each developed was nothing short of revelatory to me. In a sense there was an affirmation which emerged by being able to review and reflect upon the topics. I had sincerely believed that what I had learned up until now was not wasted and was, in fact, a great benefit to my pursuit of this program. It was this belief that often kept me going when I considered dropping out of the program (as happened at one or two particularly stressful times during the semester). This belief was more affirmed through this activity than any other of the semester. We often wonder at how technology might negatively impact a sense of community and companionship and, certainly, it has accelerated the speed of communication leaving little room for reflection and resulting in a loss of richness in it. If leveraged properly, as it was in this case, technology can maintain the speed of dialog – but at the same time capture it to be mined for new insights and allowing reflection to temper conversation. This was the single most defining factor of this experience.

Regards to All,

David Dorr

Until Next Time Bloggers from Yolanda Espinoza

Current Events provided me with the first opportunity to blog. Blogging in this context required the need to research in order to be articulate, informed, and view the subject matter from the context of others. The level of accountability for comments and subject matter expert were enriched in this context because my peers are also higher education professionals. In general, I found the technology easy to use. I plan to teach an online course this summer at FRCC, so I will is hopeful I will have the opportunity to integrate a blogging experience into the classroom also. I will learn more once I complete the online faculty course and competency reviews in mid-December. This experience has become a spring board to another opportunity in higher education.

I learned a tremendous amount from my peers. In fact, there were times that I was so intrigued by a subject brought to light by a colleague that I researched his/her subject extensively being able to provide links to additional information and other considerations in some cases or simply becoming more well versed in the subject myself . I suspect this was the intent of the experience, to become so engaged as students that there are no limits to the number of hours one could spend on learning. The wealth of knowledge, experience, and commitment to higher education demonstrated by my peers was encouraging also. In addition, the participation of many other community college colleagues proved to be valuable and the opportunity to be in the classroom again was inspiring to someone like me who has been in the “business” for over twenty six years now.

The experience of authoring a blog was a very valuable. I realize now that I have many opportunities to publish articles in professional organizations associated with my current position and career. I plan to use this experience to cease those opportunities rather than being passive. I understand there is some risk in doing so especially because I gravitate towards controversial subjects. Nonetheless, my personal sense of responsibility has been elevated as a higher education professional as a result of my experience this semester.

It also proved valuable to have knowledge of current events by reading the Chronicle and other publications as required . The higher education subjects were relevant and subsequently weaved into discussion in my current position. The result of conversation was elevated engagement and support for one another as versed professionals, in or being affected, by a current event in higher education. I plan to continue to integrate time into my day to review the Chronicle and other pertinent publications.

In order to be honest with myself about the experience; however, I will have to admit that after time the novelty of blogging wore off and I became less interested. Therefore, it was helpful to have the other exercises such as writing a memorandum to supervisor and a letter to the editor engaging, practical, and timely. In fact, I would support integrating more practical application into the curriculum in order to share our valuable experiences with others in the profession if feasible.

Understanding that I value practical and applicable experience in the classroom, I would say that my two most personally appeasing blogs were personal in nature. I liked explaining how my personal background and professional compliance related duties as a higher education professional created internal conflict for me. However, I was also disappointed by the fact that I could not even attempt to publish my article because it was censored by my supervisor as it related to the Federal Hatch Act and the Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA) because of the perceived limitations placed on our ability to advocate for the profession, students, and education in our society as a whole. Likewise, the threatening reaction from leadership that alarmed my peers when shared in the classroom, the censorship, and limitations of being a private citizen were disconcerting enough to me that I will continue to pursue the ability to speak freely within the real, not perceived, boundaries of the legislation. Therefore, I would consider Censorship or Commonsensical my most value contribution to blogging and am thankful I was advised to seek permission to publish rather than experiencing a negative repercussion.

Cindy’s Blog Portfolio and Reflection

My introduction to blogging...

Apprehension, complete apprehension was the true feeling I had when Matt was explaining the concept of blogging the very first weekend of class. First, I knew so little about current issues of higher education and second, I am technologically challenged at times. As a first semester graduate student coming from the working world of accounting, I truly did not realize there were so many current issues/events surrounding higher education. A little narrow minded, I thought that student applied for college and if their grades and test scores were good enough, they were accepted. They applied for housing, they signed up for classes, bought their books and started class. Support services were available for tutoring and writing help. The students would have some good professors and some bad. If they were interested, they could find all kinds of ways to become involved in the university. I was certain there were issues of alcohol and drugs and some sexual offenses. I knew there were issues related to student athletes, budget cuts, on line classes and so on. I had no idea we would be discussing international students and the lack of support, the bake sale and the impact on the students, the retention rates, and the ranking of schools. I was so impressed by the variety of topics of the blogs that it was truly overwhelming.

So, I began my journey of blogging. I have never contributed to a blog or given my opinion in the form of a written entry. My first experience with blogging and I discovered it is a completely different style of writing. As I determined an article or issue to write about, I had to stop and think about “the other side”. Certainly, my summary, my research, and my opinion would be the focus of my blog but, the idea that others might not share my opinion or bring up ideas that I had not considered made me feel uneasy.

