Semester ends....Christmas

Well I finished my 1st course with Professor Schatz and I must say it was a Whirlwind Finish...
Finals week just before Christmas week and a flurry of assignments culminating with the Final exam.
Grades Posted on Monday morning just a week ago.....96.2 "A" for the course.  I guess you can teach an ancient mariner how to sail a new course....and he will make port!
So I am now enrolled in the next Semester Course with Professor Shaughnessy.  Refueling, loading books and making a payment on my Tuition bill before leaving port on the next leg of the voyage towards that final port; Masters in International Logistics Management.

Here we go again!

Into December

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  Lots of discussions within the course.  Lots of new assignments also. 
It appears that most everyone is learning their way around Canvas and has become comfortable posting and discussing and submitting assignments.  Personally I have posted with both Word Docs and Adobe PDF's.  There is an option to use Goggle Docs but have not found the need to do so.
Mid terms exams have been submitted and now the Professor will have to read and grade them all. Having been in his shoes, I must say that us students have the easy end of Mid Terms!

We were reminded today by the Department Chairman that the course is rapidly coming to a close.  Not very much time left.  Evaluations for the course are submitted via an on line Survey.  I guess this is the way it should be for this kind of a course.
So I am off to do the Survey......

Just a reminder to take a look at Kiwi Spirit and Dr. Stanley Paris who is in his first week of a solo unassisted around the World single handed and non-stop voyage in an attempt to beat the current 150 day record.    Hew is also writing a blog so Google Kiwi Spirit Stanley Paris and start tracking him.

New Opportunity

Last week I spent a couple of days in NJ at TOTE SERVICES INC.  I am assisting in the restructure and relocation of the Company from Moorestown NJ to Jacksonville FL.  This gave me the opportunity to log in remotely to the class it certainly reinforced the fact that high speed internet connection makes life a whole lot easier.  A couple of places had poor connectivity and it was abysmally slow and that is not fun!

This is an interesting assignment as it is basically a "Human Logistics" exercise.  Decisions were made and now it is key to maintain department schedules and training as the restructure heads toward a January 1st deadline and the move continues to a July 1st resettlement.  The new office in Jax is scheduled to complete Mid April.  
Meanwhile New Hires, Training and a myriad of other details need to be dealt with....not the least of which is "house hunting" for many folks.

This seems to fit right into a Logistics curriculum and it is exciting for me to be involved.    Meanwhile class progresses nicely and it is way easier to navigate the web site now that we have had a chance to use it almost on a daily basis.  It is amazing to be in discussions with a wide range of classmates on a wide range of personal experience topics.  

Into November (new Sites)

It  was off to Baltimore this past week to attend an SOCP meeting which presented the opportunity to test the CANVAS on line site on another host institution.  We stayed at the MITAGS facility in Linthicum Heights Maryland and I struggled for 2 days to get my laptop to auto hook up to a remembered host router and give me an Internet connection.  
Way too much fiddling around to get an easy connection which discouraged productivity.  I could get it to work but not easily.  
At that particular site, in the future, I would bring my own portable router and use the hard wired ethernet connection to the router and from there wireless to my laptop.   
New Jersey tomorrow for a couple of days....more experimenting if I have time. 

Beginning of November report

Two months in and things are going well.  I really like the ability to study and discuss with my classmates on my own time.  I find that I look at what is new and assigned almost daily but really like to set aside a few hours to really tackle the reading, view the videos created and write some discussion and reply to other discussions.  It is pretty amazing to see what people are saying and to realize that I have had a related experience and to be able to share that!
We are about 9 days away from registering for next semester classes.  That is exciting but for a fixed income retiree it will probably mean looking closely at what I can afford to take for classes without overextending our budget.  Regardless, I feel I am doing well and certainly have learned a lot while testing the new technology involved with on line learning and an online degree.
I have so far pretty well balanced my time to continue with my work with Deanna and the Therapy Dog Newfoundlands we have and also our Kiwanis commitments.  Sometimes I wonder where the time goes.
After the clock change last night it might mean a bit more after supper time studying as I am not as tempted to go out.   
So for now.....Full speed ahead.....but at an economical speed!

UPDATE MID-OCT

Okay….I think that I have been on the canvas page just about every day except for a couple.  The 4-Wheelin in Eustis was terrific.  Weather really mild although a plugged stovepipe in the old kitchen wood stove really drove  us to exist with two doors open until sensibility kicked in and we cleaned the pipe.  26 inches of vacuum in the pipe after that.  Homemade baked beans and Venison Stew heated in a wood stove oven really can't be beat!  

Wireless internet allowed easy access to BA644 course work.  I did find that I tend to do more at home but yes REMOTE does work…..just have to remind yourself NOT to ignore your host or the two pups.

Finally got around to reading Chapter 4 for the second time today and did post a discussion.  That along with continuing to read ongoing threads of previous discussion.  I think letting them lie for a couple of days does get one thinking about what the previous thread was all about and possibly elicit another reply!

Couple of really good articles were forwarded to me by a friend who works for Tesoro in Texas and I posted them to my Group Discussion for my classmates to read if they want.

From what I can figure out I am up to date even if I did enjoy a great ride to Millinocket and across the Golden Road to Greenville and home for the Columbus Day Monday holiday!  Great photos of Mrs. Moose ignoring the dogs barking at her while she fed!

