21st Century Scholar

This is the first of a two-part blog where I discuss the use of social media in research and practice. Today’s blog emphasizes methodological concerns. Next week, I will discuss social media in schools. As regular readers of the blog know, I am conducting an ethnography that focuses on the lives of 17- and 18-year-old [...]

Recently, a friend asked us for a loan. This is someone we have known for a long time and because of the vagaries of the stock market and a downturn in the economy he has seen his savings diminish at the same time as he lost his job. The prospects in this economy for a [...]

Last week, Governor Jerry Brown described his 2012 budget proposal, which included a $5.2 billion cut in education if voters do not approve a tax increase on the ballot this November. Of the total, Brown plans to cut $4.8 billion in K–12 public school funding—the equivalent of three weeks of schooling—and $200 million to the [...]

My interest in college readiness includes organizations and individual actors; therefore, the case study methodology is an appropriate research tradition. After receiving approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and gaining entrée and access to the respective case, the data collection begins. However, one of the first elements established for my projects is determining reciprocity: [...]

“Yes, we can,” exclaimed Senator Barack Obama after winning the presidential primary in South Carolina nearly four years ago. The slogan signified hope and change for a country that desperately needed it. By alluding to Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, it also hinted at a promising new future for the working class and [...]

The Thursday Pop When I started out with this blog column in January, it was a lot of fun. I critiqued an MTV contest on the best new financial aid/college access idea and wrote about Lady Gaga. Later entries mentioned the Wu-Tang Clan method of understanding financial aid offers. I’m telling you, writing this blog was [...]

Teenagers choose colleges based on reputations. The participants in my study often post or talk about wanting to go to universities like Columbia, University of Arizona, USC, or UCLA. Those preferences are not random; they are based on the schools’ images and the students’ reactions to those images. Columbia is an intellectual powerhouse. Arizona has [...]

I call it a blessing to spend time learning from high school students. You might think I am crazy for electing to design research activity that promotes what Geertz’s describes as “thick description.” I honestly enjoy the energy housed in high schools, and smile at what is perceived to be “drama” for adolescents. We must [...]

During my high school years, I remember hearing the counselors and English teachers discuss college applications and the FAFSA. During a class presentation, the counselors kept emphasizing how everyone could apply to FAFSA. I wondered if everyone included me. I am an undocumented student and was curious and confused by this comment. I politely interrupted [...]

A few years ago I was working at Mountain West University* as a retention specialist for Student Support Services, a federally-funded program which serves primarily low-income and first-generation students. Not only did we provide students with great programs and workshops to support them academically, we also organized trips to campus theatre performances and other events [...]