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Former SVSU professor Scott Kowalewski joins me to discuss the creation of the Technical Rapport, the original RPW podcast.
Discussions of learning and living in the academic programs sponsored by the Department of Rhetoric & Professional Writing (RPW) at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan. Features interviews with students, faculty, staff, friends, and alumni. Interested in careers in writing and design, media, publishing, and content creation? We have what you are looking for.
Bill Williamson 0:22
Welcome back listeners to another episode of All Things RPW. This is Dr. Bill from the Rhetoric and Professional Writing Department at SVSU. And I have with me today very special guest, the original creator of our departmental podcast, The Tech Rapport, Dr. Scott Kowalewski.
Scott Kowalewski 0:42
Hello, everybody. Good to be back.
Bill Williamson 0:45
Yeah, so So Dr. Scott is no longer here as a faculty member at SVSU. We'll come back around to that in just a moment. But I, I wanted to bring him back because there are some events that make sense for me to bring him back for in the context of this podcast. But before I get into that, I will say that today, for the first time of this podcast, I am recording inside of the our PW audio and video production studio from the campus of Saginaw Valley State University. We have our new digs, everything's all laid out nicely in here. And in fact, I just got to spend a little bit more money based on a project that Scott and I did together a few years ago. And we've got even some more equipment coming in. I'll just leave that teaser there to lie in tease you. And I'll come back with more detail on that in a future episode. But all of that said, so here we are. Episode Three of All Things RPW. And the the event that just transpired that I thought it made sense for me to bring Scott back in to the conversation is that I just republished the entirety of The Tech Rapport podcast as The Tech Rapport Archive. And the significance of that is that it was the first podcast for the Department of rhetoric and Professional Writing. It was launched by Scott in one of our alumnus, our now alumni, Michael Blodgett, Ella's got to talk about that in just a moment here. But it's one of those things where, because of that event, we now have All Things RPW, because of that event, it may not have been the immediate impetus for us to expand the audio in the program. But it was certainly an event that was part of the growth and the maturation and the expansion of us incorporating audio into our courses at SVSU. And really expanding how we do so why we do so and the number of places and ways and means that integrates with our curriculum. And so it was a watershed moment Absolutely, for Scott and Mike to begin that process of recording shows for the tech report. And even though we have closed it down as a growing podcast and replaced it with all things our PW, not only does it have a place near and dear to my heart, it's also of incredible significance programmatically for us. So like I said, given that I relaunched that under the archive name, this past week, I wanted to bring Scott in, give him a chance to talk about the process of launching that and the significance of that event to him, and, and give him a chance to talk about the kind of stuff that's going on in his life these days. So, Scott, with all of that, why don't you reintroduce yourself, let us know where you're at end, ama we'll take it from there.
Scott Kowalewski 3:39
Well, thank you. I'm excited to be here. It's always fun to be able to talk about some of this work that was really important to me during my time at SVSU. So for those of you who don't know me, I served as a faculty member in the Department of rhetoric and Professional Writing from 2013 into just this past spring, so about nine years. And I taught the whole range of classes in the program really love teaching, particularly classes around user experience and usability and technology production. I'm currently at Central Michigan University in the Department of Business Information Systems where I was hired to continue some of that work in user experience and develop some opportunities for students at Central particularly in the business, college around user experience and customer experience, as well as do some digital media stuff like podcasting. So, certainly a lot of the things that I had going on SVSU I'll be carrying over to my role, my new role at Central Michigan.
Bill Williamson 4:47
That is all awesome to hear sad that we lost you. You know, I miss being able to walk across the hall and have a conversation with you about something that's voc related or as the case may be something not
Scott Kowalewski 5:00
likewise, yeah, it's, it was the students at SVSU are wonderful. My colleagues in the RPW department are terrific. It was, it was really, you know, nothing to do with the, with the culture, the people that, you know, for as a reason for why I left it was, you know, just kind of different opportunities and challenges and seeking some different things at this point in my career. So it was a lot of jumbled emotions, you know, sad to leave excited to get started with new opportunities. But, you know, I think, and this is something I talk to students about, you know, growth and change are just part of the game. And, you know, if you, you know, the days of kind of sticking around in one position for 25 to 30 years are really rare anymore. And I think, you know, finding ways to kind of push and challenge yourself are good for professional growth.
