the unobservant anthropologist

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Update on the “comparing the same online & on-campus graduate course” research

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on August 25, 2007

Back in January I started working on a research project with my advisor and an on-campus peer. The focus of the research project is to compare an online version and an on-campus version of the same graduate course (taught at the same time and by the same professor). My advisor was the professor for the courses, the other RA was in the on-campus course at the time, and I was in the online course at the time. So we all have a somewhat “emic” view of the Fall 2006 course.

The on-campus RA conducted and transcribed 12 face-to-face interviews and transcribed three class meetings. I conducted and transcribed 9 phone interviews (using Skype & Pamela), transcribed three teleconference meetings, and organized three weeks of discussion board postings. The data has been collected and consists of 21 interviews and all of the course communications (class meetings, discussion boards, and teleconferences) for the same three weeks in the course. We have A TON of data.

We have weekly teleconferences between the three researchers, we email almost daily, and we have a secure online site where we share our collaborative documents and files. The entire process has been really interesting for me and I think it’s very fitting that I am an online RA for this particular project.

We have all of our transcription finished now and we are moving into the analysis phase. Our presentation on our research has been accepted at the 2007 AAA Meeting in D.C.. We will be doing a presentation about how our findings will be applied to the UNT online master’s program. We hope to find ways in which the online program can be improved upon to make the experience similar to that of on-campus. The goal of that program has always been to offer a master’s degree and graduate experience that is comparable with that of an on-campus degree. The fact that our findings will be applied really shows UNT’s dedication to the online master’s.

I don’t have any findings that can be reported yet, but we’re making good progress thus far. We have a lot of people interested in the project- so that’s very exciting for us.

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How to “network” as an online anthropology student

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on August 25, 2007

As an online graduate student I’ve been faced with the challenge of getting the same experience of “networking” and “learning the in’s and out’s of the discipline” that would normally come with being an on-campus student. The quotations I’ve used around networking are intentional because I do not (never ever) intentionally network and I’m fairly certain I would fail if I did. Rather, I’ve met a lot of people by just being myself- social, talkative, ambitious, interested to meet people for the sake of meeting them.

A friend, Celina Kapoor, recently pointed out that she felt like I was good at “networking” and that I have a good idea of how to go about being connected (in the sense of knowing what’s going on) in the field of anthropology. After some thought I composed a list of things that I do that I feel are helpful in these regards. I shared my list with my online peers at the recent UNT online orientation. I’ve included the list below because I think the tips are just as beneficial for on-campus anthropology students. Eventually I’d like to turn it into a wiki page because the list will really be an on-going project. I’d love to hear feedback and comments (jencardew at gmail dot com) if you have any!

*start document*

The following document was composed to offer suggestions on how to “network” as an online student, but all of the tips can be used by on-campus students and non-students alike. An added benefit from using these tools to network is that you are more likely to become more involved in the field of anthropology and to learn more about the field.

As a graduate student in an online program you may miss out on networking opportunities that on-campus students have, in the last year I have found ways to overcome this- some are obvious and some may not be. Each one takes time, however in my opinion it is worth it. Many of us will be entering into a new field of work, new job, etc. after graduation and one of the best ways to find a job is through networking. Also, I have found it helpful to just get to know other anthropologists, and anthropologists in your sub-field of interest specifically, because while you might not call on them for a lead on a job, you’ll have people to ask for advice, direction, etc. (don’t forget that your advisor can help with this too!) I have been active in all of the following activities, I’ve incorporated it into my routine, but I don’t spend much time on it.

