What was your first nontraditional course?

I have little doubt that playing with Atari BASIC, at an age when I was a sponge, had a tremendous influence on how I see the world. My internal dialogue to this day contains a heavy dose of IF, THEN, LET, GOTO, RUN.

 

I got through law school with a Radio Shack 8 bit computer, a daisy wheel printer, and my first word processor on a cassette. It was about what everyone had.

 

I got through my MBA program on a typewriter. By the time I started my Union program I was one of the first of my peers to have a PC. And when I got a laptop--a Datavue Spark with a CGA monitor (b&w ,no graphics) and two floppies (no HD), I was way ahead of the curve. But by the time I was writing my dissertation I was running WordStar on a x386-based Gateway with a 2,400-baud modem, which I used to do database searches using Telenet/Tymenet. And Flight Simulator, of course. I think the HD was something like 40mg. (That's megabytes, folks, not gigs.) I had a VGA graphics card and enough RAM to be considered a power user.

I look back now and it was like doing your dissertation on an Etch-a-Sketch.

 

I got through High School (and Teachers' College) with a pen. No computers till 'way after 1961. Top that, you guys...

 

I studied Physics until 2004. LATEX? No, not my cup of tea. So, I wrote everything by hand. Sometimes, with stencils!

 

1st was about ten (HS job) - Sears Extension Institute (SEI) paperback correspondence courses with mail-in exams. Electrical, Tools, Retail Management, subjects etc.
2nd was the hundreds of Army Correspondence Course Program (ACCP) Yellow paperback correspondence courses with mail-in exams. Knowledge and extra Army retirement points. Army subjects, weapons, etc.
3rd was dozens of - FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI) Independent Study (IS) in real paperback correspondence courses with mail-in exams. Knowledge and extra Army retirement points also. More about disasters and nuclear war back then.

 

LATEX? Not my cup of tea either. Horribly uncomfortable, especially in hot weather. ....Oh, you mean LaTeX - the editing / printing system for non-standard text, Math stuff etc. Sorry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX

 

For quite a few years, you could get Big 3 college credit for those FEMA courses. I think it's over now. I think you can still convert them into credit at Frederick Community College (and possibly at Clackamas College too - not sure) but I don't believe the courses transfer from there to any Big 3 school any more.

Some Big 3 students used to do all-they-could-get. I think the max allowable was about 27. One credit each, IIRC. Free courses, modest fee to convert to credit.

 

Clackamas ended years ago. I think today only Excelsior College will if you go thru Frederick Community College (in bed with FEMA). Years ago other colleges also took them besides the Big 3.