Bill Williamson 5:53
Well, and actually, it's a similar kind of transition that brought me here, all the way back in 2005. I began my career at the University of Northern Iowa, and was one year from tenure there. And I always said to people, my students, that is and my colleagues, you're never more valuable than the year before you become expensive, or the year before you become a settled. And so I went on the job market, you know, following my own advice, and it was an opportunity to come to SVSU. And it was very much, you know, around the same time, a couple of years before in my career compared to where you were at in your career. But at the same time, yeah, it's exactly that it's an opportunity to pursue something new, it was a way for me to reconnect my family with, with other members of my family, you know, we came, we came back to Michigan, because that's where it was originally from. And now, this is the beginning of my 18th, year at SVSU. So it is weird that I have been here for that long, I don't know that. Well, you know, I don't necessarily ever expect to leave and I don't necessarily ever expect to stay. I just kind of roll with it. And it's been my philosophy. And now it's It's kept me here for a while. So
Scott Kowalewski 6:59
yeah, it's weird how that stuff kind of plays out in careers. Because I, I wasn't necessarily, you know, thinking that three issue would be a short term or long term kind of thing. It was just the day by day, year by year. And this opportunity opened up a central and I think, for me, what was nice is, I didn't have to move my family. I just started going east, I go west now for work. And, you know, there's a little bit further than, you know, for me, heading to test review, but I still have opportunities to stay connected with you and some of the great people at SVSU and continue to work on cool projects. And so in some ways, yeah, we don't get to do the kind of cross haul chit chat anymore, but we're staying in touch, and I hope to be in front of the program for a long time.
Bill Williamson 7:47
Absolutely. And so listeners, Scott and I have been talking about some possibilities for events or workshops, or, you know, different different kinds of things that are going to unify and connect our campuses down the road. I won't say more than that, because we aren't exactly sure what those plans entail or how quickly they will evolve. At the same time, just know that we are stewing and brewing and thinking and scheming about how to connect and how to bring our well how to continue our collaborations in multiple dimensions, including the scholarly but also including things like I said, like programmatic events or things like that. So like I said, stay tuned.
Scott Kowalewski 8:26
And podcasting pocket and fun way to, to keep that connection going. You know, when when Michael and I started the Tucker poor back in, I believe was 2015. You know, we never really saw this is, you know, something that would, that would end up being you I think what has become kind of one of the anchor points of of the program. Podcasting has an audio production has become something that I know that I've incorporated a lot of my courses, Dr. Bill incorporates one of his courses. I think Dr. Herzog does as well. And even I think Dr. Dallas's has, has done some of that work, too. So, you know, it's something that a lot of the faculty members in the department have begun to embrace and incorporate and push students to kind of work beyond their comfort zone with with textual production and writing, to think about all the different kinds of media that helps communicate messages. And, you know, Mike and I, when we created The Tech Rapport, we just wanted to have fun creating podcasts. He was looking for an internship opportunity. I was internship coordinator. I said, Hey, I'm thinking about doing something around podcasting. Would that be something you're interested in? And he said, Absolutely, and he just had a ball rolling with it. He's the one that came up with the name, he came up with the logo. So as far as like an internship experience when he was able to do a lot and really kind of put his own personality into how we develop the podcast, and then he and I served as the first to co host and had a lot of fun creating a lot of episodes really early on. We're trying to get into this this habit of doing a bout recording an episode every week or at least Every other week early on, and that becomes a challenge to kind of maintain. But it started Yeah, I just I invested, I don't know, something like 200 or $250 of my own money on a, on a cheap little board and some microphones and cables. And we would set up in what was the old usability lab in Zeno and we're trying to record and was always challenge because, you know, if you're if you're recording between classes, you would hear people rolling their bags and, and shoes clumping on the on the tile. So, you know, noise and distraction became kind of an issue. But to see how that's evolved, you know, where we started to really nice equipment, a dedicated studio with soundproofing, in a quiet corner of the university. You know, that's, that's a big step. And, you know, some of it now is, you know, we're Dr. Bill sets recording this episode in that studio. I'm excited to see that, you know, that was some of the visions that we started creating, especially as we move from from Zando over into Curtis hall with a really cool space and a lot of support from the university. What can we do to really kind of create opportunities for students to do some of this work in that studio, and the complimentary video production studio became really integral parts of that work.
