Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Steve F., M.A. in Educational Technology Leadership
That recently changed when Steve landed a job as director of e-learning at a university. While university life does afford more of a 9 to 5 existence than his previous jobs in tech, there is simply no downtime during the day.
Name: Steve Foerester
Age: 33
Marital Status: Married
Children: Four
Current Location: Washington, D.C.
Advice to Online Students: "I specifically chose programs where I am familiar with the material [though] that's a double edged sword."
School: George Washington University
Target: M.A. in Educational Technology Leadership, 2007
His job may require him to do anything from help faculty integrate podcasting, blogs or other Internet related activities into the classroom experience, to helping them actually build courses to be offered online. His workday is too unpredictable for studying.
Much of his time is spent putting out fires or answering questions. Any given day he may be called upon to act as a consultant on a technical or copyright issue, or sometimes, even jump in and guest lecture.
His new responsibilities forced him, however reluctantly, to make adjustments in his study schedule.
“I had been studying about 10 or 15 hours a week,” he recalls reflecting on earlier courseloads. “But they weren't in blocks. I had a half hour here, and an hour there. The courses were a lot easier for me. I could skip reading. They would cover tech subjects with which I was already familiar.”
Weekends do not provide much of an opportunity to catch up. Every other weekend, Steve's three children from an earlier marriage come to visit. He has had to develop certain economies to maximize the time he does have to himself to complete his schoolwork.
He regrets that he doesn't have any specific time management tips to share. “It helps that I'm a very fast typist; I can bang out a paragraph or two that is reasonably substantive,” he says of his ability to stay on top of discussion board posts.”
“I specifically chose programs where I am familiar with the material,” he admits. Though he warns, “that's a double-edged sword. I'm still interested [in the material.] But I'm ready to start research. I'm ready to be done.”
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