niina.amniisia » bits, pieces and photos from sydney, australia and elsewhere

getting educated (Saturday December 2nd, 2006 - 20:11)

category: mmhuh?

This week I began an online university course to see if I could keep up with it in between work and life. Some people are racing ahead with the modules, faster than the recommended pace, and there seems to be 100+ of us trying to have some form of discussion or another.

Trying to catch-up with the discussions today I saw this rather unfortunate comment from the tutor in response to a thread I started about an IP address in a self-test not matching the real-life scenario:

“as stated in a previous post (don’t ask me where -I am as confused as everyone else 🙂 the self test answers may be a bit out of date so if they don’t match and you appear to be correct – you probably are!”

Erm.. big confidence boost that is.

More on what I’m studying, why, and whether it’s teaching me anything useful will be sprouted on another day.

5 comments to “getting educated”
Wiseblood said on December 3rd, 2006 at 9:02 am:

Good luck. I know how demanding it can get matriculating into the mysterious world of higher education. I went and toiled away for awhile to get my degree but I couldn’t tell you what good it’s done me nowadays. I feel more ignorant now than when I went in. Things happen. Don’t want to discourage you though. Keep your nose to those virtual books. Disregarding what I just said, it’s probably worth it. Just make sure you know what you want to achieve well before you get to the end. It makes all the difference.

I remember those first tentative steps I took to investigate this new technological wonder they called the “internet” in my freshman year at university. It was a trip spending time down in the computer labs of some old building on campus getting my bearings and wandering the world wide interweb. I can still just barely remember how cool it was coming across a little website based on my favorite band, back in ’96/’97. The site, Some Candy Talking, was created and moderated by some artsy chick from Australia, or somewhere around there, I think who was trying to fill a vacancy on the web where the Mary Chain should be. That may just have been the best thing that I got out of going to college. Wonder where that dedicated little debutante from Down Under ended up? Always wanted to tell her what a great service she did for us disciples of the sonic cathedral du Reid. I bet she’d be a cool person to meet.

Keep the faith, Niina. Study hard. Meet the automatic future head on :).

~ RTM

Dan said on December 5th, 2006 at 12:38 am:

Good luck! More formal education is something I’ve been longing for myself recently, but I can’t see where I would make time to squeeze it in. Meanwhile, I’ve been giving myself a crash-course (via books and the Internet) on the history and practice of photography. My dream at the moment is to do a Photography MA at Nottingham Trent University, but I reckon that’s at least two years away at the moment.

voitech said on December 5th, 2006 at 8:15 am:

Yep, I feel the same like Wiseblood, although it must have been something like ’98/’99 for me. I finished my M.A. studies after way too many years this fall and the only thing I regret is that it took me too long. Go for it, Niina. Studying teaches you not only what you are being taught but so much about yourself as well. (And I’m definitely on for a PhD. 🙂

lostmusic said on December 6th, 2006 at 7:49 am:

go study Niina! go!

🙂

niina said on December 11th, 2006 at 7:34 pm:

Thanks for all the kind words 🙂 Study is going well so far.. but then I haven’t had to do any assessments.

I’ll write all about is soon (probably later tonight when I’m trying to distract myself from hitting the books!)