Easier Said Than Communicated
Edited on 2/26/2021
One of the most respected educators in San Diego has dedicated the last 29-years of her life to uplifting and inspiring community college students as an English professor at San Diego Miramar College. Dr. Carmen Carrasquillo Jay is also the Honors Program Coordinator and English Department Chair at Miramar, and the President of the English Council of California Two-Year Colleges. Not only does Dr. Jay have a long list of awards and accomplishments, so do her students.
Miramar College has produced several national and international award and scholarship recipients based on academic excellence and community service. Many of these students have attributed part of their success to the support and guidance of Dr. Jay which supports the finding that “Close interactions between faculty and students on college campuses is related to improved critical thinking, knowledge acquisition, analytic competencies, and intellectual development.” (Junco). For all of these reasons (and more), I chose to interview this community college champion on the topic of internal and external community college discourse. The questions and answers following this introduction pertain to her position, experience at San Diego Miramar College, and my research on effective communication.
But who is San Diego Miramar College? During our interview Dr. Jay shared that they are a California community college whose participants are students from the San Diego area and online students from around the world, classified professionals and faculty, and administrators. Miramar’s main goal is to offer a quality higher education that is more affordable than the CSU or UC system. The education offered is intended for a diverse demographic interested in multiple pathways: transfer to universities, technical education, upgrading skills for careers, career changes, personal development, lifelong learning.
Clear communication is essential to human understanding and the advancement of knowledge. -Dr. Carmen Carrasquillo Jay
No matter the sphere, it is typically understood that communication is the most fundamental management activity in every organization (Downs & Adrian, 2004; Hargie & Tourish, 2000). However, I would go so far as to say that it is the most fundamental activity at every level in every organization. Peter F. Drucker shares in his book, The Essential Drucker, that the recipient communicates, because without their understanding of the message, no communication exists. It is important that the “communicator” tailors their message to be understood by their recipient for effective communication to occur. With a doctorate in pedagogy and almost three decades of teaching critical thinking and composition, Dr. Jay understands the importance of clear communication, especially multimodal communication, as technology continues to progress. Current space and time makes use of technological advances and social media platforms to communicate in personal and professional levels. Websites such as Twitter and Facebook are often used among colleagues in a professional capacity and in classes or student organizations to aid in the facilitation of social learning exercises. There is almost infinite space to communicate — to write, but how should it be done?
The number one myth I encounter is that people are born writers. Actually, writing of all types can be learned. -Dr. Carmen Carrasquillo Jay.
Reynol Junco’s 2014 book, Engaging Students Through Social Media : Evidence-Based Practices for Use in Student Affairs, is a student affairs must-read rooted in research. In a professional capacity, “Twitter allows educators to build communities of practice — something that becomes increasingly important when educators’ interests or chosen functional areas are specialized or unusual.” (Junco). Whether networking or supporting friends and colleagues, social media platforms can provide a community of support. However, these online representations of ourselves and our institutions are almost always open to criticism and scrutiny. It is more important than ever to recognize the magnitude your online professional self-presentation. There have been and continue to be countless cases where a public figure’s past actions have been brought to light and damaged their career and public image. As taking a stance and lending your digital voice has become a social norm, “we must be aware of how we are communicating and coming across, we must be mindful of promoting our strengths and acknowledging our weakness without seeming narcissistic or incompetent, and we must interact with others in a professional, cordial, and civil manner” (Junco).
At Miramar, Dr. Jay shared that there are policies based on civility and respect that all writers should be aware of and adhere to. There is protocol regarding the timing of a written communication and the appropriate audience for certain communications. This expectation should also be taken into consideration when thinking of your online professional self-presentation.
Miramar also uses Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and an ever-growing number of apps: flipgrid, Remind, etc. for student related purposes: clubs, services, and instruction. At first, it was believed that social media attributed to poor academic performance and lower grade point averages. However, recent studies have found that “social networking sites can assist students in forming and maintaining relationships that lead to increased social and academic integration” (Junco). In fact, studies have found that students who used Twitter were more socially and academically integrated into the institution than those who did not (Junco).
Students who use social media for social and academic purposes have been found to be more involved on campus, connected to their peers, and closer with staff and faculty. -Junco
Because the community college, not just Miramar, hosts several, diverse audiences, the use of different rhetorical devices depend on the specific recipient. For example, Dr. Jay stated that it is typical to use logos over pathos when issuing official business communications. However, the application of rhetorical devices is irrelevant if your message is written upwards per Drucker meaning that we do not figure out how to say until after we understand what to say.
At the community college this of grave importance as international students are attending community colleges as pathways to U.S. higher education (Zhang). Like professionals who collaborate with international partners, staff and faculty at the community college should be trained to have the necessary understanding, knowledge, and skills to communicate effectively and appropriately with culturally differed students (Zhang).
The college is like a microcosm of a whole society, so all kinds of writing are arguably present and important: business communications, scholarly writing, electronic communication, social media communication, etc. However, clarity of expression and knowledge about writing effectively for different audiences are two major struggles. -Dr. Carmen Carrasquillo Jay
With little thanks to Western modernity, ethnocentric expectations of literacy are often programmed into those of us who have attended primary school in the United States and consume American media. Having been part of a society who unconsciously participates in the “suppression of optional variability” (Block & Cameron) — we believe there is a right and wrong way to express gratitude, ask a question, confirm understanding, etc. But, this communication barrier can found across all students at the community college, not just international ones.
After conducting my interview with Dr. Jay and reviewing the literature referenced in this blog post, I would like to make to following recommendations when communicating with 1) peers and 2) students.
While we may still receive physical paper mail, we no longer rely on that form of communication in a professional sphere. Email, video conferences, and social media are now the most used methods of communicating. It offers us innovative solutions to our everyday problems. We can get real time responses to our inquiries and bring us closer to like-minded strangers across the globe. But in this fast-paced cyberspace, we need to consider what we are saying and how we are saying it in order to present our best online professional self-presentation. Connections can end before they had a chance to begin if we do not make conscious decisions about the public statements we make on these seemingly casual platforms.
With archives of research and advanced modes of communication, we have the opportunity to maximize our instruction delivery. How we interact with our students, whether in the classroom or through a screen, has the potential to leave a positive lasting impression on their academic, personal, and professional lives. We have chosen to be educators — to provide students with the knowledge and skills for them to succeed in the areas they choose they would like to contribute to society whether it is through diesel technology or child development. Having an understanding that there is no “standard” means of communicating — that we must become aware of our own implicit bias in which we communicate is the first step towards becoming effective communicators with our students.
So, I’d like you to consider how you currently communicate with your colleagues, and with your students. What sort of language or communication bias (conscious or unconscious) are present? Reflect on your time college. Which courses were difficult for you and why? What sort of communication tactics could have helped you better understand the course material?
Block, D., and Cameron, D. (2002). Globalization and language teaching. Routledge.
Downs, C. W., & Adrian, A. D. (2004). Assessing organizational communication: Strategic communication audits. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Drucker, P. F. (2001.) The essential drucker. Harper Collins.
Junco, R. (2014). Engaging Students Through Social Media : Evidence-Based Practices for Use in Student Affairs. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
Zhang, Yi. (2015). Intercultural Communication Competence: Advising International Students in a Texas Community College.
