I'm going to be busy for the next week or so ... cramming to finish a class. But ... before I leave, possibly to never return after my brain explodes from trying to stuff too much knowledge into an already too-ripe melon ... let me share a little bit of what I've learned in my quest for higher education.
1. Do not ever, ever take an online class. They are a total waste of money and a complete load of bullshit, if you want my personal opinion. The local community college charges the same amount of tuition for a three credit hour "online" class as it does for a three credit hour "real life, sit your ass in a chair, interact with other students, get input from a human professor" class. Who the fuck decided that was fair? I get no interaction and no input. I'm basically teaching myself.
2. Do not ever, ever take a class that doesn't offer you some sort of reading material. This particular class doesn't even have a book. Yes, I'm serious. The Novell Networking course comes with an "interactive CD" that includes all lectures, notes, and course work. Again, a total load of bullshit. I must be old as dirt because I'm telling you this, my friend ... I'd much rather take a yellow highlighter to a hard bound page than use the "highlighter" function in a Word document.
3. If you must take an online class, don't be a tool about it. Don't wait until you have two weeks left in the semester to do the last half of the course. This is suicide ... death by education. This is also the unfortunate situation in which I find myself.
So, say a prayer ... and, with any luck ... I'll see you on the other side.
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this all on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
To save me from this road I'm on
Jesus take the wheel
Carrie Underwood - Jesus Take The Wheel
The problem nowadays though is that professors are basically doing on online course in the classroom. We basically sit there while the professor literally READS the notes that we printed off the night before from the webpage. No extra insight, no nothing. Just puts us to sleep. Might as well save the printer ink and not print them at all, just read them online.
ReplyDeleteAnd the textbooks? A $197 waste of money. They assign these HUGE 200 dollar books, yet nothing that they lecture from is actually IN the books. Or, better yet, you're in a major that's changing so fast, the information thats in the textbooks is wrong.
And, you know... Ignoring the moral obligations, blady blady blady... It's much easier to "help" each other with quizzes online than it is in a classroom ;)
Course, it could just be the generation gap. Give me a computer class anyday (wish I could find one that's being offered). No boring lectures, take it whenever I want, look up extra notes, or quiz answers from a second window (love wikipedia) right when I need it rather than having to wait till I get outta class.
Of course, if you do take a professor taught class, you get the chance to laugh at their silly accents.
I can see where you're coming from ... and, in retrospect, I think my problem is more with the professor than with the format of the class.
ReplyDeleteLLCC used this "Blackboard" feature ... where you're supposed to have all this interaction. Scheduled chats, message boards, etc. But this professor ... none of it. He's totally skating ... we have an outdated syllabus, inactivated message boards, an incomplete assignment list.
Plus, until a couple weeks ago, there were three major exams planned for the semester. I logged on the other day and now, instead of having 1 of 3 done ... I have 1 of 6. WHAT?
He ADDED three huge EXAMS ... all worth 12.5% of the grade. No e-mail ... no announcement. Nothing. PLUS ... I went to the folder to find out what these tests are over ... the first two are confusing and the third has NO DESCRIPTION. [sigh]
I'm pulling my hair out over here. Between my employer not giving me the promised time to do this class (that's another story) ... and the professor flaking out on me, I'm practically doomed.
Again ... say a prayer. Hell, say a rosary ... because this isn't going all that well.
When I took the Netware class we did get a "real" book. My how times have changed.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for visiting my blog and the nice comments you posted.
I especially liked the comment about Karli.
You took Netware too? Ugh ... my brain is totally fried. You know, I was doing so great today. I took my second big exam this morning and got a 93% ... and I was pretty proud of that. Then I hit NDPS.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused ... I don't understand why there's a broker and a print manager. It's like before I even get to the "add a printer" stage, I've had to create objects, load NLMS ... I'm just lost. I think I need to get up and walk around a bit ... this stuff just can't be that hard.
What pisses me off is that if I'd been able to take the Cisco Academy route, I'd not only get to go to real classes ... but they even assign you your own server. Jeff told me they give you your own hard drive ... and you're responsible for loading the server software and everything. Doesn't that sound FUN?
[sigh] At the vest least it sounds a hell of a lot better than sitting here with a CD rom, watching streaming video clips of some tool trying to explain print protocol to me.
Calgon ... take me away ...
I forgot most of what I learned about Netware anyway. We are moving away from Netware and to Microsoft only.
ReplyDeleteYou can link my blog. Is it ok to post a link to yours on mine?
Sure! Links are always appreciated ...
ReplyDelete