I'm officially officially a graduate student. School started a week ago.
I'm in the midst of my first class. I have 4 classes this semester, for 10 CUs. Each CU takes--or is worth--about two weeks' of work. So, at 2 CUs, my first class will be about a month long, with a "end" date of 7/28. I could finish it sooner and start the next one all that much earlier. Or I could finish it after the 28th--anytime, really--and start the next class a little later. It doesn't matter how long I take for each class, as long as I pass all 4 classes by 12/31.
Kid Nurse explained that she set the class "end" dates to have me finish the term in mid-November. Her reasoning was that it would leave me free time for the holidays...or if I was feeling motivated, she could move another class up to this term, and I could get ahead of the game.
This first class has LOTS of reading. Though I imagine that all of these classes are going to have LOTS of reading, plus some video. There's e-books, e-reserves, journal articles, websites and videos galore for me to pore through. I found it easier for me to print out what I can so I can highlight and make notes--although WGU's software has the capability of highlighting and note making, I find I prefer old-school pen and highlighter.
I can't print the e-books out, which sucks. There, I use the software tools to note and highlight.
I'm still lurking in some support groups. Some of my classmates have already finished this first class and are starting the second. I've found that there's a lot of students who just jump right to the projects without going through the whole course because they want to complete their programs ASAP.
I'm not going to do it that way. Though there's nothing wrong with rushing: I suppose as long as they're getting what they want out of the program and they're doing it in the academically honest way, then is it my business how they accomplish it? But at this time, I'm not going to do the mad rush. I'm going to savor each step of the journey. I might speed the journey up by a term...well see how things go this first term.
