Is it over yet?

This semester has long ago worn out its welcome! And I still have a major assignment in each class due this week. Just one final exam, though, thank goodness. It has been a good semester, but once that grade card starts to fill up with completed scores, the itch to finish it off is almost unbearable. Get done already!

As part of the preceptor role in the Business Communications class, I acted as moderator for one of 20 rooms full of dapperly dressed Juniors ready with their big Case Competition presentations. Six teams of 4-6 students were assigned to my room and made PowerPoint presentations to a panel of local executives. This year's case was GEICO insurance company, who asked them to give ideas on how to reach and retain young people such as themselves. Some had creative ideas and some not-so-creative - but it was fun and I was glad to avoid presenting this year. Moderator I can do!

In the midst of this end-of-semester angst, my hubby snagged himself a modest promotion which requires showing up for work about 1,400 miles from Tucson! So the rush to get him ready has somewhat interfered with my school work. Now that he is packed off to Idaho, though, there is much to do before I am finally awarded grades for this long semester (don't much care what grades they are at this point!). Then I will have an 8-day break before winter session and Microeconomics looms. I think a quick trip to Idaho might just be the escape I need!

I have Office Hours!

http://tinyurl.com/2c6fe2m

Okay, technically just HOUR (singular), but still... As mentioned, I'm a teaching assistant (preceptor) for the Business Communication class I took last spring. This means I can attend class without doing the homework! I'm just there to help out if the students need me. It's a large class of 29 students but of course not all of them show up on any given day. (Never figured out how or why they do that. Life is so much easier if you just attend class. But then I'm not their mother, so...)

Anyhow, preceptors are required to staff the Help Desk one hour a week; mine is Wednesdays, noon to 1pm. Turns out it is a pretty good time to reread the chapter for 2pm Accounting class. I can count on one hand the number of students who have dropped in - let's see... one, two, yup, that would be THREE in, what, seven weeks? But a few of them have emailed me their papers, too, so I guess that counts.

The more interesting part of preceptor-ing has been helping the prof with grading. This was one of my goals - to speed him up a bit with the grading process. Last semester he was pretty slow at releasing grades on stuff we'd turned in weeks before. So far I think I've failed in that goal, but at least I've maybe helped him adjust to having two classes to grade where last semester he was teaching only one. (In his defense, he also has a full-time "real" job, plus a two-year-old son at home!)

Papers are typed using the student's choice of word processing program then uploaded electronically to a service called Turnitin.com. This service checks the paper for plagiarism against literally billions of sources, including student papers from prior and current semesters at this and many other universities. In about 5 minutes per paper, it returns an "originality score" as a percentage of the total paper. The grader can view the paper in its original form on-screen with the "plagiarized" bits highlighted and identified as to source. We can also apply comments directly to the on-screen paper to suggest grammar corrections or make other recommendations. This has forced me to relearn some grammar and basic writing rules to explain WHY the student's choice might be incorrect.

Eller College's standard Business Writing Rubric emphasizes: Critical thinking (audience, purpose, context), logic/reasoning (claim or assertion, idea unity and integrity, supporting evidence), structural coherence (internal logic, transitions, language use), information design (format, visual design, professionalism), and error interference (credibility, grammar, punctuation). The rubric is activated on the paper itself and the grader selects a high or low target for each of the five areas. The combined score is applied to the points for that assignment and the result is their grade.

Of course I'm not doing any actual grading (apparently I need a PhD for that!) but Dr. Liers will use my comments on the papers to supplement his own comments and my work will help him apply a grade. The papers I'm "grading" are business letters in final draft form which the students will then revise and resubmit as part of their "portfolio" at the end of the semester.

The business writing "Boot Camp" consists of three business letters: standard ("routine"), negative message (or "bad news"), and persuasive. Topics center on a case study; this semester it's the issue of genetically engineered salmon currently under review by the FDA. (More info: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm224089.htm) As a fictional intern at SeafoodSource.com, an industry news source (a real company following the hearings), the student crafts letters for signature by his or her "boss" and creates the "transmittal email" to the boss summarizing the content of their attached letter. This is something most of them will be involved in doing when they become gainfully employed in a couple of years.