My “favorite” blog entries....

The blog that I enjoyed researching, writing and sharing was “China Conundrum.” Prior to this article and blog, I had little knowledge on the subject of international students. I was shocked to learn about the for profit companies that were assisting international students in the application process and even writing the essays on their behalf. Furthermore, I really had not considered the lack of support once the student arrives in the states. Most universities have programs to help these students with their English but once they complete that course, they are left with little follow up and support. After writing this post, I have done additional reading and research on the subject of international students. Undocumented students, support programs, international centers and international admissions are all areas that I have spent additional reading time since I wrote this blog.

My second “favorite” blog was “Revision of Student Loans” which is closer to a subject that I am more familiar with. It was an interesting article on income based loans something that I have been in favor of for students for many years. There was a follow up blog posted about some of the changes that Obama made to our current student loan program and I have to say that he was not able to accomplish what was needed to truly help these students with loans.

My third favorite blog was “New Focus for Increasing Enrollment” which discusses some exciting options for students with certain disabilities. As I have a daughter with anxiety issues, I am always curious how the universities are working towards enrolling students with varying degrees of disabilities. I have worked closely with my daughters’ schools to help with her anxiety and I am hoping that the support will continue as she enters college.

My Reflection on blogging....

Unbelievable amount of reading and keeping up with the news on student affairs and higher education but I honestly enjoyed it! As I am new to this field, I could not have chosen a better class to bring me up to speed with many of the issues related to higher education. I was surprised how much time I would spend reading some of the blogs and some of the subject matter that caught my attention. My time is very limited but I often found myself reading additional materials on subjects that were interesting to me.

One area that I mentioned above was the area of international students. I spoke with Rahman, whom I have in all of my courses, and we talked about the lack of support after they finish their initial English course. He said that it takes him hours and hours to read the chapters and articles that are required for his coursework. He utilizes the writing center but it is so hard for the assistants to understand his language that it often a frustrating process. Also, I see the additional pressure for him to succeed since he brought his family with him to UNC. A whole new perspective for me was discovered by blogging about international students.

Amazingly, in our small groups and in our class discussion, we could talk forever on certain subjects. It was great to see the level of knowledge that we could all bring to the table since we, too, had read the blogs on those subject areas. There were some great conversations and continued enlightenment as we met for class. I did not mind the weekend meeting times and is really a great way to have some good discussion without huge time constraints.

I often posted my blogs after the “blog rush” for the week due to my schedule. Often posting on Mondays and Tuesdays, I did not see a lot people that were reading and posting comments on these days of the week. But I was pleased when a blog of my would be brought up in a class discussion group. It makes you feel as if your opinion really did matter and the subject matter was important or interesting to someone else.

Without blogging, I do not believe this course would be as successful as it was. I was not a huge fan of posting but I definitely enjoyed the reading. I do not think I will run out into the world and become a faithful blogger but it did help me overcome the idea that my opinion might not matter to others.

My learning this semester...

First and foremost, I learned to blog. This is something that my kids are now able to tease me about. According to them, all I need to learn to do now is “tweet”, which I do not know much about! I encountered a few mishaps in the beginning before I started writing and saving my blogs into word documents but I was able to successfully maneuver through the blogging website!

And second, I am undeniably surprised at the amount of information I learned about student affairs and higher education. The reading was overwhelming and I was apprehensive about sharing my opinions but I can not begin to count the different areas of exposure I experienced due to this course. I began to look at my other courses much differently because of studying about the current issues that our universities face. As we spoke about the different types of institutions, the areas of adult learning, student athletes, tenure and many other areas within my other courses, I was able to think “outside the box” and realize that there is never a right or wrong answer. There are often not even viable solutions but taking what we do know and applying it can only make us better with students and meeting their needs. When we talk about “developing the student as a whole,” it takes on such a larger meaning when you consider all of the different types of students that we are trying to reach and their differing needs.

Many of the answers or suggested solutions can not be implemented due to lack of money and this subject came up many times in our class and small group discussions. Unfortunately, the universities are constrained with lack of funds most of the time. When you think about “what” could happen if there were more resources, it would be amazing at the type of support and assistance the universities could offer their students. And admittedly, the budgets are only going to get tighter.

I was personally challenged by the letter to the editor due to the fact that I never felt my opinion was worth “reading.” It was a good exercise for me especially since I wrote on prop 103 and wrote in support of the proposition. My support goes against my CPA status but one that I feel very passionate about: providing more money to education. I was also challenged by only writing a one page memo to a supervisor. One page was hard for me for the subject matter that I chose. It, too, was a good exercise in writing to a different audience.

I have to admit that I am thankful that the coursework for this class is over but I believe it will be a course that I will specifically remember both by the subjects that I learned and also some specific conversations and interactions with fellow students!