blogs: read, comment and/or start your own (a blog is an online journal, visit this site for a more throughout explanation.)
o I have found that the anthropologists that blog are really friendly and happy to talk! A good way to enter into the “blogging community” of anthropology bloggers is to subscribe to blogs that cover topics you are interested in and to write comments as a response to posts that you have an interest in, opinion on, can add to, etc. This helps to open the dialogue and also is beneficial because you’ll expand your horizons!
o Visit this site to watch a short and simple video learn about subscribing to blogs via RSS (free notifications of new posts by the blogs you are interested in)
o If you would like to use a RSS feed reader to organize your blog subscriptions (it’s convenient and free!) I recommend Google Reader. There are directions on the website, and I would be more than happy to walk you through it if you need help!
o Here is a comprehensive list of anthropology blogs antropologi.info/blog/
o You can also search and find blogs using technorati
o Another great way to enter into this community is to start your own blog. There are a few different “anthropology blogging families”- mine Anthroblogs is run by John Norvell.
o By starting your own blog you’ll be in control of the topics discussed and people will seek you out to start a dialogue- it’s a small community, so it’s super easy to get involved and to get readers.
o You’d be surprised at the amount of people that could email you about what you write (I was contacted by a Canadian news reporter after having my blog for about 2 months)
o There are many free websites that offer free blogging tools that are simple and easy to set up- Word Press is (in my opinion) the easiest to use because you do not need to know any HTML, etc. they give you free templates. Blogger is another free site run by Google
o By being involved in the anthropology blogging community you’ll increase your chances of starting dialogues with people that have similar interests, but you’ll also start to just “get your name out there”
o Also, don’t limit yourself to “anthropology” blogs—what are related disciplines that you could learn more about and get to know people? i.e., design, education, public health

listservs (visit this site to learn about listservs)
o By joining one of the free email listservs you’ll keep up-to-date with happenings in your sub-discipline and you’ll learn more about others’ interests
o Once you feel comfortable, you can start posting discussion emails and/or responding
o If you see that someone posts discussions that you are interested in- email them off-list and start a discussion, people in general are super nice (and if they’re not, do you really want to talk to them?)
o Sometimes job postings and/or events are announced- pay attention to ones in your area, etc. and attend!
o This website has a good list of anthropology listservs
o This is the AAA (American Anthropological Association) list of listservs

email
o In the past year I’ve seen people’s websites, etc. and emailed them a question i.e., can I see your syllabus for your course, etc.
o People are usually responsive, if not, don’t be discouraged though
o People like to talk about themselves ☺

LPO
o Local Practitioner Organizations
o These are regional groups made up of practitioners and applied anthropologists
o Some LPOs are active and have events, etc.
o Some are not as active, but still have a listserv (see listservs)
o A lot of LPOs will meet up at the bigger conferences, stay informed about such events and meet up with them! (see conference)
o See this site for an explanation of LPO and a list of LPO

anthropology associations
There are benefits to joining anthropology associations such as, discounted registration for conferences, newsletters, free publications, etc.
o The two main ones are:
o Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA)
o SfAA has a social network (see social networks)
o Look around on the website there is a lot of good resources!
o American Anthropological Association (AAA)
o Look around on the website there is a lot of good resources!

o Both the SfAA and the AAA have student focused organization/group of some sort
o Be active on the forums, listservs
o Run for office
o SfAA student
o AAA student

o The AAA has sub-sections i.e., NAPA
o It costs about $10 for students to join the sub-groups
o They meet up at the conferences (see conference)
o AAA interest groups

conferences: workshops, events, common areas
o The two main anthropology conferences are:
o The AAA in the fall (usually October or November)
o The SfAA in the spring (usually March or April)
o There are smaller conferences for smaller organizations
• Savage Minds has put together some info on anthropology conferences here
o There is a business anthropology conference called EPIC in the fall (usually October) EPIC
o Each conference has workshops (for an extra fee)
o Workshops are typically small groups of people and therefore easier to approach and talk to others- if they are in the same workshop, they might have similar interests
o Each conference also has “parties” hosted by various groups
o Attend ones that look interesting, people are usually very approachable!
o There are always student gatherings too, check the message boards
o Volunteer, it’s an easy way to get access to a lot of people and it’s an easy way to get involved in conversations (see podcasting)
o Hang out in common areas and just strike up conversations
o This is easy if you smoke ☺

classmates
o Get to know students that have similar interests, etc. and help each other out!

