Students lose to budget

Are Otterbein students getting what they are paying for?

     This is a question we have recently asked ourselves in reference to the classes offered versus the ever changing skill set needed for our careers.

     We are sure many other departments at Otterbein are experiencing a similar lack of necessities comparable to those within the communication department.

     Specifically, our department is pushing students toward media convergence and stressing the importance of multimedia.

     In our career direction it is absolutely necessary to know and be familiar with multiple aspects of online media “because that’s where the jobs are,” according to many faculty.

     The problem is Otterbein lacks classes and technology to provide us with such experience.

     Don’t get us wrong, the professors are passionate and do the best they can with what we have, but we expect more.

     We also understand that Otterbein is currently in financial turmoil but the quality of education is not the place to be frugal.

     Maybe we are just a bunch of over ambitious students trying to take advantage of our college education.

     But if we invest in Otterbein, shouldn’t Otterbein invest in us?

     For instance, professors cannot teach us Dreamweaver, a Web design software program, because the version Otterbein has is five years old.

     With the hope of teaching us some Web-based skills, professors are forced to teach blogs and social media instead of the Web design software most popularly used by businesses in our career field.

     These blog templates are incredibly user-friendly, and this is something we could be doing on our own time.

     If we can teach ourselves, why are we paying for someone else to teach us 10 weeks of it? Isn’t part of a college education learning things you can’t do on your own?

     Blogs and social media are important but we are looking for a more advanced Web design class that teaches us HTML, Flash, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and the functionality of the online world.

     Other departments offer classes similar to this but with a different focus. For example, the art department offers classes similar to what we want, but they are still tailored for art students. We would also have to take three art classes as prerequisites.

     Our class feels like the middle child because we will miss out on the classes offered when the new semester curriculum begins. The classes that graduated before us have had the opportunity to learn these skills from their current jobs. Those after us will learn it in classes. When do we get to learn it?

     We understand the importance of outside internships, but how are we to apply for this type of internship or job without any introduction in this portion of our field. We are worried that without this experience we will be less likely to be hired.

     We realize that technology is constantly changing but we expect Otterbein to keep up.

     Bottom line, we think Otterbein should offer some sort of class to meet our needs. Step one should be updating the computer software.

     The new Science Building was recently renovated and now nursing students work with top-notch equipment.

     Hopefully the administration doesn’t forget about all of us who are a mile down the road in the Communication Building. Share the wealth. t&c