Bill Williamson 11:13
You know, it's funny that you mentioned the original and very, very humble beginnings of this in terms of space, because last week, I was digging through one of my file cabinets, looking for a cable, I believe. And I discovered the box that holds the board that you just mentioned. So somehow I wound it seems like something that we need to enshrine it somehow we need to put it in glass and connect it to the wall or something like that here in the studio. Because it you say you mentioned how you didn't spend a lot of money on it. And what I when I saw the box, I picked it up and held it in my hands. And I had this immediate and rather powerful memory of the day that you and I had the conversation about why that board introduced anomalous noises into podcasts. So there was that little bit of a buzz. If you set it on the table, and there wasn't anything underneath it, it would it would vibrate. You know, it was just so funny that that memory became so palpable for me holding the box and it made me it started off as just a grid. But I literally laughed out loud in my office while I was holding the box and remembering that
Scott Kowalewski 12:21
there was a lot, you know, a lot of that early stuff. Yeah, it was it was really, you know, working through the kind of growing pains of of equipment issues, or when I mistakenly or stupidly forgot to actually route the board into the recording. I think we already GarageBand some of the Mac's in the in the lab. And I had forgot to put that as the input. And so we ended up recording this entire episode as a great episode with Mike major, who was then the Director of Career Services. And we're talking about internships, and the entire episode ended up getting recorded on the internal microphone on the computer that I was sitting. So the audio quality is not great on I think it's episode two. So if you really want some, like nostalgia, go listen to that episode. And I apologize about the poor audio quality, but that's the reason why. But yeah, it was those kind of growing pains, and then of the things Yeah, and how you know, now we've got these really sophisticated boards, and while on the one that you just ordered, assuming that comes in and get set up. And I think students are really appreciate the simplicity it is to come just fire that thing up and really get rolling, and then recording with, you know, high end software like the like the Adobe stuff and being able then to create some really, really good and good quality audio from that. You know, that's that's a huge step from where we started.
Bill Williamson 13:39
Absolutely. You know, and all of this makes me think, other than other than the sort of humble beginnings that we're celebrating here. Do you have any particularly strong memories of those early days of the tech report or any days of the tech report, for that matter? Me, the tech report ran off and on and off and on is really the key there for three years or even four years. But you know, over that time, there are times where we wanted to record it, we didn't have time because of things that were going on. And there were times you know, we I listened to one of the episodes where we were planning all of these great episodes, and we never recorded a single one of them. So we dropped this big old teaser at the beginning of the episode. And then that was the only one that came up that year. So there were things like that that happened. It was it was fits and starts because we're fitting it in to all of the all of the mayhem and the joy that comes with being faculty in a program that's alive and vibrant, but also dealing with day to day challenges. So you'd like all of that said like, looking back on it. What's something particularly palpable or strong that you think of or the that the tech report evokes for you?
