It is the end of week five of a pair of eight week courses. This is to my mind the toughest week. It always seem at this time my energy levels fall and the end of the courses look as far away as ever. To make it worse it is all up hill to the end.
Midterms are done and grades are almost back. One class was an 'A' grade so looks nice. The other was a four essay exam. Fine for me, but my poor teacher, four essays of twenty odd students. I don't blame him for taking time to post the results!
The bad part of the uphill bit is not that final exams are just over two weeks away, 17 days, 408 hours or 24,480 minutes. You get the drift! But NO! before that comes the dreaded Term Paper or Research Paper.
OK at this point I have the books and an idea for the subjects. I have an idea for the thesis and that has been cleared by my instructors. The bad part is the first crisp white screen which will stare at me as I gaze at the tree in the yard and I think. "Where do I even start? I have ten pages to write." Ten pages; 250 words a page; 2,500 words to impress my instructor. "Oh! Why do I do this to myself?"
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Being a successful online student.
Online students come in many forms, workers returning to school to gain more qualifications, high schoolers looking to gain credit for college, people who study for fun. I work almost full-time hours, so in seat classes aimed for students who don't work during the day are useless. I am also visually impaired so travel to a large campus for evening classes is not practical. Online suits me because I can work at home, I love history and no local colleges offered that online, but I found a good school Columbia College (ccis.edu) which gave me a chance to go for a B.A. in History completely online. They also work with my local community college to provide me with proctors for my exams.
There are at least ten pieces of advice I would give to new online students.
1: Don't think it is easy. It isn't. You need to keep working classes around your life, you have feadlines for posts, essays, papers and exams. You will work harder than you think because you need to read everything.
2: You will gain new skills, most online courses require you to use powerpoint, or work with e-mail as basic requirements. Some require database searches and use You Tube and other social networks to view news stories or documentary films.
3: It can seem a long road to the degree. Sometimes you just feel it is not worth anymore effort. But then you get that spark of inspiration that your online teacher must praise you for and for a few more weeks you work with wings on your fingertips as you type.
4: As much of the work is done via e-mail like services you are not tied to the moment as you are during in-seat classes. If you don't have a great idea for a post online you can get up walk away, have a coffee, do the dishes, vacuum the house and come back when that fantastic answer is in your mind.
5: In seat classes restrict total involvement by everyone. You just don't get to hear everyones opinion. Online everyone must give an opinion. You get a variety of people the early posters, the last minute posters, you get the detailed posters and the one line poster. But try to read everyones post. You will learn a lot from your fellow students as you read their ideas on the texts.
6: One caveat:- Beware the plagiarist. One of my first online classes was spoiled for me by someone who blatantly copied and pasted not only my work but several others in the class. In the end we wrote to the instructor and the dean. Another good reason to read everyone elses post.
7: Organize your life around the class work if you can. Try to schedule parties for weekends when you know you won't have a ten-page term paper to work on. The syllabus should give you ALL due dates so you can see well in advance what is required and when.
8: Use all your colleges online assistance, advisors, teachers even other students can help sort out problemsgive advice on classes. I have asked fellow students if they have taken a class and what they thought of it. Like you they are fellow consumers and if they find the product faulty you might too.
9: Weeks go by very quickly when you are taking classes. I often look down the tunnel at the start of each of my eight week sessions and it seems such a long road. Blink and you are at the midterm. Pause and finals week is upon you with the mad rush to finish papers and get exam times sorted. There is little time to set aside other commitments but you cannot ignore family gatherings and friends might not understand if you refuse every invitation. So make time for those too. It's all in the planning.
10: Set a goal. Know why you want to study. You don't have to even be going for a degree; it can be a single class that interests you. If you have a goal it drives you to success. On the way enjoy the journey, don't see it as a chore or labor to be endured. In the words of one of my teachers, "Study is what gives you the education. Not passing the exam."
So a few ideas as to what you need to do to succeed in online learning. Most of all though enjoy the experience. If you enjoy it you will succeed.
There are at least ten pieces of advice I would give to new online students.
1: Don't think it is easy. It isn't. You need to keep working classes around your life, you have feadlines for posts, essays, papers and exams. You will work harder than you think because you need to read everything.
2: You will gain new skills, most online courses require you to use powerpoint, or work with e-mail as basic requirements. Some require database searches and use You Tube and other social networks to view news stories or documentary films.
