Of course, if things went correctly all of the time, there would be nothing at all to write about, true? What happened to the monitor was this; I attempted to install the driver to the Viewsonic monitor, but each time I tried to do so, the wizard told me that the driver was incorrect for the monitor installed on the system. So I did what everyone does, and went to the Viewsonic website and sought out the newest driver and installed that - problem solved, right? WRONG!
The driver would not even install when I did it manually through Device Manager. In addition, the software that came with the monitor that allowed it to swivel the picture from Landscape mode to Portrait mode, adjusted the screen, and held the preferences for the monitor was not working either. Since I thought one might have something to do with the other, I contacted the software company to tell them the software was not working properly. Instead of getting a helpful email back telling me that I needed to do several steps, and everything would be OK, I got an email stating that according to the tests that they ran (the software had a "Tech Support" button, and it collected all monitor data on the machine for them) the Viewsonic was not even hooked up, and the monitor that was hooked up was a Princeton Graphics monitor. Strange, I have never owned a Princeton Graphics monitor in my life.
I decided it was time to contact my dealer again, and forward to him the email I received from the software technical support company. I am still awaiting his reply, but I wonder what will happen now.
Click here to find out what is next in this saga?
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Friday, December 1, 2006
Online Learning
Do I have an issue with online learning being today's colleges and universities? Yes and no. To begin with, online learning, in my humble opinion, should not be an exclusive educational choice for either the student or the learning institution. Should online learning be banned, certainly not, however, it should be realized that learning in an online format will not reap the same benefits that are reaped when a student is in class. I think that in an educationaal setting, much learning is accomplished simply by discussion of the subject matter; I feel that is one key reason why online learning should only be used in addition to conventional learning.
Please don't get me wrong, as long as I can ask the professor a question, converse with the class, and so forth, distance learning is fine, but when there are no such accomodations, then I personally feel that the student is losing out on their education, for the sake of convenience.
Further, I cannot see how a college or a university can charge a student who is taking an online class the same exact tuition that an on-campus class would require; do I think that online classes are simpler, easier, turnkey, and that the professor has nothing to do buit to rake in the emails and grade the tests? No. But at the same time I cannot see how it can cost the same - the professor need not lecture in front of a class of students, he or she can answer student's question in his or her PJ's, etc... Please do not think for one moment that I think that teaching an online class is an easy job, far from it. I do feel that once a professor has completed a course, it is ready to use again and again. Sure, there may be some tweaking necessary (like when the college/published changes books), but overall once the lesson plan is ready, isn't it ready?
I have gotten to know many of my college professors very well over the years, and even many of them have trouble with how the college can charge the same tuition and charge the exact same fees, even though students never enter the campus.
Oh well, I guess that this subject will be revisited again, but I had a few minutes before Jan (my fiance') got home so I thought I would try to tactfully explain my viewpoints on online learning.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Monitor Problem Solved
Well, it seems that the problem I had with my monitor is solved...I stopped by my friendly Viewsonic Monitor dealer and after a few tests, it was determined that the monitor was actually at fault, so he therefore handed me another, brand new monitor.
What a guy! I am so glad that soap opera is finally over!! I hooked it up today and man, is she pretty! Just like her sister.
I know that this is a pretty lame post, but I have been away from the keyboard a little too long, plus I owe several assignments to my professor. Maybe after the class is over I can write about things that are substantial, like online learning.
Until later,
Bill
Follow this link for an update to the saga Updated:12/2/06
What a guy! I am so glad that soap opera is finally over!! I hooked it up today and man, is she pretty! Just like her sister.
I know that this is a pretty lame post, but I have been away from the keyboard a little too long, plus I owe several assignments to my professor. Maybe after the class is over I can write about things that are substantial, like online learning.
Until later,
Bill
Follow this link for an update to the saga Updated:12/2/06
Friday, November 24, 2006
My Thanksiving ...
What can I say, it was a tremendous mess!!! Everything, except the turkey, stuffing, pies -- well, it seems that everything that I touched broke or there was some sort of mishap! The food, however, was great, but that is probably because I had nothing whatsoever to do with its preparation.
Today, my brand new, sexy, 19" Viewsonic flat panel monitor with pivot action (goes from landscape to portait mode) went haywire. I cannot really say that it stopped working, but I can say that it stopped working properly. It has two RGB (standard VGA) inputs, and one Digital Video-In input. I loved it!! I bought it at a computer show in Gaithersburg, MD on the 29th of October. Now, only a month from its purchase, the DVI input went bad.
What happened? Everything was working perfectly when I turned the computer off today at 2:30 to eat Thanksgiving Dinner; when I turned the computer on to work on my homework for IT130, the screen remained black, I received an error message on the monitor's On-Screen Display, "No Signal Present, " and then the green power LED turned a dismal shade of amber (the color it displays when the monitor is in sleep mode").
I tried using the RGA input rather than the DVI inputs, to rule out that the graphics card was malfunctioning; to my surprise, the monitor turned on and worked. I changed back to the DVI mode, but the monitor stayed black. So, I changed back to the other RGB input, and everything turned on and worked fine. I was stumped on why just the DVI input would stop functioning.
