Finish that Application!

The deadline for Penn GSE's Higher Education Master's program is March 1st.  I am wondering how many people out there are considering applying but have not completed their profile for fear that grad school may not be the right choice.  We have more news articles every day that tell us how graduates are struggling to get jobs in this (slowly improving) economy, even those with Master's and PhD's.  The threat of being burdened with further student loan debt may make Grad school look like it's not worth it anymore to a potential applicant.

But if you're thinking about applying, and you're checking out Penn GSE's website, and you're looking at the Admissions Blog, and you stumbled on to this blog (thanks for visiting!), I have to ask... why not apply?

We never know what's in store for us unless we take that good ol' leap of faith, if you will.  If you have begun an application (for any of the programs at GSE whose deadline has not passed or is based on rolling admission), you should go ahead and finish and give yourself a chance to be accepted at this great institution.  All of the worries of the world, and whether Grad School is worth it nowadays, doesn't really matter.  What matters is taking a chance and giving yourself as many possibilities and opportunities as possible.  The worse that can happen is you get rejected.  Getting rejected should not be looked at as a definitive reflection of self, I feel that it's more of a sign that the circumstance you want to put yourself in does not quite align with the timing you try to put yourself in it.

The best that can happen is you get accepted.  Then you can weigh the pros and cons of whether grad school would be worth it to you.  But at least give yourself that chance first.

So go ahead, finish that application.  You'll feel better once you do.

Interview with Brendesha Tynes, Part 2

This is Part 2 of the interview with Brendesha Tynes, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the USC Rossier School of Education.  She will present a lecture at Penn as part of the Visiting Faculty Scholars of Color program on Feb. 5th.  Part 1 of the interview is here.

Part 2:

MTW: What experiences have you had or what have you seen that influenced you to take the research path you chose?

BT: I’ve had a number of experiences but I’ll mention the first.

I wanted to be a biomedical engineer when I was a sophomore and junior in high school.  The University of Michigan had a program where they brought aspiring engineers to the campus.  At some point during the program,  I was walking down the street, and a car full of white guys drove by and they said, “Go home ‘N-word’” [They said the actual word].  I lost my desire to go to Michigan and to be an engineer shortly afterwards.

Fast forward to undergrad and graduate school and many of my research questions have centered around African American self-perceptions, dealing with discrimination and how it affects their development.  My life could have been very different. I could be creating prosthetic devices, but my experience at Michigan changed that.  I want to do my part to figure out the impact these experiences have on others.


MTW: Where do you see your research, and the field, in 10-15 years?
BT: This is the absolute best time to study race online.  This historical moment is the absolute best time to do this research.  You have people thinking about race in really sophisticated ways. At the same time you have a retreat to pre-Civil Rights era race relations.

In the future you’re going to see more research on intergroup relations and intergroup learning online. Researchers will also try to better understand how the internet can be used as a tool to promote more positive race relations.


MTW: What advice do you give to the aspiring scholar who wants to do similar research?

BT: My work covers at least three disciplines: Developmental Psychology, New Media Studies, and Black Studies.  When you want to do interdisciplinary work it takes a lot more time.  For each discipline, it will take a year and a half of reading and coursework.  I  would also suggest connecting with faculty who are doing similar work.

Part 1 of this interview

Interview with Visiting Faculty Scholar of Color, Brendesha Tynes

On Tuesday February 5th, GSE’s Visiting Faculty Scholars of Color program will present Brendesha Tynes, the Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the USC Rossier School of Education.  Professor Tynes will present a talk titled, Online Racial Discrimination and Mental Health Outcomes among a Diverse, School-based Sample of Adolescents.  I had a chance to talk to Professor Tynes about her research in this emerging field, her inspiration, and advice she has for scholars who want to do similar research.

This is Part 1 of the interview.  Part 2 will be posted on Monday.

MTW: Please tell us a little about your upcoming talk at Penn and what you hope to accomplish with it.

BT: I’m going to be presenting the results from an NICHD-funded, longitudinal study of the risk and protective factors associated with online victimization.  My research team is beginning to analyze data from Wave 1 of the project. I will be presenting these results, focusing on online racial discrimination and how it relates to mental health outcomes.  Also, we’re looking at group differences in those outcomes.

There’s been a rise in online hate activity since the 2008 election of President Obama.  While we hear a ton about cyberbullying, we don’t hear about the race-related experiences that our teens are having.  I’d like to change that a bit.  I also want to show how these experiences relate to our teens’ everyday schooling experiences.

