My name is Thomas Anderson, I currently reside in the city of Las Vegas. I am a student at the College of Southern Nevada (CSN). This will be my second semester at CSN.
My first impression of CSN was that high school students were able to go to CSN to complete an Associate's degree and graduate from high school at the same time. Coming from California, I believe it was never an option to do so, at least from where I lived. My first semester of CSN was completed online. I thought my professors were great, but I was disappointed with the lack of teaching coming from the professors. Most of the courses were self-study courses with the professor available for help through emails. Other than that, you had online textbooks to help you through school work. Without much guidance from the professors, I spent hours upon hours taking notes and reading textbooks. I don't believe this amount put into taking notes was worth it, not only because I hadn't learn much from them, it was also consuming my limited time in Taiwan for spending more time with family there. It wasn't all bad, I learned how to take notes efficiently, which has come in handy in a few courses I am taking now. I also kept the notes I had taken last semester on my computer, where I can look back on for classes that are the continuation of those courses (I can use notes I took from Accounting 201 and use them in Accounting 202).
My first impression of IS 101 is learning that it was a required course to complete my Associate of Business degree. My first impression of Professor Wu's IS 101 course was that he took the initiative to reach out to his students to personally get to know them. I have never met another teacher that took this initiative, especially before school starting. I was worried that this course had a lot of assignments, and it does. Although it has a lot of assignments, I believe they're do-able if we're constantly on our toes with these assignments and get ahead with any free time we have. I also believe Professor Wu will help us as much as he can without making it easy for us. Overall, I believe this course will help me grow not only in my knowledge of Microsoft Office, but also with getting assignments done in a timely manner.
The skill I chose was from LabSim. I've experienced the skill of digital privacy with the usage of social media in my personal life and connecting to public Wi-Fi networks. I learned throughout my time on social media to not argue with strangers and share any private information to a public online setting because you never know what this information will be used for. It is important to read the "Term of Use" of either using a public device or connecting to a private internet connection from an organization. My experience with this is actually connecting my devices to any business or school internet connection. These organizations want to make sure you're using their networks responsibly and warn you the consequences of not following the "Terms of Use" for their internet connection through your agreement with them before connecting to their Wi-Fi. I found out today that Blogger.com is blocked by the CSN Guest Wi-Fi connection.
College is definitely a step up from high school in terms of the choices you have, the level of education, and cost. I believe community colleges are underrated in terms of the level of education you're getting and how much it costs compared to a 4-year university. Finding the right professor for you is the most important part of getting the right education, along with your career choice. I'm grateful to have chosen to save money and go to a 2-year community college before transferring to a 4-year university.
College is definitely a step up from high school, indeed!
ReplyDeleteThank you for recognizing the initiative I take to engage and help my students before the semester began and my approach of helping students as much as I can without making learning easy ^_^
I'm glad IS101-3003, Spring 2026 is one of your first in-person class in your higher education journey, Thomas :-)
Hi Thomas, I can really relate to your experience with professors. Unfortunately, some are just too busy to provide much direct teaching, so I’ve had to rely on my own self-study as well. I spend any free time I have just trying to keep up and stay motivated by reviewing my notes. It can be tough, especially when you’re balancing family time like you are. I think your strategy of keeping notes for future classes is really smart, and it sounds like you’ve built some really solid study habits. I hope this semester is a bit more balanced for you, and that Professor Wu’s support can keep you on track.
ReplyDeleteHi Thomas, I enjoyed reading your post. It’s nice to see that we are both working toward the same Associate of Business degree at CSN. I also agree with you about Professor Wu; I really appreciate the way he guides and supports students. I think it’s really good that you learned on your own how to take notes more efficiently instead of just transcribing everything, is better to study to be honest and less time consuming. It’s unfortunate that you had those experiences with professors before, but sadly that can happen sometimes. I also agree with your point about digital privacy; I think being careful about what we share online and when using public Wi-Fi is extremely important today.
