Donna Walter
Donna Walter, BGS Alum, took a lot of online courses while she was an on-campus student here at UMD. Read about what she does now.
Donna writes: Currently, I continue to work at the Institute for Social Research at UM Ann Arbor. I am in the same job that I had before I went to get my degree, although, I now have more opportunities available because of my degree. I had worked myself into my job, but wanted the degree for myself. This year, our grant funding was reduced, causing a loss in hours for me. I was able to get another job quickly because of my skills and my degree. So, as of now, I am working on two projects. One is for the Teaching and Learning with Technology Program, Project IDEAL (projectideal.org), which studies the efficacy of learning at a distance for adult learners vs. classroom learning. The other is for the Gender and Achievement Research Program, the Maryland Study, which looks at adolescents and the factors that predict their success later in life. Both of these programs operate within the Research Center for Group Dynamics. I am a data specialist/manager for the programs. I am actually beginning the Maryland Project this coming week. For my old job, my skills spoke for themselves, but there is no doubt that I probably would not have gotten anywhere with the new job had I not had my degree. I was aware of the online program and took as many of those classes as I could during the time I was enrolled. I took a Biology Class, a Psyc. class, a conceptual math class, a sociology class that had something to do with the internet and communications I think, and my favorite class was Life Span Development. I loved the online courses and wished there were more of them while I was attending. As an older student they offered me the chance to work on my own time. I enjoyed using different media to learn, rather than just lectures. I often listened to the lectures twice, once while taking notes and again while I exercised. Since they were on cassette, they were easy to listen to that way. I did wish they could have been put on CD because most cars had done away with cassette players and that made listening in the car difficult. It was a great way to learn, especially for a busy mom, student, working woman, and PTA lady! (Ed. Note: All lectures are now online and can be downloaded to computer, CD, iPod, phone, or whatever.)