Scott Kowalewski 14:49
So yeah, that's a great question. I'll just kind of back up for a moment kind of funny when I was cleaning out my office in June in preparation to leave. I found a list of a budget Episode ideas that we had jotted down and I had it kind of pinned up onto my, my magnetic shelf or my metal shelf there with a magnet. And I was like, dang, we should have recorded these episodes. They were good ideas. But I think for me, when we got started, what was what was really fun was a to see the energy that it started to create with people who would participate. You know, Mike, and I would have a lot of fun preparing for the episodes and, but it also got me really involved with talking to different people, different stakeholders with in the program. So, you know, we I think we well, we brought you and Trevor on for that one of those episodes on the usability, I brought Dr. Dallas in to talk about community engagement stuff. And, you know, like I mentioned, we brought Mike major into talking about Career Services. And I spoke Mike, I spoke with some alumni who were in graduate programs. So it was really this opportunity to, especially as a newer faculty, I think it was only in my, maybe my second year when I when we started this, you know, to really for me to really get involved with with the program and learn and talk to people. And so there was a lot of energy, and an opportunity to meet with people that I thought was a lot of fun. And as I started to kind of integrate some of this into classes, so as internship coordinator, for example, during my second year, I would start to have students we record, try to set up in the old usability lab, as many mics and stuff as I can and kind of get people around to talk about their internship experience. And I don't know if those ever actually ended up going anywhere other than an audio file on my computer somewhere.
Bill Williamson 16:36
There's at least one episode that is a as I was, as I was posting episodes, it seems like there's at least one that is there. And if not, we could probably still make it happen.
Scott Kowalewski 16:47
I could probably find that those files because yeah, they were great conversations with with people who had a lot to share about their own professional development, working, you know, kind of bridging the program and their internship and what they were taking out of that. And a lot of them were getting ready to graduate. And so where do they see that those experiences taking them post graduation. And those are, those are a lot of really fun classes. And some of the students I think would kind of sit there and roll their eyes a little while to do this. But they still participated. I think we all had a good time. And it was kind of again, that energy that would would resonate from those experiences.
Bill Williamson 17:23
It's actually something that I did, I will, I carried it on in two ways. When I had smaller groups, I did a podcast with them. And when I had larger groups, I required them to record podcasts about their experiences at the end of the semester, but I let them set the stage for those kinds of things. So it strikes me that we probably have plenty of material where we could pull together a couple of decent episodes if we wanted to, to celebrate those those days of you doing that. And then to celebrate the continuation of that as I am as well no longer internship coordinator, because we have both moved in through and out of that role
Scott Kowalewski 18:00
to kind of see then how those are some of my early explorations with audio production in classrooms, how might we use some of the technology that we had available and some of the strategies that we were thinking about, and pulling that then into some of the other classes? So, you know, for me, one of the one of the natural places that came was in the instruction writing course and thinking about using audio for creating instruction documentation. So I started kind of experimenting with some of that, as we as we developed and the new curriculum launched in 2019. You know, I saw classes, like the emerging media class would be great places to kind of bring in some of this work to. And then we started thinking, Well, hey, we well, maybe I should back up and say, you know, we used some some grant funding we received in 2016, or 2017, to start the first podcast studio after we had moved over to Curtis, and this was in that little office room next to yours, Dr. Bill, and you know, that space was really, really perfect for where we were at the time. And I think, you know, we had we invested in a really expensive board that kind of turned out to be maybe a little bit more complicated for the average user. But we were still able to create some really cool things in there. And then you know, to kind of see how we might think about developing courses around specifically around podcasting. And you know, to see that course launch for the first time this semester with you teaching it you know, that's that was something that I that we have pushed for for a long time and I'm excited to see that that it's still kind of rolling.
Bill Williamson 19:36
And as we are recording this episode. This is the week that the ramp up begins to happen in podcasting where the equipment is going to be flying off the shelf and where people are going to be checking out studio that I'm sitting in right here right now using the the equipment that's sitting in front of me that I'm using now to be able to record their first podcasts and it's exciting, you know, to be at that point. And of course, you taught the course once or twice at least as an as a special topic? Or is it once as a special topic? And then a second time maybe integrated into another course?