MTW: Can you tell us about some of the ways that racial discrimination online affects an adolescent differently than racial discrimination in a classroom?

BT: We are trying to figure that out.  Thus far we know that discrimination online has a unique impact on mental health, including depressive symptoms and anxiety over and above discrimination offline.  We also believe that the duration of victimization online may have a unique impact on development. The discriminatory text or image  online becomes a permanent reminder and victims may repeatedly experience an incident... on Facebook, for example where offensive language is not removed from a person’s wall. Individuals also know that a particular hate site with extreme language exists once they have either stumbled upon or deliberately viewed the site. Its permanence and the fact that it is legitimated or viewed by a wide audience may have a particularly detrimental impact on adolescent adjustment.

MTW: Who has the greatest opportunity to protect adolescents from the negative repercussions of online discrimination? Parents? Teachers? Other adolescents?

We’re beginning to see that everyone can play a role.  For example, peers and family can be buffers in the association between online victimization and depressive symptoms. [The adolescents] have fewer depressive symptoms when they have peer and family support.  When they have teacher support they have fewer rule-breaking and aggressive behaviors.


MTW: In a blended learning environment, how should an educator balance the attention they pay to the impact of virtual elements and the impact of real-life elements on the development of the students?

BT: This is the interesting thing…the line between the virtual and reality is really blurring. The virtual is real. A lot of what happens in school gets extended into online worlds.  Our teens see each other all day and then connect on sites like Facebook in the evening. 

I plan to talk about the focus of my next study, a blended learning environment where they manage to do a good job of balancing the two. 

*Part 2 of the Interview will be Posted Monday.*

Designing for the Digital-Savvy Student

I just learned the other day that an education workshop I proposed regarding Learning Environment Design has been approved, and is being marked for late March / early April.  That is wonderful!  I think that there is not enough conversation and attention given to learning environment design.  I think this area will be very important in any school reform.  Students are wired differently than they were 10-15 years ago.  Because of this, we must create learning environments that mesh with how they learn in order to maximize the educational experience.  While I often see literature that discusses how students are wired differently and are more digital savvy than ever before, I have not seen much literature that talks about how to design learning environments that take advantage of this.

One of my favorite books that touches on this is Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology by Richard Halverson and Allan Collins.  They talk about how technology has forced us to a point where we have to seriously look at what education was, and what it needs to become, in order to help students of today learn.  I recommend this book for everyone who is interested in looking more into the phenomenon of student learning in an increasingly digital world.

This interview from one of the authors, Richard Halverson, expands on the subject below.  He makes some good points and brings up important issues that those of us interested in learning environment design need to be aware of.  Enjoy:

Back from Winter Vacation

Today I return to class after having a few weeks off due to the Winter break.  It has been a great few weeks to regroup, refresh, and regain perspective on a lot of things.  Important perspective.

I remember a conversation I participated in with other part-time students before the break.  This was during a Part-Time Student Association lunch.  There weren’t a lot of students there, but a nice group nonetheless.  We kind of came to a revelation that because we’ll be in GSE longer than a good amount of the other GSE students (some of whom will only be in it for 1 year!), we have an opportunity to be a great resource for the school and the students.  I hope to take advantage of that a little more this semester by focusing more on the people of GSE and not so much the work I receive from my GSE class.  I will still work hard, but will try to stress less!

The time off was important.  Between your own life and what’s happening in the lives of others (even those who are hundreds of miles away from you), you realize that there’s more to life than that 25 page paper you stressed over toward the end of the semester.  It’s also about those other students who stressed over the 25 page paper as well!  It’s about the experiences, learning from each other, helping each other, and not taking a day for granted. 

In the midst of trying to complete one assignment to the next, or completing one reading after another, I think I let the entire Fall semester whiz by me.  I didn’t stop to really soak in just how beautiful it was that a group of students from all over the world could gather together in one classroom (or Blackboard, or Canvas) and freely expand on or create knowledge. 

So this semester, I hope I can slow down and soak it in.  I’ve been blessed with a longer amount of time to soak it in than some students get.  I’ve already heard several 1-year GSE students say that their year went by so fast.  For me, it will take longer, but it will still be done before I know it.  And if I continue to let it whiz by me, I will look back one day and think, “I wish I would have just stopped and, I don’t know…learned a little bit more about my classmates.”  So I hope I can stick to this for the semester.  

The even greater part is, I think it will help me overall as I continue to balance part-time school with the other responsibilities in my life.  So we’ll see.  Here’s to a great Spring semester, and a great 2013 as well.

