Bittersweet

There is so much emotion and exhaustion in this final blog of mine for Website Design 6009. I have pushed myself really hard in this class to learn as much as I could in a very short eight weeks. I say very short, because this easily could have been a six month class, in my opinion. There was so much to learn and do. I am definitely the type of student that needs lots of practice to really assimilate the information I am learning. This class provided plenty of that! I was enlightened to a whole new world with even more acronyms that I still am confused with. I learned a lot and I am so greatly impressed by the work of my classmates. I look at their work and wonder how I compare. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of things, I see what others have done and I am impressed and at the same time depressed. I know I will never do web design full time, but I at least know a few basics. I don't know if I could get a site up and going all by myself, but maybe Bill would love another email from me! I was the student that was constantly sending emails; asking questions, and asking for help. Bill is probably greatly relieved that this class is over and my emails will finally end.
There is another ending here for me. I have just completed my Master's program at Lesley. I will greatly miss the constant communication with teachers and classmates. I will have some free time on my hands and probably not know what to do with it. I have greatly enjoyed every moment of being a graduate student. I am so glad I did this program. Today, I am physically exhausted from the long hours put into this class, emotional about the end, proud of my accomplishment, and excited to use my new skills and education. It is so bittersweet.

Expected Value

The topic this week in Probability was Expected Value. Unlike many of the topics, which I have been exposed to before, this one was completely new to me.

It is such a useful idea! If McDonald's has 5 different Happy Meal toys (do they still do that? Or do unhealthy foods advertising to kids not allow it anymore?), and there is an equally likely chance you will get any one toy, how many should you expect to buy to get them all? The answer is about 12. Now, you may be lucky and get them in just 5 purchases, or you may get unlucky, and have it take many many more than that, but on average (say you and 1,000 of your closest friends are all collecting the toys) it should only take 12 purchases.

One of my favorite things to do at a store is buy a grab bag. If you know 20% of the grab bags are worth $100, and 30% are worth $50, and 50% are worth $10, is it a good idea to pay $25 to choose one at random? Expected value can help you inform your decision. On average, the return of a grab bag is $40, so paying $25 is a reasonable gamble.

Probability classes are generally a lot of coin flipping and dice rolling, so the real life application of expected value was what really made me interested in my topic. On a phone call with my Dad, who works in finance, I mentioned the topic we were covering, and he immediately started talking about how he uses expected value all the time at work. That made me smile, because students always ask about math "when am I going to use this?" It is nice to hear that someone really does!

A unique experience

This class in writing HTML and designing webpages has been a total love/hate relationship. I love what I am learning and get so excited when I see a finished product that does what I want it to. On the other hand, I hate when I think I have it all under control and I look at a preview to see things are not what I wanted. Just adding a "td" or "tr" can totally screw up the works. The hours I have spent with the trial and error approach has my family wondering if this laptop computer is now an appendage! I have a new appreciation for those that can do this for a living. I am sure with a few more thousand hours, I could really get the hang of it. Fortunately, for all those out there I will not be switching careers to designing web pages. I have a friend who just designed her own web page for her business on her Mac with iWeb. I am a little jealous that it looks great and she did not have to be attached to her computer writing code for hours on end. I know that I could have cheated on occasion and used the editor, but I really wanted to understand and have control. I am admittedly a "control freak". I am also determined. I will finish strong and achieve my look. If you get a chance, check it out:
http://ada.lesley.edu/faculty/warrigon/Ecomp6009/wa110107/module5/unique.html . I was told in order to make myself stand out in this job market I needed to show how I am unique. This website is my attempt.

Photoshop

In this class, I am learning how to write html and how to use Photoshop. I must say that this class has me working very hard. I spend so much time in a trial and error mode that I feel like I am taking three classes at once with the amount of time I am putting in! I am still a little confused. You see, once I finally do get the desired look I want, I have spent so much time and various ways trying to do it that I sometimes don't know what I did do right. Do you ever get that way? Maybe I am just over tired and trying to do too much. Any how, I did managed to clone myself into a picture. A small success which I thought I would share. I am definitely a hard worker and I do have endurance, but this class is testing that.

