Everyone has a name. We give names when we want to provide the meaning and keep the memory even it is not a person. Therefore, naming is not just assigned to call but kept the meaning of something for people.

During my reading of Virginia Tech’s article on August 13, 2020 [1], I could remind it of the famous proverb in Korea. There is a saying that “When die, tigers leave their leathers and people leave their names.” Virginia Tech has changed two building names as African American’s. In the article, “The Hoge name represents the broad array of people who, in so many roles throughout the years and untold ways, provided essential support for our first Black students,” said President Sands. “By naming this residence hall for William and Janie Hoge, it also acknowledges the many important connections between campus and community.

Even though they already pass away before naming the building, the meaning and spirit of what they did can be remained and delivered by the buildings’ name. For instance, if there was no change in the name and there are no decisions of University committees, I might not think of the meaning of black students’ life and challenges in the past at Virginia Tech. And I would not care about the building’s name except when I find the buildings. I believe the change in the building’s name allows us to change awareness and accept diversity a little more widely.

As the other example of the importance of a name, I once watched one experimental documentary before. There was a surprising outcome. The experiment was to submit a resume and see the result of the resume review pass – the two resumes were seme except for the name. One was submitted in an ordinary white man’s name, and the other resume was submitted in an ordinary Black man’s name. Even though the other contents were identical, the pass rate was different depending on their names. Through this example, we can see how much our names are important and impact our lives even while we did not realize. Therefore, we should realize and consciously change our bias to accept various or minority groups’ names without discrimination.

This year 2020 especially, we had many social issues ever, including “Black Live Matters.” Diversity is not meaning or considering only African Americans’ rights or supports. Especially in education, we should learn and teach various perceptions and sources. It should be considered and established different types of supports according to their needs, such as ethnic culture, body conditions, race, religion, etc. The acceptance of various names could be a small start for the change.

Reference

[1] Board of Visitors Executive Committee approves new names for residence halls.

The University will continually be and should be changed in the future. I have thought of a transition in the three aspects that need to change for the college’s future.

I consider the biggest problem we face when attending college would be a financial issue for many students. Even though people don’t reveal on surfaces, many college students worry about the tuition budget. I could watch on the news that every year the tuition burden and debt are getting increased. The college’s tuition is one of the critical issues in society and political aspects as well. In the U.S., student loans are already a significant burden for many Americans’ house budget. According to the Federal Reserve, the national student loan debt reached $1.6 trillion in June 2019, which also reports that in 2018, 2 in 10 of those who took on education debt and still owe money are behind on their payments [1]. Higher education should provide an opportunity for getting a job and a better life as well. However, with the tuition debt and burden of finances after graduation, they might lose opportunities to pursue their dream and career due to debt problems. Therefore, the college and government should find a solution to the tuition burden for future higher education.

Also, in the value of the college’s academic programs, the current education system should change more interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary. Some industries are doing and growing interdisciplinary tasks faster than academia. I believe that higher education should lead innovative sectors and commit to our society more actively. Therefore, academia has to communicate with more various methods and fields over conventional boundaries. Employers are saying that college degrees could not ensure the ability to carry out employee’s work. Also, students are frequently studying additional courses outside of colleges for taking a job after graduation. Students should have more opportunities to learn multidisciplinary and advanced approaches that they can use for their jobs and cutting-edge careers. The college should change without gaps in the industry’s speed and change to be implementing students’ skills and knowledge in the real world.

Lastly, the pandemic sparks the digital learning system and adopting technology in higher education. We should consider that the balance of traditional teaching and learning through the effective way of adapting technologies. Not only for focusing on the growing the advanced technologies but also the quality and equity of the offer and access should be established at the same time. The method of teaching and collaboration beyond the limited place and time could lead more advanced academic system. The open sources and broaden communication between globalized researchers will become the basis for the college’s future.

References

[1] See 10 Years of Average Total Student Loan Debt

[2] What Will Higher Education Look Like 5, 10, or 20 Years from Now?

[3] What Higher Ed Has Learned from Covid-19 So Far

What Is Open Access?

Open access journals have lots of benefits for the public and researchers. Researchers can exposure their findings more and can influence society. Researchers in developing countries can access the internet, and a more varied level of the public can have a chance to access without a fee. On the other hand, there is some side effect on open access, as the area of open access journals is growing, the Predatory Publishing is increasing as well. (What is a predatory publisher?) The predatory publishers have their goal of making money from publishing fees. They fail to follow accepted standards or best practices of scholarly publishing. Using the predatory publishing open access could occur terrible results not only for losing the money but also for losing the researcher’s valuable findings. We can find the potential predatory journals and publishers in the BEALL’s LIST (https://beallslist.net/). Even though there are many reputational open access journals, at the same time, the researchers should check the predatory publishers before their publication or references to avoid the downside of open access.  

Open Access in My Research Area

In my research and interest field, ‘Automation in Construction’ is one of the open access journals for finding my literature reviews. This journal contains all aspects pertaining to the use of Information Technologies in Design & Engineering, Construction Technology, Maintenance & Management areas. I can find the review borders and their profiles on their website. I believe this open-access journal is well organized and developed with a reputation. Also, this journal is supported by several institutes and organizations as followings:

– Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe)

– International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction (IAARC)

– International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (C.I.B.)

Impacts of Open Access

This journal and my research are directly related the Information Technologies. The movement of open access in every academic field is not avoidable in the future. The scope and amount of publications by the digital and open information data will increase continuously. Also, the negative impacts and falsifications cannot be ignored. Therefore, more strict standards and purviews are required for open access journals, and the researchers have to make critical decisions before submitting their valuable papers to open access.

