Intro to Higher Education

Well, now that I'm half-way done with my degree, it's only appropriate that I'm in this class! The class isn't incredibly huge, but it's larger than I've been used to (there are 21 of us) and the classroom we were in tonight was tiny (they double-booked our original classroom so we all smushed into a small room)! The class seems to have a great mix of students - different ages, levels of experience, areas of expertise, local/mainland, newbies and folks further along in the program. (Though it seemed like half the class was somehow affiliated with the athletic department. How did that happen???) 

One incredibly nice/relaxing thing about this course is that I know for sure that I will be taking it. This is not one that's up for debate. The daunting thing about this course is that it's an "intro" course - which means tons of information. In college, I always found intro courses to be the most difficult - there was so much information to grasp. The more focused the topic is, the easier it is to wrap your brain around. When I find something I like, I prefer to get "deep" with it. Though the wide net is incredibly important - and I'm sure I'll learn a ton of new things.

I'm also excited because this is my first course with Dr C. Yay! (And yes, there will be journaling!) The assignments/papers look reasonable but since this is just the beginning of the course, I have NO IDEA what topic(s) I will choose! Another assignment is to interview someone currently working in higher ed. I'm thinking of interviewing someone with experience in institutional research to find out even more about that area.

Dr C handed out some articles to read for next week. At one point she brought up the relationship between institutions of higher education and its relationship to the market and to the consumers (students). What are the responsibilities of institutions toward their students? Should the students dictate their learning or should institutions say, "This is what we think you should know so we'll teach you this." - What about access issues? She compared it to McDonalds in the sense that someone comes in and says, "I want a hamburger and fries." - Well, McD's isn't going to say, "You know, this really isn't good for you..." - no, they just take your money and give you what you want. Is that what education should be? The first thing that came to my mind was how institution type can play a role in the way that question is answered. Different institutions have different stakeholders - and while many times they may be the same, the extent to which their opinions are taken into consideration can vary a great deal.

Well, this is my first "journal entry" for this class. Another one will come once I've done the reading for next week. :)