Saturday, February 9, 2019

Brain Challenge

As of January I am enrolled in an online University of Toronto Alumni six weeks course to challenge my ability to study new ideas and then do required assignments , online discussions and quizzes.The course is , “Managing Your Health ; The Role of Physical Therapy and Exercise”.
There are video lectures from the university as well as others linked to YouTube and information put out by the various branches the course has decided to have us pursue.
The first week focused on what is a good guide for healthy people in regards to exercise along with what are good food choices to maintain general good health. It was easy to read articles and make a note of what they suggested as important goals to keep. These would be in quizzes that I was able to pass easily. However the first assignment was to create a four week plan that I would follow using a template of an excel nature to include several categories and how I would execute them in that time frame
 It took some hours of work to import the template into the IOS Numbers software on my laptop and I got there. Yeah.
Then I meticulously filled in all the columns and rows with what the course suggested would be a good exercise plan. It even asked for a comment and completed column. I did that and it looked very cool. I had to be creative and use letters to represent words like A for aerobic and S for Stregthening and it seemed all good until I tried to cut and paste my completed work back into the feed online. It just would not work. 
I took a screen shot and tried to figure out if that might work. It did not. I was almost ready to quit the course because I felt stumped. But I tried one last approach. I asked my UK daughter,a computer geek, to log onto my laptop and see if she could assist. It sort of worked. My own headers of columns had to be reverted to the original sample template but she was able to get “my ducks in a row” within the template using my work and then get it into my work space inside the course feed though it failed to show the vertical and horizontal lines found on spread sheets. I was grateful and as I moved on to do the peer reviews I discovered no one was able to use the template. The course provider was at fault. I ended up peer evaluating a whole bunch of garbled attempts of other people’s plans that made my own appear rather good and I had the ambition to stay in the course. I am now working on week four as we were allowed to work at our own speed. Week six ends March 4.
Here is how my work should have appeared but it did not.

I am finding it interesting as I move along in the course that the Heart and stroke Foundation, the Diabetes Foundation, the Osteoparosis Foundation and the Cancer Society have all had their spin put into the course and of course our provincial and federal health guidelines. Interesting. Of course there is the emphasis the therapists are there to help along the path of managing one's health and they point out what their role may be. After all the course title implies they are important.
Is that the new way for students to get "unbiased" higher education?
What do you suppose?

7 comments:

  1. Wouldn't be surprised (answer to your question). And if the provincial and federal governments have their finger in the pie as well, then perhaps they are fulfilling some criteria or other.

    But - all that aside, I take my hat off to you for even attempting to fill in a template of an excel nature. And figure out some kind of software that works. Wow - good for you!
    I am so NOT techy and admire anyone (particularly at our age) who can accomplish what you did.

    Nice to have a daughter to help, but honestly not so nice that it was the University's bug in the system. I can only imagine other students scratching their heads and wondering "how the heck?"

    Good luck with your commitment! And good health!

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  2. Thanks Wendy. Online course is run by Coursera a third Party App.

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  3. it is always a good idea to find a way to exercise our brain cells, one of the reason I keep blogging and fighting my way through software is because it helps my brain. good luck with your course...
    in blogger I used to be able to copy from one place and paste to another in creating blogs. doesn't work now, but if I copy, paste in word, copy from word it will paste in blogger. makes no sense. it lets me copy and paste but in preview what I dd doesn't show up

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  4. That is a great spreadsheet! I went in and looked at it carefully and am very impressed with your commitment. You are moving along at a good clip, it seems. And I know the work you did to complete it has also brushed quite a few cobwebs out of your brain! :-)

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  5. Wow, I am very impressed that you are doing this! I bet you will learn quite a bit of helpful information.

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  6. Dear Heidrun, this course is impressive. I wonder if it's offered here in the States. I'd like to try it, but I'm sure that my brain is not as active as yours is. I wouldn't do well in exams any more because I cannot remember facts as well as I used to. But, oh, am I impressed with your work and your getting that template hog-tied and conquered!

    My niece Linda gives me help with the computer. Aren't we lucky to have someone younger to help us figure out the pitfalls of technology. But I've noticed that most often you do that yourself. Peace.

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  7. OIC I missed your post where you describe the course. I'm glad you worked through your challenges on line with a little help and I hope you find the course very practical.

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