While some students have surprised me with their grasp of the assignments, most of them are painfully unprepared for this style of writing. They overuse superlatives and cliches, and too often it's clear they haven't thought through the assignment at all - they've just started writing (probably at midnight before it's due). The Persuasive Letter assignment clarifies they are to pick three points for elaboration to convince the reader. If they would just DO that, it would be a lot easier to grade! Instead they regurgitate facts unrelated to their points - and then their points (if they have them) are introduced only in the summary paragraph at the end! Sigh.

The big Writing Assessment comes in early November. They will be given a couple pages of background information on an issue one day prior, which they can read and annotate in preparation for class. In class they will be handed their assignment (one of the letter styles - my guess is "negative message") and they will have about an hour to craft their letter and submit it to Turnitin.com at the end of class. Irrespective of their grade on anything else this semester, they must pass this writing assessment with 80% or higher. Failing students must enroll in an additional 2-credit lab prior to graduation.

This brings me to the second part of my preceptor duties. Next week I will shift my focus to the lab of students who failed the writing assessment in prior semesters. Typically (I've heard) these are international students struggling with English as their second language. I'm looking forward to it because they are often the more serious kids who want to learn. Recalling my own experience many eons ago as a 20-year-old in France helps give me a tiny bit of perspective. I have nothing but admiration for these kids' courage - attending college in a foreign language. As I understand it, there is no real "grade" to achieve in this lab. Once the student has completed it, they are awarded the grade they earned in the earlier semester.

Meanwhile, my other classes are going well. Learning a lot, enjoying the subjects. Met last week with my advisor for "degree check" and I'm right on target for the big day in May 2011. Woohoo!!

Hmmm, this is old hat!

Well, not entirely, but this is the first semester that I haven’t felt anxiety, wondering what will come next and whether I will be able to manage it all. Prior semesters always had a new element… new experience, new subject matter, new college, new schedule... Well, some of that is still present here at the beginning of my senior year. For one thing, my classes this semester all begin at 2:00 pm or later! After six semesters of morning classes, I took the opportunity to give this a try. Gives me what seems like tons of time for homework in the mornings when my brain is fresh. Still working out a timetable but expect to get into that familiar rhythm soon. Classes are new, of course, and professors, but there is a calmer feeling this time. I’ve been through the worst (Financial Accounting 1 & 2!), and have nearly 80% of my courses behind me. It’s feeling very comfortable now. I will make it! I will graduate on time. And I will enjoy these last two semesters – for the most part! The unknown parts aren’t so scary anymore. I have that “been there, done that” feeling. It feels great.

One of my courses this semester, “Integrating Business Fundamentals with Ethics and Law,” has a twist that I wish every course offered. Dr. Cummins teaches in a regular classroom, but records it live on WebEx. So I can “attend” at home by joining the class on computer! She can see who is “present” and we can use the chat feature to ask questions. She answers as though we are sitting right there in the classroom. The only time we must attend in person is for exams, however I do want to experience it at least once from the classroom side. She authored the textbook, and is funny, engaging, and perfect for this method of teaching. Class sessions are stored for viewing and re-viewing whenever we wish. This would have been very useful for some of those really difficult courses.

My other class is Accounting Information Systems in which I expect to learn all the things I was doing wrong when I tried to develop Access databases for my old job! I knew there were supposed to be complex relationships between all the tables, but I just didn’t understand how to make them work. Day two of class and I’m already elbow deep in relational databases. Right up my alley!

At the end of last semester my Business Communications professor asked if I would consider being a teaching assistant (preceptor) for the same class this semester. I agreed, so that rounds out my schedule. I’ll attend most classes and assist students with all the same assignments I completed last Spring. I don’t really need the credit hours, but it seemed like an interesting experience and a way to get to know Dr. Liers a bit better. He’s a professional writer and you just never know when you'll need that kind of assistance down the road.

So my next 15 weeks are set! By Christmas, I'll be a senior-and-a-half, and have just two upper division classes remaining before graduation in May. Yay!

If I had to pick a minor...

It took me several semesters to figure out why a college student would need to choose a "minor." The best answer anyone could give me was that some departments didn't let you take their classes without declaring a minor in their college. Guess that makes sense. Turns out I didn't need to worry about that, but if I had to pick one, it would have been Economics, primarily due to Dr. Gerald Swanson. That link will take you to an article that honors his 40 years of teaching. Dr. Swanson's "Principles of Economics" class was certainly one of my favorites.

If you have time, play the little movie at the end of the article and you can see him hold the attention of every student in a classroom that seats 500!

