Russell Smithers"Experience is the only teacher we have" – Swami Vivekananda

One of my volunteering commitments is for a Moodle installation at REIWA’s E-Learning centre. The following websites should help me learn how to administer it.

• Moodle Documentation
• Using Moodle
• Moodle Tutorials, Tips, and Sample Courses
• Learn Moodle
• How to Moodle
• How to Use the Moodle Course Management System
• Teacher Manual

“Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist who basically theorized that 80% of a country’s wealth was owned by 20% of the people. His principle has since been heavily adopted by personal development experts as a working model of time management, more commonly known as the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule (Pareto’s Principle) states that 80% of all the results in your life is achieved by only 20% of all the actions that you make.”

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As the gaze of the Sun ever watchful, looks towards Earth
Earth rotates, and gracefully passes under her watchful eye

Earth always asleep and awake, as the Sun’s gaze comes and goes
The caress of the Sun, awakening lands of Earth
While nighttime comes and puts to bed, the tired lands

Earth’s wisdom to always rotate, giving all it’s lands the chance to rest and play
As all mothers know, Earth looks after her children and bears their sorrows
But children do not always know what pain they cause their mother

Copyright © 2008 by Russell Smithers

2007 was yet another hectic year for me, so I decided that 2008 was the year I needed to review my life, education and other goals. January has seen me reorganise my life (and time) sooner than I thought possible. I am now in a position to review the degrees available, make a decision and commit to a degree, but first I will need to sort out some loose ends.

Loose Ends

It is important the deck is cleared of loose ends and unnecessary things, before I set sail for the shores of academic success. Essentially I need my ship free of distractions. It is my aim to complete the following qualifications before starting my chosen degree;

• The Sun Certified Programmer for Java 5 (SCJP, Exam 310-055)
• Finish the Web Applications Development course I have started with the OU

Finally I will need to choose the degree I wish to study for.

Open University Options

The Open University (OU) distance learning is a good way for me to study, so it seems sensible to narrow my search to OU courses. Some of the courses I have completed might well count towards the following degree qualifications;

• BSc (Honours) Computing and Design
• BSc (Honours) Computing and Systems Practice
• BSc (Honours) Computing with Business
• BSc (Honours) Computing with Psychological Studies

The Plan

To complete the SCJP this year, and finish the Web Applications course sometime in 2009.