Epiphany!

I had a bit of an epiphany last night.

My past two on-line classes were both block classes. One was the GS111, which I loved. I appreciated the "re-orientation" to the whole student experience. The videos on study tips were helpful, I appreciated gaining more insight into the Learning Model. I'd heard about the changes from my daughters-- one graduated as the changes were taking place, the other has only experienced the current Learning Model. Most of all, I loved listening to, and reading the devotional addresses. Each one seemed "the best one yet", until the talk by President Clark about "The Spirit of Ricks" just absolutely spoke to my soul. He spoke of the exact reasons why I've sent all of children to Ricks/BYU, at least for a semester or two. The Block schedule didn't seem to affect me in GS111, but I developed a habit of accessing my assignments first thing Saturday morning, to get a jump on the activities that would be due on Tues and Sat.

Then, for the 2nd winter block, I took FDREL212--a New Testament class that focused on Acts through Revelations. This was a true block class. We doubled up on assignments, completeing 2 units per week. I once again accessed my assignments first thing Saturday morning, dove into the reading assignment and had three assignments,usually including a power poing, plus a discussion board done by Tues, then 3 more assignments, more discussion board, a journal entry and the self-assessment done by Saturday, or more likely Friday afternoon so I could have my Saturday free.And my I say--I came to such an appreciation of Paul. I thought that he was just a rather cranky guy who thought that women shouldn't cut their hair and should keep quiet in church. Not so much. I love Jude also. I'm sure that I read those same passages in Seminary, but I missed most of the beauty of the teachings of those apostles in those busy days after Christ ascended back into heaven.

Anyhow--last night I realized that I'm not block classes this semester. I knew that, but it didn't click as far as feeling so frantic about my assignments. On Monday, I was working through the Intro stuff in my Family Foundations class. I arrived at the syllabus/ice breaker quiz, which asked for information regarding the instructor's office hours and such. The instructor hadn't posted any info yet. So, I had to back out of the quiz and contact him and ask for a reset. (It turns out there was an automatic ability to retake this quiz so that stress was a non-issue.) The instructor responded and explained that I could retake, and that he'd had a busy day and that he'd be posting his hours and by the way, CLASS DOESN'T START UNTIL TUESDAY! (Those caps are for my emphasis, he didn't use them) Oh--do you mean to tell me that I didn't have to have those two talks (amazing talks by Sister Beck and Elder Hafen) read by Monday morning? I didn't have to have everythings done by Monday afternoon? The assignment list seemed a bit sparse, now that you mention it. Of course that's because it's the Introductory week, I'm sure things will pick up.

Anyway, I'm taking two classes concurrently this semester instead of one each block. I'm sure I'll have to develop the system for managing two at a time. But...I don't have to work through the assignment list at such a rapid pace!