Challenges Commuter Students Face

Commuter students can sometimes feel left out or as if they are not a part of the student body because they miss out on most things that happen on campus. 

This is because most of the events that take place on campus occur during the evening, so only a few commuter students are able to attend. Most commuter students who are actively involved on campus drive to school so it gives them an advantage over commuter students who have to commute by public transportation.

This issue is an important topic which needs to be addressed because part of the experience of going to college is socializing with others, and missing out on such activities takes away from the experience. Especially with media today geared towards representing the excitement of college life, many incoming students get to college to find out there is a huge difference in how college is portrayed depending on where you go to college. The groups that should be interested in this issue includes commuter students, the staff of campus life, and the school administration. Because it is directly related to commuter students, and campus life and the administration are the ones who can help in solving the problem. I think universities everywhere should realize that this is an important issue, and work together with commuter students to make their college life a more delightful experience.
An article posted on the State University website talks about the challenges commuter students face, compared to residential students. It is not really clear who wrote the article, but it is posted on a university page, with credible sources listed.It states that commuters do not have a chance to meet other students and develop relationships because most of these interactions occur cafeterias, resident halls, etc. that is, places that most commuter students do not hang out at. Therefore their options are limited.

Another challenge they often face is with transportation. Parking spaces are limited because a lot of commuter have their own cars. And they also have to arrange their schedules in a way that allows them to attend most of their classes back to back so they do not have to commute as much, and spend less time on campus. Because they spend minimal amounts of time on campus, commuter students are not familiar with the where most things are located on campus so they only go to the buildings where their classes are held and therefore miss out on most events.

Another source describes commuter students and the issues they face. It states that a higher percentage of commuter students have off-campus part-time jobs, and that they feel distant from resident students. It also states that most commuter students chose to commute because they either cannot afford to live on campus or they enjoy the benefits of staying with family or alone. However, they find it difficult to socialize on campus.

In an article by Jenn Inzetta, a college commuter student, she stated that when she decided on a college to attend, the one she chose was about 20 minutes away from her home. She states that she thought about living on-campus but decided it wasn't worth it to spend all that money. 

"I often had large gaps of time in between my classes,not enough time to head home, but just enough time to rationalize my way out of starting my reading and into Facebook stalking in the back of the library. Meeting people was more difficult as well; while everyone else was bonding with their new roommates, I did not have the same built-in social network to start with."  

So she became a commuter, however most of the events on campus were held at night, and her classes were over before 5pm so she was not involved with campus life. She had a hard time socializing and making Until she applied for a job on campus. This is one of the best ways to become an integrated commuter students and not feel left out. Universities should provide more on campus jobs and to encourage commuters to socialize more.

In a blog-post, written by another college commuter student, he discusses how lonely it is being a commuter student because you don't get to meet a lot of people.

 

So thus, instead of focusing on how lonely you are, put those energies into a personal passion or hobby. For me, it’s video games. I spend a great deal of time playing video games, chatting with people online about them, and while interaction with people over the Internet is far less satisfying than facetime with others, it still alleviates some of the pressure.

 However, this student focuses more on how commuter students should not let that affect them, but should instead channel their energy into doing something else that entertains them.  

In conclusion, I believe it is in the best interests of everyone if colleges and universities realize that there is more to school than just grades, especially with commuter students. Although most decide to stay off campus to save money, or because it is their parent's decision but that does not mean commuter students do not want to be involved in campus activities. For years, since digital journalism became worldwide, commuters have been writing blogs and articles about how their college life does not start out how they expected. I hope this will be one of the blog-posts which will actually help to make a difference in college commuter student's lives.

References

"Commuter Students - Commuter Student Challenges." - Campus, College, Time, and University. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1875/Commuter-Students.html>.

"Office for Student Affairs." Office for Student Affairs. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <http://www.osa.umn.edu/forfacultystaff/understanding/commuter.html>.

Jenn Inzetta. "My Life As A Commuter Student." Dating, Fitness, Celeb Gossip & Everything College. 15 Oct. 2010. Web. 01 May 2016.

"The Commuter Student." The Commuter Student. 19 Feb. 2011. Web. 01 May 2016.

