It’s me again. I’m here to let you know that I haven’t died. On the contrary, I’m alive and suffering through another week of classes. I do this on a regular basis, so in general, I’m being a little dramatic.
Classes began last Monday and are settling down now that registration is closed. This is a nice feeling. Registration week always leaves me disoriented with so many people adding and dropping courses. I meet someone I like or get along with and the next day that person is gone. It’s just irritating really.
As some of you know, this will be my last semester of college. This is both exciting and disturbing. On the one hand, I will finally be done with school, at least for now. I have no immediate plans for graduate school. The other hand is far scarier and is prone to slapping me in the face from time to time – when I least expect it, I might add. The thought of going out into the real world and looking for a job. It’s just plain scary. So I’m not sure if I am entirely happy about graduating or not. Still undecided.
With my last semester, I’ve only a few courses left – specifically four. The first is a Computer Science course that I’ve tried to take beforehand. I had a looney for a professor and dropped that one like a hot potato. He had a clear lack of organization and so did his assistant. Also, his focus was primarily his research work and not the course, the one that I paid for as it would happen. I felt this was disrespectful. I am not against his research, I just felt like his priority should have been the class he signed up to teach. If you are busy and don’t have time to teach then don’t offer. With that I will step down from my soapbox and say that this new professor is phenomenal. She seems to be a real human being, one that understands the lack of motivation on a Monday and the tuning out on a Friday. She has a sense of humor and makes the class enjoyable for everyone it seems. I look forward to the project she has assigned us this semester. We will be designing or redesigning some form of mobile technology.
Next comes Professional Communication. This I’ve determined will be the bane of my existence for the semester. Our professor does not believe in rules, guidelines, or structure. She believe we don’t learn in a classroom with lectures, but rather by experience. I agree somewhat, but students still need to be given information and a bit of structure. Or at least I do. Otherwise I come unhinged, quite easily. Our goal for this course is to create a more effective and entertaining way to teach the material she plans to teach us. The best idea will be implemented in her next class in the spring. I see this as a cop-out, but she sees this as an opportunity to learn in a new and exciting way. I like lecture and media projects. Can I have one of those. I’m not entirely sure I understand her or what she wants, but I will sure try. I mean my graduation depends on it.
I am both excited and afraid of the third course. The course is labeled Non-linear Documents, or photography. The concept of the course sounds rather interesting and potentially entertaining. However, the content worries me. There are about one billion assignments that I will need to complete, all of them are going to suck the life out of me and eat up my time. I plan to make the most of it, but I am a bit wary. On the plus side, I have a shiny new camera with which I can take photographs. That will be nice. I’ll be learning how to actually USE the camera. I generally am an experimenter. Knowing how to use a device is useful.
The last course is a senior seminar and I have one of the best professors teaching the course. She generally teaches Science Fiction, which I have taken with her. We will be reading some wonderful science fiction and collaborating with graduate students to produce a digital media project of some sort. I am very much looking forward to this course.
All in all, it isn’t a bad haul for the semester. On top of that I will work a few hours each day of the week. I generally take what I can and ask questions later. Let’s hope this doesn’t burn me out. Now onto me drinking some coffee before I fall back asleep. It is quite possible at this point.
For those of you taking classes, do you like them? For those of you at work, what’s new or the same? Share with me!
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