Recently in Academic Category

When I first started distance education (online) courses back in 2004 things were different than they are now. From that statement you might gather that things have improved, you know, something technical, so it has to have gotten better. The situation is quite the opposite. When I started online courses, I liked them better than lecture courses because they were better on many different aspects. Online instructors used to be specialized in what they did, they had a special affection for the online course delivery method. Often instructors would use such tools as web based chat, interactive websites and sometimes even video to keep students engaged in courses. The point being that the courses were actually web based courses, using the Internet as a key part of the instructional process and not just as the delivery method for the course. Now courses seem to be more structured like independent study courses that merely utilize the Internet as a method for sending in papers or taking quizzes. There is no instruction and often instructors are primarily lecturers looking to pick up a few extra hours on their schedule. To students, these instructors barely exist. I have a hard time remembering the names of my instructors because of their lack of interaction. I remember a time when I took online courses and I had a message in my inbox from an instructor at least once a week, sometimes more. Instructors would do things like send out links that may be of interest, or some little personal observation about course performance. Now the courses are pretty much forced to run themselves. It is quite a sad change. I feel as though the changes in the way online courses have been treated will eventually cause the online method to either be terminated, or force them into a completely different accreditation status.

I believe the change in the way distance education courses have been taught in recent years has a lot to do with adult learners wanting to complete degrees. Those adult students do not want a lot of a materials to handle, or any type of interaction, they just want to do the reading for the course, take the test, and then get a meaningless piece of paper to stick on the wall. I do not believe those students truly want an education, they want a degree. With that downturn of academic ambition there isn't a lot of reason for instructors to be involved or to do much more than a copy/paste online course in Blackboard. The courses are technically capable of running themselves, they can grade a lot of their own material and they can handle operating on a schedule, no intervention required, but do we really want to change the way academic institutions are structured to have students interacting with a course and not an instructor? If this pattern continues, that's what will happen, no more instructors, just courses and "course designers" (the people that presently prepare courses for instructors).

I hope that when I begin my masters program I won't find the same thing in graduate courses as I am finding in undergrad courses.

Below is a problem from an Algorithms assignment that I had to complete this evening. The instructions were to calculate the best case and worst case running times for the function. Because n could be any integer, this required a response in theta notation. Because it is a while loop, the best case is simple, n starts less than 1 and as a result, only the assignment line runs (theta is a constant (1)). I had to warp my brain into a pretzel to even begin considering how to calculate the worst case scenario. I myself could not manage to entirely figure it out, I had to consult my friend Guy, who has a much better grasp of math than I do.

First, to calculate the worst case, we have to acknowledge the best case, which is 1, then we have to add the rest of the method to it. In this case, there were five operations, so we move on to 1+ 5*z, but we have to figure out what z is. My conclusion before Guy assisted was that it had to be more than a constant (1, 2, 3, etc), but had to be less than linear (the size of n itself), which leaves a logarithmic. Only problem is I have only thought in simple logarithmics. Guy on the other hand, threw in a base 2, which suddenly made sense and helped result in the final answer, which is 1+5(log(n)/log(2)). The answer is good enough, but can be further refined to be 1+5(ceiling(log(n)/log(2)) or 1+5(ceiling(log₂n)). That wasn't so hard was it? Honestly, for me it was so mind bending that I couldn't remember my student ID to put at the top of the document, or my instructor's name to be able to look up his email address in my address book. I am so glad that assignment is over.

Input: x (an integer), n (an integer)

addStuff4(x, n)

{

    i=n;                        

while (i ³ 1)

{    

    x=x+1;

    i=floor(i/2);

    return x;

}            

}

I am working on a research paper for my Developmental Psychology course, and I'm running into a lot of newspaper articles that would be useful if they would actually cite what their source is instead of saying "a study by <insert nationality here> researchers indicates <some overly grandiose claim that article doesn't prove>". Do these undereducated newspaper reporters not think that some people may find their information more useful if it were possible to look up the original source material instead of simply taking the reporter's word for it?