Serial, a Different Kind of Journalism

The posts on Serial, tells the story of a man named Bowe Bergdahl, who was held in captivity by the Taliban for five years. The podcasts are posted onto the Serial website by journalists, and it seems like they are added by posting the audio directly onto the webpage. The webpage also contains other materials like photos related to the story, maps and the artwork that accompanies the audio.
The materials included on the webpage add  depth and interest to the story, it makes it more believable and relatable.

In an article from Vulture, they stated that the idea of Serial stemmed from a question of what was most popular in culture, to which the answer was "TV shows that people binge-watch"and so they tried to create a version of that with Serial. I believe this type of journalism does well in recreating that and capturing attention, because it doesn't have just one person telling a story, it includes a number of voices all playing their parts in telling a story. However, i think this type of journalism might be weak in the sense that it does not reach nearly enough people. I just recently found out about it and I think most people would say the same.

Commuter Struggles and Challenges

Commuter students can sometimes feel left out or as if they are not a part of the student body because they miss out on most things that happen on campus. This is because most of the vents that take place on campus occur during the evening, so only a few commuter students are able to attend. Most commuter students who are actively involved on campus drive to school so it gives them an advantage over commuter students who have to commute by public transportation.

This issue needs to be investigated because part of the experience of going to college is socializing with others, and missing out on such activities takes away from the experience. Especially with media today geared towards representing the excitement of college life, many incoming students get to college to find out there is a huge difference in how college is portrayed depending on where you go to college.

The groups that would be interested in this issue would include commuter students, and the staff of campus life, because they issue is directly related to commuter students, and campus life are the ones who can help in solving the problem. I might quote the commuter and resident students, and represent the views of both of them.

The conclusion I want readers to reach is, how alienated commuter students can feel and that universities should work hard to make this issue non-existent.

  This article talks about the challenges commuter students face, compared to residential students. It states that commuters do not have a chance to meet other students and develop relationships because most of these interactions occur cafeterias, resident halls, etc. that is, places that most commuter students do not hang out at. Therefore their options are limited.
It also states that commuter students often have to go the extra mile to meet with professors and other members of faculty because they usually have to commute a lot. Which leads to the issue that is transportation. Parking spaces are limited because a lot of commuter have their own cars. And they also have to arrange their schedules in a way that allows them to attend most of their classes back to back so they do not have to commute as much, and spend less time on campus. Because they spend minimal amounts of time on campus, commuter students are not familiar with the where most things are located on campus so they only go to the buildings where their classes are held and therefore miss out on most stuff. It concludes by talking about an experiment that show that commuter students retain less than resident students, and they also are less likely to persist in college because they have less interactions with “academic and social systems”.

This source describes commuter students and the issues they face. It states that a higher percentage of commuter students have off-campus part-time jobs, and that they feel distant from resident students. It also states that most commuter students chose to commute because they either cannot afford to live on campus or they enjoy the benefits of staying with family or alone. However, they find it difficult to socialize on campus. It states that some of the major issues commuter students face is having reliable mean of transportation, having less time and energy, and lacking a sense of inclusion on campus.

It goes on to give solutions to making commuters feel at home on campus, like organizing events at times that most commuter students are able to attend, communicating in ways that are most likely to be heard or seen by them, like putting fliers in buildings they usually go to, and faculty having more flexible office hours.

The Expectations of Middle Schoolers

The way middles school pupils expect their futures in education to be differs a bit from how it really is, because most have quite unrealistic expectations.

Usually, the ones with the most realistic views are the ones that have older siblings, who have enough experience to tell them how the higher education system really works, and thus preparing them for less shock when they get there. However, the ones without older siblings, have very different, even unrealistic visions of how they expect their futures to be.

Even if these teenagers have parents who also have experience with higher education, it seems the parents do not discuss it with them unless they are almost at the age for high school. Therefore it would be better if these things are discussed and taught in middle school.

Investigative Journalism - How Willing is the Government to Divulge Information

Talk to the Hand, is an article written about how federal agencies refuse to give out important information concerning the public. Although most of these agencies publicly declare that they are "as transparent as possible", when it comes to actually providing the information the become very closed off.

