Week 2

My second week of the program was comprised of a charge to get on pace. As mentioned before, the late nature of my orientation left me with 2 weeks worth of reading, discussion, and reflection to be done in just over a week. All I could do was put my nose down. And looking back on it, the 400+ pages of text book/journal reading was both enjoyable and the least stressful of my scholarly activities for the week. What I found my self struggling with more was the "basic week" for each class. I must have looked at each of my syllabuses 10 times that week. Here is the basic weeks breakdown by class, but keep in mind that there are other responsibilities to be peppered in there such as tests, papers, projects, and debates:

Governance requires an average of three weekly readings, one from text book and the rest from journal articles (largely found in a "reader textbook"). Additionally, a power-point is provided to reiterate key concepts and to make notes with. It helps me retain information so much to write things down, even if I feel I wield a good grasp of the concept. Finally, a response to a discussion question is due each Sunday by midnight. Dr. Collins has been very mindful of our "crunch" and has provided a tad bit of wiggle room here.

Comparative Politics is about 4 chapters of text book a week (100-120 pages, YIKES!) A discussion question response is due on Fridays by midnight. Additionally, we will be submitting reflection papers after each text we kill that is roughly 5 pages in lenght.

Conflict Management's schedule is a bit of a dumpy road. Reading of several journal entries, both from text books and electronic sources are required (about 4 articles). A reflection article that is roughly 700 words long must be submitted by Tuesday at noon. Furthermore, a discussion post in response to student leaders (two per week) is required by Wednesdays at noon. Lastly, a second reply to the discussion forum (but a bit more light than the first) is due by Friday at noon (this due date was modified by Dr. Hallward, originally it was Thursday at noon). Fortunately, our top ten reflection and response scores are counted, out of 14. I used one of my "freebie" weeks for the discussion in week two to help in catching my pace. (Future me does not suggest you use the spare 4 entries as "freebies", cause the writing style required for this class is a bit difficult to master). I am having a tough time, conceptually, understanding why we have a noon deadline, considering that a healthy majority of my cohorts work full time jobs. Oh well, I will manage.

My efforts were so genuine that this week flew by. I digested a ton of information and I am envisioning that I will truly master this content by the time I finish these courses. I wonder if that is why they call it a Masters degree?


On a separate note, I visited this very interesting micro-finance website that was suggested during our orientation. It is Kiva.org. Basically, you use small amounts of money (like $25 -50) to invest in upstart businesses in South Economy regions. You, as well as others who select business X to fund provide a loan to local entrepreneurs. Over time, your loan is paid back to your account (hopefully!) It seems like a great way to promote growth in poorer areas of the world. I intend to send some of my money around this planet of mine as soon as I get some spare cash (Which is hard for me to come by. Maybe I should be on Kiva?).

Week 2 down, 14 to go, this semester...