December 18, 2024 • 19 mins
In this episode of Digication Scholars Conversations, host Kelly Driscoll interviews Whitnee Fountain-Ruiz, a recent graduate of Arizona State University with a master's degree in Communication.
Whitnee shares her educational journey, from starting at a community college to completing her bachelor's and master’s degrees. She discusses the challenges faced, including the importance of mentorship and the role of her ePortfolio in her academic and personal growth.
Discover how Whitnee's unplanned path led to fulfilling her educational goals. Then, hear her advice on leveraging creativity and determination to overcome obstacles.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
In this episode, you'll hearPart One of my conversation
with Whitney Fountain-Ruiz, arecent graduate of Arizona State
University, where she received hermaster's degree in communication.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's
(00:23):
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication ScholarsConversations can be found on
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host Kelly Driscoll and todayI'm so excited to introduce Whitney
(00:43):
Fountain-Ruiz, a recent graduate ofArizona State University where she pursued
a master's degree in communication.
Welcome, Whitney.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me today.
Absolutely.
I have so enjoyed learning about youthrough the beautiful pages of your
ePortfolio, but I'm absolutely thrilledto have a chance to now talk to you and
(01:08):
give you a chance to tell your storyand experience with our listeners today.
So I thought I'd just get startedwith asking you to tell us a little
bit about your background and whatled you to Arizona State University.
Well, I will say, and I've said this tomany people, that it was not planned.
(01:30):
Like, it just happens.
I started college at a community collegein California at Southwestern College.
Probably in 2004 or 2005, my degree was inpsychology, but I didn't know what to do.
(01:50):
I didn't know how, how it works.
And I didn't know how to askquestions at the time because
I think I was about 18 or 19.
So I did not ask questions.
I didn't know who to go to.
I didn't understand what path I wassupposed to take to, in order to graduate.
And so many years later, um, my daughter,she's my stepdaughter, but she's my baby.
(02:17):
Absolutely.
Um, when she Graduated high school.
She asked me to go with her to college.
And I was like, Oh, I guess so.
I'll try this.
It was, it was.
Stressful at first because we didn'tknow how, we didn't understand how
to apply, or at least it felt morecomplicated than what it actually was.
(02:41):
But, uh, I was able to apply and we, herand I actually took some classes together,
but I changed my degree to Communication.
Okay.
And she chose psychology, funny enough.
And we were there for two years.
COVID happened.
Yeah.
So we were going in person.
(03:01):
Yeah, we were going in person.
But you know what?
I understand it was a hard time for alot of people, but It seemed to be the
perfect time for me to go because rightwhen that happened, it went from going in
person to doing it, the classes online.
And I have a, a son too.
So I was able to stay at homeand, um, be with my son, be there
(03:27):
for him and do my classes online.
And even though it was, Um, we, wehad to, we had a scheduled meetings.
I, I felt more comfortable.
I felt it was great.
And then that school in particularhappened to create a new transfer program.
So it was trans, it was a transfer programto SDSU, San Diego State University.
(03:53):
So that's why I said it wasn't planned.
None of this was planned.
Things were happening.
It's just, I was able to getfinancial aid and the, with the
financial aid, I, I could use it totransfer to get my bachelor's degree.
And I saved up the moneyfrom financial aid.
So when I finished my bachelor's, I said,um, I, I was in touch with a professor,
(04:19):
my very first communication professor.
I've been in touch with him all theseyears and he's helped me along the way.
So I told him, okay, what do I do next?
And he said, I recommendArizona State University.
And luckily I had enoughmoney to go to school there.
And it was so fast.
I think it took like a year or a year anda half maybe to finish my master's degree.
(04:45):
And I was, I'm so happy that I've hadthe chance to have that experience.
Yes.
Uh, many congratulations and, andthank you for sharing that story.
I think for many people, you know, theyhave some ideas about how You know, their
(05:05):
education trajectory is going to workand may not realize that there may be
some pivots and changes and unexpectedthings that happen along the way.
And as I have these conversationswith students and alumni, I'm learning
that Many during that kind of upheavalduring COVID, um, it became a time
(05:28):
where people were kind of evaluatingwhat's next and what they want to do and
changes happening with their families.
