Summer Classes

So school got out a few weeks ago, right? I am not imagining things. But the last time I checked I was still taking a class in Structural Design. OH WAIT, I am taking a summer class. My mistake. Ugh.

Your average summer class probably won't be this intense. Though

there might still be a chance for that romance bit. Or blood if

you get a pretty nasty paper cut.

In all honesty, summer classes aren't all that bad. I actually prefer them to the usual semester-long versions. Last year I took a class and an IPRO while I worked some hours at the office. Not too bad, and I compressed a whole semester of IPRO into something like eight weeks. Not too shabby, eh? The only downside to a summer class is, well, the fact that it is a class. In the summer. Woot.

Fortunately for me, though, the class that I am taking, CAE 303, has an online format. So instead of travelling two hours to get to class (or even travelling twenty minutes to the Wheaton campus to watch a class beamed live on a TV screen) I can watch lectures whenever I have time, and scan in my homework assignments when they're due. And all from the comfort of my own cave/bedroom!

One of the things I don't particulary like about summer classes is how they lengthen classes to three-ish hours twice a week or more so you finish in the compressed time slot. I am not that great at paying attention for that long. With an online class, I can watch a lecture in hour or half-hour increments so I can spread things out, give myself a chance to pay attention, and maybe play some Pokemon Yellow in between!

Also, my professor does a really good job at going through example problems in class. He'll post the homework assignment not too long before the class starts, so I will have a shot at attempting the problems before the taped lecture gets posted online the day after. And when it does, I can fast-forward or backtrack to get the most out of the example problems, essentially working on my homework during class.

This has nothing to do with anything, but it came up

on Google when I searched "summer school."

So while class may be long, I can stretch it out to less than two hours a weekday plus homework. That means I still have time during the summer to, say, get another job or see The Avengers for the twelfth time (slight exaggeration). Or maybe see that family I hear so much about. The possibilities are endless!