This has been a week where there was little time for much else than work, eating and sleeping (the latter two occassionally occuring at work). It is a temporary mix of things keeping me excessively busy. I'm hunting for a new employee and working through some issues that ended up on my desk on Tuesday and just won't seem to leave.If I were attending graduate school via a traditional "in-the-classroom" program, my Wednesday, Thursday and Friday probably would have been a nightmare. But it's all working out alright with my MAB studies thanks to the technology at hand.
One benefit of my two courses this semester is the use of Wimba, an online learning tool that allows lectures and study sessions to take place in-person over the Internet. Using a webcam, headphones and a microphone, class is in session with everyone able to interact. You can ask questions by raising your hand via the click of an icon. Additionally, the professor bounces between a chatroom screen and PowerPoint slides, providing visual support for the lecture or discussion.
Most valuable this week has been the "archive" function, where an instructor can elect to record the Wimba session and post it out on the Internet for later viewing. In my case, I can catch up on Thursday's course discussion sometime Friday evening -- once I'm done hiring a sandwich, catching a new employee and eating myself a little nap (not necessarily in that order).
