3 questions to a higher ed blogger: Emily Hambidge, journalism senior at Purdue University, from Serendipitous Intention and Purdue University Beat

Emily Hambidge studies Journalism at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Emily has been blogging since last January on her personal blog, A Serendipitous Intention, and since this semester at Purdue University Beat, her news writing class blog. Emily has accepted to offer us some insights on a student’s viewpoint when it comes to blogging and podcasting by answering our questions.

1) You have been blogging since January on your personal blog? Can you telll why and how you started? Have you heard about blogging before College?

I started blogging as a way to communicate with friends and family who I lost contact with when I went away to school. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted the “theme” of my blog to be. I had a lot of friends who were much more “techie” than I was, and they were all blogging. I had my blog designed by someone who knew web design and went from there.
My first entries were just scattered and not about anything too important. I like to think that I have established my blog a lot in the last 10 months, though. I now have about 100 people who subscribe to my blog through an RSS feed, and many more that stumble across it every day.
I had never heard the term “blog” before college, but once I learned what it was I figured out that I actually had one in high school with a friend. We blogged about things in school and posted pictures on a free angelfire site. Blogging has made huge advancements since then. I now use WordPress to keep up with my blog. I think I’ve established myself as a basic Mac user blogger. A lot of my topics focus on technology, links on the internet (my weekly roundups are this) and journalism. It’s also a great place for me to share things with my friends and family and keep my online life organized. My blog is also a place for me to post links, pictures and books I am reading.

2) You also maintain a blog as part of a communication class. What’s your opinion about using blogs for this purpose? Do blogs bring an added-value to the class?

My secondary blog (or possibly third blog if you count www.hittingthelinks.com – a golf blog I maintain with my boyfriend) is for my news writing class. It’s a fabulous way for the class to learn and share things with one another. The blogs give us a way to interact beyond the classroom. I actually have blogs for 3 of my 5 classes this semester. 2 of them are group/class blogs and the other one is the one you read about. I love the fact that we get to try out new forms of technology in the classroom. It makes the learning experience so much more innovative. They bring so much value to the classroom because they force us to use the internet as a major research tool. Not only that, but we are forced to look at the academic side of the internet, not just the fun and amusing side. I believe that studying blogs, websites and other new online tools is the best way to learn and make students marketable on the job front because it is a leg up on the competition.

3) Last, as a student at Purdue University, you can now listen to lectures podcasts available via BoilerCast. Have you already tested this service? What’s your opinion about this kind of podcasts?

BoilerCast is a great service, and I can’t believe how much it has grown. I have tested the service, but never for personal reasons. None of my classes are available yet. I am a senior, and most of the upper-level courses haven’t used this service yet. It is available to all teachers, but not everyone chooses to use it. I am actually studying podcasting in colleges for an article I will be writing for my journalism class, and it seems like a huge trend that is sweeping college campuses. Purdue’s classes that are on BoilerCast are, for the most part, entry-level classes that are taught in large lecture halls. For the last several years professors have posted notes online and now they can give the students something even better. My only disappointment is that I won’t be here to see the service grow.