IT 235: Database Design

Let’s start off with the good news: I completed this course with an A. My GPA is steady at 4.0 at SNHU. I am hoping to keep it that way for as long as possible. This course was a reading/book heavy course with long chapters. There were almost weekly discussion posts, which I find EXTREMELY easy to write. You also had to post 2 responses to 2 different peers, which isn’t that hard as well. There were two assignment activities, which again, were easy As for me and only took 30 minutes to an hour to complete. Then, there were the 3 parts to my big Final project. The first part was drafting out my database design in words like the goals, objectives, and restrictions of the database. The second part of the assignment was designing the database: deciding the important entities and attributes, outlining the important pairings, and designing the actual database using the normalization process. The last part of the paper was designing the final database (based on the feedback from the other two parts of the paper) and commenting on whether you achieved your design goals that you had outlined at the beginning of the paper. Overall, this class was very easy to me. The most time consuming part was reading the chapters and taking notes.

The next class that I am taking starts May 6th and it is DAD 220: Introduction to SQL.

With Love,

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September Semester RESULTS

Another semester has come and gone. This time my wrap up is coming to you rather late. I got caught up in the new semester and haven’t had the time to sit down and write this one. This was my 2nd term at SNHU and I thoroughly enjoyed my time at this college. This term was less stressful, but more rewarding. The 1st term was just so much pressure. The 2nd term went by a lot smoother with less stressing by me. I think the only time that I panicked was the second to last week when I needed to write all of my body paragraphs, because I couldn’t stop at just three. I ended up going one page over on my History 200 class. All of my IT papers I was able to keep at the maximum of 2 pages.

HIS 200: Applied History

I was able to achieve a perfect score in this class. 1,000/1,000 point. I got a perfect A and I am so excited about it! There is nothing like maintaining a 4.0 in college. It feels even better than getting pretty close to it in high school. I had two big projects for this class. One was a writing plan and the other was the actual essay. I wish we spent more time on writing the essay rather than the plan. I feel like I could have benefited from one more week crafting the essay and one less week on the writing plan. I really enjoyed this class a lot and the only annoying part was having discussions twice a week instead of once. It was really hard to keep up with.

IT 140: Introduction to Scripting

I got 1,000/1,000 in this class as well. So, I ended the term with a 4.0. At Pine Manor College, I ended my time there with a 3.97. Now, I have a child and working full time AND I am doing even better?! It doesn’t make sense! I am super proud of myself. There were 4 reflection papers and honestly, I wrote most of them on the fly on Saturday. The most challenging aspect of this class were the challenge questions every week. Even the project were MUCH easier than the challenges. The challenges were horrible! Some of them, I really had to research online to see how I would attempt to answer them. I found a really helpful Youtube channel that were run by IT teachers at SNHU and they broke down the project and challenges and answered them. It was a gold mine.

Here’s to the next semester being just as great!

With Love,

September Semester Classes

I am back with my two September-October Semester Classes. I cannot believe that the last semester has gone by so fast. I am enjoying my week break while starting to work on this semesters classes to get ready for my first week back on Labor Day. Last semester classes were tough in the beginning, because I didn’t know what to expect. This semester, I think that the classes will go smoother and I will find my balance a lot faster this time around. I have already planned out what I am doing school-wise for the next 8 weeks, so I have a rough sketch of what I want my weeks to look like. I am excited to share my classes and this time, I actually have a book that I can do a review on at the end.

History 200: Applied History

This history classes uses the same application as my Social Science 200 class called Mind Edge. I know already that there will be a lot of reading and embedded work throughout the week. I also see two discussion posts for some weeks, but I think those are really easy. I only have two projects, which I see as one this course. I have my Essay Plan and my Essay. I am guessing that the first one is an outline and the second is the actual essay or research paper. I am totally happy about this, since I want to murder PowerPoint right now. I know this class will be work, but I also think it will be a lot of fun based on my experience with SS200. Hopefully, my professor is a good one, because that makes a difference. So, far, every class I have a new professor.

