online college – Linda Nelson

Image courtesy of Creative Commons By: Cheryl Foong – CC BY 2.0via flicker.com

This appears to be an active year for me. I’ve been so busy while this year is flying by. Where did summer go? I can’t believe that fall has already fallen upon us. I love the fall foliage, but I hate seeing bare trees later in the season. I’m not a fan of winter either. Spring and summer are my favorite seasons.

First Off – 2^nd Time Grandma

I’m a grandma again!

My daughter gave birth a week ago to a bouncing baby girl. Ava is healthy and happy. She was 6lbs 5 oz. and 18 ½ inches long. I hear she is already lifting her head on her own. Her big sister, Jasmine, is so proud to be a big sister. She helps her mommy feed Ava. I’m not sure if she is changing her diapers yet, I will find out next weekend when we go visit her.

Jasmine is also learning to do cartwheels. For a six-year-old she almost did a perfect cartwheel in a video my daughter posted. I couldn’t help but smile when she did a headstand against the wall for her last part of her performance.

Great Job Jasmine!

My Classes Continue

I’m still enrolled at Franklin Pierce University

My third term began two weeks ago. This term I have Principles of Accounting I and Composition I. I like them both. When I first signed up for these classes, I wasn’t sure how I was going to like accounting since it deals with working with numbers. I hadn’t been a fan of Principles of Finance and struggled through that class. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but I did pass the course with flying colors after working hard at learning the curriculum.

Accounting is sort of fun. It is task oriented, which I don’t mind, but I like seeing how different accounts affect each other to make the final balance. I could be possible pick this as a major when I sign up for continuing on with a Bachelor Degree.

The composition course is fun too. I knew this course would be to my liking. I love writing, but all my experience has been with fiction and blogging. This course makes me think about issues and how to develop an argument for an essay or a report on the subject matter. It is technical writing. I can make this class work, but I prefer fiction writing overall.

My Goal: to make the Dean’s List once again.

For the past two terms, I have made the Dean’s List. I did this even though I wasn’t crazy about the course matter I was learning. The class on careers was interesting, and I aced that class easily, Finance, on the other hand, was to me, boring. I had to fight to stay away while reading the textbook. There was a lot of reading too.

Online College Classes are equal to homeschooling.

The last term I had Principles of Management and Business Law. Business Law was parched reading. I think I did fall asleep several times while reading the textbook. Management was a bit easier to comprehend, but that too was a struggle to stay awake with the amount of reading I had to do.

I did ace both classes regardless with a higher score than the previous term.

So far this term, the grades are up there. Hopefully, I can keep them there.

Work in Progress

I have begun working on a new story. You can watch my progress in the sidebar on the right. Lemons, Dilemmas, and Oh Baby is a contemporary romance. It is a slow go this is naturally due to my limited time I can work on the manuscript.

Thanks for stopping by for Coffee. Come back again soon.

Do you know how much college has changed over the years?

I didn’t. I found out when I decided to enroll this past term. The last time I looked into taking classes was way back in the ‘90s. Back then there were Traditional classes during the day, classes at night for those who had a job during the day, and classes on the weekend. I hardly ever saw any mention of long distance learning.

When I began looking at returning to school this past March, I was surprised to see that there were more choices to obtaining a college degree from a reputable school. They still had the traditional classes and the night time classes, but now there were a couple of other options offered. Hybrid and 100% online courses.

What are Hybrid classes?

These classes are attended as either in a classroom setting or online. Some people need to be in a real room with others to learn. This gives the choice to take part in the classes online at the same time of seeing the teacher and other classmates. It all depends on your style of learning and whether you have the computer skill sets to learn online. It the online experience is not working out; you have the option to appear in class instead.

I picked the 100% online classes. I have no fear of computers or the internet. In fact, I prefer the online classes over the traditional setting. I can do all my school work from the comfort of my home. These classes allow you to work at your own reasonable pace. Yes, there are still deadlines for when your school work must be turned in and for when a test must be submitted.

One drawback, though – Students must learn to ask questions if they don’t understand the work. You can’t assume that the teacher will know if you don’t understand something. They can’t see that puzzled expression on your face. You’ll have to do more than raise your hand. It’s called email your teacher with your question. Don’t be afraid to ask either. Your grade counts on it.

The online courses are a bit harder. You will need to know how to use a word processor like Microsoft Office or Open Office. All your Assignments and Tests need to be submitted in doc. files. The discussion questions are online only. It is sort of like a chat/group activity. You post your answer to the topic forum by the specified day your instructor has given and then respond a reply to two other classmates before the week is up. My weeks run from Monday to Sunday.

Maybe it is because I am older than most college students, but I find the 100% online classes appeal to me.