*Comic: Ph.D Comics by Jorge Chan: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php

Plight of the Part-Time Student: Staying Fit Part 2

Here area few more tips for us PT’ers to stay healthy:

I wonder if Santa takes grad courses on the side...

5. Make health a priority for your family - not just you!

Make sure to communicate with your spouse (and kids) that you want to maintain a healthy lifestyle; they will help you and most likely join you on the adventure.  This is a good way to create a healthy environment in a family; if one spouse is eating fruit, vegetables, working out 2-3 times a week, and cutting down on sugar, the others may be motivated to follow suit in some way.  Also, this gives you another way to bond with your spouse and kids.

6. Take breaks!  Take breaks! Did I mention take breaks?

It is very easy to keep working and working and working through work and school and then get home and run out of gas.  All of this leads to a) less physical energy to take care of your health and b) less mental energy to focus on your health.  Take breaks throughout the day and really reflect on your health.  When was the last time you took a run?  Did you eat any fruits and vegetables today?  How can you take your health to the next level?

7. Combine!
Here’s a pretty cool thing I’m learning; start experimenting with putting some of the healthier foods like fruits and almonds into some of the foods you already eat.  If you pack a lunch for work (highly recommended) and you have, say, a sandwich, try to sprinkle some crushed almonds into the sandwich.  This is an easy way to get some additional fiber in your diet. Trust me, after a while you get used to these combinations and with very little effort, you add to your nutritional intake.

8. Reward yourself!
I started a little system where I get myself prizes after a certain number of times at the gym. All of my prizes are pieces of athletic gear. For instance, I'll purchase some (long overdue) new running sneakers after 40 workouts. Use whatever reward system works best for you. In the midst of a packed schedule, making exercise fun and almost like a game is a great way to keep yourself going motivated.

That’s all I have for now, but I’ll share more as I go.  I just had a great run yesterday and hope that the holiday season doesn't slow the momentum!

Plight of the Part-Time Student: Staying Fit, Part 1

When you’re an undergrad, it all seems so easy.  A gym is usually within walking distance.  You go there with a few friends.  You run, you lift.  It’s nice.  The crazy stuff that you eat (pizza, pizza, and more pizza) doesn’t seem to affect you at all.  

Things change as you get a little bit older!

Another plight of the part time student is trying to stay fit through class, work, and family obligations.  Also, you may not live that close to a gym, and may not be on campus long enough to take advantage of the University's gym.

This is something I am trying to figure out.  Staying fit is very important when you have so many key obligations in your life.  It relieves stress and makes you feel good about yourself.  It’s important to feel good about yourself so that you can bring the best “You” to your marriage, your job and your school work.

So while I’m not doing this perfectly (and never will), I’m doing much better than I was doing even a few months ago.  Here are a few things I’ve learned that may be helpful for other PT'ers (part-timers). I'll list a few here and some more in my next blog post:

1. Set Goals that work for you

It is often said that in order to stick to our fitness plans, we need to have goals.  On a deeper level, these goals have to be important and specific to you.  For me, I’m finding out that the best thing that motivates me to stay fit, work out and eat right is by focusing on an upcoming event or activity.  Currently, I’m planning on joining some kind of club sport in the Spring.  So this is motivating me to get/stay in shape now.  My last goal was staying in shape for my wedding.  

Setting goals this way may not work for you.  You may do better by wanting to achieve a certain run time or distance, etc.  Take some time to really think what goals work for you and motivate you.

2. Get involved!

If you get yourself involved in some physical extracurricular activities, this will help you reach the goals you set for yourself. Penn has a ton of opportunities.  Some of them are intramural sports that students can join (here: http://www.upenn.edu/recreation/sports/intramural.html) and a state of the art - and huge -fitness center (http://www.upenn.edu/recreation/facilities/pottruck.html).  

3. Schedule exercise ahead of time

If you don’t do this, eventually everything will swallow up all of your time and exercise will be put on the back burner.  But if you make it a point to say, “on Tuesday evening I will run for ½ hour, then again on Saturday” you are much more likely to go ahead and do it.

4. Keep track of the grad school food

Food is a great socializing tool for campus events;  and there’s certainly nothing wrong with engaging in these events and having a bite to eat.  But try to keep track of what you’re eating.  If you’re trying to watch your diet, and you participate in a campus event that has foods that go against your diet, remember that when you go back home to eat dinner and try to adjust.  Originally, I just ate the campus "socializing foods" and never thought twice about it.  Now I am trying to be more aware of what I’m eating and how I might have to adjust the rest of my diet for the day.

Part 2 with more tips coming soon...