Hello Everyone,
My name is Michael J Payne. I bring to class a lot of IT experience which will help me to
be a quality instructor for you. It will also help you. I am here for you. If you succeed, I
succeed.
I have been working or teaching in computers for almost 40 years. I started my formal
education at a technical school and then I went to college. I have worked with
accounting machines (first way to program a computer), punched cards (don’t drop your
box of cards), mainframe computers, personal computers and pocket computers. I
started out working in the corporate world for 10 years and then I taught at Purdue
University for 17 years. Since then I have been consulting (writing software). Now I am
your online instructor.
My personal life is as follows. I have been married for over 40 years to a wonderful wife.
We have never been able to have children but we have worked with young people in
some capacity all of our lives together. No children so we have animals (cats and dogs).
Currently we have two dogs and two cats. Trixy is one of our dogs and she is part
sharpie but we don’t what else she is. We got her at a no kill shelter. She is the largest
dog we have ever had but she is great. Topper our other dog is a Pug. We got him from
a family in the country. They wanted to get him a new home because they had lost
another pug to a coyote. He is great too. Trixy and Topper are great friends. As to the
cats, we have Tippy and Tabby. My wife picked up Tippy in the street outside her Dad’s
house when she was a kitten. Tabby was given to us by my previous secretary at
Purdue University. Tabby was a barn cat. At first she was very scared but now she is
part of the group.
If this is one of your first online courses, you may be a little nervous. Relax, I think you
will enjoy the experience once you get used to everything. However, keep in mind that
not everyone succeeds in online classes. The student who does succeed is one who is
a "self-starter"- one who does not need someone to tell him or her that it is time to start
to work - one that can make a schedule and "stick to it". If you are a little uncomfortable
in taking a course online, then I am sure you will have plenty of questions. It is your
responsibility to ask them.
There are three habits that will help you to succeed in an online course.
1. STAY ON SCHEDULE ... when you get behind things quickly snowball.
2. TAKE YOUR TIME ... when you rush you always misses important details and that
may
cost you points.
3. USE ALL RESOURCES ... when you don't use every available resource, you miss
things designed to help you.
Cultivate those habits and you're on your way to a successful semester!
I'm glad you're in this class and look forward to working with you.
Professor Payne