Wrappin It Up - Darcy's Final Blog

Introduction
I’ve had two exposures to blogging prior to this course; there is a lady who lives in Kansas (or maybe Oklahoma) who blogs about living on a ranch and my mom loves to forward stories from her (amazingly, I just saw a commercial on tv the other day and this lady is getting her own tv show now), and my sister set up a blog as she was completing a multi-day cycling event a couple of summers ago. Both left me not terribly impressed with the world of blogging, so it was with some apprehension that the semester began and I learned how much of the course would be spent utilizing this method of communication.

I’ve never taken a college course that had an online component before, but I have taken a couple of online trainings / seminars through AACRAO, and those trainings utilized Blackboard, which I found slightly frustrating. I understand UNC uses Blackboard, so while I was a bit anxious about blogging for this course, it was certainly a more appealing option than using Blackboard.
The overall blogging experience, from a technical perspective, was fairly easy. Minor bumps included the fact that at first I couldn’t post a comment because I didn’t have a Gmail account, I did something in the beginning to “hide” one of the blogs (and couldn’t figure out how to “undo” it) so I kept having to click on an extra link to get them all to appear, and a couple of my blogs seemed to disappear after I posted them. After posting my first blog, I began the practice of typing them in Word, then copying and pasting them into the new blog post, so they were easily recoverable. I have learned though that saving these documents in a place I can access from anywhere on any computer is very important (learned that the hard way).

Blogger is the only blogging site (program?) that I’ve used, so I have nothing to really compare it to, but it would be nice if you could have easy access to all of the posts and comments that you’ve made. While you can search a little and find all of your blog posts, you have to click on each blog individually to do so (which is a little time consuming when there are nine blog topics), I wasn’t ever able to find a place where I could see the articles on which I had commented.

Postings


My two blog posts that resonate the are my favorites are:
- Money, Money, Money, Money…Money
- How Lucky We Are

I chose these three blogs without looking at how many comments they generated, but based on what I was feeling as I wrote them, how easily the blog flowed, and some of the questions that I had as reading the article and crafting the blog.

Money, Money, Money, Money…Money
The article regarding Presidential compensation really struck me as a more broad social justice issue. How do we have people leading institutions of higher education (in particular, those leading public institutions) and taking home close to $1 million per year? Part of what I love about working in higher education is helping students who come in with limited opportunities, leave with more opportunities than they had imagined possible. It is frustrating when some of those students struggle so much to try and stay in school and pursue their educational / career dreams and when they decide they cannot continue attending, it is frequently because of finances…how they will pay their rent, afford transportation to / from school, afford the books for each class, etc. and seeing some of the salaries on the chart in The Chronicle only highlighted the issue for me; I work with students who just need a little extra help to push them up onto a more level playing field and the people on the list from The Chronicle article would certainly seem to have a little extra to give. Admittedly, I don’t know how philanthropic the Presidents on the list are or what their personal stories and struggles to obtain their success have been…but really, over $1.3 million in total compensation for the President of Ohio State is beyond excessive to me.

Even as I’m typing this summary, I find myself again getting very passionate about the issue, and that is another reason why I believe this was one of my better blogs…anytime you can touch on a topic that truly stirs your passion and gets your blood pumping…it’s a good thing! Part of my hope in posting the blog was to see how others felt; did someone think I just had some chip on my shoulder toward people who were financially successful, could there be some justification for paying the salaries that are being paid to these people, was there something that I was just missing?

How Lucky We Are
As a general rule, I am a “root for the underdog” kind of person and the article about the student from Afghanistan who had attended college in the U.S. with the help of a Fulbright scholarship and had returned to his home country to make some positive changes there, I was inspired. As with the blog about Presidential compensation, this blog is also one that brought a variety of emotions to the surface as I was crafting it…namely gratitude. Part of my desire in posting the blog about this article was to get people to pause and think about how lucky we are to have the educational opportunities we have in the U.S. , even when our day-to-day lives may be spent on mundane things that make us believe higher ed is cracked if not seriously broken, as flawed and imperfect as it is, it is still something that people in other countries save and sacrifice just to have a chance at.

Blog Process / Class Discussion
The blogging process was one that admittedly, I struggled with a bit. In my first few blogs, I was a little uncertain about now much content should be spent on summarizing the article I read, and how much should be spent on my reaction to the article, questions that came up, etc. Also, I am someone who likes to really delve into a topic if it’s of interest to me, so I found myself reading the initial article, then doing a search for more information on the topic and reading that, only to find myself down a completely different rabbit hole about and four or more hours ticked off the clock.

I felt most comfortable when I crafted my middle three or four blogs because the articles I selected indeed were truly passionate ones for me and I felt the blog composition flow much more easily than it had in the first two or three. The last two or three blogs were slightly more challenging to craft as professional and personal responsibilities increased and culminated into a trip out of town for work that required almost being sequestered for three days.

I found the format for the class discussions overall worked well. Allowing us to select the topics of greatest interest to us allowed me to have some choice in my educational experience. And, while there were times when I struggled with that choice because there were two or more topics that I was interested in discussing in more detail, I never really felt like I missed out on anything by having to make just one choice.

