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Three Pieces of Advice for Incoming Graduate Students

Returning to school after a 13-year absence required an adjustment.  Graduate school introduced me to unfamiliar theories, new technologies, and assignments that initially seemed overwhelming.  I learned fairly quickly that success had less to do with being the smartest person in the class and more to do with developing habits that kept me moving forward.  Based on my experience, I offer incoming graduate students three pieces of advice. Discipline and Time Management Are Everything Graduate school competes with work, family, and every other responsibility that already occupies your time.  If you wait until you feel motivated or until your schedule becomes less demanding, you will probably spend much of the semester falling behind.  There will always be something else that needs your attention. I found that discipline mattered more than motivation.  Motivation changes from day to day, but a schedule creates consistency.  Setting aside specific times fo...
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When’s the Last Time You Listened to Yourself?

 Today, I spent 45 minutes driving through rush-hour traffic without any background noise. No music. No news. No conversation. And because my car is electric, not even the hum of an engine. This wasn’t planned or some intentional exercise in mindfulness.  I just started driving and, for whatever reason, never turned anything on.  That almost never happens because normally, I fill the silence before I even realize it’s there. What surprised me was how peaceful the drive felt.  The traffic was still traffic.  People were still cutting across lanes and treating turn signals as optional equipment.  None of that changed.  What changed was that I wasn’t adding more noise to the experience. For 45 minutes, I simply listened to my own thoughts.  Some were meaningful while others were completely random.  It felt good to let them develop without immediately interrupting them with a song, a news story, or another person’s voice. I have never considered ...
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Brick by Brick: How Iran Won the War Narrative

When I first saw the title of Alia Chughtai’s article, “‘Vengeance for All’: How Iran’s Lego Videos Won Narrative War Against Trump,” I was struck by the contradiction.  I associated LEGO figures with my daughters' innocent childhood and creativity, not missiles, information manipulation, and war.  That contradiction is quite possibly why the videos have been so effective.  This post is not a critique of war strategy.  That's another story and we don't have the hours.. Let's get back to the focus here:  Iranian creators used AI-generated, LEGO-style videos to present Iran’s interpretation of its (ahem) conflict with the United States and Israel.  Rather than relying on traditional speeches or military footage, the videos combine humor, music, familiar imagery, and emotionally charged references to American history.  They connect the current conflict to slavery, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib, and the destruction of Iran Air F...
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Access Is Not Participation

Kahne and Bowyer’s (2019) article left me thinking less about whether today’s youth have access to digital tools and more about whether they know how to use those tools to participate meaningfully.  The article makes a convincing case that it’s wrong to assume that young people are automatically prepared to engage in civic or political life online just because they may be comfortable with social media.  Knowing how to post, scroll, or share content is not the same as knowing how to evaluate information and communicate a position.   The article argues that we see a participation gap because of that distinction. The gap isn’t only about who has a device or internet access.  It’s also about who has been taught how to confidently use digital spaces with purpose and judgment.  Some students enter those spaces already knowing how to speak up, verify information, and navigate disagreement.  Others may have the same technology but remain observers because the...
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Don't Confuse the Two

 "Discomfort is a catalyst for growth.  Suffering is optional." I ran across this statement and found it worth unpacking.  Understand though, that if I were to ask 40 people, "What is the definition of LOVE?", I'm pretty sure I'd get 40 unique answers.   That said, here's one way to look at this statement: Discomfort is often unavoidable.  Learning a new skill, confronting a weakness, setting a boundary, admitting we were wrong, or abandoning an old habit can all feel uncomfortable.  Discomfort doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong.  It may mean we are stretching beyond what is familiar.  Growth rarely happens while everything remains easy and predictable. Suffering is different. It often begins when we resist discomfort or remain in a harmful situation because we assume pain automatically builds character.  Discomfort may say, “This is difficult.”  Suffering adds, “I cannot handle this,” “I am failing,” or “I deserve this.”...
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More Than Decoration

I just responded to a discussion about memes:  their purpose, how they’re perceived, and their potential.  Disclaimer:  I’ll be the first to admit that my meme game is nonexistent.   This got me thinking about how much influence the visual attached to a blog post has on whether someone stops to read it.  I’d like to believe the strength of the writing should be enough, but that is probably not how most people move through online content.  Before they read the title, consider the argument, or decide whether the topic matters, they often react to the image. On that note, is the visual supporting the message, or is it doing most of the work required to earn attention? A strong image can create curiosity, signal the topic, set the emotional tone, and make a post feel more polished.  It may help the reader understand the point before reading a single sentence.  At the same time, a weak, generic, or misleading visual can make a great thought easier...
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From Junk Drawer to Toolkit

We have to stop treating social media like a junk drawer when we’re trying to use it as a professional learning tool.  It’s extremely easy to save posts, follow pages, join groups, and collect resources with good intentions.  The problem is that collecting information is not the same thing as learning.  At some point, the pile gets so big that it becomes noise. Muljana and Luo (2023) discuss the need for self-regulation when seeking internet solutions.  The authors use Zimmerman’s self-regulated learning model as a framework for facilitating personal learning.  Here are three steps that will assist the shift from aimless internet wandering to strategic research and problem solving: First, start with a problem, not a platform. Don’t open LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, or Facebook groups just to “see what’s out there.”  That’s how the junk drawer starts.  Instead, begin with a specific question:  What am I trying to learn?  What problem am I try...
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