edu.com

So as many of you know, I am going to school ONLINE. I am totally insane. But we already knew that...

Going to school online consists of remembering to get online and login to the student blackboard program, and check in with my various classes in their online environments. Each professor has listed the information for upcoming assignments, each week's readings and projects, etc in a TOTALLY DIFFERENT PART of their class webpages. Then I have to do the readings-- most of them are online, and since I won't be reading them more than once, I don't print them out. Saves resources and time.

Then I have a "discussion" to participate in for each class. Sometimes more than one discussion, for each week of class, for each class I'm taking, for the semester. I had one class with an average of three discussions each week. They take longer than the readings. Really. To "participate," one must access the given discussion webpage, and immediately create one's own email-o-input about the topic, without reading what anyone else wrote. This is to prove you've done the reading, and thought about it.

Then, you have to open each email-o-input from each other student in the class, and open any attached emails-o-comments from students ON that input... and somewhere in there, you have to give your own emails-o-comments on other students' input. A minimum of two pithy continuations of the conversation is required to count as "participating in discussion"... for each discussion, times the number of discussions you have to participate in each week. This is the process. It's painful. And somehow, it almost-but-not-quite totally does NOT resemble a classroom discussion. And spell-checking. Lets not forget we're trying to appear professional at all times, here. Spell-check everything you submit before you submit it. Everything.

So really, it's not a single discussion in which everyone participates... it's as many discussions as you have classmates, with long pauses to open and close each email in the discussion, so you can read it. And you have to check back later in the week to see if anyone has responded to your input or commentary. Only then can it be an actual give-take discussion. OH- and the professors pretty much never participate in the discussion. Nope. They just sit there and make little participation check-marks in their big black grading books. Oh joy.

You don't do an online program to save time. You do it so that you can determine when you spend all that time. And so that you can live and work uninterruptedly while getting your education. But it's totally up to you to remember to check all the right places. It isn't like you get reminders from your prof and classmates on major upcoming assignments just by keeping your ears open in class. There is no class. Classless.

Okay. Wild Kitty. On a Tear. Must Run.