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hollmt · 01-21-2018, 08:47 PM

A quick sidestep on the preparation for college this week. My girlfriend is extremely supportive of this path for me and helped me find some good programs etc. Getting enrolled at Ivy Tech this semester was done very quickly. Once I decided I was doing this for sure, back in mid-December, I requested my transcripts from Sinclair and USA (South Alabama, where I took a year of school as well). Express Enrollment was the first week of January at Ivy Tech. Sinclair transcripts were not going to make it in time (snail mail) so I had to drive to Dayton to pick them up. I did my Express Enrollment, which went fairly smoothly. I had the needed math from Sinclair, but they were giving me a tad bit of grief on the English. USA transcripts had not arrived yet (electronically). Funny enough, as I was sitting with my Advisor, I got 3 quick emails from USA, stating the transcripts had arrived and I was able to provide them then, showing I had the English classes out of the way as well. I signed up for my classes, got home, ordered my books and paid for tuition and waited to start. Of course, I anxiously checked the site every day to see if the syllabus was open and if I could start. It finally opened on Sunday, but you couldn’t really officially start anything until Tuesday the 16th.

Chemistry 101:
This is an online class. Anyone who has taken an online class probably knows the general idea. Read, watch some videos, death by PowerPoint etc. I read Chapter 1, which was a short chapter basically covering the Scientific Method and some key figures. Really simple stuff to start. Read the syllabus, watched the PP slides, etc.
There was an Orientation Quiz, which covered the syllabus and your knowledge of it and the navigating the online portal. Multiple choice and fill in the blank. However, the Instructor FAILED to complete the syllabus and some of the questions were unable to be answered correctly. Those were fill in the blank and he graded it 'by hand'. I got 9/10 on it, missing 1 question asking how many times I had to log on at a minimum (48 hours, and I answered once a week.).

A lab safety quiz was next. Easy stuff there and he also manually graded it 'by hand' (I will get to that 'by hand' thing in a minute.) That was worth 20 points and I got all 20 points.

In the 'First Day Announcement' post, he stated that he would have to grade the Safety and Orientation Quizzes by hand since the fill in the blank sections were not working that well. Apparently half the class (not me) emailed him asking the same question. To which he JUST sent another announcement 30 minutes ago stating:

Class: I have gotten messages from half the class asking the same question which I though I covered in the First Day Announcement. Let me know if you are unable to see or read the First Day Announcement which covers in the third paragraph the problem with the*autograder*grading the fill in the blank questions on the quizzes.* I have copied it and pasted it below for you.* Let me know if you still have questions after reading this.
*The*autograder*for the orientation and safety quizzes struggles with the fill in the blank answers so I will be*regrading*them to correct the mistakes.
*
He also took the time to go back to the original announcement and highlight that entire section.

Moving on, I watched the Intro videos and Safety Videos (which were actually fairly interesting) and viewed the PowerPoint.

Pearson is the tool you access that helps you study and also has homework assigned in it to complete outside of the actual portal. There were 2 assignments there I needed to complete and both were easy. One was for no points but required, while the other was worth 10 points and I received all 10. There was also a normal Chapter Quiz worth 20 points and I got all 20 of those.

Lastly there was the dreaded 'Introduce yourself' bullshit discussion post. This required 250 words. You then have to reply to two other students with a 150 or more word reply, acting like you really give a shit. But seriously, it is annoying, but I get the point of it. Some students are able to find study partners or common interests. That was worth 15 points and I got all 15. So for the week, I received 64/65 points. There are 1145 points in total. I figure I will need all the points I can muster and week 1 is a free week for the most part.

Anatomy & Physiology 101:
This class will be of most interest to me and so far it is proving to be just that. Starting off with the introduction post and replies that were needed. I did those fairly fast to get them out of the way. It has not been graded yet, but is worth 15 points. I viewed the PowerPoint, watched 2 videos on Anatomical Positions and terminology, watched another lab safety video and signed a "Dissection Safety Guidelines" document stating I read and understood stuff. I completed a Introduction Worksheet, which basically covered stuff from the syllabus (she actually completed hers), taking screenshots (we will have to take pictures and label stuff, so she is wanting to make sure we know how to do that) and proving we have access (via more pics) of McGraw Hill/Learnsmart and APR and Ph.I.L.S. programs inside Learnsmart. Easy enough. It was also worth 15 points but has not been graded yet.