And many found it as a time wherethey could pivot and reinvest more
time in their education and, um,have a different kind of balance.
with family life and things thatthey were doing outside of the
(05:52):
home before all of that happened.
So, um, thank you for sharing that.
It's something that I'm finding, um, isan interesting kind of common thread with
a lot of folks around, around that time.
It was still a bit of abumpy road going along.
Especially because, forexample, when I was doing the
(06:12):
transfer program, it was new.
It was fairly new, maybelike two years old.
And there was still like, we werestill trying to figure out, because
I also went with two other people.
Two people that I met in my classes,they became my best friends.
And one of them I went to San Diego, Imean to Arizona State with in the end.
(06:35):
Mm hmm.
But.
We were constantly trying to figureout, do we have all the classes we need?
And at times we were told, or at leastwe thought we had all the classes
and then another class pops up.
So when I transferred to SDSU.
And I got there, they said,Oh, you still have two math
(06:58):
classes that you have to take.
Oh boy!
And I was like, No!
I, I literally felt, I, I can visualize,or at least the whole time when
I was taking the classes, it feltlike, I had like a little floaty,
uh, floating device around my neck,and I was just keeping my head above
water trying to pass these classes.
(07:19):
Uh, I was, yeah.
I passed them with a B.
I was like, yeah, those things could makesome students feel like, um, discouraged.
They're like, okay, Idon't have time for this.
So I had to go physically back to thecommunity college to take those classes.
And um, you know, I had to arrange lifea little bit just to finish that off.
(07:42):
Yeah.
But, but it, it makes the wholejourney worth it because you have,
So many challenges and you're like,ah, I've overcome them, you know,
so it makes everything worth it.
Yes.
Yes and you mentioned that there was a anindividual that you have stayed in contact
with that sounds like they have kind ofbecome a mentor for you and Yeah was part
(08:08):
of leading you to this pathway to ASU.
Could you talk a little bit abouthow you met them and maybe some
ways that they've supported you andmaybe you're still in touch today?
Yes.
Uh, so my professor, like I said, he wasmy very first communication professor.
And there's one saying that I like to,um, tell my kids or tell other students,
(08:32):
like, don't ask people to be yourmentor, you know, you make them your
mentor, but you don't ask them becauseit kind of puts, it makes them feel
like a pressure or like, Oh, what, what,what are they going to want from me?
You know, so you have to learn, atleast I've found out, you have to
(08:53):
learn how to build rapport with peopleand, and gain trust and friendship
and, you know, feel comfortable.
Make them also feel comfortable enoughthat, you know, they can come to you too.
Because he's actually come to metoo to ask me about ASU because he
wants to get his, um, doctorate.
And so he said, how was the program?
(09:15):
And I told him everything was great there.
It was really, it was convenient and, youknow, the teachers are very supportive.
And so, yeah, he was myvery first professor.
I think I remember the classbecause of also the students in
the class, the way that Uh, hehad us connect with each other.
(09:36):
I remember the first class he told usto grab at least like three people's
phone numbers, three other studentsphone numbers, so that we, when we
need help or need to study, uh, wekeep in contact with those people.
And that, and that's actuallygreat advice because some kids
might be coming in, and they don'tknow anyone and they feel alone.
(09:57):
At least you have someoneyou can ask questions, right?
Yeah.
And, and then the class wasjust, it was so much fun.
I remember dying laughing in that class.
A lot of the times I, I remembereverything I was taught in that class.
The very first thing he said to us was,It's communication, not communications.
(10:21):
So, and then I started to noticewhen people say that and I was like,
ah, now I know it's communication.
It's that's the degree.
Okay.
Um, but yeah, he was reallysupportive by, you know, Asking me
questions about what are my goals?
What do I want?
And sometimes we thinkthat we know what we want.
(10:43):
Um, or we think that we have to go downa specific path to get what we want.
Um, and then it mightlead to something else.
And that's exactly what hashappened to me because I told him.
Um, he met with me after I, or whileI was in my bachelor's program, he met
(11:03):
with me and asked me what I wanted to do.