What is the chance a probability instructor will email you back?

In my Probability class we have been working on a difficult conditional probability assignment for two (three?) weeks. The due date for it was extended because so many of us voiced that we were having a tough time with it. The assignment was meant to be a solitary assignment done over just one week, but the instructor felt that since this is an assignment used in the "brick and mortar" classes, we should also have the benefit of discussion. I was really glad for that, because I really struggled with one particular part of the problem.

Because there is just so much to get done trying to work full time and take two classes, I try to stay ahead of the due dates as much as possible. In this case, when the discussion board opened up, I found out that I was ahead of the class as far as my progress on the problem. My excitement over being able to discuss the problem was dampened because the discussion didn't really add much for me; I had worked all the beginning steps out last week, while others waited until this week to get started. (Let me add that I recognize that they are likely very busy too, and they have just chosen a different way to manage their time as far as when they do classwork. I know not everyone can front load their week like I do.)

So where was I to go for help? Email to the rescue! I am so pleased that our instructor decided to take the time to help me through the difficult steps, and I was able to turn the assignment in last night. We probably had at least 5 rounds of back and forth email over the past week. I am now well versed in writing out conditional probability notation. Solving the problem: no problem, just me and a trusty tree diagram, but the notation just killed me!

This isn't the first time an instructor has taken the time to respond to my email queries. In Algebra II I had a lengthy email chain with the instructor over an extension of a topic in the module, something beyond what the class covered.

So the chance you'll get an email back from my probability instructor? Experimental results say it is 100%

My first post!

Hi! I'm Jessica and I'm new to blogging with Lesley, but not new to blogging. I've been keeping online blogs and journals for over 10 years.

I am currently taking 2 online classes, Geometry and Probability. I've already completed 4 others towards my M.Ed. in Mathematics Education. I am thrilled that when the Fall 1 term is over, I will be over the half-way mark towards earning my degree. Since I am in Iowa, I will be doing the entire program online. I've found that the majority of my classmates are from New England (a few even take classes at Lesley's physical location) but I've also had classmates from all around the country, and one who was international.

Doing two classes at a time, working a full-time job, and maintaining my regular life can be a challenge at times, but it is definitely doable. With two classes there is a lot more to keep track of! It becomes a difficult balancing act during Week 4 and Week 8, when the self-assessments are due (I find that these papers take me a lot of time to do well), but all the other weeks it is just an exercise in time management. I still get to do the fun things I enjoy, but I have pretty much sworn off television- there just isn't enough time. Right now we are in Week 3, so as long as I do a little work each night, I know I will have enough time to get it all done.

Last night, I focused on my Geometry class. This class has been working on constructions, and we have been using three different methods for each construction: compass and straightedge, paper folding, and Geometer's Sketchpad. I'm a traditionalist, so I really like my compass and straightedge, but I've been really impressed with the capabilities in Geometer's Sketchpad. It is an inexpensive piece of software that can do so much. I've found that it is really intuitive to use and since computer use is so ingrained in students' lives, I think it is very important that we learn about technologies that can be incorporated into classrooms to help support their learning.

Web Design, Fun?

Here I am again, almost a full circle. I was the class blogger for one of my first classes at Lesley in pursuing my online graduate program and now I am on my final class to complete my Master's degree. I had never blogged before when I started. I now know so much more like, how to add video and pictures to a blog page (I'll try to find sometime to squeeze that in).

My final class is about web page design. I thought at first that this class was going to be a really tech type class with a lot of material that was above my head. Instead, I am brought back to my childhood when I would love writing secret messages in code.This class is about learning the HTML language used to write web pages. I am having a lot of fun with it. I write or place pictures into this code sequence, and then I can see it happen right before my very eyes. The instant feedback to see if I wrote the code correctly is a great way to learn. Of course, there are those moments when you try everything and it still does not appear the way you intended. That is when our instructor, Bill, comes to the rescue and usually untangles us from the web mess we created (no pun intended).

Picture source:secretbunker.co.uk