Since we had so few in-person meetings, I don’t feel that the group dynamic changed much over the course of time, which is contrary to what I might have expected to see. As people get more comfortable voicing their own opinion, posing questions to other members, etc., in my experience, there tends to be a shift in the dynamic between the start of a course and the end of the course 15 or so weeks later. I know there were people in the class who knew each other better than I did, as they were in the Tuesday class together as well and I’m not in that class. Having said that, everyone still seemed very open, and the small group discussions were overall really good.

The large group discussions were lively and generally had numerous people wanting to contribute to the dialogue. It was always interesting to see how similarly or divergently they went compared to the small group discussions. Sometimes the small group discussions stayed very close to the same ideas because the people in those groups all had somewhat similar thinking regarding the issue…this could be very different when that topic came to the larger group to discuss.

I may have thought that I had decent time management skills going into this course, but I certainly have realized that crafting effective blogs and being an active participant in the in-person meetings, required another level of organization.

Summary
I will confess that I still don’t quite get the overall appeal of blogging out in the everyday world; however, for this course, it seemed like an effective choice. Having the various categories of blog topics allowed people to spend more time reading and researching articles in areas of interest to them, which certainly made the experience more interesting.

Additionally, having a class where the overwhelming majority of people were directly working in the field, made the conversations rich, particularly in the small group discussions. Having colleagues from other institutions in the course was also very beneficial and it was nice to see them in a different environment than in the regular ways we interact in our professional lives.
Finally, in large part participating in this course helped me accomplish one very big goal that I had at the start of the semester, and that was to spend more time actively staying informed about what was going on in the world of higher ed outside of my institution and position. It is so very easy to get tunnel vision about higher ed and have everything revolve around what’s happening with your position, your institution, in your state, etc. and lose sight of the larger picture. Seeking out news and information about higher ed in various contexts was extremely valuable, and a practice I plan to continue.

Steve's Final Blog

Intro to Blogging

This was my first class back in school in 18+ years, so I was a little hesitant and nervous at the beginning of the semester. As someone who is new to the higher education profession (just over a year in a professional position), and as the only Masters student in the Lowry doctoral cohort, I was more than a bit apprehensive about this course, and my enrollment in a Masters program in general. When I saw the syllabus of the course, and saw that we would be blogging about current issues in higher ed, I went into a bit of a panic mode. I am very much an introvert, and very hesitant to share my opinions on many topics.

Are you sensing a theme here? Overall, at the beginning of this class, I was very hesitant about sharing my opinions as a lowly Masters student, and as someone new to the profession. However, things began to change as the semester evolved. I found some topics that I was pretty passionate about, and found my voice in being able to blog about them. Overall, I really enjoyed the blogging experience. I’m someone who doesn’t process things well aurally. I have a difficult time following lectures without some kind of active involvement. I also have found that I am so much better at expressing myself through writing than I am through speaking. I am able to organize my thoughts, rearrange them so they make more sense, and come to some conclusions without feeling the pressure of having to wrap things up immediately and succinctly.

After writing some of my more personal blog posts, and feeling particularly vulnerable after hitting the “Publish Post” button, I truly appreciate the feedback that I received on the blog itself, but also in conversations with my colleagues here on the Auraria campus. I received comments about really liking a particular post, or someone liking my writing style. At first, I was a bit incredulous. I haven’t really “written” anything in years. How could my writing style and thoughts even compare? Thankfully, I was able to get over that hump of self-doubt, and really get into the blogging.

At times during the semester, I found it difficult to find topics on which to blog. None of the articles that were popping up in the Chronicle or Inside Higher Ed held my attention long enough to be able to post about it. I found that I did my best work when I was able to find something that I cared enough about to write. As I stated earlier, I’m a bit hesitant anyway to share my opinions, and trying to blog about something that I just don’t care about seemed to be an insurmountably laborious task. However, when I found something that sparked something within me, the words just flowed, which was really refreshing. There were also periods that I found it difficult to comment on others’ posts. Sometimes, it was due to the fact that I didn’t care enough about the topic to form a strong opinion other than “Great post!” At other times, I may have been crunched for time, and if the post was particularly long, my eyes would glaze over, and I would have to move on. Less often, I found that the writing styles of others didn’t resonate with my, and I struggled with reading their posts.

Frustrations with Technology

Overall, I found Blogger to be OK. I have never blogged before, and am not really that much of a tech geek. I finally got a smartphone a couple of months ago, and I’m still learning about what it can do. I am not an early adopter of technology, so blogging was something outside of my scope.

My frustration began when, despite the warning, I wrote my first blog in Blogger itself. Because of some kind of interface problem with Internet Explorer, when I tried to post, everything froze, and I lost my entire post. First lesson learned: always write your post in Word first, and then paste into Blogger. Similarly, when I tried to post my first comments on others’ posts, they would disappear as well. Second lesson: Internet Explorer needs a lot of work in its interface capabilities. I downloaded Firefox, and it’s been smooth sailing since. My third frustration was with trying to track my posts and comments. I consider myself a bit anal retentive, but not nearly as much as some people in my class. I did not keep a log of my posts or comments, so I found myself toward the end of the class going through every blog post of every classmate to be able to tally my posts and comments.

