Sunday, June 5, 2011

PhD to be, or the untold romance with Blackboard

Ok. So here goes. I am about to start my first class for my PhD studies in Communications at Regent University in 11 hours. I am nervous! I feel like I am a new Jr. High student about to go to school for the first day. I plan on posting updates about my new adventures at least weekly while in this program and to help myself focus on the goal ahead of me. Also, I hope it will be nice to look back on this once I have completed it and see how far I have come! In a later post I will back up and start from the beginning and fill you all in on how I got started down this path, but for now, let's just say here I go. I have read nearly 2000 pages in the past three weeks. (If you know anything about me you will know that this was an amazing feat). I have to admit that I listened to two of the eight text books for the class in audiobook format, but I did get through them. I have written two papers that I just submitted on Blackboard. I have never used blackboard, but now that I am using it I really want to incorporate it into my classes at Faulkner.( Keep Reading)

As for the whole blackboard thing. As I said, I have never used blackboard before, but I now realize that if you are going to use it you have to log into it everyday! I knew this in theory, but not in practice. As I sit here in my hotel room, waiting for the hours to pass by so that I can go to class in the morning and find out what else I have messes up I have to confess that I was an official Blackboard virgin until a few minutes ago. I opened up blackboard a few times and looked it over, but I never really used blackboard until tonight. I knew I needed to submit my papers tonight before the class started in the morning, but I didn't know how or where. It is pretty easy to figure out (it better be seeing as how I am now in a doctoral program.) But as I was looking for the area to post my paper I realized that everyone else in the class has been using the community section for weeks and discussing the books that we are reading and introducing themselves to each other and generally being good A+ students, while I hang out on the back row and daydream. In defense of myself I have to say that over the past month I have been to Florida, Nassau, back to Alabama then to visit my parents, then to to Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma to visit family, and back to Alabama, and then the drive through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and now into Virginia. Who has time for Blackboard? Anyway, now that I have officially started my new relationship with blackboard I guess I'll have to treat her like any good boyfriend should and talk to her everyday and see how she is doing and maybe even bring her flowers! Now off to bed and hopefully to sleep so I can really get this started!
Night Night All

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