Write about environmental ethics issues, past, present, and future. Your paper should be three to five pages long, outside of the title and reference page. Sure. Loads of thick volumes have been written on similar topics, but my paper with this vastly broad topic should be three to five pages? Who thinks of these things?

Sometimes assignments come with very few directions, or the directions leave too much to the imagination. Even a very broad overview of environmental ethics issues today could run 20 pages. When I turned in this paper, I didn't feel confident that I had done a competent job.  I could have done it over a dozen times and still had that same feeling of inadequacy. I wanted to cover the topic and yet, I couldn't possibly cover the topic.

Sometimes it make you wonder: did anyone with any experience writing papers write those directions? I would have directed people to create a one-page timeline about major environmental ethics issues and focus on one environmental issue and its history, present development, and future challenges.

I'm guessing I will need to have my master's or PhD to be qualified to teach a course like this. If I ever do, I hope by that time I still remember what it was like to be an undergrad, trying to figure out how to pile the equivalent of War and Peace into a three to five page summary.

After four classes at Ashford University, you may have noticed I don't blog every day. I am zapped by the time I complete both jobs and my classwork. This is not a "log in a couple of times a week, write drivel and get a degree" program. I am challenged every day by my professor and my peers.

After four classes, I cannot imagine being a professional student. I am still amazed every day that I have this opportunity, and I'm giving it all I have in order that I don't waste a single day. However, I'm sure I will be a very relieved person in 16 months.

I'm starting to see life until February 2011 as a series of five-week blocks. Starting over, posting, writing essays, taking quizzes, completing another research paper. I will have finished 17 research papers, probably two or three times that many essays, and an uncountable number of posts by then. I will have interacted with at least 500 students, which is only a small fraction of the 40,000+ online students at Ashford.

I love the idea of five-week classes. Just about the time I think I've had enough literature, sociology, technology or sociology, I am finished. Another step up the ladder toward my degree. When I meet another classmate whose views have really challenged me, I can email him or her through the Blackboard system and we can decide whether to exchange real email addresses. I hope that when I finish, I will have accumulated some friends and colleagues for the long run. I know that I will have a lasting gift.

That's a wrap on Class #4, and tomorrow another adventure begins.

Even though this is about my day job and not Ashford University, it relates to communication studies in general. If you develop a work tool, make sure the people who are going to use it get to "test drive" it before you make it permanent.

I use a database that was developed nationally. Everyone in my position must use it, but it was developed by someone who was apparently only vaguely familiar with the job. It has extreme redundancy and fields that don't apply don't drop out when they aren't applicable. It is incredibly cumbersome.

It went "live" early this year then it was rolled out to all the field offices. Once it went to the field office, there was a huge outcry from staff. The company made a few cosmetic type fixes, a few tiny field changes, then said they've gone as far as they can. It takes forever to input one client. Today we learned that our whole program rests on the data from this horrible database -- our program could be eliminated if the data doesn't exactly demonstrate our reports.

If people who use it would have told the developer what the problems were before it was put into use, everyone would have won. The users would be happy, the company would have gotten wonderful references and the data would actually have helped the program. Instead, in this case, because of poor communication, everyone loses.

Jennifer Yane once said "I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once." That's how I've felt lately. Too much work, too much reading, too many projects. At the end of a day, there's another one waiting, but I haven't finished this one yet.

I think my literature book may be to blame for this. It's 2,300 pages! I know I don't have to read every word, but every week we have an assignment of four chapters, plus selected additional readings. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I don't just skim things -- I read them and think about them and perhaps read them again. Plus I like literature, when I find enough time to read. This five-week class is already going too quickly.

I was thinking this morning that if I could just have a couple of 48-hour days this week, I would be back on track. Just a couple of extra days with no commitments. I'm already sleep-deprived, so pulling an all-nighter to catch up is completely out of the question. I hate to call in to work just to buy myself some time, since I'd have to make up that work time anyway.

In science-fiction, the starship crosses some time-space continuum and crosses into the past or future, then returns at precisely the right time so that no time has elapsed. I want to find that barrier and take some time out to catch up, then come back into my life at the exact moment so that I have no interruptions. In one of the Harry Potter books, Hermione Granger had some time-shifting device so she could take two classes simultaneously. I'm afraid I have more in common with Hermione than I would like to admit!

Last week, I was on the road, accompanying my husband at a national conference in Memphis. Talk about economic devastation. I think 60 percent of the buildings in the downtown are empty. The city was very happy to see 2,500+ tourists in their town. Learned a lot about service to one's community. If you are truly interested in making a difference, find a local Lions Club and be an active member.

It's hard to recall what we did before wireless internet. Because of this, I was able to take a test in a hotel lobby (a housekeeping staff member was cleaning our room) and post from 32,000 feet. I had to wedge in class time around trips to Beale Street, but I was able to continue with my classes without interruption.

