ESLTECH 2011 taught me a great deal about how to become a better student by exposing my strengths and weaknesses. I plan to continue to use the techniques and applications I learned in this course in my academic career. My biggest takeaways from the course are listed below:
GOALS MUST BE SMART TO ENSURE SUCCESS
The way goals are constructed serve as the foundation of reaching any goal. Prior to this course, I wrote my goals with little detail. When I looked back at my goals I often found they lacked specificity, were not realistic, or had no method for measurement. During my time in this course, I began to see a difference in how often I wrote my goals, they went from every month to every week. I also found that I was beginning to see more of my goals achieved, while finding the unrealistic nature of those goals that were not achieved. My goals went from “Will increase CARS score on next MCAT practice” to “Will complete 2-3 CARS passages a day until my next practice exam on February 2nd.” Making SMART goals makes it easier to manage my tasks and time by making me a better scheduler. Every week, I make my schedule based on that week’s SMART goals.
Perfecting Time Management to Ensure Task Completion
Another weakness this course revealed was my time management skills. I thought I was pretty good at scheduling my time because I always completed my tasks in a given week. However, I found that I would cram a lot of things into a day and often found myself having to push back my daily schedule because one tasks took longer than expected. The technologies I tried in this course like “Study Scheduler” helped me find this flaw and has made me improve my time management skills. I now overestimate the time it takes me to complete a tasks because it is better to be ahead of time than behind.
Discover New Technologies
Our world is reliant on technology and various classes are online based. Being open to trying new technologies allows you to navigate online classes easier and learn more about yourself. Had I not been open to trying new technologies I would not have learned of my flaws in time management. Prior to this course, I used Trello and thought it helped with tasks management. I used Forest app as a way of staying productive and on tasks. Forest conflicted with my use of Study Scheduler because Study Scheduler would kill my tree growing in Forest with it’s check ins. However, had I not tried to use Study Scheduler, I would not have found that I do not always give myself enough time to complete a tasks. Being open to try new technologies also taught me that I like being held accountable for the things I set out to do. Study Scheduler making me take a picture of what I am doing held me accountable for a given tasks and further drove me to meet my goals.
A commonality that comes from all 3 takeaways and a huge word of advice for the next students in ESLTECH is individuality.
It is important to be open to try new things, but to personalize it so that it works for you. When making a schedule make sure you are making one that works for you and being open to using all the technologies presented to find which one you like the most, feel comfortable using, and can get the most out of your learning with.