My Best Posts

Overall, I believe that my best posts were the ones in which I had some kind of personal interest or investment. When I was able to find a personal connection with a topic, and able to interject my story or situation into a post, I found that the writing was easier, allowing me to be a bit more effusive on the topic.

When I saw our original blog categories, I was a bit underwhelmed by College Athletics. As a student affairs practitioner dealing with social justice and diversity issues, I didn’t think that there was any way that I would be writing a post in this category. However, my very first post was about Transgender Athlete Equality in the NCAA: http://currentevents695d.blogspot.com/2011/09/transgender-athlete-equality.html.

I fumbled around for a bit for the next couple of weeks trying to find topics to write about, when the inclusion of an LGBT question on an admissions application caught my eye: http://currentevents695c.blogspot.com/2011/10/bravo-elmhurst.html

We held our second weekend of classes, and one of the topics that was discussed was veteran’s student services. While we did not get to discuss the topic in class, it piqued my interest enough to write a more personal post: http://currentevents695c.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-disclaimer.html

A week later, I presented in a Sociology class about homophobia on campus, and the need for more inclusivity. There was one student in that particular class that was very opposed to what I was saying, and felt that my presentation was trampling on her religious rights, which prompted my final all-star post: http://currentevents695c.blogspot.com/2011/10/financial-aid-discrimination.html

Overall, I believe that my best posts were about social justice, diversity, and inclusion, all areas for which I care deeply. These posts helped to solidify in my mind that I am in the right field. I truly enjoy advocating for these issues in a higher education setting. I find that it’s absolutely true that it doesn’t feel like work when you find something that you are passionate about.

Reflections and Learning

I think that blogging was the perfect format for this class, and one that I wouldn’t have considered a good fit. However, I found that I was able to really engage in the semester this way. I was able to share my thoughts and opinions through informal writing, which I think worked really well for me. I’m not one to contribute a lot to class discussions. I prefer to be able to pre-form my thoughts, and rearrange them after careful consideration of my words and format. I absolutely appreciated being able to share in this manner.

I also appreciated the varying insights of my classmates on a variety of topics. Someone could take a topic that I had no interest in, and due to their writing style or perspective on a subject, engage me in that topic, and make me look into it further. Whether it was fair or not, I found myself looking for the posts from my Lowry classmates, as we share many experiences and perspectives. I was also able to discuss the posts with them during my everyday interactions with them, which furthered my learning.

However, where I feel that I learned the most was through the in-class discussions. Being able to take a topic, and discuss it with a small group for an hour, and then share our discussion with the larger group, was an amazing format for my learning this semester. Being in a small group allowed me the space to share my opinions without feeling like it was a competition. And I appreciated being able to choose which topics that I wanted to discuss, without being forced to try to engage in a topic that I did not care for. I think that our Lowry group is pretty amazing! I truly enjoyed the diverse perspectives, and learning from one another in the large group discussions. The groups were all very respectful of differing opinions, and it felt safe to be able to share my opinions. It was great to really get into a discussion that would go WAY over the allotted time. Hearing the opinions of my classmates, and being able to have an open dialogue about a topic and all of the tangents, provided an outstanding learning experience.

Beyond the process itself, I learned a lot about current issues in higher education. By narrowing down the blog categories, often not to my choosing, I was forced to seek out and read articles that I normally would not have even glanced at in the past. In so doing, I learned a lot about many different areas of student affairs, and higher ed in general. Although my passion still lies in social justice and diversity work, I found myself intrigued by colleagues’ posts about financial aid, policy, technology, and international issues. Even though the blogging experience is complete now, I still find myself looking through the daily emails from the Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed, looking for articles that may be pertinent or of interest. I think this is one of my biggest take-aways from this course…simply keeping up on what’s going on in my field.

I also learned a few things about myself. For the first time in my life, I think I have found a career. Before, I was employed in a series of jobs. But in higher ed, I feel that I have found a career, something that will hold my interest, and something to be passionate about, for the rest of my working life. I truly enjoy the diversity and ever-changing nature of working on a college campus. There is never a dull day in student affairs, as the students continue to make our lives more enriched and interesting. On a more narrow focus, I think I have found my unique niche within my field. My father was a very prejudiced man. I grew up knowing that his opinions were wrong, and I have found against him on justice and equality issues. It’s a topic that has really shaped my life and my career path. Being able to find that niche, and express that through a blog in a current issues class, has truly meant a lot to me.