IT 140: Introduction To Scripting

Okay, this is the class that I am worried about. I have never done anything like this before besides HTML coding in high school, which is really old school now. I have 4 different scripting projects, a book to read (seven chapters), discussion posts usually once a week, and coding challenges that can take 1 to 2 hours depending on how fast you get it. I like that there isn’t really any papers or much writing. You are basically coding, so it will even out with the work for my history class. I’m nervous about the coding part though, because I’ve never done it. It is totally new to me and its scary. I signed up for both webinars for history and for this class. I think that I will REALLY need it for this class to keep me sane. I think the coding challenges are part of your coding project, but I might be mistaken. I looked over the class and it seems like the challenges are connected to the coding projects. It will be work for me for sure, but I think less work than history.

I am really excited about both of these classes and I look forward to sharing my thoughts at the end of the term with all of you. I am really enjoying these school related posts. I hope everyone enjoys these posts as much as me and can relate on some level. This will be my second semester of my Junior year and next summer will be my Senior year. I just cannot wait to get my BA already and have a better life for my son. I am making sure to love the journey though. I don’t want to miss the present by looking towards the future.

With Love,

Insurance Course & Blog Update

I am taking an insurance education course to get my Associates degree in Information Technology. I am currently taking AIT 131 and have to take three more courses after that for the certificate of completion. My work is paying for my courses and all of the fees. I have to pass or I have 60 days to pay them back. I scheduled my test for December 9th at 2:30 pm, but I have to be there at 2 for check in. It is at a business center that is certified to give the test, which is 84 multiple choice questions that you answer on the computer. This is my first test that won’t be on pen and paper.

My plan is to do at least a chapter a week. So, that gives me 11 weeks for going through the book and study guide and about 3 weeks of studying for the test. Before I get into my books and materials, I wanted to make a little announcement. Working full time, taking an insurance course, and raising an almost nine month old full time is no joke. These are my priorities in order to make a better life for my family. This means that my blog will be on the back burner for when I have time for it. I’m not going to sacrifice my studies for my blog. If I have time, I’ll blog. I’ll have a post up tomorrow as well. Next week? I might just have one. It depends on how much of my work on Chapter 2 that I get done. I hope you guys understand.

This is my textbook Using Information Technology by The Institutes. The Institutes is my Insurance Education college. As you can see, the book is thick, but there is another chapter missing from it. It’s missing chapter 11, which I was sent as a separate little blue book. What I like to do, is read a two page spread and highlight as I go along: pink for title headers, blue for the text underneath of what the section is about, orange for any vocab that is bold and underlined, and yellow for any important information in the sections.

After reading, I’ll take notes in my Hot Chocolate notebook. I love the gold accents! I’ll just write down whatever I highlighted in different colors. I like to color code and it helps me to recognize different sections of my notes. Every chapter is a different set of pen colors, so I can also recognize when I flip into a different chapter.

I love the Papermate Ink Joy pens. They write the smoothest and really are effortless. I also bought some new Sharpie highlighters. I already had an assortment of page flags and sticky pads. I like using the sticky ads to write down what I want to get accomplished that day. There is a certain satisfaction to completing it and throwing it out.

Above is the extra chapter that I was taking about. I haven’t looked at this yet, since I am not there yet. At least, it isn’t an actual “assignment”. lol

This is the workbook that came with my textbook. I don’t have to hand this in or anything, but it is a great study aid to do after reading the chapter and taking notes. It comes with an outline for each chapter that I record in a separate Kate Spade notebook. I answer all the questions and do the vocab in the book. I check my answers with the answers page to make sure I understand the material. If I get it wrong, I highlight the answer, so I know that I need to work on it. This even comes with a practice exam for when the time comes.

I love the gold accents and it matches my other notebook perfectly! I love the saying on the front and it perfect for what I wanted it for. I used up my remaining Birchbox points for this guy and I love it!

I got the hair tie as a freebie from Birchbox. I wanted to compare my two notebooks for you and I had to stick that sticker on my planner spread. So cute. Until next time!

With Love,