Resident assistants are college students who are responsible for ensuring the well-being of the residents and are first responders to emergencies happening in Lion Gates. We go through many rough and stressful experiences and deal with high-risk individuals. That college students are working 24/7 and balancing their personal lives with their RA duties. How virtual discourse assists with resident assistant communities That technology has an impact on the RA role. That the virtual discourse helps with many tasks in the RA role and responsibilities.
To further my research on how virtual discourse assists the resident assistant community, I conducted surveys and interviews. I send out surveys to current resident assistants at Penn State and conduct in-person interviews. I got six responses on the survey from the resident assistant. All six responses agree that virtual discourse helps ease the RA’s responsibilities. That technology helps the RA stay connected and in contact with their residents and co-workers. Also, technology helps with better communication with the Penn State Abington community on campus and off campus. There are many platforms that the RA uses to stay organized and easy to access, with all the documents and files saved online. The main source that the RA uses is Teams; it is the platform where all the RA tasks and responsibilities are located, and all the documents are saved online. For example, roommate agreements and floors group chat, we use Teams all the time to communicate and complete RA duties. In addition, social media is another huge source that is used by resident assistants around the world. It’s a way where the RAs can express themselves with other RAs and help and give ideas to other RAs. It’s a huge community that helps each other and shares their journals with other RAs. Like Pinterest, it is a source where other RAs upload their ideas for decorating the residential halls and bulletin boards. Instagram is another platform that resident assistants use to communicate and vent to other RAs who understand their struggles and know what they are going through. It is a safe place and stay in contact with the coworkers because everyone has a busy schedule.
That technology has multiple ways to help the resident assistant’s role and responsibilities. That virtual discourse does assist the resident community, and it makes a huge difference and helps the RA be organized and ease the job of a resident assistant. It is important and useful to have virtual discourse to function as an RA and help balance personal lives and duties. That is helpful to have virtual discourse in the Resident Assistant community.