ReplyDeletePlaying the game of chess while the world plays checkers. I only got it from your background, I wonder how it connects to you personally? I am not challenging you since I only know the "Random moves until I win" gambit. More power to you on your journey for a 4-year university and with your business degree! And yes, don't argue with strangers online, I find it pretty weird that people find that amusing.
ReplyDeleteHello Thomas, It's unfortunate that you had unsatisfying experiences with previous Professors, I understand how it is. Professor Wu really is great when it comes to guiding his students in the right direction. I agree arguing with strangers online is pointless, nothing of meaning will come out of it. And it's always important to be wary of public WIFI. I wish I could study well with a textbook and note-taking, but I either am completely unable to focus, or I'm just not studying correctly.
ReplyDeleteHi Thomas, I’m sorry you had that experience with other professors. It can be frustrating when there isn’t much guidance, but it’s great that you’ve found ways to take useful notes and keep learning on your own.
ReplyDeleteHi Thomas. I can relate to the experience you have had in your online classes. However, it is common for those kinds of classes to require self-teaching. It is also good that you have learned some note-taking strategies.
ReplyDeleteHey Thomas! the part about your first semester being mostly self-study. A lot of online classes can feel like that, where you’re mainly teaching yourself from the textbook. At least it sounds like something good came out of it though, since you developed a better note-taking system and can reuse those notes for later classes fortunately!
ReplyDeleteThomas, your experience transitioning from self-study online courses to the more structured, high-engagement environment of IS101 at CSN highlights your growth in academic efficiency, particularly through your strategic use of digital note-taking and your practical understanding of the security implications associated with public network "Terms of Use" and digital privacy.
ReplyDeleteHey Thomas, you and me both came from California I wonder what part? Also I totally agree with you, this class and Professor Wu. You hardly find a teacher who is willing to take initiative to get in contact and is openly trying to communicate to help you understand the material. At least from my experiences ever since enrolling in CSN this a rather rare class experience.
ReplyDeleteHey Thomas, I'm from California too! I moved here when I was 8-9 years old and I'm currently 23 years old. College is different and it really is better than High School. I used to hear how teachers would say "This won't fly in College" or "We're preparing you for College" As long as you maintain discipline to do what's assigned on time, everything will be fine. As to your 1.3.4 Digital Privacy, it really is important to be careful what you say to people you don't online, I try not to argue but by your explanation, I got to take it easy on people online that may or may not no more than me. Like you said "To be wary" because none of us know what could entail after, Thanks thomas!
ReplyDeleteHi, it’s interesting that you mentioned how different CSN is compared to your experience before, especially with high school students being able to earn an associate degree at the same time. Your point about digital privacy is also important because many people don’t realize how careful they need to be with personal information online. Good luck with the rest of the semester.
ReplyDeleteHello Thomas, I'm sorry to hear that your learning experiences with CSN were bad. I, too had a mix of goods and bads, but I also agree that Prof. Wu's class is one of the good ones. With the professor reaching out to us way before the first in-person class session, it was a bit intimidating but also refreshing. Your point about digital privacy was spot on too, a lot of people never think about the risks of using public Wi-Fi and the risks of sharing stuff online or even arguing with someone online too, so it's good that you are already aware of these risks.
ReplyDeleteHey Thomas, yeah I also found it quite interesting that some high school students get to take college courses at the same time. Yes, Professor Wu was the only professor I ever had to take the time to reach out before classes started, which shows that he really cares about our progress throughout this semester. I agree, a 2 year community college degree is underrated and you do save time and money. Hope you have a great semester!
ReplyDeleteHello Thomas, online classes are truly not for everyone I have realized I'm also not a huge fan. Professor Wu is really on top of everyone in his classes showing us his commitment to us has helped me stay motivated to do well.
ReplyDeleteHello, Thomas, I understand that taking classes online may be very complicated for some people. I was thinking about taking classes online for the next semester. After reading your post and experience, I can now decide whether to take one class online. In my first semester, I had CSN I heard from professors that taking online classes was going to be like self-study, and I can online reach him through emails most of the time. Thank you for the post. I can take a little advice on what an online class may be if I take one in the future.
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