Almost like school
I've now finished two more modules toward my degree. Unfortunately the assignment from the last module has lingered and I'm still not finished. So, while enjoying classes this week, in the back of my mind I am still wondering how to finish. The last module was about risk assessment and management. The classes varied from an Italian expert telling us about evaluating seismic risk, to a business expert telling us about corporate risk. Needless to say, some of that was horribly boring for me. I was reminded of my undergrad when we had to take a class in hospital administration and we all struggled (at 8am, no less) to make the subject have any relevance to our lives. As I do not intend to make corporate risk part of my life, I found that lecture brain melting.
Happily, the research for the assignment has been far more interesting, dealing a lot with the psychology behind how different people perceive and accept risks. The writing has been tedious and extremely slow, half due to complicated reading, and half due to my own laziness. I'm sure I'll say it every module, but I fear that I will write 4000 (albeit good and well referenced) words but end up completely missing the point, which is a great way to fail (although with sympathy). I am still about 800 words shy on this one, but will finish it between now and Monday. From there, I will head straight into the next assignment.
This week has been about emergency and disaster planning; our bread and butter really. It has been surprisingly not completely boring, as I expected. In fact, parts I found very interesting and am looking forward to at least half of our assignment. We are charged to critique an existing emergency plan from wherever we choose. When we looked at some plan failures in class, a few were from home (not just the US, but places more near and dear to me) so I am anticipating looking up those plans to see if they've improved. Also, I am now well versed on the UK Civil Contingencies Act of 2004, and I won't bore you with it here.
Anyway, I will finish this assignment much faster than before, as our next module starts in two weeks. They will overlap like this from now on, so I will have to be more efficient in my work.
Now, off to skip a meeting in order to get some library and gym time.
Happily, the research for the assignment has been far more interesting, dealing a lot with the psychology behind how different people perceive and accept risks. The writing has been tedious and extremely slow, half due to complicated reading, and half due to my own laziness. I'm sure I'll say it every module, but I fear that I will write 4000 (albeit good and well referenced) words but end up completely missing the point, which is a great way to fail (although with sympathy). I am still about 800 words shy on this one, but will finish it between now and Monday. From there, I will head straight into the next assignment.
This week has been about emergency and disaster planning; our bread and butter really. It has been surprisingly not completely boring, as I expected. In fact, parts I found very interesting and am looking forward to at least half of our assignment. We are charged to critique an existing emergency plan from wherever we choose. When we looked at some plan failures in class, a few were from home (not just the US, but places more near and dear to me) so I am anticipating looking up those plans to see if they've improved. Also, I am now well versed on the UK Civil Contingencies Act of 2004, and I won't bore you with it here.
Anyway, I will finish this assignment much faster than before, as our next module starts in two weeks. They will overlap like this from now on, so I will have to be more efficient in my work.
Now, off to skip a meeting in order to get some library and gym time.
Comments