Distance Learning...

I read a number of interesting articles today on the state of distance learning.

College enrollment is expected to grow 16% in the next ten years. That percentage doesn't include non-traditional students, which is the fastest growing population (particularly women and minority students). There are nearly 1 billion people on the internet now. In 2002, 83% of all American households reportedly owned computers. If distance learning isn't the wave of the future, I don't know what is!
The annual market in 2003 was 4.5 billion!

(For more interesting facts, take a look at the article by Howell, Williams and Lindsay entitled "Thirty-two trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Planning."

Not only is this a growing field, but I really enjoy my job. It is exciting to teach people what they enjoy learning and can use!

Web testing

I'm on roll. I tried another test...this one scoring my emotional intelligence and my scientific intelligence. My results were pretty good, considering I rushed through it...

Very Well-Rounded You have: 70% SCIENTIFIC INTUITION and 62% EMOTIONAL INTUITION

The graph on the right represents your place in Intuition 2-Space. As you can see, you scored above average on emotional intuition and above average on scientific intuition. (Weirdly, your emotional and scientific intuitions are equally strong.)

Your Emotional Intuition score is a measure of how well you understand people, especially their unspoken needs and sympathies. A high score score usually indicates social grace and persuasiveness. A low score usually means you're good at Quake. Your Scientific Intuition score tells you how in tune you are with the world around you; how well you understand your physical and intellectual environment. People with high scores here are apt to succeed in business and, of course, the sciences.

What a pig says about your personality

I drew a pig.

From that drawing, I was told:

you are a realist.
you are innovative and active, but don't have a strong sense of family, nor do you remember dates.
you are emotional and naive; you care little for details and are a risk-taker.
you are secure, stubborn, and stick to your ideals.
you are a good listener.

Of those facts, only the part about not having a strong sense of family was wrong. Everything else is on the money. From this drawing:



I probably should have spent a little more time drawing (I'm not a bad artist, really!). The piggies in the gallery are nice (as drawings of piggies go). If you're interested in assessing your personality, go to:


Draw a Pig Personality Test

In the Beginning...

SO... this is my first actual blog, as blogs go. This isn't, in actuality, my first web journal of sorts. Of course, back then there weren't blogs, just people posting their thoughts in a journal format with guestbooks for other people to make comments. Sounds a lot like a "blog" to me.

My first pseudo-blog was about my pregnancy and childbirth experience in 1997. I chronicled my feelings and the baby's progress within me. The ultrasound photos were a big hit. I then pseudo-blogged about the childbirth (complete with photos- discretionary, of course). I found reading other women's childbirth pseudo-blogs fascinating!

I then graduated to what I called an "Electronic Baby Book" (another pseudo-blog about my son). I chronicled each month of his life with photos and interesting events. People from around the world posted to his guestbook. I thought it was wonderful and exciting. I now read how posting such information and photos is dangerous. Who knew?!

So here I am today creating a "real" blog at blogger.com. I've made it. Will anyone actually read this? And why?