I consider travel to be educational as long as one doesn't go somewhere and spend the whole time in a hotel room or chain restaurants. Local culture is amazing. I had a blast catching up with soul, blues and jazz, with the entire realm of what people do to eke out an existence, and how different areas of the same country can be. I may never get to certain parts of the world, but I'm going to take advantage of every travel opportunity I can. We sat in B.B. King's Blues establishment and rode the trolley all over the downtown. Wish I could say we made it to Graceland, but it's further out. We were pretty locked into our schedule and didn't have a vehicle. We'll get back.

We ate barbecue ribs three times in five days; every time was completely different. You can have saucy ribs, spicy ribs, and my new favorite, ribs packed with dry rub, and then grilled to perfection. If you get to Memphis, search for Charlie Vargos' Rendevous. It's in an alley near the Holiday Inn Select on Union. I'm pretty sure I could eat those ribs every meal for the rest of my life.

[19-year-old dyes hair blue. No earrings or tattoos yet. We now return you to your regular programming.]

Out with the old, in with the new. Sociology ended yesterday, although I'm still waiting for grades from a professor who is being worked over by the storms in Atlanta. Today starts my literature class.

I love to read. I started reading at age 4 and would pick up whatever was lying around the house as I grew up. Popular Mechanix from Dad, women's magazines from Mom, HiLites, Reader's Digest, travel brochures. While I still devour Reader's Digest, I've moved on to Arizona Highways and a collection of other magazines and whatever I can find in the work breakroom. I'd read the phone book if it were the only thing available.

I'm not sure about a literature class, however. Reading for enjoyment -- absolutely. Reading to evaluate and interpret -- not so much. I recall doing so in high school and college the first time around, and just hating it. It was like comparing writing with diagramming sentences. This first week, we're studying beauty and art through the eyes of writers. I found the stories fascinating, but the poetry confounding.

[News flash: 19-year-old's musical playlist doesn't include one artist I know. Skillet? Slipknot, Tech9? What happened to music? Now back to the program already in progress.]

What do I think of it? I like it. I'd give it an 8 on a scale from 1 to 10. (It doesn't have a good beat and you can't dance to it?) I'm pretty sure the professor wants more than that. I guess I respond to it on a more unconscious level, and now I have to consciously determine what made me react that way and why.

He suggests we journal about our writing. Reading, analyzing, writing, evaluating, writing posts, reading other comments and writing some more. Am I going to have enough time over the next five weeks to manage this? What was that about this course being fun? When will I have time to have fun?

I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

[It was the fuse, and now the car stereo works. It plays your CDs and stations and mine. When we're both in the car, we'll hammer it out over the music choice, or perhaps just leave it off and talk....tonight's weather advisory is now expired.]

Lines above from "Time and Eternity," by Emily Dickinson.

Have you ever heard that phrase "hurry up and wait"? It refers to places that make you rush to an appointment, then wait on something: a doctor, another procedure, something.

Time is a gift for many of us who are trying to work and attend college. We enjoy moments with our family and wish they could go on forever. We multitask. We have books on audiotape so we can catch up while we drive. We schedule and over-schedule. We lose our patience with people who make us "hurry up and wait."

Sometimes a pause in the action isn't so bad. Recall a moment when you wanted time to stop. I remember a hike to the top of Granite Mountain. It's not a deserted place, but my solitary hike gave me a much-needed time to think. When I reached the top, I knew I only had a certain amount of time to stay before heading down, but when I sat on a boulder and ate lunch there, overlooking a beautiful view, I wanted to freeze-frame that point in time forever.

Sometimes it seems like time is running way too fast. I'm on the verge of another birthday, and I can't deny it -- I'm on the downward side of life. It's like time picks up speed once you hit the top. I just walked into my office and already the day is almost over. Yesterday my son was born and now he's a young adult. We were newlyweds just a little while back and now we're into our 25th year of marriage. I just started college and I'm in the final week of the third class.

Time doesn't slow down for anyone, so enjoy the moments as they race by. Slow down and listen to your family and friends when they need to talk. Take that opportunity to go out to eat or to enjoy that vacation. You may be important, but as soon as you're gone, your workplace will find someone to replace you. Your family and friends will talk about that trip you went on for the rest of your lives. Stop wasting your life by hurtling through it like a barrel rushing downstream toward a waterfall.

The sad thing about online classes, unlike a regional college campus, is once the class is over, you are unlikely to ever connect with your classmates again.

OK, I'll admit I am not going to be sad about never emailing or discussing topics with some classmates. However, this has been the best class yet for discussion. People raised some exceptional points and went above and beyond the minimum. For the most part, they didn't give useless "I liked your post very much" answers. Give us another month and we could solve the problems of the world (well, perhaps that's a little exaggerated!!). However, I think we have some incredible minds in this class. We have just one week left, and I will miss many of them.