And I said, I wanted to be a bodylanguage expert because I've been
studying that and you know, he said,well, I mean, you can make a YouTube
channel and discuss, like make commentaryabout videos and things like that.
And in the end.
(11:23):
After I finished my master's,I wrote to him again and I
said, okay, now what do I do?
And he's like, okay, you ready to work?
He's like, come, come toSouthwestern College and become
a professor here, you know?
And that's what I'm pursuing,currently pursuing right now.
And I'm excited because he allowed me.
(11:44):
Uh, an opportunity to speak with hisclass and give a lecture or a discussion
about things about, actually aboutmy Digication and it was exciting and
I'm like, yeah, I'm ready for this.
I
am ready to work and I don't wantto forget any of that knowledge.
I just want to keep absorbing it, youknow, that's an, that's another reason
(12:07):
why I got my master's is because I was soexcited about learning and it wasn't just
the content that I was learning in class.
It was, I was learning other thingsabout problem solving and being creative
and all this new technology that, youknow, has come out, ChatGPT, Canva.
(12:33):
All of those programs at LinkedIn, theyeven helped us, uh, with our resume
and our LinkedIn profiles and even onLinkedIn itself, they have courses.
So I just kept grab, you know,grabbing all this knowledge and.
And I'm so excited aboutsharing it with others.
(12:53):
Yeah, and that really comes through asyou're exploring your ePortfolio as well.
You have these beautifully writtenreflections on different things that you
were learning and making these wonderfulconnections between things that you
(13:14):
were learning in your courses, but howthat connected to other experiences
or other courses that you had taken.
So there's this beautiful kind ofsynthesis with the experiences that
you had, um, and kind of thinkingabout how you might apply some of those
skills in different settings as well.
And I was curious, um, as you joined, uh,ASU, how were you introduced to Digication
(13:41):
and this whole idea of creating theePortfolio, or was this something that
you just kind of discovered on your own?
Well, we had one Cla...
One course called Trainingand Development, which was
one of the best courses ever.
. I just loved it because it taught us howto teach others, you know, and it was more
(14:04):
about being, um, creative and, and lookat everyone else as an active learner.
They want to learn in a way where theyknow that it'll, it will apply to their
life and they want it to be interactiveso they can actually learn how to do
whatever you're training them to do.
(14:26):
And at the end of thecourse, we had to create.
Uh, different Digication about, Ithink it was about sections that we
learned in that course and, and how,uh, what we learned from each section
or what we learned about learnersor training and development itself.
And that was cool.
(14:46):
I, I look at it now and I'm like, huh.
I didn't put in as, I know Iput a lot of work into it, but
I was like, it doesn't look likeanything like my last Digication.
The last Digication was from Capstone.
And I will tell you, I was the veryfirst person to put it up so that my
(15:08):
Digication has over a thousand views onthere because I think I was kind of like
the Example for everyone else at firstand and it put pressure on me because
I'm like, okay people are looking atmy stuff So I better make this good.
We call that healthy peer motivation.
Yes, exactly, oh man, I waslike I need to and I think I've
(15:29):
changed it up a couple of times.
I I I I put a lot of pressure onmyself and it was good pressure.
It was good because it wasso rewarding when I finished.
And I think even more rewarding when myprofessor said, this was a great job.
You know, we're reallyproud of what you've done.
And I'm like, yes, but it was scary.
(15:52):
I think it was scary for most studentsbecause, uh, even though they gave us
Like an outline, like a timeline of whatsection we should have done on which days
and, you know, where we should lead up to.
And we did have a mentor.
Along the way, it was like, youhad to do all of this by yourself.
You had to make the decisionson how you wanted to design it.
(16:15):
Uh, what information, even thoughthey gave you the, okay, this section
is for reflection, even though theytold you that, you had to figure out
how you wanted to put that, you know,and, and, and be creative with it.
And I think the creativity iswhat saved me, like using Canva.
Or was it Cam?
(16:35):
Yeah, Canva.
Um, that was more meditativebecause I, I love being creative.
So just, just, uh, concentrating andfocusing on how I want it to look
helped me so much with the pressure.
