Hi everyone, and happy Sunday.
Between my last post and today I've been embarking on some projects in my still-new community (I now have four months in Citalá), and trying to utilize my free time in the most edifying ways I can.
With respect to work activities, I have been teaching business management and entrepreneurship principles to high schoolers, reinforcing English learning with teachers who want to improve their English skills, and continuing with a drama class I started almost as soon as I arrived here. Most recently, I have begun supporting a fledgling tourism promotion organization in my community, which I am excited about, as Citalá has modest tourism potential that it is currently leaving unexploited. Specifically, I am working with the group on a security assessment of the municipality. The context here is that while the main target segment for tourism in Citalá will be middle-class professionals based in the capital (two hours away), due to the security situation in the country, many people with disposable income are hesitant to explore unfamiliar areas despite commanding the financial resources to do so. As the security situation in Citalá is among the most favorable in the country, the logic behind publishing a transparent and honest security assessment is that it will assist in allaying the safety concerns that middle-class people have to visit Citalá while highlighting a competitive advantage Citalá enjoys over similar destinations.
I hope and expect that more opportunities will arise through my collaboration with the tourism organization. This will of course depend on whether the individuals involved will be able to stay committed to the organization and maintain a high level of motivation. Most Peace Corps Volunteers will agree with me when I say that the most important resource when working in community economic development—of much greater consequence than money or even time—is motivation.
In addition to the projects I have mentioned, another part of my work is community integration. I know that sounds jargon-y, but an important tenet of Peace Corps is intercultural exchange and the projection of a positive image of America. In keeping with this responsibility as a PCV, I regularly attend cultural events and socialize with locals. For example, as El Salvador maintains a January-to-November academic year, I've recently been attending graduations in my community. Locals generally seem appreciative of volunteers when we take an interest in their rituals and culture, and as such these gestures promote positive ties between Americans and host country nationals.
Outside of work, in the last few months I have taken up MOOCs in a significant fashion. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a MOOC is a massive open online course, accessed through providers such as Coursera (which I use) and EdX. The foundation of any MOOC is video lectures and periodic assessments (usually multiple-choice or short-answer question exams), and some also feature readings, written assignments, peer assessments, and interactive virtual office-hour sessions with professors. Courses are developed through collaborations between the MOOC providers and universities (and occasionally non-university institutions with expertise in a particular subject). As such, they provide a platform from which universities can promote their brands, while allowing people to access quality education online, free of charge. At this point, Coursera (which is for-profit) and EdX (a nonprofit supported by MIT and Harvard) are ad-free and generate revenue by charging students for verified certificates of course completion. I am interested to see where the MOOC industry heads in terms of its financial sustainability.
The reason I have embarked upon a regiment of MOOCs (aside from a general love of learning and a outsize amount of free time for a person my age--such is the Peace Corps lifestyle) is that I have recently developed a much greater interest in business, and have decided to pursue private-sector employment after Peace Corps. The classes I'm taking on Coursera, thus, are business-related, such as Introduction to Finance (UMichigan) and Introduction to Marketing (UPenn).
Also with the motive of developing my knowledge of business and different industries of interest, I have recently begun using Twitter again (you may have noticed the new sidebar on my blog). Feel free to follow me @frankjalarcon.
Lastly, on the topic of lifestyle, in the last few months I have for the first time in my life fully embraced running. I have been running on-and-off for years, usually reluctantly, like when I studied abroad and didn't have access to a gym. It has been something I have done as a last-resort form of exercise, not a beloved pastime. Most recently, I decided to change that. I simply decided that instead of just tolerating running as a default of exercise, I would like it. And it worked! I've been running around 15 or 20 miles a week (I know this because I track my runs with a neat app called RunKeeper) for the past few months, and it's an activity I look forward to and relish. It's somewhat astounding how a deliberate mindset shift can completely overhaul one's attitude toward something.
That's all for now. Feel free to contact me directly with any questions.
Between my last post and today I've been embarking on some projects in my still-new community (I now have four months in Citalá), and trying to utilize my free time in the most edifying ways I can.
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| Attending a graduation with some other PCVs |
I hope and expect that more opportunities will arise through my collaboration with the tourism organization. This will of course depend on whether the individuals involved will be able to stay committed to the organization and maintain a high level of motivation. Most Peace Corps Volunteers will agree with me when I say that the most important resource when working in community economic development—of much greater consequence than money or even time—is motivation.
In addition to the projects I have mentioned, another part of my work is community integration. I know that sounds jargon-y, but an important tenet of Peace Corps is intercultural exchange and the projection of a positive image of America. In keeping with this responsibility as a PCV, I regularly attend cultural events and socialize with locals. For example, as El Salvador maintains a January-to-November academic year, I've recently been attending graduations in my community. Locals generally seem appreciative of volunteers when we take an interest in their rituals and culture, and as such these gestures promote positive ties between Americans and host country nationals.
Outside of work, in the last few months I have taken up MOOCs in a significant fashion. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a MOOC is a massive open online course, accessed through providers such as Coursera (which I use) and EdX. The foundation of any MOOC is video lectures and periodic assessments (usually multiple-choice or short-answer question exams), and some also feature readings, written assignments, peer assessments, and interactive virtual office-hour sessions with professors. Courses are developed through collaborations between the MOOC providers and universities (and occasionally non-university institutions with expertise in a particular subject). As such, they provide a platform from which universities can promote their brands, while allowing people to access quality education online, free of charge. At this point, Coursera (which is for-profit) and EdX (a nonprofit supported by MIT and Harvard) are ad-free and generate revenue by charging students for verified certificates of course completion. I am interested to see where the MOOC industry heads in terms of its financial sustainability.
The reason I have embarked upon a regiment of MOOCs (aside from a general love of learning and a outsize amount of free time for a person my age--such is the Peace Corps lifestyle) is that I have recently developed a much greater interest in business, and have decided to pursue private-sector employment after Peace Corps. The classes I'm taking on Coursera, thus, are business-related, such as Introduction to Finance (UMichigan) and Introduction to Marketing (UPenn).
Also with the motive of developing my knowledge of business and different industries of interest, I have recently begun using Twitter again (you may have noticed the new sidebar on my blog). Feel free to follow me @frankjalarcon.
Lastly, on the topic of lifestyle, in the last few months I have for the first time in my life fully embraced running. I have been running on-and-off for years, usually reluctantly, like when I studied abroad and didn't have access to a gym. It has been something I have done as a last-resort form of exercise, not a beloved pastime. Most recently, I decided to change that. I simply decided that instead of just tolerating running as a default of exercise, I would like it. And it worked! I've been running around 15 or 20 miles a week (I know this because I track my runs with a neat app called RunKeeper) for the past few months, and it's an activity I look forward to and relish. It's somewhat astounding how a deliberate mindset shift can completely overhaul one's attitude toward something.
That's all for now. Feel free to contact me directly with any questions.