Scott Kowalewski 20:09
Yeah, so I brought podcasting into a special topics course. You know, maybe like 16 1718, something like that. And then with a new 233 course, the first time I talked, I knew the only time I taught that it was it was centered primarily around podcasting as a real central focus for that course. And yeah, I mean, I think in both instances, students really responded well, and some of the podcasts that came out of that were just amazing. I mean, I mean, really, really cool stuff. You know, and I think one of the things that can't take away, especially if there's other programmatic people around who are your listeners who are thinking about, you know, how, how we did like this, you know, this was a eight or nine year kind of trajectory here, right? Like, like, it wasn't something, we're just like, boom, let's, let's create this effect, where like, there was an evolution here, of, yeah, hey, this is kind of cool. Or, hey, a lot of people think this is really cool. And now we got some money and some space. And, you know, it was just every year a little bit, little a little bit. And now, like I mentioned earlier, I think it's, you know, it's a hallmark, it's an anchor of the program.
Bill Williamson 21:13
Well, it has grown to the point where, with me launching a course with a dedicated number and title, that is podcasting. You're not me launching it. Personally, the department launching me teaching it for the first time under that new title and that new number, like I feel an incredible sense of accomplishment, being in there. And every time I walk into the class, literally still, I'm conscious of that evolution that brought us here. And as I'm teaching the class, I'm already looking ahead. And I've already talked to the students in the class about the possibility of trying to launch a podcasting student group on campus. I mean, we already have a number of organizations from across campus who come in and record in the studio on a regular basis. And we'll look to expand upon that kind of stuff in the, the, the months and the years to come. So that's just a, it's a fantastic thing. You're right, it's become a sense, or a source, I should say, of the identity for the program of the entire department. And I don't know that I would have guessed that that was the case. 10 years ago, when when this was not yet a thing. No, it
Scott Kowalewski 22:15
was not, I think, initially certainly wasn't initially part of our like, like any kind of master plan that we had. But that's also like, even with usability, right? So I can't I came in, shortly after, or kind of maybe just after the start of some of the usability of focus was underway. So you know, a lot of that started with with folks, folks like Trevor boronic, and some of the people in his cohort who had an interest in it. And then we began to see like, oh, well, this is, you know, a significant focus not just locally, but but field wise, right. A lot of the field had been had been moving in this direction for a little while. So it seemed like a really strong place to to kind of build a program around. We and we can see certainly how how you with with a UX UX D minor, you know, really now like that, that's another anchor point for the program. But yeah, audio was was certainly not something that we thought was was part of a grand plan early on, and to see how that's evolved through student interest. And then certainly with the ways that your understanding multimedia production is important offer for most of our graduates, it's kind of a natural place to land.
Bill Williamson 23:27
Yeah, and it's one of those things where there's a lot of signposts that signal the changes that have already been, but there's a lot of things that indicate that audio and video are just going to continue to become well, more important, they're going to continue to be important, they're going to continue to evolve in the way that we incorporate them into our teaching into our professional development, into our personal lives, even, you know, the, there are just so many ways that this stuff is significant to us. And the more that we take a professional critical stance, you know, or that we hold this stuff as something to be taken seriously, I think that the more it's going to continue to evolve in the way that we deal with it in our classes.
Scott Kowalewski 24:11
Yeah, and to kind of go back to something you mentioned earlier, like, for me part of a natural evolution of where that where this trajectory is going, you know, part of that would definitely be students who recognize the value of the importance of this kind of work and then want to either started an RSO, or even just kind of use the spaces to start their own podcast, and, you know, on their own. And so like, you know, that seems like it would be at least part of that kind of natural progression.
