Time on the Road

My job in college admissions takes me out on the road, away from home for about 6 weeks every fall. Visiting schools, and working college fairs for high school students to learn all about the vast opportunities that await them for post-secondary schooling. I spend approx 30 nights in hotels, thousands of miles driving and countless hours with time to myself. This leaves me with lots of time to think, and make observations about our schools, students and just the world. I mention this because I have an indirect connection to what students are doing in school by what I see and hear on the road.

The assignment from last week, looking at all of the websites and tools for teachers to use- a lot of these technologies are new. And yet, colleges are trying to use many of them. Mostly social networking type of sights (and blogs), but for us to be on the same converging path of technology and sharing of information (teaching and admissions) I see many similarities. We in admissions, just as teachers, want out students to come back and be engaged by our web presence. We want them to ask questions and learn about all that we have to offer. Teachers want their students to ask questions and learn the information in order to pass the test.

Some of the sites on the list I have heard of- blogger.com, the Smithsonian site... But some of them are a real eye opener, not only in the world of earning my M.Ed. but also in the world of college admissions. If I can be the first in my area to successfully use some of these new resources, its all good.