When I started taking college classes this quarter, it marked the first time in over 27 years since I was enrolled in a college, at any level.
I graduated from college the first time in December of 1985 from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, with a degree in journalism and mass communication and a minor in political science. Plus, I was only three credit hours short of having a second minor in law. At that time, I had a big interest in law, so I ended up taking five law classes.
After graduating from ISU, I went on to have a successful career in newspaper journalism, first as photojournalist and then as a newspaper owner/editor before life took me in a different direction and I had to leave my journalism career behind, after a dozen years.
Now, like 2.7 decades later, I find myself taking two online classes at SCC. I am back in school, with the intent of honing my previously-developed writing skills and adding some new skills to my list, in hopes of getting a new job in the next year or two that requires plenty of writing and use of my journalism-related background.
Until then, I will continue with my full-time job of more than six years, working in Omaha for Ford Motor Credit, which is the financing division of Ford Motor Co.
To put my previous college experience in perspective, when I graduated from ISU in late 1985, Ronald Reagan was in his fourth year as President of the United States. When I picked up my first college diploma, I was less than a month past my 23rd birthday and single.
Jump ahead nearly 27.5 years to today and I am now nearly six months past my 50th birthday. I am married (for the second time) and between my wife and I, we are blessed with six kids between the ages of nine and 20 (including 20-year-old twin girls who are sophomores in college).
When I graduated from college the first time, I am guessing a large portion of the current students at SCC weren’t even born yet. I would imagine there could be faculty members at one of the three campuses that weren’t born yet. I am guessing a portion of the current student body has no clue that Ronald Reagan was once president.
In my previous college life, there was no such thing as “online” college classes. The only “lines” we had were the lines you stood in the day you registered for classes prior to the start of each semester.
Imagine that; when I registered for classes I did that in person, with a real, live breathing person across a table from me and not online through a computer. What a concept, huh?
The only other lines we had were the lines at the book store at the beginning of the semester and the lines we stood in before we ate at the dorm cafeteria.
Taking a college class then met walking across campus and going from building to building for classes. The classes were held in large lecture auditoriums (think up to like 300 students or more) or in the more traditional classrooms, like 12 to 30 students or so. There were no classes that I took through a computer or an I-Pad or similar tablet-type device.
During my first time through college, cell phones weren’t in existence. I went 4.5 years through college life the first time around and never had a cell phone. Forget about the “smart phones” that many students and faculty have today and take for granted. Back then, we didn’t even have “dumb” phones. All we had was the phone on the wall in our dorm room or the cordless phone we had plugged into the wall in our dorm room. Cell phones were something that didn’t even exist.
When I started taking online classes this quarter, I turned to my wife (Brenda) to help me register for classes and help me figure out how to do everything online.
The first time I attended college, my mother was the one who helped me register before my first semester, and once school started, I had an academic advisor in my major to provide advise and guidance.
I have to tell you, it took me a good two weeks this quarter to figure the whole concept of finding my class assignments online and posting my homework online and taking quizzes online. Heck, it took me a good week to remember how to log in to the “Hub” at the SCC website’s home page just to find the relevant information for my two classes. My wife is the one that set up my username and password so I could access “ The Hub.” There, now you know that embarrassing little tidbit.
Don’t even get me started with “Moodle.” Before the quarter started, I had no idea what the heck a “Moodle” was. I learned – quickly, I might add – that I had to access the “Moodle” portion of the SCC website in order to find my online class details including assignments, tests, quizzes and class announcements.
I remember telling Brenda before the quarter started that two online classes would be easy and they wouldn’t be a big deal. I remember telling her that if I had a college degree from a four-year school – even if it was when Ronald Reagan was president – that taking a few online classes at a community college would be no problem and nothing to worry about.
It goes without saying that I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Prior to starting my college experience for the second time around, I had no idea how much work online classes really are.
After a few weeknights of staying up past 1 a.m. to get my homework done just so I could go to bed to get up later to drive to Omaha for another full work day, I realized online college classes were a lot more work than I would have ever guessed. Like ever; in a million years. Maybe even longer than that.
Someone once told me that God never puts more on a person’s plate that he or she can handle at one time. For those who believe in God, you have probably heard this before. For those of you who don’t believe in God, well, what can I tell you?
Anyway, as much as I was struggling to keep up with my classes and homework and my full-time job plus trying to have some resemblance of a family life earlier this quarter, there were times when I had to wonder why the heck I had ever agreed to take a few college classes this spring. Brenda is the driving source for that decision, but that’s a story for another day.
Anyway, back to my God and full plate.
It goes without saying I have a full plate between my full-time job, my daily commute, my two classes at SCC, my family life and trying to squeeze in a little “free time” once in a while as well. Some days, my plate runs over, and I can’t get everything done. My only gripe so far in this “back-to-college 2013 experience” is I have had to put regular exercise on hold (walking late a night and bicycling) until I figure out how to work that in with everything else. I did do a 22-mile bike ride recently in Ashland for Wear Yellow Nebraska, which is a group that raises funds for cancer patients and cancer awareness. I am hopeful to be able to start riding again at least a few days a week. We’ll see how that goes.
What I am telling you I would rather have a “full plate” than one that is half-full or even less. As Brenda will tell you, I have had a lot less time to be bored the past several weeks, and that is a good thing. If there is one thing I hate, it’s being bored. I can’t stand boredom; I loathe boredom.
For those of you who have “full plates” and those of you who have plates that are just plain stacked up, you know where I am coming from. And for those who hate being bored like I do, I hear you and I am there for you.
See you next time around, and I will let you know how things look from where I sit.