I tend to be looking at more and more Maritime related articles from the Economic / Logisitc side than I previously did….could it be that this course is rubbing off on me?

Week 4

Videos from the Prof…..rule the week!  Explanations and help from the upstairs Jim are paying off and we are seeing more and better video.  I wondered a bit about the content size and how it would be handled and just recently the videos of any length are being set up on You Tube.  Use their space instead of MMA's makes sense!  Questions about archives and just who can see the content are something I have to ask Jim!

I also saw on the Canvas tabs that we could set up conferences and post photos, videos, documents for others in the course.    I DID THAT…….and to date have some postings, which I really don't know if they are being seen or not.  I think the Canvas Administrator and most likely the Prof can see who looks at what but as a student conference I can't tell unless someone comments……Please if you have used or visited this portion of the course let me know about ease, quality etc.  I did have one comment on the Triple E poster…Thanks Joe!

Off to Eustis in the morning for a bit of 4-Wheelin!  Maybe get in some bird hunting over a couple of really great German Short Haired Pointers.  Foliage should be peak and just hope the rain holds off!

I did inquire about Internet so I can keep up with the assignments….yes it is available!

Week 2-3

Books arrived!  Amazon supplied one in 2 days (Prime) and the other came from UK in about a week.  Publishers need to look at their product.  Many, many of the pages in the UK book were not cut and are connected together….Not fun to use.

Videos, and assignments are in place and there is more and more information available in various tabs within the site.  I am pondering an Excel type spreadsheet which would list the assignments…reading, writing, discussing, and graded or not to more easily keep track of what had been tasked and to insure I don't miss anything!  So far, so good, I am up to date.

To date, I think I have enjoyed the discussions more than anything else.  The comments to the posting usually elicit some interesting twists and the further comments keep expanding on the previous!  They are great and I am happy to be able to take part in these discussion threads……  Most that know me know that I don't talk a lot and tend to be on the quiet side….YA RIGHT!

Voyage Start

Week 1

Wow…..I learned that the standard forms and questions asked of new students at MMA certainly do not fit a retiree on Social Security, Medicare and Supplemental Insurance.  Thank goodness for "Google" the Internet and help from the IT office, I finally did find out the address for Medicare….it is in Maryland for those who need to know.  

Anyway, ordering books online at Amazon proved very easy…but yikes, expensive when they come from the UK.  Print the Syllabus, read the assignments and ……this is a big AND; learn the intricacies of "CANVAS" which is what is being used for this course.

Corresponding with Professor Schatz elicited a response that he would be George if I would be Larry!  That makes it much easier although I told him that my Mother would probably not approve of a student calling his teach by a first name!

After a few opening remarks and postings it became evident that the ensuing discussions were very, very rewarding.  They stimulate my past experiences and the current events I see every day and as the threads get longer there is an enormous amount of information about the current discussion topic.  Input is valuable for sure!

How it started….

50 years ago in June of 1964, I set out from Maine Maritime Academy to make my way as a Third Mate in the U.S. Merchant Marine. I had my License, Merchant Mariners Document, and an education!  Little else and certainly no money.  My first ship was the USNS Mission Buenaventura, which was a T-2 tanker of 10,000 HP.  I got the job because it was a tanker going to the Persian Gulf to load Navy Special Fuel oil for the Government.  (Heated cargo to 120 degrees)  No air conditioning in those days. I stayed at sea for 13 months and came home to study, sit for my 2nd Mates License, get married and after 60 days I was again back on a tanker but this time running from the Gulf of Mexico to the East Coast.  6 months later I was sailing on a temporary Chief Mates License, having never sailed 2nd mate.
It was Vietnam and there was a real shortage of officers.  Lots of ships and lots of government cargoes over the next few years leading to my Master's License in 1970 and my first Captains job in 1971.

I retired in 1993 and started my own business, Wade Marine Services, as a consultant.  I worked a lot for the Government on the various ships of the Ready Reserve Force.  In early 1995 I was involved with surveying the conversion of the USNS Harkness to a training vessel for MMA.  This eventually led to the USNS Tanner being converted and I was involved with the conversion from day one to delivery.  In December of 1996 I was appointed the Captain and sailed the ship to Castine in May of 1997.  I spent the next 15 years as Ship Captain and Adjunct Professor at MMA, a position I enjoyed very much.  In April of 2011, I retired and turned over the Helm to another MMA grad, Capt. Les Eadie. Retirement has been extremely busy but as time went on I thought about furthering my education.  I had been involved with Webinars and such and always intrigued by technology and communications.  In fact I taught a "Blackboard" on line course at MMA for almost 5 years, which allowed me to travel and be involved with committees while still being involved with my students.  A win, win.

When I saw the the Loeb Sullivan School of International Business and Logistics was offering their first on line degree I inquired and applied.  Money is tight and I have to budget but I am looking forward to the challenge.  (Retirement = get up in the morning with nothing to do.  Go to bed at night with it only half done.  Plus lousy pay!)  

I am now about a month into the course and will continue with these musings of the experience as I work towards the degree milestone in honor of my 50th year graduating from MMA.

In order to be a successful Mariner at sea it required an enormous sacrifice from my wife and family.  They have been and continue to be my teammates and share with me their love and support.  They deserve a huge THANK YOU as I embark on this new Voyage.