But yeah, each section also allowedme to learn more about myself and
(16:59):
put, put into practice or helped me topractice the information that I learned.
So that I would be ableto express it to others.
So when I did the lecture with, uh, my,my professor's class, I was able to do
(17:20):
it off the top of my head, no script,no, I mean, I had, uh, a worksheet.
to follow for everyone else to follow too.
But I, I, I remembered everythingbecause I had to work on this thing
for, I don't know how long it was,uh, eight weeks, eight weeks, I
believe I had to work on it for eightweeks and really concentrate on it.
(17:42):
And with my friend, her andI, we would call each other.
Cause she was also inthe same class with me.
We would call each other and tryto keep each other motivated,
see where we were understandwhat we needed to do for Eset...
Each, each section and, you know,really keep each other on our toes.
(18:02):
Like, okay, she'salready up to this point.
I better hurry up andget to that point too.
Like you kind of feel like, okay, amI falling behind or am I, am I ahead?
That's why everyone would look at eachother's Digication, because they're like,
okay, am I where I'm supposed to be?
And like you said, it'shealthy, a healthy competition.
Pure motivation.
Yeah, motivation.
(18:23):
Not competition, but motivation.
I think the community aspect is important.
And, um, I'm glad to hear that the, um,instructor that you were working with, it
sounds like they encouraged you to shareit with others in your course so they
could see it and, and you also made thedecision to make it public, which is how
(18:46):
we found your beautiful ePortfolio also.
Um, and as someone who was thefirst to kind of share it, I'm sure
that, you know, it was a little.
Scary in the beginning to to put yourselfout there, um, but I think probably
rewarding as well that you got to seethat a lot of people were saying, Oh, wow.
(19:08):
Okay.
This is, this is a high bar to strivefor, but I'm sure it really helped
other people to, See how, how youchose to organize it and what pieces
of work you chose to put in it.
The quality of the reflectionsagain, uh, was just wonderful.
(19:29):
Here's a preview of what's coming upnext in Part Two of my conversation
with Whitney Fountain-Ruiz, a recentgraduate of Arizona State University.
I did try to get him into it,but I wanted him to understand
it is okay if you make mistakes.
But if you make a mistake, you can alsoask questions until you get help or
(19:51):
find the answer that you're looking for.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
In this episode, you'll hearPart One of my conversation
with Whitney Fountain-Ruiz, arecent graduate of Arizona State
University, where she received hermaster's degree in communication.
More links and information about today'sconversation can be found on Digication's
(00:23):
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Full episodes of Digication ScholarsConversations can be found on
YouTube or your favorite podcast app.
Welcome to DigicationScholars Conversations.
I'm your host Kelly Driscoll and todayI'm so excited to introduce Whitney
(00:43):
Fountain-Ruiz, a recent graduate ofArizona State University where she pursued
a master's degree in communication.
Welcome, Whitney.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me today.
Absolutely.
I have so enjoyed learning about youthrough the beautiful pages of your
ePortfolio, but I'm absolutely thrilledto have a chance to now talk to you and
(01:08):
give you a chance to tell your storyand experience with our listeners today.
So I thought I'd just get startedwith asking you to tell us a little
bit about your background and whatled you to Arizona State University.
Well, I will say, and I've said this tomany people, that it was not planned.
(01:30):
Like, it just happens.
I started college at a community collegein California at Southwestern College.
Probably in 2004 or 2005, my degree was inpsychology, but I didn't know what to do.
(01:50):
I didn't know how, how it works.
And I didn't know how to askquestions at the time because
I think I was about 18 or 19.
So I did not ask questions.
I didn't know who to go to.
I didn't understand what path I wassupposed to take to, in order to graduate.
And so many years later, um, my daughter,she's my stepdaughter, but she's my baby.
(02:17):
Absolutely.
Um, when she Graduated high school.
She asked me to go with her to college.
And I was like, Oh, I guess so.
I'll try this.
It was, it was.
Stressful at first because we didn'tknow how, we didn't understand how
to apply, or at least it felt morecomplicated than what it actually was.
(02:41):
But, uh, I was able to apply and we, herand I actually took some classes together,
but I changed my degree to Communication.
