Just signed up for TESC Global Environmental Change and Computer Architecture

[ryoder]

I just signed up for two courses. The environmental change course is 6 credits and the computer architecture course is 3 credits.
This will be my first foray into actual online college courses that are not at your own pace like NCU.
I am also currently enrolled in some NCU courses but I have already done all the coursework so they are pretty much a non-issue at this point.
These TESC courses will fulfill my remaining upper level requirements for the Natural Science degree. It will be nice to have another computer science course under my belt in case I ever want to do a masters in computer science which requires the computer architecture course.

Wish me luck. I am a little nervous. I have both books already and read a few chapters so I think I will do fine but it does freak me out a little that I cannot control the pacing.

I am also studying for bio clep and the environment dsst test. These TESC courses start in August so it should give me plenty of time to finish out my testing credits.

[alleycat]

Good luck on your classes. I am sure you wll be fine. You are a pro at this point.

[SRT12]

every class at TESC i took has all the modules available when the course opens. The course will have dates assignments are due by but you could hand them in early. The only thing is you will have to wait on is the mid-term. Oh and yeah you will have to wait on other students to post discussion so you can comment. But other than that you can do all the written assignments and final as soon as you want. TESC mid-terms are hard they have multi-choice questions that can be difficult probally very similar to a TECEP but just on half the book but its for grade not p/f. Some of the mid-terms are curved like in my biz policy course the avg. midterm score was like 66 so i think they gave an extra 10.

[ryoder]

Thanks guys!
SRT10 great info!

I do like to hand in assignments early. It is my way of reducing my stress. I don't like not knowing if I can complete a chapter in a week on a week to week basis so I like to complete the first few weeks of work in one week to give myself breathing room.

This computer organization class probably needs a curve because some of the concepts are hard for people to grasp. I like the fact that you do assembly language programming. I have always wanted to learn it but never had a good reason to do so.

[SRT12]

I learned assembly language in a computer organization course which is like a pre-req to comp architech. With my experience its starts off very simple like making a program solve for basic mathematic problem with like a loop or something. Then like the next program was a like a stack and then like a search tree. I don't remember exactly but it went from ok Im getting this to taking forever to complete the program. However my program experience was little it was it my or first or 2nd year of college.

Im sure its going to be an interesting class. Operating Systems is a course you made need as well. I took the pre-req for that, Systems software and I enjoyed it. All C progamming for PDAs.

[SandraNC]

My son is planning to take computer architecture at TESC in Sept. Please let me know what you think of the class.

My son is taking 3 guided study classes with TESC this term - he could work ahead if he had time, but Discrete Math is a killer. He is able to keep up with the schedule, but not work ahead. So far, his only disappointment with some of his classes (not all) is slow grading and no feedback other than a score. I think he would like some comments so he'd know that they are actually reading/looking at his solutions. He gets a number score, but no details on why he didn't get a perfect score.

He anticipated some comments on the midterm because he completed a self-addressed comment card to be returned upon grading. He has received 2 of the 3 cards with a score only - no comments. (Scored 90 and 100). I told him the score was comment enough. Everyone likes feedback.

Again, please keep us posted on your experience.

Sandra

[cookderosa]

I just signed up for two courses. The environmental change course is 6 credits and the computer architecture course is 3 credits.
This will be my first foray into actual online college courses that are not at your own pace like NCU.
I am also currently enrolled in some NCU courses but I have already done all the coursework so they are pretty much a non-issue at this point.
These TESC courses will fulfill my remaining upper level requirements for the Natural Science degree. It will be nice to have another computer science course under my belt in case I ever want to do a masters in computer science which requires the computer architecture course.

Wish me luck. I am a little nervous. I have both books already and read a few chapters so I think I will do fine but it does freak me out a little that I cannot control the pacing.

I am also studying for bio clep and the environment dsst test. These TESC courses start in August so it should give me plenty of time to finish out my testing credits.

Enjoy your classes! I know several people here who have taken Enviro, I don't know what computer architecture is (lol it sounds hard to me, but I know you are a super computer ninja) so just watch your due dates- I think enviro has a fair amount of work.

I remember having MAJOR stress when the blackboard opened for my first classes, because for "me" I felt like the layout wasn't intuitive and there were places where assignments seemed hidden- like I might miss something. I (being old and liking paper) ended up printing out every page with all the assignments, rubric, calendar, etc and put it in a binder just so I could look at everything at one time. After my first term, I realized TESC used the same format/layout for all the classes and it wasn't hard to navigate.

My son (being young and never liking paper) thinks I'm nuts and has never so much as written notes on paper or even attached a printer to his computer. So, clearly this isn't an issue everyone has- lol - just thought I'd share my little tip back from my first TESC class. Good luck my friend!

[LaceyLady]

Enjoy your classes! I know several people here who have taken Enviro, I don't know what computer architecture is (lol it sounds hard to me, but I know you are a super computer ninja) so just watch your due dates- I think enviro has a fair amount of work.

I remember having MAJOR stress when the blackboard opened for my first classes, because for "me" I felt like the layout wasn't intuitive and there were places where assignments seemed hidden- like I might miss something. I (being old and liking paper) ended up printing out every page with all the assignments, rubric, calendar, etc and put it in a binder just so I could look at everything at one time. After my first term, I realized TESC used the same format/layout for all the classes and it wasn't hard to navigate.

My son (being young and never liking paper) thinks I'm nuts and has never so much as written notes on paper or even attached a printer to his computer. So, clearly this isn't an issue everyone has- lol - just thought I'd share my little tip back from my first TESC class. Good luck my friend!

LOL, I did the same thing! And I am not old at all (but I do like paper)! milelol:
I liked the fact that the guided study courses have pdfs that can be printed out. When I started taking online courses, I was frustrated that I could not print them out as easily. I had to copy the course information into a word document in order to print it out. Not to mention that in my first set of courses, I completed my assignments on paper, handwritten, then had to copy everything onto a word document! :roflol: That was tedious! Then when I started typing my work straight on the computer, I printed out a copy of each assignment and put it in my binder! When the teacher of one of my math courses allowed the students to scan and send handwritten assignments (as long as they were clear - and my handwriting is clear) I was so happy. I loved being able to hand write my assignments and not have to type them. I would rather work with a book and paper then stare at a computer.

You can call me old-fashioned, but now that we have lost much of the data from our old computer and external hard drive, I realize that old-fashioned is good. I still have my paper assignments, but the documents and pictures we had on our computer are gone.