Time Summary February 1-7

This week was an especially big week in terms of time spend studying.  I really though I would have spent even more time though, considering the fact that I had two days off and a monstrous snowstorm that kept me locked inside for a good portion of the weekend.  Either way, I can’t afford to get bogged down this week.  I have the CLEP test to take and a good bit of work again in the Web class.  Something else to remember when looking at the amount of time spent for these classes is that these are 8-week classes, not the usual 15-week courses.

Week 3 February 1-February 7

Class	Date	Start	End	Total Study Time(minutes)	Notes
MIS-Web	2/1/2010	2045		30	Bad, studied, but didn’t get anywhere.
MIS-SAD	2/3/2010	2228		56	Reading and Requirements gathering.
PHIL-201	2/4/2010			77	Mind/Body problem.
Administrative
MIS-Web	2/2/2010			125	Worked on HTML tutorials.  Coded with XHTML and HTML.
WASTE	2/2/2010			60	Internet was down half of the time.  Spent more time working on that than I did studying.
Blog Posts	2/3/2010			33	If I’m going to spend time on it, I might as well track it.
MIS-Web	2/3/2010			99	Web arch class.
WASTE	2/4/2010			25	Part of philosophy assignment was related to a Star Trek episode called “The Measure of a Man”, which portrays a character named Data on trial.  Not being a follower of Star Trek, I went and looked up some of the show history… Not complete waste, but not productive either.
PHIL-201	2/4/2010			62	Short essay on Mind/Body problem
PHIL-201	2/4/2010	1358		221	Finished reading, studied for exam, took exam.
Blog Posts	2/4/2010			12
MIS-Web	2/5/2010		0058	78	Writing discussion boards galore
PHIL-201	2/5/2010			10	Response… Finished for the week.
MIS-Web	2/5/2010			12
WASTE	2/5/2010			13
MIS-Web	2/5/2010			56	Worked on website FTP setup for project
MIS-Web	2/5/2010			158	HTML and XHTML
MIS-Web	2/6/2010			125	Nearly completed web browser project.
MIS-Web	2/6/2010			237	Completed browser comparison project.  I thought the HTML was going to be the hard part, but doing all of the tests turned out to be harder.
Natural Science CLEP	2/6/2010	1558	1725	56	Earth Science reading for CLEP.
MIS-SAD	2/6/2010		1954	50	Systems Analysis Requirements gathering assignment.
Natural Science CLEP	2/6/2010	2000		30	Earth Science reading.
MIS-SAD	2/6/2010		2355	78	Exam and requirements gathering work.
Natural Science CLEP	2/7/2010			50	Earth Science reading
Natural Science CLEP	2/7/2010	2211		45	Earth Science Reading
WEEK TOTAL				(1798)29.97 hours
WASTE TOTAL				98(1.63)

NY Times:Online Education More Effective Than Traditional Methods?

I just came across this interesting article from the New York Times on a study done for the US Department of Education.  The study found a significant statistical difference in scores on assessment tests, with online students scoring an average of 59% and traditional students scoring 50%.  You can also read the 93 page government study here: full study. It’s an interesting study, and it considers a lot of variables that come to mind in the argument of online vs traditional.

Snowed In

We just came in from shoveling snow.  The measured amount in front of the house is 32 inches!  There are a couple drifts that are well over 3 feet, maybe even up to 4 feet.  Shoveling was a good break from studying.  It would have been nice to do some sledding, but the snow is just too deep.  As soon as you sit on the sled it sinks.   Although our roads were plowed at some point early on in the snowstorm, there is still about 20 inches on the road itself, so I don’t think we’ll be getting out for a while.  Hopefully this means I can get some extra schoolwork done.  I’m looking forward to the time when everything I look forward to doesn’t have something to do with school.

Dsicussions and Philosophy-done for the week.

I finally got through what seemed like an endless amount of discussion board material.   My two bad days in the beginning of the work are coming back to haunt me right now.  I’ve also finished everything Philosophy related.  The Web design class is going to be the next thing I go after, but I hope to have both that class and the Systems analysis and Design class finished before I finish tonight.  I need to make sure I have Saturday(also known as tomorrow) to study for the Natural Science CLEP.  I have to stay on schedule this time!!!

Needless Busy Work

I just spent over an hour writing discussion board posts for a web design class. These types of assignments are usually ones that I dislike because I find that they are usually just a form of busy work, with not much value-added in terms of learning. For this class, we had to post 4 original discussion board threads, and 2 responses to classmates threads in each forum. This is a total of 12, that’s right 12 , discussion board posts in one solitary week! The pointlessness seems almost absurd. The typical discussion board post is eerily similar to an online forum with better manners and less interesting topics.

I really haven’t minded online learning so far, but pointless discussion boards are my least favorite thing out of all of it. Waste!!!! Another annoying thing about these discussions…. The initial topic is always due in the middle of the week..

Essay Prompt Topic Selection – Simple!

Something that I have struggled with in the past is choosing a topic for writing assignments.  Every hour spent brainstorming over which subject to tackle or from which angle to tackle it is an hour not spent writing on that subject.  For some of the online classes, this can be problematic because there are a lot of small (1-3 page) writing assignments.  These assignments are typically written in response to a list of prompt questions from which the student can choose the topic.  They usually also entail responding to another student’s essay.  While I certainly question the benefit in requiring a lot of “busy” writing, I can’t get out of the assignments.  Thus, I need to find ways to write them as quickly as possible, meaning that I can’t spend a lot of time worrying about choosing the topic.  After wasting too much time sifting through the possible topics for essays and not enough time actually writing essays, I’ve boiled my writing strategy down to a simple rule:

Take the first topic!