Okay.
And she chose psychology, funny enough.
And we were there for two years.
COVID happened.
Yeah.
So we were going in person.
(03:01):
Yeah, we were going in person.
But you know what?
I understand it was a hard time for alot of people, but It seemed to be the
perfect time for me to go because rightwhen that happened, it went from going in
person to doing it, the classes online.
And I have a, a son too.
So I was able to stay at homeand, um, be with my son, be there
(03:27):
for him and do my classes online.
And even though it was, Um, we, wehad to, we had a scheduled meetings.
I, I felt more comfortable.
I felt it was great.
And then that school in particularhappened to create a new transfer program.
So it was trans, it was a transfer programto SDSU, San Diego State University.
(03:53):
So that's why I said it wasn't planned.
None of this was planned.
Things were happening.
It's just, I was able to getfinancial aid and the, with the
financial aid, I, I could use it totransfer to get my bachelor's degree.
And I saved up the moneyfrom financial aid.
So when I finished my bachelor's, I said,um, I, I was in touch with a professor,
(04:19):
my very first communication professor.
I've been in touch with him all theseyears and he's helped me along the way.
So I told him, okay, what do I do next?
And he said, I recommendArizona State University.
And luckily I had enoughmoney to go to school there.
And it was so fast.
I think it took like a year or a year anda half maybe to finish my master's degree.
(04:45):
And I was, I'm so happy that I've hadthe chance to have that experience.
Yes.
Uh, many congratulations and, andthank you for sharing that story.
I think for many people, you know, theyhave some ideas about how You know, their
(05:05):
education trajectory is going to workand may not realize that there may be
some pivots and changes and unexpectedthings that happen along the way.
And as I have these conversationswith students and alumni, I'm learning
that Many during that kind of upheavalduring COVID, um, it became a time
(05:28):
where people were kind of evaluatingwhat's next and what they want to do and
changes happening with their families.
And many found it as a time wherethey could pivot and reinvest more
time in their education and, um,have a different kind of balance.
with family life and things thatthey were doing outside of the
(05:52):
home before all of that happened.
So, um, thank you for sharing that.
It's something that I'm finding, um, isan interesting kind of common thread with
a lot of folks around, around that time.
It was still a bit of abumpy road going along.
Especially because, forexample, when I was doing the
(06:12):
transfer program, it was new.
It was fairly new, maybelike two years old.
And there was still like, we werestill trying to figure out, because
I also went with two other people.
Two people that I met in my classes,they became my best friends.
And one of them I went to San Diego, Imean to Arizona State with in the end.
(06:35):
Mm hmm.
But.
We were constantly trying to figureout, do we have all the classes we need?
And at times we were told, or at leastwe thought we had all the classes
and then another class pops up.
So when I transferred to SDSU.
And I got there, they said,Oh, you still have two math
(06:58):
classes that you have to take.
Oh boy!
And I was like, No!
I, I literally felt, I, I can visualize,or at least the whole time when
I was taking the classes, it feltlike, I had like a little floaty,
uh, floating device around my neck,and I was just keeping my head above
water trying to pass these classes.
(07:19):
Uh, I was, yeah.
I passed them with a B.
I was like, yeah, those things could makesome students feel like, um, discouraged.
They're like, okay, Idon't have time for this.
So I had to go physically back to thecommunity college to take those classes.
And um, you know, I had to arrange lifea little bit just to finish that off.
(07:42):
Yeah.
But, but it, it makes the wholejourney worth it because you have,
So many challenges and you're like,ah, I've overcome them, you know,
so it makes everything worth it.
Yes.
Yes and you mentioned that there was a anindividual that you have stayed in contact
with that sounds like they have kind ofbecome a mentor for you and Yeah was part
(08:08):
of leading you to this pathway to ASU.
Could you talk a little bit abouthow you met them and maybe some
ways that they've supported you andmaybe you're still in touch today?
Yes.
Uh, so my professor, like I said, he wasmy very first communication professor.