And to think I almost didn't take his class. At the last minute I switched my Winter Session class to Managerial Accounting because my accounting lab instructor was teaching it. That meant Economics 200 would have to move to Spring 2008 and Dr. Swanson's class was the only one that fit my schedule. Talk about serendipitous!

I'm a senior now!

No, no, not a senior citizen (although I'm heading down that hill FAST!), but a college senior. How time has flown. Saw a fresh crop of undergrads brandishing their "2010" folders at the Student Union the other day and realized it had been THREE YEARS since I proudly carried my "2007" credentials-in-cardboard. It has been a fun and interesting ride, and I can finally see the horizon.

If it's true that the first two semesters of the accounting curriculum are the hardest, then I have successfully and officially survived. Turns out I'm only an "average" accounting student but, considering the difficulty of the material and the breakneck speed at which we are supposed to "learn" it, I'm okay with that. If scoring in the mid-70s is the worst of it, then average is exactly my style.

A fellow (older) student and I have discussed the relative merits of a department that feels the need to place obstacles in the way of future accountants as they have deliberately done with Intermediate Accounting I and II. I suppose their intent is to turn out only the "best and brightest" accountants and gain a reputation for this consistency. But in the real world, darned good accountants can come from solid C-students and we all know it. My friend had the guts to email an influential professor in the accounting department with this brilliant suggestion: that they continue this "barrier to entry" for only those students yearning to spend 80+ hours per week working for one of the "Big Four" accounting firms following graduation. She recommends they leave us poor grunts - who will be content to get a local job and learn the ropes and perform adequately for our paycheck - to the less rigorous classes. It would be refreshing to take classes that teach us valuable things that we will actually experience in the job market. Her email likely won't change the world, but it was certainly worth a try.

Meanwhile, with those two giant obstacles safely behind me, I'm on to more enjoyable things like Macroeconomics and Tax Accounting! It's almost a shame I chose to take Macroeconomics in a rushed semester because it was SO interesting and probably ranks up there with one of the best learning experiences of my college career. To understand even a tiny bit about classical economics and how Adam Smith (and JB Say and Ricardo) saw things and how Schumpeter, Keynes and then Hayek totally changed how economics are viewed was exciting and mind-expanding. It was one of those mental upgrades that will stick with me the rest of my life. I'm definitely better for the experience.

Now, just two days into my Intro to Federal Taxation course, I have hope that at last I have found a class that will be less of a struggle, given my 10 years at H&R Block. Not that I already know everything by any means, but it is a relief to be able to follow the concepts and anticipate the structure. I have adequate time to spend on the homework and can keep up with the readings and it appears that is all it will take.

My afternoon

Sold an old desktop computer on eBay yesterday for a little over $100 (yay). Now have to figure out how to erase hard drive (boo). Found free open-source software that will do it (yay). Copied it to CD from new computer, carried to old computer to install. Needs to connect to internet (boo). (Old computer is dial-up only!). Better to purchase reputable product from Best Buy ($20, boo). Came home, inserted CD, it ALSO needs to connect to internet (boo)! Tried connecting phone line... nothing. Oh, yeah, fried internal modem years ago in lightning storm (boo). Where did we put that external modem? Hmm, think we donated it (boo). Okay, try ethernet from newer cable modem we are now using. Nope, doesn't work (boo). Okay, how much would computer store charge to perform service? Umm, $75 (boo). Back to square one. Need a cheap modem. Almost out the door to Radio Shack but dark recesses of brain remembered old Bluetooth modem. Where did we put that? Hmm, found a Dynex Wireless dongle (don't ask). Doesn't look like a modem, but what the heck, plug it in. System recognized it (yay). Asked for accompanying CD (boo). Found CD in old storage (yay). Installed and connected to Apple Airport (yay!). Logged in and finally installed Drive Scrubber (yay). Rebooted three times (this old computer is GLACIAL!) before looking for more info at iolo.com to find I needed to change boot order (boo). Finally figured out how to do that and it is now "scrubbing"! Yay! (Maybe not worth $100+!). Tomorrow: packing and shipping!