Bill Williamson 24:37
So let me give you a chance to, to think another way about the work that you did while you were here at SVSU. And the work that you're looking forward to do and now that you're at Central Michigan. Let me ask this. So what are the things that you did here that we did here? Because a lot of times we were collaborating on stuff, what are you going to try to carry forward to Central Michigan, and is there anything that you are really focused on trying to carry over or recreate now, and, and I don't even want to say it as recreate, because that's what was fixated on carry forward. Because the idea is not to emulate the past success you're trying to grow and reinventing, you've got this new, cool opportunity to do both of those things. So what do you what's what's new, and next for you, as you try to build on your prior successes?
Scott Kowalewski 25:30
Yeah, so thank you. A couple of things that I feel tasked with kind of both explicitly and implicitly, but are developing a focus around user experience for the department and college that I'm in. So I mentioned earlier, I kind of go from a liberal arts humanities College, where I've pretty much spent my entire academic career and going back to being a grad student. Now I'm in a business context. So there are some things that are that are a little bit different. And an expectations are different, and goals are different. And so it's it's building then starting to build a culture around user experience that bridges not just professional and business communication, but thinking about how that extends out to other areas of, of business, like information systems and data systems, and in marketing, and entrepreneurship, and how we can think about using some of the theories and methodologies from user experience in those contexts. And then getting students excited. So I'm, you know, when I came to s3 issue, the lab was there, there was a little bit of interest around usability, right, we had a strong cohort that had just graduated who was exploring with some of that. And so now, it's kind of starting from scratch in some ways where I'm building the studio or building the lab, right now, it's going to start out as a mobile lab that can kind of work with me and go round. And, you know, hopefully, we can then find a space to kind of anchor that lab and, and develop a contingency around UX. The other thing, though, is some of the digital media stuff. And certainly looking to recreate a a departmental podcast very much like we did with a pecker poor is one of my agenda items here. Really, that'll mimic a lot of what I did, with the tech report, looking for people who are doing things around the department around the college to talk to and share what they're doing, both from students and faculty and alumni. And using it as an opportunity to spread the word about some of the things that are going on
Bill Williamson 27:42
the chip report, I've got your title for you already. So you obviously have some big challenges in front of you. It leads me to a follow up question that is, that is, what do you think is going to be most difficult to enact in your new digs? I mean, they're the their challenges across the board with this kind of stuff, what feels like some of the biggest challenges that you face and trying to carry some of that stuff over?
Scott Kowalewski 28:11
Well, I'll say right now, I feel blessed that I have I think I'm, we have this LSVT two, but you know, there's there's an administrative support for building this. And I think that that first and foremost becomes really important, right? You have to have buy in from the decision makers, and the check writers to, to build these kinds of things. And so I have that both at the department level and at the college level, I feel really blessed to be able to have that support. They are excited about some of these things. I think the biggest challenge then is kind of building that kind of groundswell of of enthusiasm and excitement at the student level in the program that I'm in primarily teaching in as the Applied Business Communication program. It's it's a minor, it's it's largely online. And so trying to build that and kind of generate that student capacity through an interest in usability. I see it's kind of the biggest challenge right now. But, you know, I've already started to kind of sprinkle these things into my courses a little bit where we've been doing a lot of things around empathy driven design and design thinking. And I've been pulling in some UX methodologies into some of the courses I've been teaching. And so it's, again, kind of giving a little in trying to generate some interest and kind of build it from the ground up.
Bill Williamson 29:36
Yeah, absolutely. And, I mean, anytime you're the new guy, and the new person in the neighborhood, there's a certain amount of of enthusiasm and a certain amount of energy that surrounds that, but then there's also a certain amount of, well, let's see what you're going to do here.