And there's one saying that I like to,um, tell my kids or tell other students,
(08:32):
like, don't ask people to be yourmentor, you know, you make them your
mentor, but you don't ask them becauseit kind of puts, it makes them feel
like a pressure or like, Oh, what, what,what are they going to want from me?
You know, so you have to learn, atleast I've found out, you have to
(08:53):
learn how to build rapport with peopleand, and gain trust and friendship
and, you know, feel comfortable.
Make them also feel comfortable enoughthat, you know, they can come to you too.
Because he's actually come to metoo to ask me about ASU because he
wants to get his, um, doctorate.
And so he said, how was the program?
(09:15):
And I told him everything was great there.
It was really, it was convenient and, youknow, the teachers are very supportive.
And so, yeah, he was myvery first professor.
I think I remember the classbecause of also the students in
the class, the way that Uh, hehad us connect with each other.
(09:36):
I remember the first class he told usto grab at least like three people's
phone numbers, three other studentsphone numbers, so that we, when we
need help or need to study, uh, wekeep in contact with those people.
And that, and that's actuallygreat advice because some kids
might be coming in, and they don'tknow anyone and they feel alone.
(09:57):
At least you have someoneyou can ask questions, right?
Yeah.
And, and then the class wasjust, it was so much fun.
I remember dying laughing in that class.
A lot of the times I, I remembereverything I was taught in that class.
The very first thing he said to us was,It's communication, not communications.
(10:21):
So, and then I started to noticewhen people say that and I was like,
ah, now I know it's communication.
It's that's the degree.
Okay.
Um, but yeah, he was reallysupportive by, you know, Asking me
questions about what are my goals?
What do I want?
And sometimes we thinkthat we know what we want.
(10:43):
Um, or we think that we have to go downa specific path to get what we want.
Um, and then it mightlead to something else.
And that's exactly what hashappened to me because I told him.
Um, he met with me after I, or whileI was in my bachelor's program, he met
(11:03):
with me and asked me what I wanted to do.
And I said, I wanted to be a bodylanguage expert because I've been
studying that and you know, he said,well, I mean, you can make a YouTube
channel and discuss, like make commentaryabout videos and things like that.
And in the end.
(11:23):
After I finished my master's,I wrote to him again and I
said, okay, now what do I do?
And he's like, okay, you ready to work?
He's like, come, come toSouthwestern College and become
a professor here, you know?
And that's what I'm pursuing,currently pursuing right now.
And I'm excited because he allowed me.
(11:44):
Uh, an opportunity to speak with hisclass and give a lecture or a discussion
about things about, actually aboutmy Digication and it was exciting and
I'm like, yeah, I'm ready for this.
I
am ready to work and I don't wantto forget any of that knowledge.
I just want to keep absorbing it, youknow, that's an, that's another reason
(12:07):
why I got my master's is because I was soexcited about learning and it wasn't just
the content that I was learning in class.
It was, I was learning other thingsabout problem solving and being creative
and all this new technology that, youknow, has come out, ChatGPT, Canva.
(12:33):
All of those programs at LinkedIn, theyeven helped us, uh, with our resume
and our LinkedIn profiles and even onLinkedIn itself, they have courses.
So I just kept grab, you know,grabbing all this knowledge and.
And I'm so excited aboutsharing it with others.
(12:53):
Yeah, and that really comes through asyou're exploring your ePortfolio as well.
You have these beautifully writtenreflections on different things that you
were learning and making these wonderfulconnections between things that you
(13:14):
were learning in your courses, but howthat connected to other experiences
or other courses that you had taken.
So there's this beautiful kind ofsynthesis with the experiences that
you had, um, and kind of thinkingabout how you might apply some of those
skills in different settings as well.
And I was curious, um, as you joined, uh,ASU, how were you introduced to Digication
(13:41):
and this whole idea of creating theePortfolio, or was this something that
you just kind of discovered on your own?
Well, we had one Cla...
One course called Trainingand Development, which was
one of the best courses ever.
. I just loved it because it taught us howto teach others, you know, and it was more
(14:04):
about being, um, creative and, and lookat everyone else as an active learner.
They want to learn in a way where theyknow that it'll, it will apply to their
life and they want it to be interactiveso they can actually learn how to do
whatever you're training them to do.
