Registration for the spring term took place earlier this month, and I am all set with the classes I am taking for the two spring sessions. I went to a very large university for my undergrad, and registering for classes was a huge pain. I have memories of sitting with six different telephones, hitting redial until one finally connected (and then when we went to web registration, the system was always busy!) It is amazing that I can just log into a system (on the first try), select the classes I want, know they'll have openings, and be done. It's so easy! I get a weird sense of accomplishment just having the classes registered for. They are ticked off my graduation plan, so now I can see the finish line in site! Problem is, I still have to take them (and then the summer term.)
We are at the half-way mark for the Statistics class, and it is going well. This is definitely the most difficult class for me so far, in that the curriculum isn't really familiar. Luckily, the instructors is the most involved one I've had so far. She emails the class regularly, and posts on the discussion board quite a bit. Some of the instructors are very hands off, so for a difficult class, I'm glad I got one who is hands on!
Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving! I'll probably be working on statistics- we got a note to warn us it was a content heavy week...and to plan our time accordingly if we were planning on taking some days off. I'll admit I'm a little surprise a break isn't figured into the schedule.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Session 2...
Last week Fall Session 2 began. This session I am taking Statistics, more on that in a minute.
I am really happy to be back to taking just one class at a time. For one, taking two classes at a time, while also working full time and keeping a full schedule of after-work activities was kind of taking a toll on me. I felt really worn down. But also, session 2 is a good time for an easier course load. Between all the terms (winter-summer-fall) there is a bit of a break. Between the sessions, you don't get a break. The first session ends on Friday, and the new session starts on Monday. But, most of the time instructors take work through Sunday, so I don't finish up until Saturday afternoon, and if you wait until Monday to start your new course (which I usually don't, but did this time) you will find most of your classmates have already started working and feel behind.
The good news is it looks like Statistics is going to be a great class. It is set up to be very collaborative. Right now, we have two defined work groups. For one, the class is divided into 3 groups of about 5, and we do all our main discussions in these groups. This makes it more manageable then other classes where the discussions were going on among everyone. We are encouraged to "peak" into the other discussion boards, but I think conversation is easier knowing the five people we are mainly working with.
The second group is a private group- we can't see anyone else in the class. My group has two other people in it. This is set up as a sounding board for our final project. The final project is a statistical study, and is causing me a lot of stress. It seems like many people are planning to do a study with their students. I am not a teacher, so I don't have an easy group of 30+ people (we learned that it isn't recommended to do a study of less than 30 observational units). I am trying to come up with a study about inanimate objects, but I am having a hard time making it meaningful. For example, right now we are working with counting the number of raisins in a small box. It is an easy thing to collect data on, and models the process of collecting and interpreting data well, but it isn't very meaningful. I'm hoping inspiration will strike me soon!
I am really happy to be back to taking just one class at a time. For one, taking two classes at a time, while also working full time and keeping a full schedule of after-work activities was kind of taking a toll on me. I felt really worn down. But also, session 2 is a good time for an easier course load. Between all the terms (winter-summer-fall) there is a bit of a break. Between the sessions, you don't get a break. The first session ends on Friday, and the new session starts on Monday. But, most of the time instructors take work through Sunday, so I don't finish up until Saturday afternoon, and if you wait until Monday to start your new course (which I usually don't, but did this time) you will find most of your classmates have already started working and feel behind.
The good news is it looks like Statistics is going to be a great class. It is set up to be very collaborative. Right now, we have two defined work groups. For one, the class is divided into 3 groups of about 5, and we do all our main discussions in these groups. This makes it more manageable then other classes where the discussions were going on among everyone. We are encouraged to "peak" into the other discussion boards, but I think conversation is easier knowing the five people we are mainly working with.
The second group is a private group- we can't see anyone else in the class. My group has two other people in it. This is set up as a sounding board for our final project. The final project is a statistical study, and is causing me a lot of stress. It seems like many people are planning to do a study with their students. I am not a teacher, so I don't have an easy group of 30+ people (we learned that it isn't recommended to do a study of less than 30 observational units). I am trying to come up with a study about inanimate objects, but I am having a hard time making it meaningful. For example, right now we are working with counting the number of raisins in a small box. It is an easy thing to collect data on, and models the process of collecting and interpreting data well, but it isn't very meaningful. I'm hoping inspiration will strike me soon!
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