Making the Most of My Education

When I started this course I would say I had very few strengths that would help me in online learning. I had taken a few online classes and made it through. I knew how to participate and what was expected and what to expect. I believe that my biggest improvement was in time management. It is nice being given a week to accomplish assignments but when it comes down to it you have to put in the time, or the quality of work I put my name on suffers. I want to put forth my best work all the time and not do partial work. I plan to use the research techniques and time management skills to help support my future classes. I believe that the surveys we took covering our learning styles helps me out in understanding how to approach all assignments.

I plan on trying to get as many resources like books or objects I can put my hands on to feed my learning style. I believe that over the next few years as I am taking classes and progressing toward my degree in the online environment that my learning styles will change some. I have already seen changes from high school to now in the fact that I enjoy reading.

I plan to use the OSU library the most. After our live chat I really think that there are some great tools to explore there. I understand that the OSU website is designed to cover every type of information for all degrees and support but there are so many ways to get lost. I really hope that I can become more efficient at the main page and get to where I need to be. I learned from our scavenger hunt how difficult it can be to find a resource if you are not completely sure what you are looking for. I hope that I am not alone on this frustration. I believe that my advisor is a great help for getting started in the right direction.

I do not have a clear goal any more. I started this term dead set on how I saw the next year of academics going and where I should be by the next New Year. After this class started I was taking an additional class in my local community college and was forced to drop the class for a conflict with work and timing. So that threw me off from the start. After going through a few weeks of this class I was still focused and planned on taking the class I dropped in the summer semester. Now over the past 2 weeks I have yet again been thrown in the deep end with no life jacket. OSU has not signed the memorandum of understanding with the government for military tuition assistance. They had until March 1st to sign, or they will no longer accept military tuition assistance. Well according to my education office yesterday they still have not signed the memorandum of understanding. So I will probably not be attending OSU any more. I am exploring more options and other schools to attend. This is a very upsetting thing to happen and has changed my view on school and education yet again. For me I almost don’t have the drive to continue scrounging around to find what will work. I have to step back and rethink my approach and find out what is best for me and my family.

I find myself more eager to check discussion boards than the blog. I check the blog once a week and seem to check the discussion board every other day. There is just something about it. I am not sure if I will ever come to grasp the blog thing fully. I’m not sure exactly what i have against blogs. Maybe I struggle with the idea because it is a new idea to me and I am just being hard headed and don’t want to go with the change. I believe that the blog and discussion boards are identical they just have a different name. I almost believe it is the thought of a blog being out there for all to see as the hardest thing to grasp. I am not sure if a blog will really be more meaningful to me in my pursuit of my degree. I have never been a blogger and don’t really like to keep a journal. I have never been a big writer so a journal in my mind is an extra task that is going to take up more of my time.

This is my first time ever doing a blog or even reading blogs. Over the past few weeks I have learned a lot. I have come to find out first hand how unpredictable working can be. When I started this adventure of school I planned on taking one online course (this class) and a class on campus to get some prerequisites. My wife is going to school and taking a full load of classes herself. Not to mention that we are raising two kids and I’m working full time. My boss changed our office hours with only 2 days notice and made time management an impossible task. De-conflicting schedules was now a major issue. Just to make our home life manageable and cohesive I had to drop my class in the classroom. I have come to realize that in order for me to accomplish my goals of school it is mandatory for me to take online classes. It gives me the flexibility to accomplish my assignments and post any time of day and not be hand cuffed to one particular day and time. These challenges that have been put in front of me make taking classes the adventure. I would like to leave a quote that a mentor once told me. “Life Happens” meaning you can make all the plans in the world but some things are out of your control.