New Interactive Environments. Task Two.

I started thinking about my semester's choices, and first ended up with a short mind map to sum my thoughts up:




In case you cannot see the object properly, I will provide you with a simpler HTML page.

I will start analyzing the background information.

Work

This year I considered work more important than last year, because I missed so many days because of the learning cycles that IMKE curriculum has. Since there were very many interesting courses, I decided to participate in most of them to concentrate more on the Master's Thesis on the second year.
During school there is no replacement for me at work, so my tasks are not completed. This year my chosen lecture decisions based on the following:

• More time for work
• More time for Master's Thesis
• More time for rest and my family

Since my work demands all of my concentration, it is not possible to study during working hours.

Family

As the last year was crowded with homework there was almost no time for my family. All my child heard was "Mom's learning now, be a good kid and play with your Legos." Or something the like. Quite a lot of my evenings were filled with homework and work tasks. I also spent a few nights studying in order not to miss deadlines. I was not there for my family at all.
I also spent a lot of time in Tallinn during learning cycles, thus my child missed me a lot. This influenced deeply my this year's decisions not to spend too little time with my son and leave a little mind rest for myself.
This means I have weekday evenings free for my family and my own relaxation, and I can go to sleep early in the evening. I wake up more alert and willing to work. My child is happier, and I do schoolwork more eagerly.

Courses

Previous year's choices showed that during study cycles it was possible to interact with coursemates and it was much more fun to study in that way, you had help and teams available at all times. Collaboration was great!
Since there were many new courses I got quite a lot of new ideas and bright thoughts, but as I mentioned previously, my work and family life suffered greatly from studying.
This year there are a few courses left on my compulsory courses list, thus it is easier to choose between the courses that do not disturb my private life and work.

Since I have more time, I also have more options, and thus I chose some optional courses from another curriculum, because I think these courses might come in handy for my future career. This way I ended up choosing some lectures from Educational Technology curriculum.
First I read through the information in order to see if the course fitted my needs and registered online.
The study system allows you to register online without attending the Tallinn University building. This year my choice was between e-courses and weekend lectures. With e-courses it was also necessary to observe the lecturers' weblogs and wikiversity entries in order not to miss the beginning of the courses.
Last year I ended up with passing 72.5% of the curriculum, this year I will try to do the rest.
I am seriously wondering how I could manage this much last year.
This year it seems that noone is bothered at work that I am missing very often, and my family is also happy. I have weekends for studying, because then I am fresh and fully able to concentrate on schoolwork.