The Ocean View-San Diego's Beach Culture

Few things offer more tranquility than the blue ocean front and summer warm beaches. San Diego has some of the world's best beaches where Tommy Bahama umbrellas and sandals are part of the natural landscape. La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, and Imperial Beach offers distinct feel and vibe. Each has their own community built up around the beach culture.

What is the beach culture? Beach culture is very laid back where few things in life seem to matter. Time stops for those in it. Many adherents spend hours in the beaches and parks sitting on the tables, spread out on a blanket, surfing, and eating in many of the local restaurants. It is a culture where one lives in the moment and cares little for the normal motivations in life.

If you spend some time in these communities you come to find that they have distinct groupings of people in the beach enclaves where they live. They often know each other by name and see the same faces beyond 5:00pm when most of the outside beach goes go back home. The locals have their places to eat, bars, and social gatherings that create a beach community.

The majority of beach areas are not particularly fancy and can be a little run down. Old cars, rusty railings, simple housing, counter culture cafes, and whiskey bars. People feel more comfortable in shorts, t-shirts and second hand attire than anything elegant. The streets are lined with VW buses and sun faded Ford escorts. Bikes are locked onto fencing and street signs; an easier mode of transportation.

People flock to these beaches to escape the normal fears and worries of life. As a popular vacation destination San Diego draws approximately 34 million visitors a year (1).  For those people I know in Michigan, San Diego is a vacation mecca they dream about visiting on a regular basis. Attracting a fascination of locals and visitors San Diego beaches are likely to draw visitors for a long time.

Online Education Encourages Stronger Scholarship Cultures

One of the greatest advantages of traditional education is its ability to create knowledge based cultures through face-to-face communication.  It is believed that on-campus social interaction creates norms, values, and expectations that lead people to higher forms of scholarship.  This is not always the case when negative cultural influences restrict the ability of students to be successful.  New research shows that online courses help to enhance the scholastic nature of colleges by countering some of the destructive norms in society that limit intellectual growth.

When people interact and socialize with each other they create social expectations that can either lead to more scholastic behavior or lessen that behavior. For example, cultural norms can encourage greater research and knowledge sharing or it can socially restrict the transference of knowledge. When negative cultures are developed in face-to-face environments they can be extremely difficult to reverse. Online education offers the opportunity to create egalitarian learning networks not based in preconceived notions.

A paper in the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning discusses how online education with Saudi Arabia female college students not only enhanced their learning but also encouraged positive pro-learning environments (Hamdan, 2014). Online education offers an opportunity for socially restricted individuals to own their education and contribute to their respective bodies of knowledge in a meaningful way.

This issue is not restricted to Saudi Arabia alone and can impact American students as well. Consider how cultural norms may subtly restrict minority students from speaking up in class, become highly educated, or contribute to scientific discovery in a meaningful way. The process of exclusion can occur between genders, in/out groups, people who are different, those who have higher intelligence, minorities and social class.

Online education creates an environment where people can speak freely without all of the subtle cues that leave some with the impression their opinion isn’t worth as much as others. Because of the nature of posting to other students, a natural activity among the younger generation, negative social norms don’t hold as much sway. Professors and students may be completely unaware of the race, religion, gender, or status of the other people in the class unless they self-reveal.

Where people may be naturally dissuaded from engaging in class activities in one setting may actually find themselves thriving in an online environment where they start on equal footing with others. Classmates know students by what they think and post versus their social status. The process of bringing forward various opinions into collaborative learning environments raises the transference of knowledge and the potential for scholarship.

Hamdan, A. (2014). The reciprocal and correlative relationship between learning culture and online education: a case from Saudi Arabia. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 15 (1).

Water Shortage? Simple ways to Save Our Most Precious Asset

Water, the worlds most precious resource is in short supply in San Diego. The prolonged drought has impacted cities and farmers across the region leading to higher costs and loss of crops. As the drought continues each of us has a responsibility to use water more sparingly and make small adjustments that lead to higher conservation rates.

We can all do something that allows us to reduce water consumption. Small savings here and there add up over time and create sustainable patterns of behavior.  Most of the water we use and waste is based on habit and is not really related to necessity. There are a few places that are easy for you to make changes that can have a big impact.

-Shorter Showers: Showers are relaxing and we can spend a half hour or more just letting the water run. It is better to have either a shorter shower or shut the water off between wetting and rinsing.

-Fix Faucets and Running Toilets: Even if there is a small leak the gallons will keep on accumulating. Making sure everything runs properly is necessary.

-Buy Bottled Water: Drinking water is a popular purchase. You can consider purchasing healthy bottled water and cut back on your faucets a little. Most imported water is from other places.

-Use Full Laundry and Dish Loads: Laundry Machines and Dishwashers take a lot of water. Making sure that you are maximizing by filling the machines up saves lots of water.

-Upgrade to More Efficient Products: As you upgrade your appliances work on finding water efficient products. Water efficient products will have increasing appeal so don't be afraid to invest in the new model when timing is right.

Doggie Play Hour at Ocean Beach

Ocean Beach Dog Beach is a place where dogs can roam free to enjoy the water and each other's company. I have gone a couple of times to this beach and it seems that most dogs get along just fine. Owners walk their animals along the water front, throw Frisbee and let them socialize. The amount of different types of dogs may amaze you.

I guess that one of the beauties of dogs is that they are innocent like children. To many people there is hardly a difference between the two. They become part of a family and recreational activities can revolve around these animals. Animal supporters should consider donating to places like the humane society to support the protection of animals. You can donate online HERE.

Is There a Shortage of Online Faculty in Traditional Schools?

Traditional universities are inconspicuously eying online education as a potential way to balance budgets but sometimes find themselves short on faculty that have the skills and abilities to teach in this modality. As traditional universities continue to move courses online they have increasing needs for virtually trained faculty to step into these roles. Online universities are blazing trails in this venue and may provide guidance to brick-and-mortar institutions. 

The online market is big and getting bigger each year. In the fall of 2010 approximately 6.1 million students that comprise 31.3% of all students enrolled in an online course (Allen & Seaman, 2011). This is an increase of 6% in just two years making online education a remarkably fast growing modality. Universities don't have enough qualified faculty to fill this need. 

According to a study in the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching there are four reasons why universities don’t have enough online faculty to meet demand (Lloyd, Byrne, & McCoy, 2012):

-Interpersonal barriers,
-Institutions barriers,
-Training and technology barriers,
-Cost/benefit analysis barriers.

Barriers come in many different forms. Faculty in traditional universities are not excited about online education which seems to dwindle their perceived roles in a university. Universities themselves may not be fully open to online education and grudgingly are accepting its benefits. 

As online education grows and begins to match traditional face-to-face modalities they will need to develop their faculty to take over new rolls. With resistance to change among established universities they will find themselves running against the market putting more pressure on their operations. Training faculty, cooling the rhetoric, and looking toward successful online models will make all the difference.

Allen, I., & Seaman, J. (2011). Going the distance: Online education in the United States, 2011. Babson Park, MA: Babson Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group. Retrieved from http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/goingthedistance.pdf

Lloyd, S. Byrne, M. & McCoy, T. (2012). Faculty-perceived barriers of online education. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 8 (1).