I started this blog last summer so that I could use it for two of my instructional design classes and it's been dormant since the end of the semester. I thought of integrating the content with my main blog, but what the heck, I may as well just use this!

This semester I was not able to afford any instructional design classes. The university pays 45-50% of the tuition for ID classes, and I pay the rest. So what am I doing this semester? Well I anticipated that I would not be able to pay for my ID classes, so I decided to enroll in two Master's degrees. The first of course being an MEd in Instructional Design, and the second being an MA in Applied Linguistics.

Applied linguistics is completely free so I can still maintain my active student status and not have to pay those continuance fees that I can't afford anyway. The other benefit of doing two masters concurrently, at least for me, is that Linguistics and ID exercise two different parts of the brain. Instructional Design is more applied in nature. It's something I do at work day in and day out so I can take what I learn in the classroom and run with it next day in the office.

Linguistics on the others hand, even though it is 'applied linguistics' is a more academic topic, and required more time to process, understand, and appreciate - at least for me. With ID I can make connections right away because I've been in this business for quite some time and it's easier to make the connections and learn the theories for what you feel to be true - with linguistics I am waiting for that 'a-ha' moment! And, it's quite a glorious moment indeed when it hits you!

So what's the academic plan? For now it seems that I won't be able to take ID courses for another two or three semesters (until I can pay off my bills), but I am not worried, I am half way done with the degree already - linguistics on the other hand I just started so I can take my time waiting for those 'a-ha' moments, and working at integrating the ID knowledge and the Linguistics knowledge to create something new.