Friday, April 22, 2011

BEDA Day 22: End of the semester...

I'm already looking forward to the end of the semester. It's been a rough semester and I'm really needing a break. My classes have been more difficult than I thought. I'm only taking two classes but one is extremely difficult. I'm taking my last core class for the Library Science Master's degree this semester. Everyone has to take the same  3 classes regardless of which program of emphasis we eventually choose to pursue. The courses are 5000, 5600, and 5200. I took the first two last semester and I'm taking 5200 this semester. For this class we have a semester long project that we turn in in 4 parts. I've already turned in 3 drafts and have to turn in the 4th Preliminary Draft in next Thursday.  Basically we had to build a Database from scratch starting with a collection of objects. I chose Criminal Investigation shows (CSI, NCIS, etc.). It's just proved to be more difficult and frustrating than I was hoping. I'm also finding the whole thing to be pointless. Chances are that I'll never have to build a database system from scratch so I don't really see why I have to even do so.  I'm doing a lot better than I thought I would in the class with each draft. I've literally waited until the day it was do to  actually work on and finish the drafts. I don't know why I do that when I have plenty of time beforehand. So most of it was more frustrating and confusing because I waited so long.

I turned the last couple of drafts in unfinished but surprisingly my grades weren't that bad. I got an 80 on Draft 2 and and 82 on Draft 3 which makes me feel better. I'm just hoping that the final draft is either an A or very close to it. I just don't want to fail the class and have to take it all over. Once is enough for me. I'm pretty sure I'll pass though. One thing about grad classes is that I have to pass with a higher grade , in this case a B- or higher, in order to not have to repeat a class. A definite sign of how much harder grad school is. However, on a more positive note, I no longer have Final Exams. All my graduate classes so far have just had Final projects instead of Exams and the projects usually are due at least a week efore Finals. Once my projects are turned in, I'm pretty much done for the semester except for the Final grades.  I have a project due Sunday for my History of Youth Services class (actually I just have to present it to my group then. The actual final project is due next Sunday) and then I also have 2 more chapters to post discussion questions on. For my 5200 class, I just have the Draft 4 Preliminary for Peer Review due Thursday and then the Final Draft 4 due the following Thursday.

I'm taking a couple of classes this summer so I'm not really going to have a break from school. Regardless though, I'm so ready to be done with my 5200 class.  Can't you tell?

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