Yeah, it’s that simple.  Instead of trying to find the simplest, one I’m most knowledgeable about; one that’s easiest to find sources for, I just pick the top of the list.  With that simple rule, I’ve cut out one entire phase of the process.  I can begin working on the writing assignment immediately.   The same thing works for writing responses; I simply go to the top of the list and respond.

Cheating on my Degree

I’ll admit it; I’m cheating on my degree in Management Information Systems(MIS). Not in the buying papers online way, but in the I-don’t-like-you-as-much-as-I-do the other-degree way. The educational object of my affection? Philosophy. I really enjoy the subject. The more I get into it, the less affectionate attention the MIS degree gets. That subject has become more of a ‘I’ll hang out with you because I have to’ thing. My whole argument for skipping out on college the first time was that I didn’t know what kind of education I wanted. Now that I’m 30-some credits away from graduating, I wonder if I’d rather be seeing someone else(on my diploma that is).

I guess some of these things we just never figure out until we try. Maybe I’ll come back and use some of my wasted transfer credits on a Philosophy degree! That would be hard to justify given the job market for philosophy majors.. There has to be a study out there checking the salaries of people with a degree in an Information Technology AND a degree in Philosophy. I’m sure it happens all the time….(note sarcasm)

Natural Science CLEP – Real Date!

I finally got through to the school’s testing center to schedule the Natural Sciences CLEP.  Wednesday, February 10th at 5:00pm.  I’ll be taking the test then “Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise” (something my grandfather always says).  I feel pretty good about the amount of studying I’ve done/will have done.   As I stated in an earlier post though, this one looks to be a little more difficult than the previous exam because of the broad amount of material it covers.

I still have another book to go through and I need to take another look at the notes that I have already.  I’ll try to update on this one as I go.

Submerged

I was recently complaining about hitting the brick wall on an assignment.  After the first two days of this week, a brick wall looks rather inviting; it would mean I was actually working on something…  It started on Monday, when I decided to work on getting tax information ready.. (I don’t know why I did this, our CPA appointment is not until March).   I spent a couple hours on that.   I kept saying “I’ll stop as soon as I get the receipts done”, or “I’ll just put in these last couple school bills”..  Yeah, not so good.   I ended up doing a total of 30 minutes of work.  Great way to start my busiest week thus far!

Tuesday was even worse.  I got home from work late, but I still expected to tear into the week’s work.. I ended up getting sidetracked, chasing down problems with my internet connection for two hours.  I needed the connection to work on the HTML and XHTML assignments.  When I finally called my ISP about the problem, they stated that the entire area was down due to the snow storm.  Thanks for the heads-up!

By the time I sat down to actually DO some schoolwork, I couldn’t get my head around anything.  I ended up doing some pull-ups, hopping in the shower, and then trying to get some of the work done.  Did I mention that this is going to be the second-busiest week of the semester?  I’m going to have to make time appear out of nowhere.

Time Summary January 25-31

Week 2 January 25-January 31 (Updated with totals)

Class	Date	Start	End	Total Study Time(minutes)	Notes
MIS-Web	1/25/2010			30	Finished discussion board for the Telnet assignment
MIS-Web	1/26/2010	1920	2200	160	Worked on website project as well as discussion board and 2nd telnet assignment.
MIS-SAD	1/26/2010	2207	2235	28	Discussion board posts
MIS-Web	1/26/2010	2236	2251	15	Worked on the jsp assignment.  Did not finish the screenshots.
MIS-SAD	1/27/2010			24	Finished and submitted jsp.  Chose topic for the usability paper.
Administrative	1/29/2010			30	Resubmission of financial aid because the award finally cleared.
MIS-SAD	1/27/2010	2100		35	Review questions
WASTE	1/29/2010			120	Time I should have been studying, but wasn’t
MIS-SAD	1/29/2010	1117		25	Reading
MIS-SAD	1/29/2010	1318	1518	120	GANTT Chart for project.  Project estimations.  Download and install Microsoft Project.
MIS-SAD	1/29/2010	1610	1721	71	PMP certification research.  Stopped to try and fix FIN Aid
MIS-SAD	1/29/2010			25	Finished Discussion Board posts
WASTE	1/29/2010			35	Looking up degree programs… Why?
MIS-Web	1/29/2010	1910	1943	33	Finished reading assignments.  Installed Fiddler to use for HTML and HTTP assignments.
PHIL	1/29/2010	1950		36	Chapter 5— Slow reading.
PHIL	1/29/2010			60	Slow reading  yet again.. Filled out most of the study guide for chapter 5.
PHIL	1/30/2010	0810	1026	90	Chapters 1 and 2 of the Metaphysics study…. Took break in the middle.
PHIL	1/30/2010			170	Finished reading, took the exam.  Need to make sure I know all of the terms on the study guide well!!!
Natural Science CLEP	1/30/2010	1456		100	Biology Reading  for CLEP.
Natural Science CLEP	1/30/2010			115	Biology reading
Natural Science CLEP	1/30/2010			45	Biology reading
Natural Science CLEP	1/31/2010			60	Finished Biology Reading
MIS-Web	1/31/2010	1910	2035	85	Worked on web browser compatibility report. Talked to several other students still having issues with the Telnet assignment.
MIS-Web	1/31/2010	2040	2100	20	Web research for the web compatibility report. Downloaded HTML editor.
WEEK TOTAL				(1532)25.53 hours
WASTE TOTAL				(155) 2.58 hours