Research misconduct means not only including for intended purpose but also recklessly falsifying data without experimental or scientific data. I can see several cases of research misconducts, reported by The Office of Research Integrity (ORI), have been in medical or experimental fields. I believe the reason for misconduct is that it is easy to find the result of what they want. Generally, research would be challenging, demanding, and having tremendous tasks should be done until finding meaningful data.

The first goal for the study could be finding a result to prove our study. Therefore, meaningful and positive results are significant for researchers. But, we researchers should not miss our values and missions for research. We should not forget the essential values and minds why we are doing and what we are doing. One of the foundation reasons for research is that we hope our study could be valuable and useful for our society and people.

Fabricated and falsifying research is not only meaningless but also could be at risk to sometimes in various ways. Misleading information and data could be more harmful than physical hazards factors.  In terms of this, the researcher’s ethics and values are important for everyone.

In the ‘Case Summary: Tataroglu, Ozgur’ of the ORI website, the researcher did not agree or disagree about the investigation outcomes. I believe that the researcher absolutely would not intend the misconduct or fabrication of data at the beginning of the research, and would not expect the consequence of what he/she is under the situation after the wrong decisions. But the occurrence of the misconduct of research will impact their future study, and those future research data will be evaluated under investigation during a specific period. In this case summary, the researcher will be under investigation for three years from the misconduct. Even though the official period will be finished, the dishonor of ethics could remain during their whole research activities.

Mission Statements

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are approximately 4,300 degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the United States. Every institute will have primary various mission and values based on the type and characters of themselves. I wanted to look at the mission statements of both research university and community college in Washington State. Both institutions are located in the Seattle area, which I stayed almost for two years before.

I could find that their mission and primary focus has both similarity and differentiation. University of Washington (UW) has focused on “Discovery” and innovation as a research university. Their education goal is to make a diverse student body as a future leader and global citizen. Their vision and mission scope is a nationwide and worldwide perspective. As a public research university and leading university of the community, they lead to solving social problems. For example, Seattle is the first COVID patient-reported city in the US. I found that university researchers and administrators played a role in contributing the social issues on various sides. One of the cases is that their parking lot has started to the first drive-through COVID inspection center in the State. Also, I could directly go through their counter measurements because, at that time, one of my courses had started on-line from the end of February. I believe it was the fastest action for the community and students, even though it has become a common situation these days.

Bellevue College also has a core mission as innovation. Compare to UW, Bellevue College’s mission is more focused on the community and students. Their core value is to provide the community with life-long education and opportunities for the future. There is no reason that all universities should focus on unique or novel research as their major missions. Various types and ranges of higher education must be provided in our community, like all students pursue different goals and achievements based on their varieties. Also, I hope every individual who wants to study would be able to access higher education and have opportunities as various range and shape of institutions. More variety will make more creativity and affluence of our academics.

University of Washington

Vision  The University of Washington educates a diverse student body to become responsible global citizens and future leaders through a challenging learning environment informed by cutting-edge scholarship.

Discovery is at the heart of our university.

We discover timely solutions to the world’s most complex problems and enrich the lives of people throughout our community, the state of Washington, the nation and the world.

Uniquely Washington  The University of Washington’s vision and strategic priorities reflect the core values and culture that make us great and unique

• • UW Standard of Excellence  We recruit the best, most diverse and innovative faculty and staff from around the world, encouraging a vibrant intellectual community for our students. We link academic excellence to cutting-edge research through scholarly exploration and intellectual rigor. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of ethics, as a beacon for our community and the world.
  • Academic Community  We are educators and learners. We promote access to excellence and strive to inspire through education that emphasizes the power of discovery and the foundation of critical and analytic thinking. We foster creativity, challenge the boundaries of knowledge and cultivate independence of mind through unique interdisciplinary partnerships.
  • World Leaders in Research  We have grown into the most successful public research university in the nation in attracting support for our research. Ours is a proud culture of innovation, collaboration and discovery that has transformational impact.
  • Celebrating Place  The natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest envelops us. This is an important element of who we are, for this awe-inspiring place not only anchors us, it reaffirms our desire to effect positive change in the world around us. We accept gratefully our role in preserving and enhancing Washington: the place, the people, our home.
  • Spirit of Innovation  As Washingtonians, we are profoundly optimistic about our future. Based on our past and present, we find inspiration for the future. Ours is a culture with a determined persistence that engenders innovation and a belief that our goals can be realized.
  • World Citizens  We are compassionate and committed to the active pursuit of global engagement and connectedness. We assume leadership roles to make the world a better place through education and research. We embrace our role to foster engaged and responsible citizenship as part of the learning experience of our students, faculty and staff.
  • Being Public   As a public university we are deeply committed to serving all our citizens. We collaborate with partners from around the world to bring knowledge and discovery home to elevate the quality of lives of Washingtonians. This measure of public trust and shared responsibility guides our decision-making as well as our aspirations and vision for the future.

Bellevue College

Vision Statement   Bellevue College is the region’s college of choice, based on its excellence, innovation, and national recognition for exemplary programs.

Core Values   We, the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff and administration of Bellevue College, place students at the center of all we do and support and promote the excellence of their efforts. We affirm and embody pluralism, value collaboration and shared decision making, and honor creativity and innovation. We consider it our duty to anticipate changing demands in education and welcome the opportunity to shape its future. We acknowledge our responsibility to society and embrace the belief that widespread access to excellent post-secondary education is the cornerstone of a democratic society.

Mission  Bellevue College is a student-centered, comprehensive and innovative college, committed to teaching excellence, that advances the life-long educational development of its students while strengthening the economic, social and cultural life of its diverse community. The college promotes student success by providing high-quality, flexible, accessible educational programs and services; advancing pluralism, inclusion and global awareness; and acting as a catalyst and collaborator for a vibrant region.