There is not a lot of information available for "The development of gender identity in children raised by homosexual couples", so every little bit I find is helpful, but it takes a long time to sort newspaper articles and try to guess based on a researcher's name and the generic description of the work which journal article the study might actually be included in. I get the feeling that some of the people who write these journal articles are human article mills. I think Dr. Ruth McNair has about 200 articles by herself, which makes locating a specific study relating to one aspect of her work a little hard.

I am beginning to hate Blackboard for many things. First of all, most courses are based on these things called "due dates", which I can only assume were never used before distance education, since Blackboard doesn't seem to support them. Nowhere on an assignment in Blackboard is there a listing of a due date, or any other information about when an assignment is to be submitted. Also, on this same line, there is no central calendar in Blackboard to state when assignments are due, all of that has to be added by an instructor to a manually updated page. Not very effective. The second complaint against it is that there is not a uniform way to complete something. Some instructors have things to be posted to discussion boards, other instructors use the actual assignment tool and have assignments be submitted along side the instructional documents, or my favorite way, by using the digital drop box, which basically is just uploading the assignment to the Blackboard server, which also emails it to the instructor.

Perhaps the worst trait about Blackboard in Distance Education is that instructors don't really know how to use it. Some instructors never take the time to set up assignments; they just want everything e-mailed to them. That really pisses me off because e-mail is not that traceable, and if an assignment gets lost in transit, there is no proof that it was sent originally, and in general instructors do not usually respond when they have received an assignment.

I am having such a hard time staying on top of my 6 courses this semester because instructors have all set up their courses differently. Some have assignments under "assignments" and yet others have assignments under "course documents". I do not really remember which course is set up how, and it is hard to remember which course gives me 2 hours for a quiz and which one gives me just over a minute per question. It is all much more complicated than it should be. I can only imagine how people who do not have the resource of GITI manage to keep up with their assignments, it just seems like it would be hard. I don't know quite how to do what it is I want to do, but I need to somehow give GITI the ability to accept information about class policies and integrate it into some type of workflow system for handling academics.

I have selected and been confirmed for two of my research topics for this Fall.

Theories of Learning (PSYC 320): Topic 20: Behavior modification and insomnia
Developmental Psychology (PSYC 331): Topic 21: The development of gender identity in children raised by homosexual couples

I hope I have selected topics that will be able to be worked on in a logical way. I did not intentionally select sequential topic numbers, just sort of happened.

Once again I have a class with Dr. Hogan and we start off day one with selecting our topics. This is for Theories of Learning.

Which topic would you pick?

Topic 1: The cerebral cortex and memory
Topic 2: Habituation
Topic 3: The orienting response
Topic 4: Classical conditioning and conditioned emotional responses
Topic 5: Classical conditioning and spontaneous recovery
Topic 6: Backward conditioning in classical conditioning
Topic 7: Systematic desensitization of phobias
Topic 8: Aversive conditioning of alcoholism
Topic 9: Aversive conditioning of smoking
Topic 10: Aversive conditioning of drug abuse
Topic 11: Classical conditioning of bedwetting
Topic 12: Operant conditioning and superstitious behavior
Topic 13: Operant conditioning and shaping classroom behavior
Topic 14: Operant conditioningand toilet training
Topic 15: Operant conditioning and teaching language to autistic children
Topic 16: Token economies in inpatient mental health facilities
Topic 17: Token economies in classrooms
Topic 18: Learned helplessness
Topic 19: Biofeedback and pain control
Topic 20: Behavior modification and insomnia
Topic 21: Chunking
Topic 22: Teaching language to animals
Topic 23: Imitation of Achievement Motivation
Topic 24: Imitation of aggression
Topic 25: Television violence and aggressive behavior
Topic 26: Violent video games and aggressive behavior
Topic 27: Behavior modification of self-control
Topic 28: Observational learning of motor skills
Topic 29: Knowledge of Performance in motor skills training
Topic 30: Choice behavior