local universities
o Keep an eye on your local universities lecture series and attend if you see something that looks interesting
o A lot of dissertation defenses are open to the public, attend some anthropology ones
o See about joining their listsev or clubs – not sure if this is possible, but worth a try

podcasting
o Started at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the SfAA in Tampa, FL
o www.SfAApodcasts.net
o Volunteers have a lot of opportunities to interact with speakers in various ways
o Volunteers can volunteer for sessions that are of topical interest
o Also, you’ll have something to talk about at the conference ☺
o It’s a good way to get your name out too- volunteer information is included

social networks (visit this site to view a short, simple video and learn about social networks)
o There are many different social networking site and all are free to join
o Find people that have similar interests and engage in conversation
o Write a bio about yourself so that others can contact you!

o The SfAA has recently started a social network site
o There are student forums and interest groups
o It’s easy to message or comment to people
o It’s not too active yet (still worth your time though) so invite others to join!

o A lot of blogs have a web2.0 (social) feature of sorts (see blogs)
o anthropology.net
o Savage Minds

o One way to find social networks and groups that you are interested in is to search
o Yahoo groups
o Google groups

o Here are a few other ideas
o Linked In
o Live Journal
o Facebook

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I’m done with my first year of grad school!

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on August 25, 2007

I’m actually about to start year two, so the first year has been done for a few weeks now.

I started the UNT Online Master’s program in applied anthropology last August. It was my first year in grad school and also the first year for the online program. UNT’s online program is the first exclusively online master’s in applied anthropology in the U.S.

Overall I feel like the online program went very well in its first year, the classes were extremely in-depth and I walked away feeling like I learned a lot. They absolutely lived up to my high standards. We did run into some bumps with one of our Spring courses, but the students banned together to bring their concerns to the department, our voice was heard, and the problems were addressed. I’m confident that going forward the future students will not face these same issues. You see, that’s one of the beauties of being in a brand new program- it’s a learning experience for all of us and our faculty are dedicated to making the program the best it can be. They listen to our feedback and adjust accordingly.

I’m extremely happy with how well the first year went for me. I’m in a unique situation within the program because I am a more traditional student in that my only job is as a research assistant , most other students work full-time and/or have families. Because I am a full-time student I’m looking to have a more traditional experience as a graduate student (doing research, going to conferences, etc.) and I was somewhat concerned that I might not be afforded these opportunities as an online student. The interesting thing about the UNT program is that you can have the experience that you want to have- some students login, do their coursework and that’s the extent of their participation and others, like myself, have taken jobs as RAs (there are two online RAs), attended conferences, socialized, etc. I’m getting what I want from the program and I’m happy with it.

Looking back at my first year I achieved a lot. I learned Atlas.ti, SPSS, participated in two research projects (one a class project, the other as a RA), attended the AAA and the SfAA conference , launched the SfAA podcasts project (see website here), and made a lot of new friends. All of this as an online student :)

I recently went back to Denton, TX to visit the UNT campus and meet the incoming online students at their required orientation. It wasn’t a required trip for me, but I wanted to meet with a few people face-to-face and to meet the new students. The first year cohort put together a list of our experiences and recommendations for the new folks and I shared the list at the orientation. There are a lot of really interesting people entering into the program. I’m excited to see what their experiences will be, how they will help build the program, and to get to know them.

My second year starts on Monday. I wonder what this new year will bring?

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The importance of not reproducing aspects of academia and politics that you disagree with.

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on April 25, 2007

About an hour ago I read a post on Afarensis about Shelley Batts’ legal troubles with Wiley over one of her blog posts in which she explains, or rather writes about, data presented in a Wiley journal. The specific aspect of her post that is (wrongly) in question by Wiley is the chart and graph in the post.

