Liberal Studies This Week

Sharing your experience as an online student

If you would like to become a contributor to this blog, contact Andy at aegiz1 at uis.edu 

It's like repeatedly hitting yourself in the head with a hammer . . .

Last fall I thought: I like the Beatles and Michael Cheney has always been a nice guy, so I’m going to ask him if I can sit in on his online course. He graciously agreed.

Mind you, I’m not really taking the course. I’m reading the assignments and watching the videos and listening to the music but I’m not writing the papers or taking the quizzes. Still, even though I’m only doing half of the work, IT’S A LOT OF WORK! Don’t get me wrong, it’s a reasonable amount of work for the credit I might earn and the books are really good but I work all day and then I have to come home and do homework! What’s up with that? Shouldn’t this be easier?

And, scene.

That was my improvisation of stressed out student but even though my tongue is in my cheek, it doesn’t mean that the feelings aren’t real. The class is a lot of work even though I’ve only taken on half of the work load – and the fun half at that. This stress isn’t new to me. I earned my BA and MA while working full-time. I remember how discouraged I felt keeping up this workload knowing that it was going to take years to reach the goal. Still, even though I remember the experience, I forgot how it felt to balance work and class until last weekend when I spent hours going over the syllabus, reading, and watching 2 long videos. (Of course, I didn’t read the syllabus correctly and I watched the entire videos rather than just the short pieces I was supposed to watch for week one.)

I’m not sure why I thought to post this other than to acknowledge that the memory of my student experience, which I’ve always thought helped me relate to adult students, has become a fading memory without me realizing it. So, it’s good for me to experience this again – but maybe it’s good for you to know that the stress and anxiety will one day be a fading memory.

(By the way, the conclusion of the post title is . . . because it feels so good when you stop.)

2 comments:

Pam R. said...

Yes, you're right that the student experience becomes a mere blur when you're on the opposite side of it. Each semester, I've experienced feelings of not being able to wait until the cessation of that particular semester just to have that yearning for school to be back in session.

While I'm no longer a current student, I can definitely say that it's so much easier being on the outside looking in, but I won't lie and say that it's better. I really miss the student experience and would never frown on a little hard work. :-)

Betty said...

Good improv...

I like the Beatles as well however, did not know Michael Cheney but I still thought it would be a great class. You are so right! It IS a LOT of work but very fascinating. I am glad you posted your comments - it's sure nice to know that I wasn't the only one who feel like a deer looking into headlights... The only difference is --- I AM going for the credits!