Recently in Academic Category

As promised in my previous blog entry, I am going to comment on my academic life in this entry.

First of all, I am a lifetime learning student. Degrees are not my primary means of organizing academics. I am not in it for the credit hours, I am in it for the experience of different fields. If I one day get bored I may surrender academics, but I do not presently feel close to that at all.

Next, I have been continually enrolled in an institution of higher learning since August 2003, and have attended with at least half time standing in every semester with the exception of Summer 2006. I regret letting that semester get away. Summer is the best semester for leisure learning.

Finally, Once I have a full time job, I will move academics to the back burner and have it as only a hobby (half time status most likely). I enjoy learning and want to keep at it. My logic and reasoning skills are quite sharp as a result of being so active academically.

What is going on now in my academic life is quite exciting. Without being entirely conscious of it, I have applied and been accepted at Fayetteville State University. It was originally my intention to attend only as a visiting student, but since my acceptance I have declared my major as Psychology, and I intend to pursue that degree until its completion. If I like the content of the courses as much as I think I will, I may continue to finish off the next higher degrees until I have obtained a PhD in Clinical Psychology. That is some time off at this point, but it is a goal I have for myself. It was a mistake to have ever changed my major away from Psychology. Mental process and the human mind have always interested me. Had I stayed with my original program ideas for the spring semester I would be taking a lot of art classes, but I do not feel ready for those yet because I feel I need to understand the function of the mind better first. I always find links between my courses and for Spring I am hoping to find links between Cognitive Psychology and Digital Photography Studio.

I have a habit of taking courses in ironic ways without noticing it. I am taking Art History Survey 1, as very old and standard course, as an online course, but I am taking Digital Photo Studio as an in-person course.

At present my long-term career goal is to become an academic instructor. As much as people have tried to discourage me from it, it seems right to me.

Here is a psychological mystery for today... it is 2am... why am I still awake?

Dear Southern Association of Colleges and Schools:

     As you may be aware, you are the primary accrediting authority of all schools below the Mason-Dixon Line and east of the Mississippi. A fact I do not know if you are aware of is all schools in your division teach common sets of courses, but all with different names and course identifiers. I challenge you to take all of these catalogs and discover the commonalities, then assign each of the sets of identical courses a serial number. Schools will take your serial number and use them for transfer, and not an arbitrary “equivalency chart” that holds no real value. Many transfer evaluations are handled by department chairs that may have a desire to lure students in by issuing them a lot of transfer credits, even if they have not truly earned them. Other department chairs have pride issues and will withhold credit where credit is due in an attempt to force students to take their version of a course. Some departments have set policies based on having a highly structured industry affiliation, for example, all psychology courses are essentially defined by the American Psychological Association, with each institution simply applying their focus (research, clinical, historical, etc) to them.

     There are so many courses at institutions that are equivalent, but there is no common course library to define them as being the same. Registrars, admissions directors and counselors do not have the capability to know how to evaluate every course, and even if they did, it would cause so much administrative overhead that other areas of their duties would suffer.

   I believe that it is within the scope of responsibility of SACS to create a universal course library to ensure the integrity of a student’s course portfolio, even when it is transferred between institutions. I would recommend the Common Course Library of the North Carolina Community College System for the departments that are part of the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement of the University of North Carolina System as an example of how such a catalog might operate.

Sincerely,

Curtis M. Kularski

Student, Gaston College

Student, Central Piedmont CC

Student, UNC-Charlotte

Student, UNC-Chapel Hill

Student, Fayetteville State University

HIS 131 – American History I
Grade: A
Grade Status: Official

ART 115 – Art History II
Grade: A
Grade Status: Instructor Notation – Awaiting Registrar Confirmation

CSC 153 – C# Programming
Grade: A
Grade Status: Numerical Average Complete – Awaiting Instructor Confirmation

ENG 131 – Introduction to Literature
Grade: B
Grade Status: Instructor Limbo – System Provided Numerical Average

I don’t know if anyone really cares to read my academic writings, but here they are, my final papers:

ENG 131 - Introduction to Literature
Frost vs. Longfellow

HIS 131 – American History I
Sociological Impact of the American Civil War

I’m not being flaky this time, I have a valid reason for the change, two of them actually. This is the course I originally wanted, but it was full, so I took an alternate, but now I’ve been given a permit. The second reason, it counts towards a core requirement on the psychology degree, whereas the other course was a duplicate requirement (which makes it an elective credit).

So, reflecting my last change of course for the spring semester, here is my complete detailed semester, including the change from Clinical/Counseling Psychology to Cognitive Psychology.