It's a little like going to camp. You say you'll stay in touch, but it's the rare friend that actually stays in touch more than a month or two. Everyone has busy lives, and people move on. Even at a traditional college, most friendships don't last forever.

I am surprised that the Project Working Moms and Dads Too winners don't comment back and forth. Our experiences are perhaps the most connected of all, since we are all working and attending school. We all have been challenged by our circumstances. And we are all attending just a handful of similar schools. When I read everyone's biographies, I thought that we should all involve ourselves with some cause. With everything we've been through (and survived!!), we could change the world, too.

Yes, that's an invitation. I think my fellow Project Working Moms and Dads, Too winners must be awesome folks.

A Chinese proverb goes like this: "Tell me, I’ll forget. Show me, I’ll remember. Involve me, I’ll understand." Too much of education is show and tell.

I took my son to dinner last night, just the two of us. Dad is out of state, so it was good "face time" for the two of us. We had dinner and then came home and caught up on "Slumdog Millionaire," which neither of us had seen in the theatre. 

However, during dinner, he told me that his college communications class is requiring students to do a service learning project. I don't think cheering in the restaurant is appropriate, but I wanted to. I wish more teachers, kindergarten through college, would require service learning. I think too much learning is "out of the book." Kids would retain more and actually become involved in their communities, if they did hands-on projects.

When I was an education reporter, some of the best stories I did were service learning stories. This class went to a lake in northern Arizona to do a once-a-year algae study that was actual on-going research about the health of the lake. A youth group didn't just study inequities in the world, they went to Mexico and built a home to see how little some cultures really have. I could go on and on. It's about students making a difference with hands-on work in their communities, projects that stem from their classroom experiences.

Apparently, most of his classmates are going to work with a local school district. That's great, but I'd like to see my son choose something that interests him, perhaps something in line with a future career goal. Since he's really thinking about psychology as a field, I'd like to see him work with the local guidance clinic or a school psychologist or something similar. Find a way to make a difference. Think about all of the good that might happen in the world if every student's learning was hands-on. Think about how engaged students could be.

Education isn't about learning for the day, or until the next test. Learning is about understanding, and should be for a lifetime.

I can't believe the furor of the past week over a seated President wanting to address the schoolchildren of the nation. My little conservative area managed to keep students in almost every school from watching the short address. If my child was still in school, I would have pulled him that day and made him watch the speech.

Am I an Obama maniac? Nope, didn't even vote for him. Wouldn't vote for him today. However, I'm a firm believer that life's lessons come in all sorts of packages. I read the transcript after the speech was over. There was nothing Democratic about the speech, unless you think that attending school, paying attention and getting a good education to prepare you for life is Democratic. It wasn't socialist, it wasn't racially motivated. I think the seated President of the United States should do one every September, the day after Labor Day.

Our schools have the technology to allow students to observe all kinds of worldwide events. Many show Channel 1 or some student-targeted news/commercial program to kids. It would be easy to show speeches from world leaders, health professionals, leading researchers and other subject experts. I remember several times during high school, during significant national and world events that my teachers turned on the TV. Why limit education to what the textbook says? That goes for elementary, secondary or college classes.

Barack Obama has been the nation's president for eight months, yet some people still act like their hate emails could get him removed tomorrow. Get over it. He's the President. Spend your energy on something productive. I believe that if all the negative energy toward Obama was directed toward service and volunteerism, we could have already solved our economic woes. 

This week, we've had this interesting discussion about formal and informal norms, and how they relate to education. Specifically, if you were appointed principal of a high school, what kind of formal norms, informal norms and sanctions would you impose? The class isn't split evenly. About three-quarters of the class want strict rules, uniforms, and harsh sanctions. I'm not in the majority here.

I have a teenage son, now graduated. We've always tried to treat him with as much maturity as he could handle. I believe in treating young adults as the adults you expect them to behave, and discipline (guide) them then they stray from it. Simple respect. It works.

Uniforms? Why? Start from a young age educating students that they don't need "stuff" to be special, and that people have differences, but the differences don't make them better or worse. That makes uniforms unnecessary. High school is a time for kids to find a style and discover who they are. I'm OK with dress codes, but the dress code should specify safe, unrevealing attire that doesn't advertise alcohol, tobacco, drugs, obscenity, violence or other illegal behavior.

When you become an adult, society penalizes you if you violate the law. It doesn't create rules that prevent you from breaking the law. It assumes that most people will behave in a responsible way. Think about it. This was my example: "If our roadways were like most high schools, there would be a police officer for every 10 cars, and the second you went 1 mph over the speed limit, you'd lose your license. The government would force auto manufacturers to create cars that are speed limited to 75 mph. There would be no pin-stripes, no radios, and all cars would be black, white or tan. You'd only be able to drive on the road when you had a pass, signifying a reason for driving there."