Scott Kowalewski 29:51
Right. Yeah, that honeymoon phase doesn't usually last very long. You know, and I think in any job, right, I mean, that there's not just a faculty job, but If, you know, yeah, they bring you in for a reason, because you can offer something, this is what I tell students all the time, it's not, you know, job learn what, you know, how they benefit you, it's about about how you benefit the organization. And right, they see, you know, they expect me to build some things around UX. And so I've got to deliver. And I've, I've, you know, I think in any job, we got a little bit of time to make that happen. But, you know, it's, you know, it's important to get started early, and to, you know, to go so I'm right now I'm in the process of collecting some of the materials necessary to do the works on the hardware, software, that kind of stuff, I'm working with my department chair on seeing if we have some kind of spaces available, that we can utilize at least part time to, to do some of the research and work that needs to happen. And then like I said, trying to develop the student interest as well.
Bill Williamson 30:54
Well, and when he come in for as a first time faculty member, you know, newly minted PhD, starry eyed, and he went through the the big long process of finding your job and, and all that kind of stuff, and you show up in a good campus, they find a way of giving you space, and they find a way of making time for you so that you can be successful. When you come in, after having been doing this for a while you come in at associate prof or you come in with tenure as some people do in different places. Wow, the expectations are so much different. And when I when I came to work here, I actually did my first departmental project, before I actually was officially employed by the university, meaning that I was asked to chip in to some it will, I was asked to chip in my my thoughts and my opinions on directions for things that I would be doing in the fall. And I had all of maybe 10 days to two weeks to settle myself before the expectation was that I was going to be doing. And in a feel like you're, you're like you said the honeymoon period is relatively short for you. And the expectations of acceleration are already there.
Scott Kowalewski 32:06
Yeah. And I knew that. And I kind of embrace it. I mean, I think, you know, there's I mean, there's always, you know, when you change context, right? It's kind of learning a new environment, learning a new culture, all that stuff, is there some of that stuff takes a little bit more time. But, you know, it's, it's, it's not like, I haven't done this stuff before, right. And so, you know, I, you know, thinking about how to adapt it to a different context is as good as these to happen. But it's kind of fun, right? Like this elite overcoming challenges that I that I like,
Bill Williamson 32:37
it's part of what we push our students to do, right? I mean, we talked about adaptability all the time. So when we get to live it ourselves. I mean, we live it all the time, to an extent anyway, but this is, this is taking it to another level. And there's some excitement to that challenge.
Scott Kowalewski 32:50
I've got to practice, you know, what I preach, so to speak, and this is an opportunity for me to do that. You know, and I'm excited about it. I think that you're building students, when you're when we've exposed students to a lot of theories and projects around UX, there seems to be a connection that they have, that really resonates with how they see the stuff that they've been doing in school applying to the stuff that they think they'll be doing in their job. Yeah, right. So it's so it's a it's a way for them to really kind of develop a concrete understanding of application from school to work. And they they seem to really appreciate that that connection I did. projects aren't always hypothetical, right? There seems to be a level of grounded grounding in reality that they can appreciate.
Bill Williamson 33:43
Oh, absolutely. And I think when we showcases, you said that we are capable of doing these things, or that we hold ourselves to that same standard and that the things that we talked about in our classes applied not just in our classes, but that we really do mean them sincerely as being strategies for work and strategies for well, just for for being for engaging for contributing. I think that that's, that's a really important thing for us to reinforce whenever we get the chance to do so.
Scott Kowalewski 34:11
Yeah, and I, you know, I prefer projects that that are a little bit more applied, right, and a little bit more grounded in reality, maybe a lot more grounded. And I know, I know that some students, you know, feel uncomfortable with that at first because there's there seems to be a lot of ambiguity. But starting new jobs, graduating college, changing cultures, both in terms of like work cultures, but then also maybe larger societal culture like these, these things all come with a lot of ambiguity. And so absolutely how to how to navigate through that and doing it in this in a safer space, like, like a college classroom. I think it really helped to develop some of the strategies that as we've talked about, become adaptable and flexible for students to kind of learn how to manage those those moments of change in their lives.