Learnsmart is a neat tool and I have used it before for Econ. You have the entire week to do it and you answer questions in it. A question will be provided and you can state that you 'know it', 'might know it' (or something like that), 'unsure' or 'no idea'. I always answer 'know it' and provide the answer (which is fill in the blank, multiple choice or a form of matching. You need to get about 80 questions right. If you miss a question, it will provide you with something easier. If you get questions correct, it will move on and try and give you more difficult questions. Once you answer all the way down to 0, you are done and earn your 15 points. If you do not finish by week end, you only get points equivalent to what you completed. There is really no reason never to NOT get your 15 points here. It is free points. If you are on a tough question, it will attempt to point you in the right spot on the e-book. Read the chapter, view the PP and get free points!

The Chapter 1 Lab Quiz was 5 questions worth 10 points. Easy quiz and got all 10 points.

I am pretty sure I got all the points for this week, as the introduction posts and replies are standard, and the intro worksheet was not difficult. Weeks points are 55 points and I am pretty sure I will get all 55 to start. There are a nice round 1000 points in this class.

Random:
This was a 'short' week and relatively easy week. No real reason not to get most/all the points from easy quizzes and discussion posts. Hopefully students took advantage of that. I am the only guy in the Chemistry class and 1 of 2 guys in A&P. Most of the students are headed down a Nursing path, but one other student replied to my intro and is also planning on Diabetes Education, so that is pretty cool. The instructor for the A&P class pushed all of Chapter 1 due dates to NEXT Sunday instead of tonight, w/o any explanation as to why. Most weeks modules are due each Sunday, with the exception of a Pre-Lab assignment for Chemistry which is due on Wednesday (not this last week though). I finished Chemistry on Thursday and A&P on Saturday so was able to have Sunday off. I did browse the PP for Chem chapter 2 though.

The plan for Module/Week 2 is to read Chapter 2 of Chem tomorrow and finish the Pre-Lab tomorrow night/Tuesday Night. Finish up the Pearson stuff and Quizzes Wednesday and start the lab. A&P will be started probably on Thursday with a goal of finishing again on Saturday.

I've mentioned these classes are online, right? Even the labs are. A&P labs are not that bad from the lab kit I received. There was a cow eyeball and a sheep brain in it and dissection kit and some safety stuff. Not a lot of stuff. Most the labs I think will really be actually ONLINE stuff and some sort of interactive things. There will be an actual dissection lab with pictures required. I might share them when I do them. For Chemistry, the lab kit was loaded with tons shit. Vials, and beakers, and gummy bears and chemicals and all sorts of stuff. There is actually a physical lab I need to do this week and will need to record some data. I will not be taking pics of that.