The "watchdog role" of journalists is defined as "informing the public about goings-on in institutions and society, especially in circumstances where a significant portion of the public would demand changes in response." Journalists might find themselves missing a lot of crucial information when they turn to the web for investigative journalism because most web articles covering a story are paraphrased copies of one another. It is difficult to find an article that contains entirely new information.

An example of watchdog journalism is Talk to the Hand.  In this article it said that over a thousand people lost their clean drinking water in West Virginia due to a chemical spill in January of 2014.  However when 2 reporters from the Charleston Gazette tried to get the Center for Disease Control and prevention to divulge information about the subject, their requests were not acknowledged. A lot of other reporters also claimed to have experienced similar treatments during the current administration, although this administration claim to be “the most transparent in history”.

If I were to write an investigative article, it would be on how different colleges process their acceptance. The best way to find information on this topi would be to talk to representatives of the admissions offices, and students who have been accepted.

In conclusion, watchdog journalist go through lengths to provide accurate information, however they should not rely too much on the web for accurate information.

Investigative Reporting- Then vs Now

An article published a few decades ago about a dead man found dead, and decomposing with letters addressed to specific people and a watch chain, sans watch.

The Martian, June 21 1989

Today, we see this sort of article a lot of times about people going missing, and people being found dead, that I don't think this article would raise any eyebrows in this modern day. It feels like people have become desensitized to it. There's even a special section in most newspapers for missing people. The only way this would be controversial is if the names of the people to whom the letters were addressed are important or famous in the society. 

If the people mentioned are normal, everyday people, the issue would be talked about for a while and then forgotten. However, I think back then it would be controversial no matter who these people were.

Sharing on the Web.

Nowadays, most of us get our news, and are constantly share things via social media. Although most people refuse to acknowledge social media as a main source of news, it seems like it is. This might be positive because it means people find out about events faster, or negative because most of the news articles are written on websites that do not thoroughly conduct research before publishing articles

Facebook and Twitter; the main sources of news.
Although most people would come to the conclusion that it is just teens who would get their new from social media, a survey showed people of varying races, ages and genders who admitted to getting their new from Facebook and Twitter.
In the article, "Facebook and Twitter Really Are Where People Get Their News", it stated that in 2013, 52% received their news from Twitter and 47% from Facebook. Which significantly increased from 2013 to 2015, with 63% getting their news from Facebook and the same percentage for Twitter. However most people stated that "neither of them 'are an important way I get news'". Which leads to an important question, why do we rely on social media for news if it is not an important source?

Smartphone Addiction.
We spend a lot of time on social media, which is why we find out about events firstly from there. It seems like almost everyone nowadays carries a smartphone and is seldom seen without it, but does that mean we are addicted to them? In the article, "Is Smartphone Addiction Real?” it stated that a research professor, Dr. Mark Griffiths said that, “Just because something is very important in your life, and you carry it everywhere, and when you forget it, you feel like your left arm’s missing, that doesn’t mean that you’re addicted,” however I disagree with him. In my opinion, if a possession or habit which is not vital to your survival or health feels like something you cannot live without, then it should be considered an addiction. People don’t seem to realize how harmful they are to our health. Another thing we don’t seem to realize is how most of the news we get from these articles stem from rumors or are made up.

Articles with False Information. 

With the accessibility of technology nowadays, everyone and anyone can easily put up a website or blog and write anything they choose. And most people do not check the references to articles. Due to this, a lot of false information is spread. In an article on NBCnews.com, it stated one of the most harmful false information posted and shared on the web to about the missing Malaysian airplane. This occurred when a Twitter user tweeted that "he had 'some inside news from a pilot uncle that #MH370 has emergency landed somewhere in China! Hope everyone is safe.'" This news spread quite fast and the families of the missing passengers were releived, until the Airlines and the Chinese government proved it to be false. Although receiving most of our informaton via social media and constantly sharing it may be a good way to spread awarenes quickly there may be more downsides to it than is realized.

Article 1; Facebook and Twitter

Article 2; Smartphone Addiction

Article 3; Social media False News