Well, winter is here...with a vengeance. I'm heading in to an uncertain future. Spring semester began last week and I can officially say I belong to Indiana University Bloomington now. I'm going to continue distance learning for as long as I can to save money. My classes this semester do not cover any new fun technology stuff, but I can share that I am completing them both online. I have no physical classroom to go to this semester. I'm hoping by the time I am ready to teach I will be able to teach some online as well. My advisor at Bloomington showed me there is a class I can take once I get down there specifically about teaching online. If our economy continues to get worse I think people are going to have to work more just to keep up with life..that includes college students. The online option has been a lifesaver for me. Without it I wouldn't be able to pursue my education goals at all because I have to work full time to keep a roof over my head!
Another little techy tidbit related to this semester...have you ever had a class that the required textbook cost over $200? I did this semester. I did a little research desperately trying to find a cheaper option. What I arrived at was to purchase a Kindle Fire. On Amazon the same textbook was available as an e-text edition for $60. The Kindle was $199. As a result I spent $61 more dollars this semester, but I'm sure it will save me at least that much in the semesters to come solely by purchasing cheaper e-texts. The Fire also has a lot of tablet-y features on it that are useful like e-mail, facebook, etc. If you aren't interested in having yet another gadget, you can get a free download of the Kindle reader app on your computer and read your e-texts there. Barnes and Noble has a similar app called Nook Study. I downloaded this app to my net book. It looks like it works much like Amazon's Kindle app, but I found Barnes and Noble's e-texts were higher priced than Amazon's. Also the app can't be downloaded to the Nook tablet devices. In the end, I'm happy with my Fire and recommend anyone hoping to save money on overpriced textbooks check one out.