Essentially what Batts is doing is providing free advertising of the data in the article and ultimately for the authors and publisher. In my opinion, and the opinions of many of the commenters on various blogs, there is nothing wrong with what she has done. She presented the data, the chart, the graph and offered some commentary. She didn’t slander the data or anyone associated with it, nor did she take credit for their work. However, it appears as though some folks at Wiley disagree with her use of a chart and graph in the post. In my opinion, Wiley really, really should find better ways to use their resources, rather than bullying a PhD candidate at U of M into taking down visual elements that support her blog post that was dedicated to an article in their journal. It’s absolute silliness.

So what does the “The importance of not reproducing aspects of academia and politics that you disagree with” part of the blog post mean? Well, it is in reference to myself. My initial reaction was to get up on my soap box (see above) and shout about how I feel this is completely ridiculous. However, before I could login to my blog I had a thought; “what could this mean for me?”. Now, I know that this is totally selfish and I now realize that it was actually completely out-of-character for me. BUT it happened and I want to share the rest of the process. In a hypothetical situation, what could jumping into a role of advocate for a fellow blogger (I don’t know her- but aren’t we all in this together :) against a publisher mean? Well, it could make a publisher mad at me (they are clearly not busy doing real things, but rather cruising the blogosphere for little guys to pick on).

Aspects of the habitus of academia are to accede to bureaucracy, abide by the “rules”, and to get through grad school without pissing anyone off. I’ve never been very good at doing any of these things- reason #1 why I’m in an online program… to stay as far away from the academy as I can. So, why should I start being mindful of these things now? What’s really on the line?

My conclusion; I’m not going to censor myself in order to stay under the radars of the more-powerful than I. It’s unlikely that this post would draw such attention- so it’s really the principle of the matter. By censoring myself, by being mindful of the ways of academia that I disagree with, and giving in- I’m reproducing those qualities. How will anything in academia (the bad of course, not the good) change if we surrender and reproduce those qualities? And, most importantly to me, how will I live with myself if I become a “reproducer” of these qualities?

Another passing thought before I end this self-reflection, I’ve never branded the podcast project as an open access project for fear that people may misunderstand the movement, shy away from the project, and (at worst) shut the project down. Although my intent for the project is by no means to start the movement within anthropology, I avoided the mentioning of it (after I realized that it does indeed have a small bit to do with it) for strategic reasons, with the thought that if “open access” was associated with the podcasts people might disapprove of it. In a way it was a very political thing to do- and again, out of my character. Blah. I need to take more moments of reflection if I’m going to stay true to myself in the very influential world.

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GTD- Anthropology style

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on February 28, 2007

In case you’re not savvy, GTD stands for getting things done and the concept is rather self-explanatory. I would go so far as to say it’s a popular trend and it seems to be based off of a book by David Allen. While I haven’t read the book, I am a big fan of productivity and efficiency.

I feel like one of my strengths is my ability to draw connections where others might not see them. That’s a rather bold statement for me, but I’ve been told by many others I have that trait, and let’s face it, that’s what social science trains you to do.

So, I’d like to share some of the GTD concepts I’ve gathered through my anthropological training.

Theory. Strong training in anthropological theory, or any theory for that matter, helps to make situations easier to approach and evaluate. While learning the theory isn’t easy for most, it helps later in life- trust me. As an example: I struggled with the dilemma “do you chose a client and then the focus OR the focus and then the client?” for about a year. I’m concerned about this because my practicum (thesis) is staring me in the face even though it’s at least a year away. Enter Singer’s Community-Centered Praxis (1994). Singer suggests that researchers should let the community chose their own focus in their research (there’s more to it than that). While I might not adopt his approach, it could answer my question if I want it to. Point is, others’ have come before you and made similar mistakes- do your literature review: follow their led or at least learn from their mistakes. Let theory guide your decisions because it may help to make them easier and thus quicker to make. Also, let it guide your analysis, there’s a million different ways to interpret things. My approach is a hodge-podge ranging from Nader to Singer to Bourdieu to Foucault at this point.. but that’s OK.

