I’ve Survived the First Week Back

You know, I’ve gotta say, I think the first week back to school is probably my favorite week back. There’s not too much homework, the assignments are easy and things are fairly smooth sailing. Seriously, I had two discussion posts that were “Introduce yourself, give some background and tell why you’re taking the class” while discussion post was “Do you have any questions about the class so far?” Well, since I took part 1 of this class last semester and I’ve been doing online classes for a few semesters, no, I do not have any questions. Easiest assignment ever. Well, except for the part where I had to write my response with 100 words. *sigh* That part was a little weird, but then I just filled the space with how much I enjoyed the first part of this class (Art History I), how much I’m looking forward to this part (Art History II) and why I love online classes. lol.

The only part about this week that hasn’t been easy is math. Yeah, I’m taking another math class. This is the actual class I need for my degree. The one I took last semester was the “Oh, you haven’t taken a math class since dinosaurs roamed the earth, so you need to do a refresher course” class. And, I needed it. There was a lot I’d forgotten. But that’s not why math has been a challenge this week. I’m super confused because last semester there were video lectures where the teacher went over the concepts, taught us the equations and worked through a few with us. That doesn’t seem to be the case this semester. So far, all I’ve found are homework problems, an etextbook and little 3-minute videos that give examples about a few of the math problems. I have yet to find any actual lesson videos. So, I emailed my teacher yesterday. And this morning, he wrote back. And now I’m a bit ticked off.

So, the deal with my math class is that there are no lecture videos. The ‘teacher’ (i use this term loosely because, apparently, he’s not teaching anything) said that I just need to read the textbook and take notes from that. There are no lecture videos. There are the occasional explanation videos on the homework and a tool that walks you through the homework problems, but that’s it. He said that if I don’t understand the concepts after reading the textbook that I should use Google or email him about what I don’t understand. Great. So, I’m paying several hundred dollars for you to TEACH me and then another $100 for the MyMathLab access and all I get is ‘read your textbook and google if you don’t understand that’. That really upsets me. And I’m having a really hard time not emailing this guy and telling him that I think he’s a joke and wasting my money. But I can’t do that because that’s mean, unprofessional, impolite and not the kind of person I want to be. *sigh*

Oh well. I guess this just means I’m going to be spending a lot of time on Khan Academy being taught by them instead of by the people I’m paying to teach me. It really does make me feel like I’m wasting my money, but it’s not like I can do anything about it.

So far, math is the only class I feel like I’m going to have a hard time with this semester. I loved Art History I last semester and I’m really looking forward to part II this semester. Environmental Science is not something I’m super interested in, but I need the lab credit to graduate and I’m actually really looking forward to the lab. It’s going to be a 4-day trip to Catalina Island to study and observe the environment. I’m not entirely sure what all we are going to do there, but we’re going to an aquarium and hanging out on an island, so I’m looking forward to it.

My last class is Political Science. There’s no work due on it until next week, which that may be why this week seemed so easy. My textbook arrived yesterday, so after I finish my two other math assignments today, I need to read the first chapter because there’s a quiz on it next Wednesday. After that, things are going to start getting crazy again. haha. Check out what my semester looks like:

Crazy, right? It’s going to be quite the busy few months, but I’m super excited because this is my last semester at DSU. I get my Associate’s Degree at the end of the semester and then I can transfer to a school that offers my major: Computer Information Technology with a minor in History. Yay! I’m not super duper excited about the CIT classes, but I’m beyond excited about being able to take history classes. That’s the real degree I want, but I don’t want to be a teacher, so I’m getting a degree in something I can get a job in and minoring in something I love.

Well, I guess I should get going and get back to homework. That’s my life now, right? lol. I do enjoy learning, even when it’s difficult. So, I’m off to learn. And conquer. Have a great day, all.