Back in School

First of all, as a follow-up to last week's post, working out at work is a no-no. Yuck. Maybe yoga, but nothing involving cardio. That is all I will say about that.

This Monday I began my third semester at TUI University. I'm working towards an MA in Education, focusing on Higher Ed. I hadn't had any particular plans to get a master's degree after finishing my undergrad, and if I thought about it, I thought more along the lines of cognitive psychology (if you're curious about that, you can ask, but I won't go into it right now). Then I fell into this position as a registrar, and found that on the whole I quite like it. It suits my personality and skill set - or at least I think so. I'm anal about details and organization, and that works perfectly.

So, last November I got the impression that I should get my master's degree. If I was ever going to do it, now is a good time - while husband's in school, too, and we don't have any kids. President Monson would be proud of how quickly I acted on that impression, because I registered in early December and started in January (now if only I could do better to respond to promptings of service! alas!). Amazingly enough, after this semester, I only have three courses left - I'll be done in late March. No thesis (hurrah!), so that will be that. Crazy how fast it's going (and yet it seems to drag at the same time, you know?).

I definitely enjoy learning - I had actually been jealous when husband quit his job and went back to school, and found myself living vicariously through him as I scheduled his courses and bought his textbooks (now he takes care of all that himself, in case you're wondering). So to some extent, I am enjoying being back in school myself. I've taken courses in the psychological foundations of teaching and learning, research methods (not as bad as it sounds!), law and ethics, and information systems (okay, that last one was pretty dry). I'm currently in Cultural and Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Education, and Assessment in Higher Education. Every course is applicable to what I do, so I hope all this is making me a better registrar.

I do NOT like staying late at work to work on my homework. I am quite the home-body (to the point of being anti-social sometimes). I LOVE to be home (as long as I'm not stuck there, like I was in the first year or two of our marriage when I didn't have a car). I've tried to do homework at home, though, and it just doesn't work. We must live in a worm hole or something, because time just disappears at home. Add to that the aforementioned lack of Internet, and school and home REALLY don't get along. I usually end up staying at work until at least 8PM Monday through Thursday - then, if I've been good and met my homework goals for the week, I give myself Friday through Sunday off, which definitely helps my sanity.

The only other thing I don't like about my degree is that it's all papers. Two papers a week for ten weeks each semester, with participation in discussion boards added to that. That really doesn't make for incredibly exciting coursework. For each paper, I have to force myself to start typing something, because otherwise I freeze up due to lack-of-any-desire-whatsoever-to-begin-another-paper. Couldn't they assign a project of some kind? A poster? A crossword puzzle? ;) Dull, dull, dull, and sad when the course itself is about assessment and finding effective ways to engage students in their coursework. Hello?!

Well, that's probably more than you wanted to know about my degree. Sorry. My happy news for the day is that I met my goal for this first week (two papers and two discussion board posts), so I get to leave on time tonight and go to dinner and WALL-E with my husband and mom!! What a reward!! One week down, nine to go. :)