Being given an opportunity to do something is something we should cherish. We are given the ability that others are not and can either choose to use it to the fullest or not…as my principle would say, “the choice is definitely yours.” I have been given an opportunity in my graduate school class this semester and I should be thrilled, but I think I am over-thinking it.
Let me start off by saying I love this class and I really enjoy the professor that teaches it. This project is a blessing and also makes me really nervous. The basics of the project are to pick a topic or skill that interests you (that loosely fits under the umbrella of ‘Educational Technology’) and study it in depth. The catch is that it is more than half of my final grade. These facts lead to both thankfulness and worry all at the same time.
I am thrilled to be able to study something that I would like to. This project opens a world of possibilities and I love that. I can choose anything at all. I am leaning toward developing a skill that I currently do not possess, but would help me in the future. I am trying to complete my degree with the best possible chance of snagging a job and hitting the ground running. I get bogged down with this because I start thinking of the opportunity cost of choosing one thing over the other. If I choose something practical am I giving away the opportunity to learn something else new that is more professional or academic? Is my methodology in learning something new going to truly benefit me in the future?
This particular project really makes me nervous because in the past I have done better on the week-to-week assignments and struggled a tad with the more major assignments for this particular professor. With this grade being such a huger percentage of my grade and my GPA being a 4.0 currently, I’m going to get more and more nervous as the semester goes. This is new for me because I have never been competitive when it comes to grades in higher education until now.