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Time, Task, & Environment Management

Time, Task, and Environment Management

           In high school, I had always struggled with procrastination. I would never turn in assignments late or forget about them entirely but, I would tend to hold off on my assignments until the day they were due. Usually turning them in hours before the deadline. By doing this I would decrease the amount of time I could spend on my assignments producing good quality work. Procrastination led to silly mistakes that I would have not made if I were to have completed the assignment earlier and checked over my work. While I was in high school, I also chose to do a lot of my homework in my bed at home. I would find myself dozing off, or even pushing aside my homework time so I could sleep instead. This study environment was affecting my success in the classroom. I did get decent grades throughout high school but, I knew that when I went off to college I would need to buckle down and try my hardest not to procrastinate on assignments.

           Now that I am a college student I have changed my study habits in numerous ways. First off, I complete all my homework either in the 18thAvenue Library or at my desk in my dorm. Globokar (2010) “Try to situate yourself in a location that you will enjoy, or, if your household situation necessitates otherwise, take steps to increase the appeal of the area where you will be working.” By studying at my desk or in the library, I am not tempted by the comfort of my bed to sleep instead of doing my homework, and I have ample room for all my supplies and tools for studying. To help my study habits I also bought a dry erase board calendar for my desk so that I can keep track of all the due dates for my assignments, exams, and quizzes. I also make lists for myself that keep track of everything I want to accomplish in a day’s time. Leach (n.d.) suggests, “Create a weekly plan for each class, ensuring that you are doing some school work every day.” I plan on implementing a weekly plan for all of my classes to help me stay on track with studying to prepare myself for upcoming exams. I have noticed a lot of improvement when it comes to procrastination. Now that I have a lot more time to work on my assignments I have found that I am working more diligently on my assignments and getting them completed early before the due date.

References

Leach, A. (n.d.). Time Management Tips for Non-Traditional Students. Retrieved June 26, 2017, from http://spsblog.cofc.edu/blog/6-time-management-tips-for-non-traditional-students

Globokar, J. L. (2010). 3 Getting Organized. In Introduction to Online Learning: A Guide for Students. (pp. 29-44). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc)

 

Learning Online

Online Learning

Online learning gives the student the opportunity to learn at their own pace in their own desired setting. It gives all different types the people the opportunity to work towards achieving a higher education. If someone is older and doesn’t have the time to come back to school, they can look towards the online option. Long (2004) lists the personal learner advantages as: “reduced travel time and costs for learners, self-paced learning whereby learners can control their schedules, convenience of any time and any place, opportunity for repeated practice, ease of review, self-responsibility, and freedom.”  Online learning comes with its advantages and disadvantages but, students can choose whether or not online or face to face courses are the right fit for them. After watching Sarah’s video, we can see that taking online classes is the best option for her. She has a job, children, a husband, pets, and a house to clean. Her busy life does not leave time for her to attend classes at a college or university to achieve a higher education.

As for myself, I do not have the commitments that Sarah has so I have more time to focus my time on my learning. I have taken online courses before at Southern State Community College during my junior and senior year of high school. I am also enrolled in an online fashion history course this semester. I feel fairly confident about understanding how to navigate and keep up with my online courses since I have taken around six online classes prior to this one. Although, I am new to the newer canvas layout so that has been one change I have had to adapt to. The one challenge that I do face a lot is pushing back my online assignments and holding them as less of a priority compared to my face to face courses. Gatlin (2005) believes that “the more effort you put forth in these online courses to comprehend the lessons taught the more likely you are to succeed after the course is finished.” I cannot continue to push back my assignments to make room for my other courses but instead, I need this class to the same standards. By doing this, I believe that I will achieve success in this course.

The two Ohio State University resources that I am most excited to learn about are BuckeyeBox and the Dennis Learning Center. BuckeyeBox allows for students to be able to share files and collaborate with other students and staff. Currently, I have not used a program like this but, I believe it will be very essential in the future. The Dennis Learning Center has also sparked my interest. The Dennis Learning Center provides students with courses, workshops, and academic coaching to help students develop their learning and studying strategies and moving them towards becoming well-rounded Ohio State students. I am very interested in scheduling my own future academic coaching appointment.

 

References

Gatlin, S. (2015). How to succeed as an online student. About.com. Retrieved from http://distancelearn.about.com/od/distancelearning101/a/studentsuccess.htm (Links to an external site.)Links

Long, H. B. (2004). E-learning: An Introduction. In G. M. Piskurich (Ed.), Getting the most from online learning: A learner’s guide (pp. 7-23). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.

 

Online Collaboration

Online Collaboration

Everyone seems to have some sort of negative feelings about group work, including myself. A lot of people have had negative experiences putting their trust into other student’s to contribute and pull their own weight so that everyone in the group can achieve a good grade on the assignment. Through past experiences, I have always been the student that has taken the leadership roles of the group. I do this because I trust myself to make sure that the other group members are completing their work correctly and before the due date. I have had group members in the past that I have done their portion poorly or did not complete their portion of the assignment at all. I am passionate about achieving good grades and sometimes the work of others in group projects can cause my grade to fall as well, so that is why I choose to lead so that I can assure that my group will receive a good grade on the assignment.

I have never been a part of a group project for an online class before so I will have to adjust to the change of having to communicate with my group members through an online chat, email, or video chat. Communicating with your group members and then assigning and defining the roles and responsibilities of each member is important to beginning your path towards a successful project (Richardson, 2004).  I believe that my group will be successful if we establish communication early through Carmen messaging, and we assign each group member a role in the assignment and set deadlines for each member, we will have a successful project. We also need to set aside a day and time so that we can Skype or use CarmenConnect to communicate face to face about our project.

If any conflict does arise throughout this project we need to come back together as a group and talk to each other about our questions, concerns, and issues. I think that setting a leader to a moderator for the discussion and allowing the group members to discuss their opinions is the best way to resolve conflict for the group. “Wisinski’s A-E-I-O-U model helps groups clearly delineate problems or conflicts and then prepares the group to suggest possible solutions (Lisk & Quartuccio, 2010).” This model consists of “assuming the other group members mean well, expressing your thoughts, feelings, and ideas, identify what you would ideally like to happen in the situation, outcomes—explain the outcomes that you expect while remaining open to the ideas of others, and understanding is achieved by all members and is agreed upon (Lisk & Quartuccio, 2010).” This model gives group members the ability to evaluate different ways to solve group conflict so that the best results can be achieved by the group.

 

 

 

References

Richardson, Carole. (2004). Participating in Group Projects Online. In G. M. Piskurich (Ed.), Getting the most from online learning: A learner’s guide (pp. 145-152). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.

Lisk P., & Quartuccio, K. (2010). Managing Group Assignments in the Online Learning Environment. In Brosche, Theresa A. M. (Ed.), Successful Online Learning: Managing the Online Learning Environment Efficiently and Effectively (pp. 127-142). Jones & Bartlett Learning.