You Make the Difference in this Community

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Jennifer Brady

The ultimate success of our new and improved UMassOnline blog, will be a function in my opinion of the degree to which this site becomes an online forum of, by and for students. You will make all the difference. Your participation in contributing to, starting, and leading discussions of importance to you will make this a community engaged in conversation over themes of chief interest and importance to all of us. Without you shaping the direction we take, this blog, or any blog for that matter, lapses into the realm of online monologue.

To make sure you realize the power you have here to drive the agenda, you should know that college and university students in partnership with their academic institutions are attaining some astonishing achievements via social media sites like this. One tremendous example from just this week involves a blog sanctioned by West Virginia University (WVU). Detailed in this mainstream news report, 25 WVU College of Law students studying in Brazil for almost a month, blogged about their experiences. The University showcased this blog on its website. Here's a look at this blog and the student-generated content.

Certainly, law professors, for example, have much to say and can make meaningful contributions to any online conversation. But student-generated content like this adds a richness and texture to the dialogue that can't be achieved any other way. In combination, the voices of many at various levels, is the essential element that is most predictive of a great community forum of the type we hope to achieve together.