Five years ago, on August 23, 2004 I began my undergraduate academic career. At the time I was planning an academic adventure that would last at most 4 years, but was suspected to be closer to 3 years. I had credits ready to go and was almost a sophomore, and I had not been to a university before. At the time 120 credit hours seemed like a lot, like it would take forever to earn. Here I am, a senior, so far from where I began. I have been a senior for quite some time now, over a year actually, but without an appropriate plan, being a senior does not mean anything. Today, it means something. I consider myself to be a terminal senior this year, as I will progress beyond the confines of an undergraduate education. In a lot of ways, I am just as scared as I was 5 years ago, maybe more so, since a lot of the variables of the situation have changed. Things seemed certain back then. I knew what I wanted to do, or at least, I thought I did, I wanted to be involved in computer science and programming and all that is technical. With meeting of people, taking a variety of classes and ultimately deciding that technology is cold and unemotional, I have set out on a new course, one which is more compatible with my goals. I suppose with the way I leaned toward social sciences more than tech courses for things, I should have known that there was more to me than computer science could ever cover. These five years have been an interesting journey that I believe has allowed me to better understand myself than taking the "express route" to a degree ever would have. By allowing myself to explore the arts and begin to develop new interests I have moved far beyond the person I was in high school. I feel as though my eventual career will not be directly related to my degree, but that my degree will determine my success in my career. At this point in a person's academic career, it is expected that the person be ecstatic about reaching the natural conclusion to such an academic career. I do not have that feeling. I am excited, but at the same time, I am saddened that the predetermined path (the degree outline, or curriculum) is ending and as a result, my ability for free exploration of the academic realm is also ending. It has been quite a surprise to me how much I have learned about myself through this experience, things I would have not otherwise known.

Today I begin the penultimate semester of my undergraduate career with this schedule:

What comes after I have completed this academic year I have no clue. I do feel as though I am ready to move beyond academics, but at the same time, not completely abandon it. I want to go to graduate school to obtain a higher degree in psychology, but I would also like to explore a 2^nd degree option for obtaining a BFA and obtaining a degree which explores my other major interest (photography). I do not foresee a need to close this blog, or even to supplement it at the conclusion of the year, but then again, that is 9 months away.

In the past five years I have matured a lot intellectually as well as emotionally. Most importantly, I have learned that there is not some pre-defined plan that everyone must follow in order to have a happy and successful life. I have learned that everything is different for everyone. My "scenic route" to a degree is not necessarily a bad thing, it is just different from the way most people would choose to work at a degree. I never really built many interests as a kid, and my academic pursuits have allowed me cover some missed ground and become more able to know myself. Although, it was a very tiring and frustrating thing to attempt to reinvent myself every time I found a new interest. I had not known before that a person can have many interests and pursue them all without necessarily having to lose any of the previous interests to make room for it.

Its hard to say what I might discover about myself in these next 16 credit hours, or what impact it may have on my life, but I am prepared for whatever happens.

Below is a list of textbooks that I have to have for the Fall 2009 semester. This is only for 6 classes, and the total is $983.20, plus shipping, which would likely be about $20. I am so glad that my textbooks are covered by the textbook rental plan, all of these only cost me $140 for the semester.

I have filed my petition for graduation at Fayetteville to receive my Bachelor of Science in Psychology during the Spring 2010 semester.

I have finished all of my course work for Statistics and Biopsychology at FSU, and now I am left with nothing to do. I have decided, in this academic dry period to register for PHYS 103 as a self-paced course. It is titled “General Physics II”. It is pretty much the standard 2nd semester physics course. I took the first semester in Fall 2004, and I enjoyed it, but never got around to take the other course, since it was not required. The way this course works is pretty cool. I have a minimum of 12 weeks and a maximum of 9 months to complete the course. I complete the homework, email it to the instructor, and then get grades back through email. When I am ready for an exam, I transmit my request and the exam comes to me. All of this is on my schedule. The course is offered by UNC-Chapel Hill, and while I never have to go on campus for anything, I do have to make arrangements with another school to take my final exam somewhere local under supervision.  I decided to finally take this course because I am very interested in optics and the properties of light, partially because of other hobbies. Other topics in the course include electricity, magnetism and quantum physics, all of which interest me at least a little.