(14:26):
And at the end of thecourse, we had to create.
Uh, different Digication about, Ithink it was about sections that we
learned in that course and, and how,uh, what we learned from each section
or what we learned about learnersor training and development itself.
And that was cool.
(14:46):
I, I look at it now and I'm like, huh.
I didn't put in as, I know Iput a lot of work into it, but
I was like, it doesn't look likeanything like my last Digication.
The last Digication was from Capstone.
And I will tell you, I was the veryfirst person to put it up so that my
(15:08):
Digication has over a thousand views onthere because I think I was kind of like
the Example for everyone else at firstand and it put pressure on me because
I'm like, okay people are looking atmy stuff So I better make this good.
We call that healthy peer motivation.
Yes, exactly, oh man, I waslike I need to and I think I've
(15:29):
changed it up a couple of times.
I I I I put a lot of pressure onmyself and it was good pressure.
It was good because it wasso rewarding when I finished.
And I think even more rewarding when myprofessor said, this was a great job.
You know, we're reallyproud of what you've done.
And I'm like, yes, but it was scary.
(15:52):
I think it was scary for most studentsbecause, uh, even though they gave us
Like an outline, like a timeline of whatsection we should have done on which days
and, you know, where we should lead up to.
And we did have a mentor.
Along the way, it was like, youhad to do all of this by yourself.
You had to make the decisionson how you wanted to design it.
(16:15):
Uh, what information, even thoughthey gave you the, okay, this section
is for reflection, even though theytold you that, you had to figure out
how you wanted to put that, you know,and, and, and be creative with it.
And I think the creativity iswhat saved me, like using Canva.
Or was it Cam?
(16:35):
Yeah, Canva.
Um, that was more meditativebecause I, I love being creative.
So just, just, uh, concentrating andfocusing on how I want it to look
helped me so much with the pressure.
But yeah, each section also allowedme to learn more about myself and
(16:59):
put, put into practice or helped me topractice the information that I learned.
So that I would be ableto express it to others.
So when I did the lecture with, uh, my,my professor's class, I was able to do
(17:20):
it off the top of my head, no script,no, I mean, I had, uh, a worksheet.
to follow for everyone else to follow too.
But I, I, I remembered everythingbecause I had to work on this thing
for, I don't know how long it was,uh, eight weeks, eight weeks, I
believe I had to work on it for eightweeks and really concentrate on it.
(17:42):
And with my friend, her andI, we would call each other.
Cause she was also inthe same class with me.
We would call each other and tryto keep each other motivated,
see where we were understandwhat we needed to do for Eset...
Each, each section and, you know,really keep each other on our toes.
(18:02):
Like, okay, she'salready up to this point.
I better hurry up andget to that point too.
Like you kind of feel like, okay, amI falling behind or am I, am I ahead?
That's why everyone would look at eachother's Digication, because they're like,
okay, am I where I'm supposed to be?
And like you said, it'shealthy, a healthy competition.
Pure motivation.
Yeah, motivation.
(18:23):
Not competition, but motivation.
I think the community aspect is important.
And, um, I'm glad to hear that the, um,instructor that you were working with, it
sounds like they encouraged you to shareit with others in your course so they
could see it and, and you also made thedecision to make it public, which is how
(18:46):
we found your beautiful ePortfolio also.
Um, and as someone who was thefirst to kind of share it, I'm sure
that, you know, it was a little.
Scary in the beginning to to put yourselfout there, um, but I think probably
rewarding as well that you got to seethat a lot of people were saying, Oh, wow.
(19:08):
Okay.
This is, this is a high bar to strivefor, but I'm sure it really helped
other people to, See how, how youchose to organize it and what pieces
of work you chose to put in it.
The quality of the reflectionsagain, uh, was just wonderful.
(19:29):
Here's a preview of what's coming upnext in Part Two of my conversation
with Whitney Fountain-Ruiz, a recentgraduate of Arizona State University.
I did try to get him into it,but I wanted him to understand
it is okay if you make mistakes.
But if you make a mistake, you can alsoask questions until you get help or
(19:51):
find the answer that you're looking for.
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