3: It can seem a long road to the degree. Sometimes you just feel it is not worth anymore effort. But then you get that spark of inspiration that your online teacher must praise you for and for a few more weeks you work with wings on your fingertips as you type.
4: As much of the work is done via e-mail like services you are not tied to the moment as you are during in-seat classes. If you don't have a great idea for a post online you can get up walk away, have a coffee, do the dishes, vacuum the house and come back when that fantastic answer is in your mind.
5: In seat classes restrict total involvement by everyone. You just don't get to hear everyones opinion. Online everyone must give an opinion. You get a variety of people the early posters, the last minute posters, you get the detailed posters and the one line poster. But try to read everyones post. You will learn a lot from your fellow students as you read their ideas on the texts.
6: One caveat:- Beware the plagiarist. One of my first online classes was spoiled for me by someone who blatantly copied and pasted not only my work but several others in the class. In the end we wrote to the instructor and the dean. Another good reason to read everyone elses post.
7: Organize your life around the class work if you can. Try to schedule parties for weekends when you know you won't have a ten-page term paper to work on. The syllabus should give you ALL due dates so you can see well in advance what is required and when.
8: Use all your colleges online assistance, advisors, teachers even other students can help sort out problemsgive advice on classes. I have asked fellow students if they have taken a class and what they thought of it. Like you they are fellow consumers and if they find the product faulty you might too.
9: Weeks go by very quickly when you are taking classes. I often look down the tunnel at the start of each of my eight week sessions and it seems such a long road. Blink and you are at the midterm. Pause and finals week is upon you with the mad rush to finish papers and get exam times sorted. There is little time to set aside other commitments but you cannot ignore family gatherings and friends might not understand if you refuse every invitation. So make time for those too. It's all in the planning.
10: Set a goal. Know why you want to study. You don't have to even be going for a degree; it can be a single class that interests you. If you have a goal it drives you to success. On the way enjoy the journey, don't see it as a chore or labor to be endured. In the words of one of my teachers, "Study is what gives you the education. Not passing the exam."
So a few ideas as to what you need to do to succeed in online learning. Most of all though enjoy the experience. If you enjoy it you will succeed.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Midterms Almost done.
The benefit of online for me is doing ones school work when one can not at set times.
For instance one of my class teachers had set the midterm for this weekend. Ouch! I had planned a weekend away for Labor Day. My teacher was great about it when I explained the situation. He gave me the exam early. Now I can just relax over the holiday weekend and forget about school for a couple of days.
For instance one of my class teachers had set the midterm for this weekend. Ouch! I had planned a weekend away for Labor Day. My teacher was great about it when I explained the situation. He gave me the exam early. Now I can just relax over the holiday weekend and forget about school for a couple of days.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
First Post
Well this is my first post. A brief note about myself. I am forty-seven soon to be forty-eight. I work thirty hours a week for a reasonable wage and studying full time for a Bachelors Degree in History with an online college. I am married with no children, but even without children to worry about I often wonder how to balance the life I have in terms of time and I have to say it is not always easy. Friends and family make plans for an evening here and weekend there. Sometimes I feel the cries of "But I have two papers and five posts planned for Saturday", carry no weight in family life.
I have been working away at my degree for eight months now. That puts me just short of the halfway point. It has been three years since I first went back to school. Being from England and a new immigrant to the United States, the Community College system was a maze for me, thankfully after seventeen months I graduated with my Associates degree in Social Sciences last December. How I wish I could have done a major in my first love History, but was told by a counsellor, "You already have too much history in your courses." Too Much! How can one have too much history?
As a final word, it would be nice if this blog might inspire people to return to education for whatever their personal reasons, self improvement, better job, to inspire their children. I have already met many people who have gone to college as adults. They have inspired me to continue in my education as I hope this blog might inspire others.
I have been working away at my degree for eight months now. That puts me just short of the halfway point. It has been three years since I first went back to school. Being from England and a new immigrant to the United States, the Community College system was a maze for me, thankfully after seventeen months I graduated with my Associates degree in Social Sciences last December. How I wish I could have done a major in my first love History, but was told by a counsellor, "You already have too much history in your courses." Too Much! How can one have too much history?
As a final word, it would be nice if this blog might inspire people to return to education for whatever their personal reasons, self improvement, better job, to inspire their children. I have already met many people who have gone to college as adults. They have inspired me to continue in my education as I hope this blog might inspire others.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)