It's Labor Day weekend. I'd rather be off camping, but in retrospect, I'm glad we didn't go. It's pouring in Arizona!! Apparently, we received the storms from the edge of a hurricane off the Pacific coast of Mexico. No one in Arizona is too upset when it rains -- we need every drop of moisture. Anyway, it's a chance to finish work and get ahead (if the power and the internet don't go down in the storms!).

I have a paper to complete for this week and a final project I need to start. It's the end of week three of my third class.

I'm almost midway through the rest of the general education classes I need to complete before I start my major classes. I am amazed that this time is just flying by. After sociology, I have literature, ethics, and philosophy, and then it will be 2010. I've ordered my literature book so I can start the reading early.

What it really comes down to, for these online classes, is staying ahead. There are things you can't control -- internet outages, extra work, family emergencies. The challenges aren't big problems if you're ahead. If you're working against every deadline or behind, the unexpected will kill you. For example, our quizzes are untimed and open book. You can take all week if you want. All of the answers are somewhere in the textbook. You'd think every student should get full points, but they don't. And that's 20% of our grade in this class.

In the meantime, back to the paper. And who's up for hamburgers and hot dogs over the gas grill in the backyard?

People at awards programs thank so many people that they occasionally get stopped mid-sentence. However, as a college student, go ahead and thank everyone who made your paper possible. Today's topic is plagiarism.

Today's college students can't go online and cut and paste their way to a winning paper. Nor can they purchase a paper from an essay-writing service. College professors have tools to determine whether the paper you turned in was your own work. And accredited colleges take academic integrity seriously.

Ashford's first class included tutorials and a test on preventing plagiarism. After that, I was pretty concerned about writing any papers. What if my writing correlated with a source I'd never seen? What if I read something at some point that influenced my thoughts? No use getting expelled for plagiarism, so I cite everything I can and pray there are no other overlaps that I can't control. The fear isn't going to go away until I graduate.

This week, our professor posted another warning about plagiarism, right after we turned in our first paper. I feel like I'm holding my breath until my grade is posted. I wouldn't consciously try to use someone else's work as my own. It's the unknown that keeps us fearful.

Last week's class discussion asked if America's middle class was shrinking. Well, I can only speak for myself, so outside of a fraction of an inch that I may have lost over the past couple of decades, I think I'm about the same size. 

OK, seriously, are there fewer people in the middle class? Are economic events pushing people into the lower and upper classes? What would that mean to American society?

Turn on the news any day. You will hear concern over health care, jobs, parenting, marriage and retirement. While you may not hear about the middle class specifically, each of these issues affects the middle-class status. I could have taken either side of the debate and argued it persuasively, but do I think the middle class is shrinking? No. Are the demographics changing? Sure. Are the demographics in different parts of the country hard to compare? Absolutely.

The textbook answer to the question was that middle class is defined by families within 75% to 125% of the national median income, with a range from some $36,000 to $60,000. How's that again? Is that a single person or a family of six? Is that in Beverly Hills, Calif. or East Cleveland, Ohio? Without some commonality, the term "middle class" is meaningless. The $36,000 figure may be downright wealthy in a small, poor community but not enough to make it in a rich suburb. Likewise, the $100,000 might be the top-end of salary figures in one place, but middle-of-the-road in another.

Is the middle class shrinking? Probably. I think there are fewer families that are comfortable and secure in their work today. I think there are more people struggling and more people with more than enough than ever before. But that's a function of an unstable economy and will continue to fluctuate until our economy strengthens.

If online class start every five weeks, how is a student to get any time off? Careful planning, that's how.

At Ashford University, I have a new class beginning every five weeks, on a Tuesday. That means when I have an assignment due at the end of a week, I can do it over the weekend and turn it in on Sunday or Monday. Class requirements include logging in and doing some activity twice a week, all five weeks of class.

So, back to that vacation question. Consider my upcoming Memphis trip. I will log in on Tuesday, before I leave on Wednesday, then log in again Sunday night or Monday when I return. It meets the requirements, but still gives me five good days of being away from class. I'm thinking some time away might be really refreshing.

If I had to be away for a full week, I am sure I could work something out with a professor. But with the availability of internet services, I honestly shouldn't have to. I can be in class in another state or even another country and still be "in class." The beauty of online college classes.

How does that compare to a brick-and-mortar college? My son, the traditional college student, has to tell his instructor he will be away. Depending on the instructor, he may be excused, or he may lose participation points for missing classes. He has to make arrangements for work or tests he misses. Some things he misses he may not be able to make up. All in all, I find my program much easier to work with.