MEET A STUDENT
Patricia Rizzo
I’m an undergrad student pursuing a B.A. in Urban Studies with a focus on Environmental Policy. I took my first eLearning course recently and was amazed at how much I was able to learn. Initially I thought I would have a very difficult time understanding what I should be doing and worried that there wouldn’t be much social interaction. Thankfully, none of these things turned out to be true. If anything, there was more social interaction and more of a focus on creating your own learning than in a typical face-to-face class.
I thought my instructor was great. I would send her quick emails like, ‘Hey I don’t understand this,’ and she was very responsive in an appropriate amount of time.
I’m more of a night owl than most people and I tend to work my best late into the evening. I could accomplish everything I wanted to during the day like hang out, run errands, do some reading and take my nephews and nieces to the pool. Then I felt like my nights were dedicated to logging on to the eLearning site and getting homework done and connecting with other students. I really liked the flexibility of the online class. My course had audio lectures that I could listen to at my own pace and I was able to check in on discussions throughout the week. I found that it’s no longer a crazy idea to be a non-traditional student like myself. You learn just as much as you would face-to-face as you do online.
Online learning fits well with my busy schedule and considering my distance from the CSU campus, it saved me a lot of driving time. I live in Summit County and as you can imagine, it’s very convenient not having to leave your home to go to class. If I ever had to go anywhere that had bricks and mortar, I was able to find my materials at the Summit County library to do my research work.
Everything you could want from a class all lives inside our Blackboard Learning Management System. Important things like email, lectures, multimedia, discussion forums, grades and chat are easily accessible online.
CSU has changed me. Anything that could convince me that summers are for learning is something that obviously has had a big impact on my life. I have CSU to thank for opening up my mind.