Literature reviews. While they just might be one of the dullest and most time consuming aspects of research- they’re vital. Unless you want to test for validity or reliability there really is not much sense in re-doing what was done correctly (emphasis on correctly!) the first time. And this saves you time in the end. It will also save you time by not having to defend your work to those more knowledgeable than you. At the AAA this past year, there was a session where it quickly became evident to a lot of the attendees that the group had not done their (literature) research. It may take that group a lot of time to repair their image now and I’m sure they’ve spent a fair amount of time (beyond that day) defending themselves.
Now of course, this is all subjective. In the vast field of medical anthro it might not be as easy to do a thorough lit review and/or there may not be over-arching agreed upon theories. But on this particular day the design anthropologists in the room showed the importance of lit reviews.

Organizing your files. After reading LeCompte and Schensul’s Analyzing & Interpreting Ethnographic Data last semester, I was inspired to organize the files on my computer. There’s a section in the book about organizing field data and while it’s helpful, I think you have to learn that by experience. What I got out of the book was the importance of organizing my own personal files on my computer. I do this for two reasons: it makes referencing things quicker and easier and it gives me practice for when I have to manage field data.

My personal files are organized by steps in the research process so that when I do a research project I can reference the materials I’ve collected and chosen as great along the way. I hope that this will save me the hassle of having to re-find the things I’ve read in school and I’ll probably have a pretty good database by the time I graduate. If an article assigned in class is good- I put it into my “research file” and I also try to tag it on del.icio.us if I can. I also have a benefit from my classes being online because all class discussions and lessons are electronic- if they’re good, I can save them and file them away.

My “research folder” consists of:
*Lit reviews= instructions on how to do an abstracts, etc
*Research HowTo- data collection methods, IRB examples, Informed consent examples, etc
*Analysis- tutorials in atlas.ti, spss, coding instructions, etc
*Transcription- linguist transcription keys, tutorials, software, etc
*Ethics- AAA guide, certifications, etc
*Writing- style guides, etc
*ToRead- articles that I’ve enjoyed, etc
*My Abstracts- I’ve written in courses that I think I’ll use again

I’m actually trying out yep software, it’s $34 (free trial) and is for OSX. It’s a document database that allows for tagging, or “coding” if you will, so I’m tagging sections of documents for easy future reference. I’ll post a review when I’ve had some more experience with it.

People skills. As anthropologists, we learn the art of establishing rapport. I see this as being helpful in “non-research settings” because we learn better people skills. But you can also use “real life” to strengthen your rapport building skills. You can also read a few (non-anthro) books about the subject strengthening your people skills and apply that to field work. It applies in research and life- two birds with one stone.

If I think of more tips- I’ll post a part II. If you have some tips- please share!

Read the rest of this entry »

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UNT’s Online Master’s Program in the News

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on February 20, 2007

Well- I guess it may not be in the “news”, but it’s in some current anthropology publications.

In last month’s issue of Anthropology News there are three short articles about anthropology and the Internet. One is written by Christina Wasson of UNT. Her article is about the online program and is a good read for anyone considering the program. She also speaks briefly about the pilot study comparing the online version and the on-campus version of the same grad course that I am an RA for.
I have access to AnthroSource through UNT, but I can’t access this issue online. If you can’t get to it- look around your department or prof’s offices :)

UNT is also in the current (Winter 2007) special issue of Practicing Anthropology the whole UNT group writes about the online program, it’s conception, and their roles in it. I highly recommend the issue to anyone that is interested in the program, in online education, or maybe someone that wants to be able to argue intelligently about the program ;)

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A few reasons why attending anthro conferences is important for undergrads

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on January 30, 2007

Earlier today I was writing a paper for my Thought & Praxis course. I had to use Metta Baba’s The Fifth Subdiscipline: Anthropological Practice and the Future of Anthropology (1994 Human Organization 53(2)). The article is about the relationship, or lack thereof, between “practicing” anthropologists and “applied” & academic anthropologists. She presents some reasons why this relationship is the way it is and some of the affects of it on the entire discipline. While reading this article it reminded me of a presentation that Baba did in Sante Fe at the 2005 meeting of the SFAA. There she spoke about “hybrid” anthropologists and the pro’s and con’s of identifying as an anthropologist and as a member of another discipline.