Spring 2009

Theories of Personality [PSYC310]
Vivian Dzokoto
Theories of Personality: An investigation of theories concerning the development and functioning of the normal personality, with attention to empirical findings related to individual adjustment or maladjustment. -- 3 hours

Registered

Cognitive Psychology [PSYC421]
James Hogan
A study of theoretical approaches and research findings relevant to the complex processes of thinking, linguistic expression, problem solving, and decision making, with attention to the relation of these processes to intelligence and creativity. -- 3 hours

Registered

Art History I [ART114]
Richard L. Gilbert
This course covers the development of art forms from ancient times to the Renaissance. Emphasis is placed on content, terminology, design, and style. Upon completion, students should be able to demonstrate an historical understanding of art as a product reflective of human social development. This course has been approved to satisfy the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement general education core requirement in humanities/fine arts. -- 3 hours

Registered

Nutrition [BIO155]
Paula H. Dedmon
This course covers the biochemistry of foods and nutrients with consideration of the physiological effects of specialized diets for specific biological needs. Topics include cultural, religious, and economic factors that influence a person's acceptance of food, as wellas nutrient requirements of the various life stages. Upon completion, students should be able to identify the functions and sources of nutrients, the mechanisms of digestion, and the nutritional requirements of all age groups. This course has been approved to satisfy the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement for transferability as a premajor and/or elective course requirement. -- 3 hours

Registered

Digital Photography Studio [ART288DH]
Michael K. Hensdill
This course provides the opportunity for advanced self-determined work beyond the limits of regular studio course sequences. Emphasis is placed on creative self-expression and in-depth exploration of techniques and materials. Upon completion, students should be able to create original projects specific to media, materials, and techniques. This course has been approved to satisfy the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement for transferability as a premajor and/or elective course requirement. -- 3 hours

Registered

This should feel like a three times annual procedure by now. Finish all of my course work and then wait patiently, or not so patiently, for instructors to enter grades. This semester is a little different though, and I can't put my finger on why. I am usually so very hyper and waiting for grades is almost like an Olympic sport, but this semester it is like I am waiting for fates to decide if I have done well enough or not to get an A in a particular course, while other courses the anticipated grade is much clearer. I am calm, but almost so calm that I am depressed. I don't want the semester to be over, I want there to be more to it. I have enjoyed my courses so much this semester that it is just sad that they are over. The spring semester will start soon enough I suppose, but what am I supposed to do now? I have been filling my days and evenings (or late nights, early mornings and afternoons) with doing classwork or with avoiding particular assignments that I felt particularly procrastinistic (or procrastinatory, neither are real words, but oh well) about.

I have been avoiding art a lot this semester, probably because I have been busy doing other things, but now it seems a little strange to just jump back to them. It has gotten cold outside now, which makes ceramics a pain for me, as I have no good indoor wash-up facility for it. Drawing seems too time consuming and requires me being patient with myself as I find my hand again. Photography... while always easy to do and fun, its been freaking cold this week.

I'm noticing a pattern here, my excuse for everything seems to be that it is cold outside. Perhaps I'm suffering from a bit of seasonal affective disorder since winter seems to have hit so suddenly?

Less than 24 hours ago (about 3PM yesterday), I sent a request for an informal evaluation of my computer science courses to UNC-FSU's Mathematics and Computer Science department, now an official evaluation sheet has been sent to the Office of the Registrar for input. It took two weeks for my General Education/TAC adviser to make any recommendations about my course equivalences, and another two weeks to get around to sending them to the registrar. It took my Psychology adviser about 3 weeks to look over my transcripts and decide that she did not see any additional course work that she wished to take from them. Both of them are women, and apparently are very slow and methodical in their handling of things. The Math/CS department chair and the CS Coordinator are both men, and have handled things with great haste and efficiency.

All of this being said... the registrar is a woman and it always takes her several days to do things, so I expect to see my transfer credits at the beginning of the new year.

I just finished with my last assignment of the semester, and it is such a relief to be done. All of my exams are finished and all of my projects are turned in.

I finished my literature project on Tuesday, a little bit late, but oh well, I just had to upload it to my literature wiki. It has not been graded, but the instructor has promised to turn in grades on Friday...I'm nervous about that a bit. I worry that I am going to get something less than an A and ruin my Gaston GPA (presently a 4.0).

Earlier this evening I finished off my Art History II course. I took the final exam. The timing allowed is 100 minutes, and I ended up using about 50 minutes. I received a perfect score on the exam. I have an 'A' in the course.

A few days ago I finished my American history paper and got it turned in, tonight I finished my last history quiz. I did well on the quiz, the paper remains ungraded. I worry about this class because I have so far only been awarded 137.93 points out of 200 for the course, and there are still about 60 points left unallocated (20 points for discussion board, 15 for the paper, 15 for the project). Could go either way, but presently it looks like the course is going to lean towards 'A'.

Finally, I am finished with C# Programming. I finished my final project last night, and then this evening I finished my final exam. At present I have a 'B' in the course, but there is a large quantity of points that have not yet been assigned.

Overall I feel very good about the semester. This weekend I should have final grades from all of my instructors... at least by Monday anyway.

I just received my transfer credit evaluation from Fayetteville State University's Computer Science and Mathematics department (for a potential minor).

Transfer CSC 148 at CPCC to FSU as CSC 105
Transfer ITCS 1214 at UNC-Charlotte to FSU as CSC 120
Transfer ITCS 1215 at UNC-Charlotte to FSU as CSC 130
Transfer ECGR 2103 at UNC-Charlotte to FSU as CSC 202
Transfer ITCS 2231 at UNC-Charlotte to FSU as CSC 100