Bloggning: A Final Reflection

Blogging 101
     As I was wrapping up my final blog post over the weekend my nearly three year old looked at me and said, “mom, stop saying “blogging,” that doesn’t mean anything.” And, in all honesty when the semester began and I heard that a large portion of our time would be dedicated to blogging - I have to admit I agreed with her assessment. A part of me felt like people who blogged had some sort of need for cyber-attention. Another part of me felt like I had nothing to offer in so public a venue. So, needless to say I was not excited about the prospect of blogging for an entire semester. I am happy to say that over the course of the semester I found myself warming up to the experience. I enjoyed reading my classmates blogs and their subsequent comments and I found that I enjoyed posting my own. 
So, what does blogging mean? For me it has meant being part of the conversation. There are so few opportunities in my daily work to have a voice that within the larger discourse of higher education. I appreciated being challenged to frame my own thinking about current issues in higher education and to put that thinking out there for others to consider. I also appreciated the opportunity to consider, from others’ perspectives, their thinking about current issues in higher education. I spend a lot of time at work advocating for greater and deeper dialogue about the issues that matter to our work – this semesters exercise in blogging was an excellent, albeit, challenging opportunity for me to engage in that dialogue outside of my cozy community college. I’ve ordered my top blogs with #4 being my top blog. 


1.) Women in Higher Education: A Personal Reflection
I began the semester with a relatively safe blog about women in higher education and took the opportunity to tie that to a personal experience I had recently had. In the end I was happy with the way it turned out – but as I said it was on the safe side for me. While on the safe side the post did garner 9 responses and a lot of diverse perspective.


2.) STEM: Leading the Way – The Only Way?
I had fun with this blog. The idea started after a conversation where my dad actually pointed out the piece in the Denver Post written by Colorado College president, Jill Tiefenthaler. For me, the purpose of the post was that we are creating a lot of either/or scenarios right now rather than finding room for the more people to participate – and that means STEM and the liberal arts can co-exist! 


3.) On the brink: Helping students complete college
This particular blog allowed me to grapple with a very real issue in student affairs - the extent to which our role should or is changing as we see more and more students whose life circumstances are getting in the way of their ability to finish college. For me this blog also struck a personal cord. Having just finished my first year working in a community college I see students “on the brink” every day and yet the state and national pressure is to help ALL students complete. 


4.) Farming in higher education: What’s corn got to do with it?
This blog was by far the most fun for me. I enjoyed the challenge of linking two seemingly disparate topics. I posted the blog with the “For Profit” blogs and was happy that I was able to draw the connection!


Reflection on the Blogging Experience
As I stated the blogging experience took me some time to warm up to. I wasn’t sure what I kind of contribution I wanted to make and if I’d be able to do it. In the end all of the blogs I posted meant something to me in terms of my reasons for working in higher education as well as for my personal and educational values. 
I suppose that I could have challenged myself to post about something I was more unfamiliar with, yet, what I know about myself is that I know what excites me in higher education. So, where I chose to challenge myself was in commenting on topics that were new or uncomfortable for me. Perhaps one of my biggest stretches was to spend time in the “Athletics” blog. I did even find some posts that I commented on!
I did find ways to challenge myself through my own posts as well. For many of my posts I spent a great deal of time searching a number of sources (most of my posts did not rely on articles from the Chronicle or Inside Higher Ed) and trying to be creative about where I could make connections. This for me was perhaps where I enjoyed blogging the most. There is so much out there that at first blush may seem unrelated to our work in higher education that in fact has a big impact on our work.
As the semester went on I also felt myself getting more comfortable “taking a stand.” This is a challenge for me because I do really enjoy to hear arguments from multiple perspectives and to make arguments from multiple perspectives. This for me was perhaps my greatest learning of the semester – being an advocate for my position while being open to other positions. I believe that I do the second part well – I don’t always advocate well for my position.
I also really enjoyed reading the array of blog posts by my classmates. This experience was a really creative way to have us look at the many current issues in higher education. While many of the topics never came up in class – simply due to limited time – it was a great way ensure a diversity of issues could be discussed.


Overall Course Reflections
Having been out of school for nearly 10 years I was definitely nervous about this semester. I’ve already had my fair share of melt-downs related to balancing it all – school, work, parenting, health, maintaining a relationship with my partner and finding time for myself. This class was a great way for me to get back into the proverbial “groove.” 


      I’m interested in and try to keep up on current issues in higher education as a matter of professional practice. This class provided an avenue to delve deeper. The course readings were relevant and thought provoking. I particularly enjoyed the readings that provided some historical context related to higher education and student affairs. The big take away from this class, for me, was that nothing is as simple as it seems – these issues are complex. The format of the class really highlighted just how complex these issues were. The opportunity to dig deeply into these topics in small groups was really valuable. 
The Denver section had a number of professionals who had been working in higher education for ten-plus years and their experience was really invaluable – I learned a lot from my colleagues. I also appreciated the intentional focus on how different types of institutions of higher education deal with some of these issues as we had professionals in class who represented a variety of institutions. I think this is an important point to consider when we are talking about current issues in higher education. 
I referred to this concept earlier – advocacy versus inquiry – and felt like the in-class format also supported our skill building in this area. As it relates to current issues it is important to both be able to effectively advocate for a position while also inquiring about diverse perspectives. Overall I felt like the class was set up well to allow us to practice this. A personal appreciation I had for the class were the intentional efforts by Matt to challenge us on our own use of language – particularly when our statements bordered on assumptions or were exclusionary. 


