Blogging with a purpose

The inside of the Design Lab on campus, with students working on their computers during a blog class.
All Stories Class Profiles Multimedia Pacer News Top Stories November 6, 2025

By Emily Hawxwell

As the world around us becomes more reliant on digital media each day, understanding how to communicate effectively online has never been more important.

Inside the Advanced Digital & Social Media class at William Peace University, students are using their platforms to share about topics that are important to them.

At the beginning of the semester, students choose their topics and design a personal website to serve as a foundation for their blogs. 

Professor Marti Maguire guides students through the process of building and maintaining their blogs. 

From gaming and accessibility to investing, each blog is a reflection of its creator’s personality, experiences, and ambitions. 

Throughout the semester, the students have developed six blog posts and worked to become experts on their chosen topics while also creating content on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook for the Peace Times Media. 

Posting their blogs on Mastodon, an open-source social media platform with features similar to X, to help a wider audience outside the classroom.

 Investing 100

Senior Keegan Vulgamott, a simulation and game design major at Peace, created a blog focused on investing for students and financial literacy.

His goal for the blog is to help young adults understand how to manage their finances and make informed financial decisions by investing early in life through tips and general knowledge for investing. 

Vulgamott realized that if you just let your money sit in your savings account with the current inflation, you end up losing money, and investing in the stock market helps you beat that.

“It’s really an important topic that we’re not taught a lot about,” said Vulgamott. “Especially if you’re not an econ major, you don’t really get that learning aspect of it. So being able to share what I’ve learned and my passion for it with others has been really fun.”

The inside of the Design Lab on campus, with students working on their computers during a blog class.
Students in the Advanced Digital & Social Media class work on making blogs and social media posts for the Peace Times Media. Photo by Aidan McNeely.

Vision Beyond Sight

Chemae Mebane, a senior business administration major with a minor in communication, created a blog dedicated to teaching others about accessibility and inclusion while breaking barriers.

As a student who is blind, Mebane wants to show her expertise in making the world inclusive for everyone, focusing primarily on blind inclusion.

“What I realized here at William Peace is that not a lot of students have that much experience,” said Mebane. “Even some of the staff don’t have a lot of experience with a blind student, as far as accommodations, making them feel included, and just basic accessibility. So I wanted to highlight the importance of inclusion.”

In one post, Mebane brought different voices from the blind community together to discuss ableism and inclusion and what it meant to them.

Spawned Together

Jonathan Baruch, a senior and simulation and game design major at Peace, talks about the pros and cons of online gaming through his blog and focuses on the impact it has on mental health.

“I don’t see other places talking more in-depth, like I have been doing,” said Baruch. “There’s the bad side of it, where there’s toxicity, harassment, but then there’s the positive side of it, where you’re making new friends online, you’re engaging with others, and just creating a whole new experience for yourself and others.”

Though his own experience has helped him get out of loneliness and anxiety, it can also make things worse by causing him to lose sleep.

His blog aims to help gamers and non-gamers understand the realities of online gaming, from the sense of community and escapism it can build, to the challenges and dangers.

Classroom Environment

Even though some students enter the class with little to no experience creating blogs and social media content, they find the class format, instructor, and classmates helpful in keeping them engaged.

“I have struggled with making sure my material looks presentable, and that’s why I always seek help from Professor Marti and my classmates. I always love receiving feedback,” said Baruch.

The classroom environment can be light-hearted and social, where students share ideas, creativity, and laughter.

“My favorite part of the blog class is writing the different blogs… I will also say, we have a great group in our class,” said Mebane. “We laugh every day when it comes to who can get the most Mastodon accounts.”

How will this class help them in the future?

For many students, this class will help them beyond the classroom, allowing them to get their voices heard and be seen by others in the field they want to pursue.

“It’s definitely going to help me with my communication and with my goals of being an accessibility consultant, said Mebane. “I’ve already been promoting my blog out there for people to read, so that I can get invited more to kind of speak at events and discuss what I feel is important for inclusion and accessibility.”

Others, like Vulgamott, feel the class has helped enhance their writing and creative skills.

“As a simulation and game design major, a lot of what I do when making games is telling stories. And I think doing different kinds of writing, like not just creative writing, but also news writing and blog writing, just helps me become a better storyteller,” said Vulgamott.

Through this hands-on experience, students aren’t just learning about digital media; they are becoming active participants in it, building skills they need for their future.

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