I went to the SFAA meeting in Sante Fe because Linda Whiteford was encouraging all of her students to make the trip. In 2005 Dr. Whiteford was the president of the society and USF’s very own Gil Kushner was being honored with the Sol Tax award. I made the trip because it seemed like an excellent excuse to go to Sante Fe.

When I arrived at the conference, I wasn’t really sure what to attend. I had only been a student in anthropology for a year and my interests had not really developed. The only thing I knew at that point was that I did NOT want to go into academia and that I liked business anthropology, well I thought I liked business anthropology- I hadn’t really learned too much about it at that point because no one in my department was interested in it. I picked the first session I attended because Dr. Whiteford was presenting- I didn’t know who the “celebrity” anthropologists were and who I should see. This happens to be the very first time I got to see Metta Baba speak. More importantly- the focus of the session was practicing anthropologists. It just so happened that most of the speakers at the session either were working in the private sector or had experience in it at some point. The session really had an impact on me, obviously if I can still recall it, because it was the first time I had heard or seen anthropologists that were not academic and some had a focus in business. Because I loved that session so much, I was enthusiastic to attend another session later that day where some other “business” anthropologists spoke. That day I saw four of the six (or so) anthropologists that I still follow, look up to, inspired by, speak and I didn’t even realize who they were. They all influenced my decision to set my goals as becoming a “practicing” anthropologist in the private sector- and it was all because of their presentations. I’ve since had the great pleasure of meeting all four of the women face-to-face at other conferences and chit-chatting with them for a few minutes. Each time I see them, I think to myself, “you have no idea how much you’ve influenced me”.

So what does this have to do with undergraduates attending conferences?
*Conferences are a very easy way to get exposure to topics that are outside of your department’s focus.
*If you take good notes, you can reference them in future papers, discussions
*You may get a chance to see someone you really admire- on the way back to the airport after the conference, I shared a taxi with Gil Kushner. He was with a few other USF people and I got the chance to talk to him.
*You’ll have a chance to network (post on this in the works)

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To be an anthropologist, you have to get creative

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on January 25, 2007

I’m reading Ervin’s Applied Anthropology: Tools for Perspectives for Cont. Practice for one of my courses. I got a kick out of seeing Michael Angrosino’s name in chapter two and then continuing on to read about USF’s applied program being the first in the nation. It was my first experience of reading about my alma mater in a textbook and an old prof in a book that was not being used for a USF course. So that was kind of neat.

But what really struck me chapter two in Ervin’s book was a paragraph about anthropology in 1970s. I’m not sure why this just clicked with me today- I’ve read about the history of anthropology twenty times in 15 different accounts. So Bevlin talks about how in the 70s, the universities were producing an abundant amount of MA’s and PhD’s and that those graduates could not all go back into academia because the positions were filled. So they got create and made up their own positions; consulting, HR, government, non-anthro University jobs, etc. Now I am striving for a non-academic career, so that was nothing but encouraging to me, although it wasn’t really anything new.

My thought is that to be an anthropologist, no matter what, you have to be creative. For instance, when I got into anthropology (2004) there was not a lot of sites, articles, materials on the web labeled “Anthropology- read me!”- So in an interest to learn more about positions in the field that I could carve out for myself I searched for other terms like, organizational communication, etc. It’s easier these days though, but there are still subsections to be founded or developed more thoroughly.
I thought that http://www.anthropologi.info had a really great blog post about anthropology becoming more represented on the internet last year.

I still find myself reading more non-anthropology blogs, about design, communication, online collaboration, than I read anthropology blogs though. How would you ever add anything to the field if you only studied what was already thought of? ;)

Lesson for the day; be creative.

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I still still get the oportunities that the on-camps students get

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on January 24, 2007

Along with the new semester getting under way, I have three other projects under way.