     Overall I took a lot away from this particular class more so around the skills I sharpened and reminder about complexity in our field. The content learning for me came from the readings. Again the historical perspectives were particularly interesting and helped to frame the idea that “current” issues have often been issues we have grappled with in our history.  This point is valuable for me in being able to more holistically consider the issues facing higher education. One of the concepts related to this that has stuck with me is the idea of a “crisis”. What we see as a “crisis” in higher education has often cycled through our work at some point in history and there is a lot to learn from our history. None-the-less I do think we are in the middle of a really unique moment in higher education and being able to stay well informed, open minded and willing to advocate will be important skills for us as professionals. 

Braelin the Blogger

An Introduction to Braelin’s Blogging

I started off the semester really looking forward to the blogging. I have blogged before, albeit not for a remotely academic purpose, but for a public audience on a personal topic. I figured this would be similar--- just a matter of sharing my thoughts, right? People who have spent any time with me know that I am an open person, and for this reason I think that I have been fairly comfortable with the blogging environment. That said, I learned quickly that writing an effective blog post for the class was beyond simply sharing my feelings. I needed to stay abreast of the current events, and then use my experiences and knowledge gained through additional research to share perspective and insight about the current event in a way that would inform and educate my peers--- a large task as I realized that my peers were largely already well versed in current events and the implications for higher education.

As a first term student in the PhD program, I appreciated one area about the blogging experience most of all: I got to know my fellow students. I got to know people in my cohort better, but I have also gotten to know Greeley students through their posts. I have developed a sense of who’s blog posts tend to resonate with me, who’s opinions tend to trigger me, and who may be able to offer me helpful perspective in a variety of ways down the line in this program. Because the blogging experience melds current events with research, fact, and opinion with a dash of lived experience (both professional and personal), we’ve not only gotten to know one another as fellow classmates, writers, and future researchers, but also as colleagues, allies, and in some cases, friends too. Early in our HESA 761 class we spoke about the socialization of a doctoral student. We discussed the importance of developing a community of fellow scholars and the importance of collegiality in doctoral student success. The blogging experience has been an integral part of my own early doctoral student socialization, and I appreciate having had the opportunity to make connections with a broad range of HESAL students so early in my program.

Premier Posts & Class Contributions

In all of my posts I tried to examine a current issue from several perspectives. I also tried to raise new issues related to the topic or event that may not otherwise have been shared in the news and/or may not be a first thought when initially reading the article. As I read others’ posts, I most appreciated those that allowed me to look beyond the issue itself and consider different implications, such as the impact on particular student groups, legal and/or political consequences, and/or other ‘ripple effects’ from a particular issue. In turn, I attempted to provide similar insight in my own blog posts. At times, this meant that I took risks by writing about topics outside of my immediate area of expertise, resulting in some suppositions that may or not have been entirely on target. For example, in my last two posts (Travel Troubles & Public Opinion and Tax Time-- Indian Ideas & US Awareness), I addressed issues related to potential future legislation regarding how state funds are used, and possible shifts in tax codes for non-profits. My knowledge of both the financial world and political legislative process is incredibly limited (an understatement… I honestly am very very naïve in both areas), yet I took a stab at bringing issues to light that I think are important, even with my limited knowledge. Certainly I think that I would have had different contributions to the class if I had take the Finance and Public Policy classes prior to this one! Despite this, I always hoped to contribute to the conversation in thoughtful and pertinent ways. The blogging environment allowed me to take such an approach, since the blogging community (outside of this course too) is accessible to diverse writers with varying levels of knowledge and expertise about the topics on which they blog.

Commenting on others’ posts was as much, if not more at times, of an opportunity for me to contribute to the class. I am a student affairs generalist, which can be both a blessing and a curse. For the purpose of the blogging however, I saw my broad scope of experience as a benefit, as I was able to draw upon my varied professional experiences and knowledge to comment on others’ diverse posts. From veterans services, and disability services, to retention strategies and student conduct philosophies, I feel fortunate that my professional experiences equipped me well to contribute to the class blogosphere from a practitioner’s perspective. Likewise, I believe that I am one of only a few class members who have worked in for-profit education and closely with online program development. As such, I had unique perspective to add to the discussions in these two areas. Beyond my professional experiences, I also tried to include pertinent data, research, or even connections to other current events to my posts and comments alike. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the influence of my social identities in my posts and comments. In reading back over my writing, I see that my female identity was particularly salient throughout the term. As I blogged about Slut Walks, and commented on numerous posts addressing women in higher education, I was certainly bringing my female perspective to the conversation. Likewise, many of the posts regarding the LGBTQ community and higher education were interesting to me and compelled me to comment. My comments were from my vantage point as a heterosexual woman and ally.

All that being said, I think that my posts this term which are most indicative of my blogging style are:

· M(D.B.A.)

· Food for Thought

· Internationalization for the Sake of Diversity... Really?

· Lifetime Learning—Lifetime Storage

Lessons Learned

As the class it entitled Current Events, I want to address what I learned about current events. However, I also want to acknowledge what I learned about writing and information gathering in this course, because I believe that these lessons are as significant, if not more so, than my knowledge gained about current issues.

