Interview 1: My conversation with this student was interesting because he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his major once he graduated. As a general business student, the general business classes and broad information was good for him since he wasn't sure what specific thing he wants to focus on.
https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/alex-baxter?in=user-329268085/sets/testing-hypothesis-2
Interview 2: This student was a pre-med student. She isn't sure what specialty she wants to have as a doctor, so the general pre-med classes are enough for her to learn and understand the different roles. Furthermore, if she wants to go into nursing, that is offered for her.
https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/rebecca-blake?in=user-329268085/sets/testing-hypothesis-2
Interview 3: As a journalism major, you don't need a lot of specification apparently because you just need experience with writing. Furthermore, there are only so many version of journalism you can go into for a career so it's easy to offer a specifying class.
https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/john-madison?in=user-329268085/sets/testing-hypothesis-2
Interview 4: This interview was interesting because this student was exploratory. Since he doesn't even know what major he wants to focus on...the variety of random general education classes are a good way for him to test out different subjects.
https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/max-cassidy?in=user-329268085/sets/testing-hypothesis-2
Interview 5: Finally, my last interview was unique because this student saw a need for specification, but also understood that these more specified classes are in grad school or have special programs that you can apply for. For him, the classes he needed to take to feel prepared were offered though so he didn't see a need for the opportunity personally.
https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/seth-collinsworth?in=user-329268085/sets/testing-hypothesis-2
Summary: I liked these second rounds of interviews because it put a new perspective on my opportunity. Although I thought that my opportunity applied to every student, this showed that I was wrong. Some students are getting what they need out of the classes offered at the university. These students are usually planning on going to grad, med, or law school to them specify their classes. Or they aren't sure what they want to focus on within their field of study.
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| Inside the boundary | Outside the boundary |
| Students with specific fields of study | Students with general majors or that aren't sure what they want to focus on |
| Diverse classes that can educate and prepare | The general classes offered are good enough for them |
| Students aren't getting the right preparation for their careers | They aren't sure what they want to do so they don't know what they are missing |
I really liked listening to the different testimonials of your interviewees as they presented many ideas that I had either not considered or thought of. I was struggling to see people outside of this boundary but you did a good job of identifying them and speaking with them. Great post.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how you found students who appreciate the general nature of undergrad courses. It may just be a smaller portion of students who know what they want to specify in. Maybe trying to offer classes to this small portion of students wouldn't be profitable to universities. On the other hand, maybe you just got an odd sample here. Maybe the focus here should be on teaching practical information in general classes?
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense that people had different opinions on classes at UF. If you know exactly what you want to do, then you may have a problem with taking a course that is not specific at all to what you want to do. On the other hand, if you are unsure about what your future entails, then taking general classes can be beneficial. These people can also benefit from doing internships and seeing whether or not they would be happy in that field.
ReplyDeleteI find that many students coming into university have a very vague idea of what they'd like to do once they graduate, and I think that asking about how students feel about their coursework is a unique way to look into why this may be. Oftentimes, students need to "feel out" their classes and find out what they like best in order to make a decision about what kind of classes they'd like to take in the future. I can definitely relate to this situation because I was in this situation when I was younger.
ReplyDelete