01-21-2018, 08:47 PM	#2
hollmt High School Varsity Join Date: Aug 2002	A quick sidestep on the preparation for college this week. My girlfriend is extremely supportive of this path for me and helped me find some good programs etc. Getting enrolled at Ivy Tech this semester was done very quickly. Once I decided I was doing this for sure, back in mid-December, I requested my transcripts from Sinclair and USA (South Alabama, where I took a year of school as well). Express Enrollment was the first week of January at Ivy Tech. Sinclair transcripts were not going to make it in time (snail mail) so I had to drive to Dayton to pick them up. I did my Express Enrollment, which went fairly smoothly. I had the needed math from Sinclair, but they were giving me a tad bit of grief on the English. USA transcripts had not arrived yet (electronically). Funny enough, as I was sitting with my Advisor, I got 3 quick emails from USA, stating the transcripts had arrived and I was able to provide them then, showing I had the English classes out of the way as well. I signed up for my classes, got home, ordered my books and paid for tuition and waited to start. Of course, I anxiously checked the site every day to see if the syllabus was open and if I could start. It finally opened on Sunday, but you couldn’t really officially start anything until Tuesday the 16th. Chemistry 101: This is an online class. Anyone who has taken an online class probably knows the general idea. Read, watch some videos, death by PowerPoint etc. I read Chapter 1, which was a short chapter basically covering the Scientific Method and some key figures. Really simple stuff to start. Read the syllabus, watched the PP slides, etc. There was an Orientation Quiz, which covered the syllabus and your knowledge of it and the navigating the online portal. Multiple choice and fill in the blank. However, the Instructor FAILED to complete the syllabus and some of the questions were unable to be answered correctly. Those were fill in the blank and he graded it 'by hand'. I got 9/10 on it, missing 1 question asking how many times I had to log on at a minimum (48 hours, and I answered once a week.). A lab safety quiz was next. Easy stuff there and he also manually graded it 'by hand' (I will get to that 'by hand' thing in a minute.) That was worth 20 points and I got all 20 points. In the 'First Day Announcement' post, he stated that he would have to grade the Safety and Orientation Quizzes by hand since the fill in the blank sections were not working that well. Apparently half the class (not me) emailed him asking the same question. To which he JUST sent another announcement 30 minutes ago stating: Class: I have gotten messages from half the class asking the same question which I though I covered in the First Day Announcement. Let me know if you are unable to see or read the First Day Announcement which covers in the third paragraph the problem with theautogradergrading the fill in the blank questions on the quizzes.* I have copied it and pasted it below for you.* Let me know if you still have questions after reading this. Theautograderfor the orientation and safety quizzes struggles with the fill in the blank answers so I will beregradingthem to correct the mistakes. He also took the time to go back to the original announcement and highlight that entire section. Moving on, I watched the Intro videos and Safety Videos (which were actually fairly interesting) and viewed the PowerPoint. Pearson is the tool you access that helps you study and also has homework assigned in it to complete outside of the actual portal. There were 2 assignments there I needed to complete and both were easy. One was for no points but required, while the other was worth 10 points and I received all 10. There was also a normal Chapter Quiz worth 20 points and I got all 20 of those. Lastly there was the dreaded 'Introduce yourself' bullshit discussion post. This required 250 words. You then have to reply to two other students with a 150 or more word reply, acting like you really give a shit. But seriously, it is annoying, but I get the point of it. Some students are able to find study partners or common interests. That was worth 15 points and I got all 15. So for the week, I received 64/65 points. There are 1145 points in total. I figure I will need all the points I can muster and week 1 is a free week for the most part. Anatomy & Physiology 101: This class will be of most interest to me and so far it is proving to be just that. Starting off with the introduction post and replies that were needed. I did those fairly fast to get them out of the way. It has not been graded yet, but is worth 15 points. I viewed the PowerPoint, watched 2 videos on Anatomical Positions and terminology, watched another lab safety video and signed a "Dissection Safety Guidelines" document stating I read and understood stuff. I completed a Introduction Worksheet, which basically covered stuff from the syllabus (she actually completed hers), taking screenshots (we will have to take pictures and label stuff, so she is wanting to make sure we know how to do that) and proving we have access (via more pics) of McGraw Hill/Learnsmart and APR and Ph.I.L.S. programs inside Learnsmart. Easy enough. It was also worth 15 points but has not been graded yet. Learnsmart is a neat tool and I have used it before for Econ. You have the entire week to do it and you answer questions in it. A question will be provided and you can state that you 'know it', 'might know it' (or something like that), 'unsure' or 'no idea'. I always answer 'know it' and provide the answer (which is fill in the blank, multiple choice or a form of matching. You need to get about 80 questions right. If you miss a question, it will provide you with something easier. If you get questions correct, it will move on and try and give you more difficult questions. Once you answer all the way down to 0, you are done and earn your 15 points. If you do not finish by week end, you only get points equivalent to what you completed. There is really no reason never to NOT get your 15 points here. It is free points. If you are on a tough question, it will attempt to point you in the right spot on the e-book. Read the chapter, view the PP and get free points! The Chapter 1 Lab Quiz was 5 questions worth 10 points. Easy quiz and got all 10 points. I am pretty sure I got all the points for this week, as the introduction posts and replies are standard, and the intro worksheet was not difficult. Weeks points are 55 points and I am pretty sure I will get all 55 to start. There are a nice round 1000 points in this class. Random: This was a 'short' week and relatively easy week. No real reason not to get most/all the points from easy quizzes and discussion posts. Hopefully students took advantage of that. I am the only guy in the Chemistry class and 1 of 2 guys in A&P. Most of the students are headed down a Nursing path, but one other student replied to my intro and is also planning on Diabetes Education, so that is pretty cool. The instructor for the A&P class pushed all of Chapter 1 due dates to NEXT Sunday instead of tonight, w/o any explanation as to why. Most weeks modules are due each Sunday, with the exception of a Pre-Lab assignment for Chemistry which is due on Wednesday (not this last week though). I finished Chemistry on Thursday and A&P on Saturday so was able to have Sunday off. I did browse the PP for Chem chapter 2 though. The plan for Module/Week 2 is to read Chapter 2 of Chem tomorrow and finish the Pre-Lab tomorrow night/Tuesday Night. Finish up the Pearson stuff and Quizzes Wednesday and start the lab. A&P will be started probably on Thursday with a goal of finishing again on Saturday. I've mentioned these classes are online, right? Even the labs are. A&P labs are not that bad from the lab kit I received. There was a cow eyeball and a sheep brain in it and dissection kit and some safety stuff. Not a lot of stuff. Most the labs I think will really be actually ONLINE stuff and some sort of interactive things. There will be an actual dissection lab with pictures required. I might share them when I do them. For Chemistry, the lab kit was loaded with tons shit. Vials, and beakers, and gummy bears and chemicals and all sorts of stuff. There is actually a physical lab I need to do this week and will need to record some data. I will not be taking pics of that.