I think there's less competition

Lately I've noticed something about my accounting class that seems a little different from last semester. The really smart kids aren't quite as smug. Can't put my finger on it, and maybe its just me and a shift in MY attitude, but I do hear the smart kids haggling more with the prof over a point here and there on a quiz or exam as though they think they're going to need that point when the final tally is made. They're still smart, just not so cocky now. Don't know if they're finding the material more challenging... I'm actually finding it just a sliver easier - maybe due to an adjustment downward in my expectations! Anyway, it's a refreshing change.

By throwing caution to the winds and allowing the department to place me in a random Business Communications class this semester, I ended up in a 3:30 pm class with the "PM Cohort" and learned something that seems so obvious now. I've always been a "morning person" - more energy and/or active brain cells happening before 10:00 am than anytime after. So my assumption was to select the "AM Cohort" preference on my Eller entrance paperwork. Turns out I'm SO MUCH happier to have mornings to STUDY and prepare for an afternoon classtime. Huh! Better late than never, I guess!

My summer classes are in place now. Macroeconomics in the super-condensed Pre-session (so I guess I'll learn a LOT about very LARGE economic theories in a very SHORT time period! Ack!). Then Summer One is my next accounting class - an elective: Intro to Federal Taxation. (Hoping this one will be a bit easier due to my H&R Block experience... hoping!) Then Summer Two is Quantitative Financial Management. I'll be available to analyze your portfolio in August... NOT!

Constant measuring is tedious

My second accounting exam is behind me and coming up next is the Business Communications writing assessment. Won't know until Monday how I did on accounting - she never releases the grades early; we have to suffer in a classroom of our peers as we are handed back our exams and peek nervously at the score hidden on page 8!

In the writing assessment, we are expected to study a business case this weekend and know enough about the basic elements of a local business to write a moderately complex business letter to match a specific issue we won't know until we walk into the classroom. Then we have an hour to analyze and craft our message.

Like Gilda Radner used to say, it's always something! The perpetual nature of learning - testing - learning - testing gets really old about this time of the semester. The end is in sight, but so much more to get through.

There is such a stark contrast between the cloud that hovers while studying for exams - especially the accounting ones - and the sunshine that appears when you leave the classroom after turning in your test. It doesn't really matter how well or poorly you've done on the exam, the sun is always shining at that moment because you have three or four days' rest before picking up the textbook to start the next chapter. And there's a renewal of hope as you determine to really study this time and do so much better on the next exam!

Wow, where'd the semester go?

Spring break is already over, and the semester is shrinking by the day! Just six weeks to go and probably the most difficult part yet to come.

Financial Accounting Part 2 is as hard as Part 1 was last semester, but with a different professor. I like both profs, actually. Had this one for Introductory Accounting in Fall 2008 (wow, that seems like forever ago!), so I'm already familiar with - and like - her teaching style. But the material is very difficult and we move much too fast for my liking. My first exam grade wasn't great, but was good enough to make the rest of the semester salvagable as long as I continue to work hard. Exam 2 is coming up fast, and Exam 3 (the Final) will be (horrors!) cumulative! (Ack, ya mean I gotta remember this stuff??!)

The Business Communications class, which I had somewhat dreaded, is actually fun. The professor is a kooky/likeable guy who isn't all that personally invested in the outcome of our collective performance (the way I heard some of the BNAD professors have been in the past... and present!). He's a professional writer by trade and has taught us a lot about condensing our writing and polishing up what I thought was pretty decent writing. We've covered routine, negative-news, and persuasive letters, memos, emails, formal reports, and a presentation. The group project is starting up now and it looks like I'm in a fun group.

Working at the H&R Block tax office around 15-25 hours a week cuts into my study time a bit, but I'm handling it. Enjoying seeing most of my repeat clients even though our numbers are down a bit overall this year. I'm anxious for April 15 to get here.

Took quiz #5 in accounting just this morning. Don't know yet how I did, but having that quiz score in the gradebook is something of a turning point in the semester. All future quizzes will only count if I score better than the first five (only our highest five scores count). I always like having that flexibility - and it helps (a little) with the old test-anxiety ogre that sits on my shoulder and tries to scramble my brain!

So it's onward and upward from here. Already planned out my summer sessions (all three of 'em), fall semester (just two classes), winter session (one class), and spring semester (two more). With any luck I'll graduate a year from this May and only have two "fun" sophomore-type classes to finish that summer after graduation. They let you graduate as long as your core courses are complete and you can finish up the leftovers in summer session.

I'm seeing a faint glow on the horizon, now!