G’day, now I know some of us may be a parents or parents to be, but my question is how does it influence the parent that is at university? I know myself I have a child due in August and find it kind of a blessing that I am finishing my degree at the end of next year so that I will be at home with my wife and not on professional experience. However back to my point, how does a baby influence your studies?
Through my degree I have had one or two classes where a mother has had her infant in the class with her. That I find takes courage, especially when Bubby starts to bawl during the lecture. Some may frown upon having infants in their lectures, but I was on Facebook this morning and saw one of the most touching news articles on the ABC news page I follow.
The article stated that a Baylor University professor from Waco, Texas actually held and calmed a mother’s 4 month old daughter through a one hour lecture all because her babysitter fell ill. This really moved me and it shows that it is possible to have infants in the lecture hall if there is a means of keeping them happy and quite. Not only does the infant feel secure and relaxed, his or her mother and father (or one or the other) can listen and learn while knowing that their precious gift is also in good hands. The article can be found here.
To tie this with ICT, parents, or a parent/guardian, can choose to study their degree through the course that offer an online option for study. Also they have tools like Skype, Facebook, SMS, email and, for those of us at USQ, blogs, umail, black board and others. This makes it possible for them to be able to study from home with their children while still being able to collaborate with their peers and educators.
Till next time
Cheers
Matt
The Fencer 