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Alisha Mukhida – Academic Profile

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I am honored to have had the opportunity to meet and interview my fellow colleague named Alisha Mukhida. She and I were able to hold two separate virtual meetings to discuss both our personal and academic lives. During the first meeting, we took some time to introduce ourselves to one another. The second meeting, however, was spent interviewing each other about our positions in the world of academia and our feelings and opinions towards it. Alisha informed me of many fascinating aspects of her upbringing that shaped who she has become—a 23-year-old young woman craving progression and success in today’s America.

She was born overseas in India, a country deeply rooted in tradition and culture. When asked about her school experience, she mentioned that she spent her school years in different locations. The beginning of her education was spent in India, specifically from pre-school until the ninth grade. Following that, Alisha and her family moved to Africa, where she followed a British education system (i.e., primary and secondary school years) as did all her classmates. She graduated from high school in 2018, before moving abroad to the United States. She decided to move for an opportunity at a higher quality of education.

Before moving to Georgia, Alisha originally lived in Alabama—specifically, on the campus of the University of North Alabama, but this only lasted for one term. When I inquired as to why she decided to transfer schools after just one semester of attending this school, Alisha explained that her brother lives here in Georgia, and her parents recommended for her to move in order for the two of them to be close to one another. Therefore, Alisha decided to transfer to Clark Atlanta University, where she once again only remained for one semester. This time, however, Alisha expressed discontentment with the behavior of her classmates as well as the inconvenient pricing required to attend. After two unsuccessful attempts at finding a school that suited her, Alisha finally decided to choose Georgia State University.

 

Alisha felt her transition to college was a difficult one. She feels that it is unrealistic for students to be introduced to the lifestyle of college life while not yet having figured who they are. “I didn’t like the fact that I had to come to college knowing nothing. I don’t feel like I knew myself then.” Alisha continuously stressed that she wished college had more counseling for students, especially the freshmen. In addition to this, she mentioned that she was the first in her household to attend college and she felt that due to this, she couldn’t ask her family for feedback, advice, or tips regarding her transition to college. In fact, besides an aunt of hers, none of her family was able to assist with anything concerning her education.

 

I met a colleague of mine, Alisha Mukhida, and was able to ask her many questions regarding her previous as well as present personal and academic experiences, thoughts, and struggles. She explained to me her relocating several times, and that through this, she was able to reach the US. Alisha highlighted that she chose GSU due to inconveniences when attending other schools. She described her struggles when first beginning college, and through this, I have found that she is a young woman with incredible experiences. I am also very grateful that she was able to find her way to GSU, because if she hadn’t, I may have never met her, and I am very grateful I did. 

Learning to Write in General

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You Can Learn To Write In General

        There are so many bad ideas about writing that many people used to believe. Ideas that are still taught in middle school and even high school. These bad ideas make it hard for people to write really well. Elizabeth Wardle says that the idea “You Can Learn To Write in General” actually hurts students. “It’s a dangerous idea that needs to die because it hurts students and frustrates teachers and employers.” (Wardle, 31). Elizabeth Wardle and Tom Deans believe that a better idea about writing is for students to use their knowledge about writing and apply it to the new situations. This idea is whenever you’re going to a new environment or situation. This is a better idea because it doesn’t allow students to believe that there’s a magic formula that will help them write well in all situations. (Wardle, 32). No one can learn to write in general, but there’s things that a person can learn to help them become a better writer.

        ​Tom Deans is the author of the book review of Worlds Apart: Acting and Writing in Academic and Workplace Contexts article. He is reviewing someone’s book, which means he’s basically giving a summary of it. This article goes into detail about the huge gap between academic and work. He gives numerous examples to make it very clear that there is most definitely a gap. Then he goes on to talk about the research that was conducted. After the research is done, he explains the results. Then he talks about what the solution to close the gap between academic and work is. His better idea is using community-based academic experiences to close the gap. ​

​        Students have to make an adjustment whenever they go to a new level. Whether it’s middle school, highschool, college, corporate America, etc. “The authors reveal both the socially situated nature of writing and the considerable gap between university and workplace contexts” (Deans, 1). T did multiple case studies of university courses in architecture, social work, finance and professional jobs such as a hospital or bank. (Deans, 1). Patrick Dias, Aviva Freedman, Peter Medway, and Anthony Paré Mahwah are the authors of the book that Tom Deans reviewed. The original authors came to the conclusion that “workplace writers generally receive little or no formal training; rather, they learn by doing and by apprenticeship”. (Deans, 1). This means that when workplace writers are hired, they aren’t trained in the ways of the company. Which means they don’t learn exactly how the company wants them to write. They have to learn by trial and error or have someone mentor them.

        So we now know that there is a decent sized gap between school and work. That’s not a good thing because there needs to be a smooth transition so that the student will be successful. Tom Deans, in his review of “Words Apart: Acting and Writing in Academic and Workplace Contexts” actually discusses how to close the gap. The book’s main idea to close the gap is by using community-based academic experiences. “Like internships that give students real life experience in workplace discourse”. (Deans, 2). This gives students a taste of what it’s like working so they can get some knowledge. This would definitely close the gap because it would allow the students to get a feel of what the company’s wants.

        ​Learning to write in general is a really bad idea about writing. Wardle says that because it makes it seem like there’s a formula whenever you have to write. That’s just not true because “Writers always have more to learn” (Wardle, 32). Every new situation is different so there’s something new that has to be learned. There are things researchers have learned, and things that will help writers be more effective. This means that you can’t learn to write in general, but there are things that will help you become a better writer or a more effective one. Dean say that community-based writing is a better idea because it will help people who are going from academic to work. It’s going to make the transition much smoother and allow them to be more successful and effective.


Works Cited

 

● Wardle, Elizabeth. Bad Ideas About Writing. Pp. 30-32
● Dean, Tom. Worlds Apart: Acting and Writing in Academic and Workplace Contexts. Volume 2, 2000, Pp 1-2

Here Is Our Class Blog!

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Hi Everyone!

Welcome to our class blog! This is where you will share your “What’s a Better Idea?” research projects. I would like you to share the research projects here instead of in the traditional way, because I think than more than 1 person (me) needs to learn about these better ideas about writing. Another nice thing about a blog post as opposed to a traditional paper is that you can add links, images, and other things more easily than in a word doc.

But also, I think class blogs are a great way to communicate across the class–to each other–especially when we don’t have a face-to-face aspect of the class. To that end, while you’re required to put your research project here, I’ll also create some ways you can get a little extra credit by posting here on the blog.