The first is a RA position with my advisor. We are working on a study comparing the online version of one of the classes in the program to the same course taught on-campus. The other RA is in the on-campus program. It’s actually really neat to be working on a project long-distance like this and it’s probably really good practice in collaborating. We all email back-and-forth a fair amount, we have a weekly teleconference and we’ll soon have an online way of sharing files. The position includes the regular RA jobs; brainstorming about the interview guide, doing interviews, and transcribing. It sounds like I’m going to do the telephone interviews. I think it will be interesting to do the phone interviews- I hear that they are much harder than in-person interviews.

The second project is still in the works, so details are to come later. I have a phone conference later today to discuss the project with people from the UNT anthro dept and the Center for Distributed Learning. The project is an idea that I had last semester and mentioned to one of my profs. She then got the ball rolling for me and it sounds like it is going to happen! I’ve been really impressed with the amount of collaboration and discussion that can still take place with the department despite the fact I’m in Florida. I’m getting used to teleconferences now because we did weekly ones last semester- although I have to admit after a month off from them, the last one I had was a little ackward… sometimes I forget that they can’t hear me nod :)

My third project is collaboration with some students at Wayne State. It’s the http://studentanthro.blogspot.com/ website. Since I’m very busy with my classes and my two other projects- this one only gets my attention when I have spare time. It’s definitely on its way though and I’ll be sure to announce its launch here. I’m such a geek for this being a hobby that I work on in my “spare” time. OH- I also made a joke about Bourdieu’s symbolic capital to an old USF prof I saw at a concert this weekend. I used to be so cool…

So, I’m going to get back to work now. I thought you’d like to hear about how an online student can still be actively involved in the department on-campus- I know I’m pretty excited about it.

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New Semester!

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on January 24, 2007

A new semester at UNT started on the 16th. This semester’s line up includes Thought & Praxis II and Quantitative Methods in Anthropology. I must admit that I am a little more excited about the methods course than the theory course, but this is only because I don’t really think quantitative analysis is my strength. I hope that I can use quantitative methods in addition to quantitative methods in the future because I think the two can compliment each other in research and it gives you a wider range of data to present to the client. We’ll be learning analysis using SPSS, which will be a nice addition to our knowledge of Atlas.ti last semester. It’s neat to think that within two semesters we’ll all have a working knowledge of two programs that are widely used.

Getting back into the swing of school wasn’t too hard for me, I think in part because my winter break revolved around the computer still. Once webCT went up, I got back into my routine of checking the discussion boards a few times a day. I found this to be the easiest way to keep up with discussions last semester because each time I log in there are only five to ten new messages as oppose to twenty to fifty messages you’ll encounter at once if you log in every other day or so. I also made sure to have plenty of toner and paper on hand to start off the semester. I think one downfall to online programs is that you don’t have access to a computer lab where you can print for free :(

This semester we have two different professors, which means that they are still learning how to teach online and us students kind of have the hang of the online thing already. It’s off to a good start though. Both classes started off with community building exercises- post a short bio and read others’ posts so that you can get to know each other. One of my favorite parts of the program is their focus on community-building. Sadly, my buddy from last semester left our program to attend an on-campus program. I think her decision to leave was based more on the fact that the other program had more of a focus on what she wanted to study and less to do with the on-campus experience.

We did have one bump last week and it’s actually kind of funny to think about now that it’s passed. For one of the courses, the syllabus was a little confusing and the readings were not up on e-reserve yet. The discussion boards were buzzing with questions and a lot of the students were emailing each other back and forth to try to get answers. The professor didn’t really log in to webCT and answer our questions until late in the week. There were ice storms in Denton and there was a family emergency that prevented it. I was a little concerned that we weren’t getting enough feed-back from the prof and I was a little worried how the semester was going to go in that course. But- the questions were answered and everything is fine now! I say it was funny because a few of us went into panic mode and also because you would think that the Profs would be the only ones concerned with little feedback from the students :)

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