Bill Williamson 35:03
On speaking of changes, I want to celebrate you being here with us today. And I want to give you a chance to say up anything that you maybe didn't get a chance to say or, or that you just, you know, think back on, on your, on your decade or so at SVSU. Now as your as you're moving on to more Western engagements at Central Michigan there, so what kinds of things might you say to your, to former colleagues and for well, current colleagues still, because we're colleagues just at different institutions, but colleagues, students and all that?
Scott Kowalewski 35:36
Well, I think, probably a couple of things. One is, I don't mean this as any more sacred than it may sound, but like, the students at SNHU are amazing, and I absolutely enjoyed working with them for for nine years. You know, I feel like I learned so much about, you know, from them, that as, as hopefully they did for me, and that was, again, one of the things that was hard to step away from, was those relationships and those opportunities to work with some really, really fantastic students at SVSU. within the department, I'm glad that in some ways, you know, if the if the mark that I leave is some facilities, and some strategies, some programmatically, as well as strategically, that I'd be happy with that, you know, having a hand in creating, you know, the podcasting studio and the maker space and the video production studio and working towards some of the programs in USD and the new community journalism and digital publishing program. You know, those are all things that I had a significant hand in developing. And I feel proud of that. And so I'm excited to see where those things go. You know, part of, I think part of being a professional sometimes is, is building things on watching what others can do with them. And so that's, that's what I'm kind of excited about, about seeing how, you know, where those things go in the future. And I'll just say, they're in good hands, right. I mean, you know, the four of you that are still there are amazing at what you do. And I know that you're gonna do cool things with, with the program and the facilities.
Bill Williamson 37:14
Yeah, it's exciting times to be here. And it said, for me personally not to have you here to benefit from all the good work that we put in, and to see thing, well, you still get to see things develop it just that you get to watch them from afar, at this point, and you get your chance to build things on your own there. And, you know, you and I have talked about, like I said, continuing to collaborate on things and, and those collaborations are going to manifest in a variety of ways locally, for both of us, I think it's just kind of the way that we do things. So by no means is it, you know, you've moved on, and are never going to be known here again, or anything like that, you know, it's it's all about the continuing work and the continuing collaboration, and it just changes a little bit. We adapt. Yeah,
Scott Kowalewski 38:00
we just we just adapt and do things a little bit differently. You know, I'm excited about the opportunity to continue, you know, working with you and completing some of the projects that we've started, but then also looking at, you know, what other kinds of new and exciting things are gonna happen? I think, you know, well, like I said, we kind of continue to be vague, but, you know, we've talked about that some of the opportunities that being at two different institutions create that we may not have had before. And so I look forward to exploring those a little bit more. You know, I think that, yeah, it's one of those things where it's like, it's, you know, it's not necessarily goodbye, it's just kind of a different kind of a different segue.
Bill Williamson 38:36
Absolutely. And on that note, I want to thank you once again, for joining us here today to relive and celebrate the tech report and now the tech report archive, and to get a chance to chat about some of the things that brought us to the point where we are at programmatically and in terms of our pedagogy here today. So thank you very much for coming back. It's it's exciting to be back on mic with you.
Scott Kowalewski 39:01
Yes, absolutely. And I'm excited to see where some of the new podcasts go. All Things RPW is an exciting venture and you know, the the first couple episodes have been fantastic and so I'm really looking forward to dissing you kind of continue that legacy and talking with the people that are that are associated with the program.
Bill Williamson 39:19
That is certainly a legacy that I hope to continue here with All Things RPW but let me make one last reminder here that one of the reasons that I brought Scott on in the first place is that we republished the original files, the original 13 episodes of the Technical Rapport as the Tech Rapport Archive, and you can find the link to that in the show notes for this episode. So don't hesitate to give a listen to those classic episodes. There's there's a lot of really great material there. And please do come on back and keep listening to All Things RPW we absolutely appreciate you listeners. Take care everybody
Transcribed by https://otter.ai