This was a busy second week full of meetings and presentations for this SIF. Nicole and I presented our first iteration of our Spatial Symposium series on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. We had a total of four of our SIF/Honors Students colleges join us for those events. There were also kickoff meetings for both the GSU 1010 eText & Study Skills Assessment and the SIF Outreach & Documenting. Here is a little break down of the tasks assigned to each of these groups.

GSU 1010 eText & Study Skills Assessment  For some context: “The GSU 1010 course serves as the academic orientation course provided for first semester college students to assist them in the acquisition of fundamental skills essential for academic success. This course is offered primarily through the Freshmen Learning Community (FLC) program and serves as the anchor course among the cluster of classes offered to each FLC cohort. In addition to the academic orientation topics is the expectation that there will be class discussions and lectures related to the theme of the learning community” (First Year Programs website). We have been tasked with taking the textbook for this course, which is currently in PDF form, and making it interactive. During our meeting, we discussed adding a series of short videos as a quick and easy way to provide information about campus life (using the library, advisement, financial aid, how to become involved, etc) to the newest additions to the GSU community.  In addition, we will explore ways to assist students in moving through campus spatially through maps and video campus tours.

SIF Outreach & Documenting  During my interview for this position, I strongly advocated for increasing communication across GSU’s entire campus surrounding the resources and projects that are taking place across disciplines. Through this group, we would like to create a hub for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty and staff, to learn about the places and opportunities the university offers as ways to fit their technological needs.  The group is taking its first steps by creating a collective list of technology spaces on campus ( think computer labs, the digital aquarium, etc) that are open to all students. Once we make this collection, our team will make some web-based maps, a series of short informational videos, and any other promotional items we may think of along the way as a resource to share with all of GSU. From there, we will work towards finding ways to communicate with the GSU community about what is taking place at CURVE and with the SIF program and how those who are interested can become involved.

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One of the questions that has been coming to mind for me during these conversations is “why?” Why is it that there is a need to increase the engagement between GSU’s freshmen and the step by step guide to campus life. Why would students, faculty, and staff on campus not already aware of the technological resources that are available? Why is it important that these individuals have access to these resources? It is through the answer to this nagging “why” that purpose, drive, and focus will emerge. In order to attempt to answer these questions, I took a moment to take a step back and examine the environment that I am working in.

Georgia State Facts: Georgia State University, which was founded in 1913,  offers 250 degree programs in over 100 fields of study throughout the 50+acres of land that make up this urban campus. With over 32,000 graduate and undergraduate students or enact ways everyone could become informed on topics in an accurate, timely, meaningful manner. Now add the roads, overpasses, green spaces, office spaces, shops, restaurants-not to mention the distance people travel to even get onto campus-into the mix, and it becomes clear the significant challenges one could face in creating a community and sharing messages with them.

Taking a moment to examine this larger picture is an important step for me because, in my life as a graduate student, I’ve spent 99.99% of my time spent downtown in my office, working with the same group of people on the same scope of projects.  For the other 0.01% I will leave Kell Hall to go to Sensational Subs for lunch. But really-that about sums it up. As I move forward into the third week, I will take with me the idea of these other 32,000 people -what would it mean if all of them were prepared to transition into campus life? What would it mean if they all knew about the enriching resources they have available to them just by being a member of the GSU community?

What kind of impact does this program, does this SIF, have the potential to have?