My definition of a discourse community is basically any group of people who share similar interest and knowledge about a topic, have some common background or experiences, and share some way of communicating with each other. The student body here at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) is my discourse community. The student body and I know how difficult it can be the first few days of college to navigate around campus and find the simple things like where to find the library, computer lab, printers, and most importantly where the classes are.
We all attended and graduated out of high school during some part of our academic career where the teachers are more lenient, classes are way smaller, and there are constant reminders on what needs to be done and when assignments are due. The student body here at UTA can communicate through blackboard, study groups, forums, occasional student meetings, or by joining campus organizations.
I have successfully joined this discourse community because my application to UTA was accepted, I registered for classes, try to attend every lecture, know how difficult it is to juggle what needs to be done in a certain amount of time, and the massive amount of effort and motivation needed in order to be successful in a college course. Homeworks and class assignments is what brings us together because it gives us the chance to establish a connection with other classmates to figure what is the best way to complete the assignment and understand the material.
Our most popular mode of communication is through a website called Blackboard where teachers can communicate with the students and other students can communicate with each other. Blackboard is very helpful when students cannot attend class, have questions about the lecture, or just want to know what the other students thought. Posting of Blackboard is very simple; all you have to do type your post and click on the “post” button to post. Each and every student enrolled in the class will receive a notification and have a chance to reply to the post.
All of the students in the country and even the world will most likely experience situations similar to the ones here at UTA because school here or anywhere is basically identical and have a common guideline of having to graduate from the current level in order to move to the next level in an academic career. However the timeline in which the situations will be experienced would be different because different areas of the world have different beliefs and their own ways of doing things. Like in some countries will skip preschool altogether resulting in the students there to know the experiences of high school at an earlier age.
The UTA student body is a discourse community because we know what it is like to be a student. We have a common goal of graduating and in order to be successful it is gonna take a lot of effort and time. Our academic backgrounds gives us the same starting point when entering into a college career. Having the same starting point is important because it gives us common ground on what the difficulties are. Common ground is important because it makes it easier to find a solution when there are a lot of minds and input are put together.
A very important starting point was the graduation of high school. High school was when you started to do things on your own with someone guiding you. The years in high school is where you find who you are and what you wanna do in life. High school was like a walk in the park compared to how college is like now. In high school everything was basically handed to you. Books, learning materials, school supplies, and sometimes answers were given sometimes without even asking. Our schedule in high school is pretty much have already been made up all we have to do is to follow it.
Becoming part of the UTA student body is pretty simple; all you have to do is go to The University of Texas at Arlington and attend classes regularly. Just by going to classes the common goal of every student will be your goal as well. During my first few days of college I felt like my classes were hiding from me. I was overwhelmed by the tremendous number of buildings there are and the many floors within a building. A map of the UTA campus was the best thing to have when trying to navigate through the treacherous jungle of buildings and parking garages.
Trying to figure out which way the map was turned to match up with the buildings and landmarks was probably the most difficult and frustrating task to finish. When looking at which way the building was turned to match up with the map. The buildings look very similar on each and every side; especially the Pickard Hall as some of you might have already experienced this mind twister. When I finally found where my classrooms are; I could not believe my eyes when I stepped in because the classroom looks just like an auditorium.
What was your reaction when you first saw the size difference of a college classroom? It was a very big transition from high school where everything was just in small little rooms and almost all the classes, library, and fitness center were in the same building. The student body here at UTA work together by forming organizations, study groups, fraternities, campus events, and many others things to help each other get involved and successful. Forming study groups is important because when the professor explains something the student might not understand a word the the professor is saying.
Having a student explain it in terms of student knowledge and language will help the other student understand it better because both students are on common ground of knowledge on the subject. The student will know what it takes to learn the material because the student have been through the situation and know what it takes will know the best way to explain it. Studies on 290 students and 80,000 interactions founded the results of students who interact with other students will more likely do better in classes than those who do not. When there is something good there has to be something bad.
Conflict within the student body is not very common, but it does happen when a student does not agree with another student. We try to avoid conflict the best way we can and maintain a peaceful community. A discourse community can be found anytime and anywhere. You just need to recognize where and when the connections are occurring. Establishing which discourse community one belongs to is important because it will give them a sense of belonging and being included. A discourse community can be of many types such as an athletic, academic, religious, automotive, and many more.
The discourse community we all joined when we were accepted into UTA was the academic type of discourse community where the students come together as one. We the student body here at UTA know what it takes in order to be successful. Getting good grades, studying, communicating with other students are all of the components of what it will take in order to graduate and is our common goal. This is our common goal because college graduation is the next step in our academic career. Joining can be as simple as registering for classes and going to the classes. You might already be a member.
