I am 4 weeks into the semester. I have already had a near-meltdown and, I hope, a recovery. I have been successful at getting my homework done ahead of schedule in both classes so far, and I have tried very hard not to study or do homework during family time. I have NOT been successful at being alert during family time…sigh. In one class, “Clinical Laboratory Education Roles”, I have a 95% average. In the other class, “Hematology II”, I have no idea what my average is because of how different scores are weighted but I think I have a solid C so far. That is NOT acceptable to me. I am a perfectionist overachiever and I was terribly unhappy with my performance thus far. That is, until I took the first exam…
This is my first foray into the world of online education. I have been very diligent about reading everything I can to help make me aware of possible obstacles and to prepare me for the challenge of “homeschooling.” At 47 minutes into the 60 minutes of my first exam my browser malfunctioned and I lost the whole darn thing. These exams can only be accessed once. I frantically tried the back button, refresh button and any other button on the screen in an effort to recall my work. But alas, it was not to be. In defeat, and just knowing my instructor would shrug and say “Oh well. So sorry…” I emailed her to explain what happened. I had a good cry, shut down my netbook and went to bed. Where I lay awake for the next 2 hours with hematology facts pinging off of the inside of my skull.
To my utter surprise and delight, my instructor reset my exam. I had to start from scratch, but that was fine!! I was just elated that I would not have to “take a zero.” I learned later that there was a major problem with the school server and that many tests were reset that day. In my effort to make sure there would be no more technical problems (because I really did NOT want to take this test a third time) I went to the local library and sat for my exam on a computer that was hardwired to the internet. This was something I had been warned against in the literature regarding online courses: it is not advisable to take an exam on a wireless connection. Lesson learned…and I scored a 79.5%. I have never been more proud of a “C”…
This first exam consisted of 40 questions taken from 12 chapters. Yes, I said 12 chapters. It’s not a type-o. It was incredibly hard. It covered hematopoiesis, red cell morphology, and anemias (B12 and folate deficiency, iron deficiency, red cell membrane defects, red cell enzyme defects and genetics, thalassemia, hemoglobin S and C genetics, hemolytic anemia, autoimmune anemia, and hypoproliferative anemia) and all of the genetics of the above mentioned.
The next two exams will cover malignancies of the white blood cells. Sounds a little more relaxing, but trust me it’s not. There are multiple types of each variation of white cell malignancy…
So the good news it that I’m feeling waaaaay smarter already and I can tell that I’m a better tech for sure. I am finding that I’m using a little of the overwhelming amount of information that I’ve processed in my day-to-day care of patients. So that’s encouraging.
To be continued…