Over the next few hours I swapped monitors from different computers, tried the new Viewsonic in other computers, and tried all of the configurations I could to rule out other components before I called Viewsonic Technical Support. I must say that Viewsonic was very helpful, although they did not find the problem. The recommended that I call the dealer and see if they would replace it for me, rather than send me one, simply to save me time (the reps figured it would take about 15 days to get it to my home in West Virginia) and money (Viewsonic would only pay shipping one way). After talking to Viewsonic for what seemed to be ages, I finally broke down and used the RGB inputs so I could get back to my studies.
I did not get hold of the dealer from which I bought the monitor (it is Thanksgiving, after all), but I did leave a message on his voice mail asking him to call me back when he got back to the office.
What a day!! As you can see by the post, I have spent allot of time trying to fix something that can probably not be fixed. Oh Well, maybe I will have a new monitor in a few days.
Today, my brand new, sexy, 19" Viewsonic flat panel monitor with pivot action (goes from landscape to portait mode) went haywire. I cannot really say that it stopped working, but I can say that it stopped working properly. It has two RGB (standard VGA) inputs, and one Digital Video-In input. I loved it!! I bought it at a computer show in Gaithersburg, MD on the 29th of October. Now, only a month from its purchase, the DVI input went bad.
What happened? Everything was working perfectly when I turned the computer off today at 2:30 to eat Thanksgiving Dinner; when I turned the computer on to work on my homework for IT130, the screen remained black, I received an error message on the monitor's On-Screen Display, "No Signal Present, " and then the green power LED turned a dismal shade of amber (the color it displays when the monitor is in sleep mode").
I tried using the RGA input rather than the DVI inputs, to rule out that the graphics card was malfunctioning; to my surprise, the monitor turned on and worked. I changed back to the DVI mode, but the monitor stayed black. So, I changed back to the other RGB input, and everything turned on and worked fine. I was stumped on why just the DVI input would stop functioning.
Over the next few hours I swapped monitors from different computers, tried the new Viewsonic in other computers, and tried all of the configurations I could to rule out other components before I called Viewsonic Technical Support. I must say that Viewsonic was very helpful, although they did not find the problem. The recommended that I call the dealer and see if they would replace it for me, rather than send me one, simply to save me time (the reps figured it would take about 15 days to get it to my home in West Virginia) and money (Viewsonic would only pay shipping one way). After talking to Viewsonic for what seemed to be ages, I finally broke down and used the RGB inputs so I could get back to my studies.
I did not get hold of the dealer from which I bought the monitor (it is Thanksgiving, after all), but I did leave a message on his voice mail asking him to call me back when he got back to the office.
What a day!! As you can see by the post, I have spent allot of time trying to fix something that can probably not be fixed. Oh Well, maybe I will have a new monitor in a few days.
Who Am I?
My name is William Collins, At this moment I work for the United States Census Bureau as a Quality Control Monitor; I am the person who monitors telephone call made by other Bureau employees, and evaluates the quality of their work.
I am a student at Mountain State University (MSU). Before starting at MSU, I studied at the nearby Hagerstown Community College in Hagerstown, Maryland, where I graduated cum laude with a double major Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Programming and in Database Management. My ambitions are to complete my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Networking, and to go further and eventually complete my Master's.
I must say that I really miss Hagerstown Community College, and sort of wished that they offered a Bachelor's program, however, I was very excited to learn the MSU's discipline program was very non-traditional, and in fact, was geared toward the adult learner.
Some of the scheduling conflicts that most adult students have, such as full-time jobs, are what some of the Universities like Mountain State understand best. Unfortunately, those same conflicts are what makes online learning so appealing, and therein lies my conflict with the entire premise of online learning.
My next post will explain a little better what I mean when I say, "conflict." Until next time -- take care!
I am a student at Mountain State University (MSU). Before starting at MSU, I studied at the nearby Hagerstown Community College in Hagerstown, Maryland, where I graduated cum laude with a double major Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Programming and in Database Management. My ambitions are to complete my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Networking, and to go further and eventually complete my Master's.
I must say that I really miss Hagerstown Community College, and sort of wished that they offered a Bachelor's program, however, I was very excited to learn the MSU's discipline program was very non-traditional, and in fact, was geared toward the adult learner.
Some of the scheduling conflicts that most adult students have, such as full-time jobs, are what some of the Universities like Mountain State understand best. Unfortunately, those same conflicts are what makes online learning so appealing, and therein lies my conflict with the entire premise of online learning.
My next post will explain a little better what I mean when I say, "conflict." Until next time -- take care!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
The Beginning...
I started this blog because of an online class that I am taking in order to receive my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Networking. This post is just the first of several whereby I will attempt to show my feelings for online education, adult learning, and other related subjects, without upsetting my Professors too much :)
I will attempt to share them with you through the use of this weblog. I hope that this creates at least a few comments before the class ends in the middle of December 2006 so I do not have to cheat and comment on my own work :). At the very least, I will use this venue as a means to get a few things off of my chest that I have felt for a long time.
My next post will include who I am, a little bit about me, and so forth. Thank you all for stopping by, and hope to hear from you soon.
Bill
I will attempt to share them with you through the use of this weblog. I hope that this creates at least a few comments before the class ends in the middle of December 2006 so I do not have to cheat and comment on my own work :). At the very least, I will use this venue as a means to get a few things off of my chest that I have felt for a long time.
My next post will include who I am, a little bit about me, and so forth. Thank you all for stopping by, and hope to hear from you soon.
Bill