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:
· 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
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