Contrary to my initial perceptions about PhD student writing, I realized a few weeks into the semester that perfection in writing is an unattainable goal for me. Perfection is paralyzing. Rather, I should be striving for excellent writing that I can only achieve through practice and a willingness to take risks by putting words down, even when I’m not 100% certain of my outcome. A Chronicle article that we read in 761, entitled 10 Tips on How to Write Less Badly, makes the suggestion that graduate students should write every day. Granted, I believe that the article is directed towards students working on dissertations, and is likely encouraging progress towards the dissertation, but for me, the simple act of forming sentences, linking ideas into paragraphs, and connecting my own thoughts to the world’s current happenings has proved to be an excellent exercise in getting me back into a writing groove. I have used the blogs as ‘breaks’ from the writing in my other class, which requires a more formal writing style, to help me feel a sense of productivity and accomplishment- invaluable motivation for an otherwise writing-frustrated graduate student! The shorter, less formal, and more easily contained blog post expectations were often the necessary antidote to my writing ailments this term! So lesson learned: really do write every day (proper prose not needed… though I am one of the lone APA fans in the class…).

Secondly, I am not a news buff (that is nothing new—certainly not something that I learned in the course). Sure, I usually listen to NPR on my drive to/from work, but otherwise really do not pick up on local, regional, national, or international news, unless someone else engages me in conversation on a particular topic. I have long recognized this to be a ‘flaw’ of sorts- but had not found the appropriate way to manage the slew of information. As a leader in higher education I am fully aware that I need to develop a mechanism for availing myself of the pertinent happenings. My daily routine with scanning the regular email digests from The Chronicle and InsideHigherEd.com and reading the articles of interest to me, as required by this class, has helped me grasp the way that I plan to acquire my higher ed. news in the future. These daily emails, along with my time spent jumping to the education section of the online New York Times, Denver Post, and Washington Post in search of potential blog topics, have shown me that I really value the ‘filter’ of a news outlet that can highlight the relevancy of particular happenings to my work. I realized that previously the task of being ‘informed’—in a broad sense—was too daunting for me. There was no way that I was going to be fully up to speed on global business developments, scientific discoveries, political strife in 17 countries, not to mention local and state government. It was simply too much. The act of reading the higher ed. news has shown me that I do not have to be an expert in all world happenings. The Chronicle, in particular, will cover the news happening around the world that is relevant to higher education, and present it to me in a way that (typically) makes sense to my otherwise news-naïve mind. That said, I have also read enough on the blogs to see that I must not rely solely on one news source. However, I am going to keep up my new email news subscriptions (despite the number they are doing on my in-box!), and use those as the launch points for further exploration as needed.

Now about current events, what have I learned? In short, a lot! There are 2 areas that come to mind most of all when I consider the areas covered in the course:

1) International higher education. Ironically I considered myself fairly well versed in international education issues prior to starting this course. I realize now that while I did (past tense!) have a strong understanding of international student matters, particularly relating to visas and regulatory matters, I had very little understanding of the climate for higher education outside of the United States, and how the global higher education environment can impact our own system. I have learned about the experiences of students in Pakistan, Mexico, and Ghana, just to name a few! I have learned that the US can learn a lot from other country’s higher education systems, and that we also serve as a role model for many. It has been a long time since I have worked on a campus with a robust study-abroad program, so I have appreciated the posts about study abroad which have refreshed me on the myriad of both challenges and opportunities that study abroad brings to an institution.

2) Athletics. I had a lot to learn, and still do. The blogs served as an excellent ‘introduction’ of sorts to college athletics. I was one of the students who groaned when the initial topics were announced and athletics was included. Immediately I vowed that I would not be participating! That was silly. Really, I read each posts carefully. I am fully aware of my own anti-athletic biases and wanted to hear about the benefits of college athletics from my respected peers. I was particularly surprised to learn about some of the discussions at the NCAA about trans. student athletes, and the complexities of athletic funding—for coaches and otherwise. I found the comments on the College Athletics blog most interesting, as they included some of the most dissenting opinions in the class and were both educational and entertaining to read. Despite that I have maintained my general adversity to college athletics (events in the last two weeks may have squelched any spark of athletic acceptance that had begun to develop deep within me…), I do leave the blogging experience much more informed. In fact, I have recently begun conversations with colleagues in our Athletic Division about a potential partnership on an upcoming project. I likely would not have considered approaching them had I had not begun to think more about the role of athletics on campus as a result of this blog!

As we wrap up the term, I’m a bit sad to see the class blogging experience end. In fact, I talked with a friend in the Lowry cohort about possibly forming a cohort blog, outside of any class assignment, as a space to continue to dialogue, question, ponder, and yes, even vent, about the issues that we face—be it a current event that someone needs to process, a place to bounce research ideas off one another, or just a space to go when you need to procrastinate (…err… I mean, when you need a break…) from other academic or professional responsibilities. Lowry friends- let’s make this happen!

As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday, I’ll close by giving thanks to everyone for providing such insightful and interesting posts. I’ve genuinely appreciated learning from each of you and enjoyed getting to know you through the blogging experience.

-Braelin