I don’t think my knowledge and skills changed much from the beginning of the course to the end, so much as my familiarity or interest in it. Before this course, if you asked pointed questions about the material: about searching vs research, active listening and note-taking, I could have answered it. But it wouldn’t have meant anything to me. It wouldn’t relate to anything else. After taking this course, I understand those things are pretty useful when it comes to OSU.
I would say the most useful thing I’ve learned from 1159 would have to be from the second module: from College Info Geek, about dealing with lazy group members. It’s a situation everyone’s been caught in usually at least once from both sides. His idea of assigning roles immediately and confirming it right away is brilliant. Truly. He’s right on the nose about people feeling more invested in it. If I haven’t said a word or much less looked my group in the eyes, I’m going to care a lot less about what they think of me. I also agree with getting personal information- specifically cell ones. No one my age doesn’t care their cell phone around the majority of the time. He recommends group based communication tools but those require going out of your way and are usually easier to ignore than 15 missed calls/texts. Having those previously assigned checkpoints will also definitely help. It’s a shame I saw this video in basically my last semester.
Through the time tracking assignment, I learned I don’t get as much sleep as I’d like, I work on school significantly less than my peers and have less leisure time. I explained it away by saying it was a school heavy week but that’s what most of my weeks looked like after mid October. I usually stick to 9HR of sleep a night, but these past months it’s been more like 8 when I’m lucky. I’ve always spent less time on school than my peers because of my ability to hyperfocus, but it really brought it to light having my boyfriend gape at me because of my measly 25.5 schoolwork (on a midterm week).
Something I’ve applied from this class came from the Google tasks/calendar. It’s something I already was doing but I modified it a little. Since I’ve started doing it my grades have improved significantly and it’s minimal effort. At the beginning of the semester I make a list of all my class assignments and exam dates. All of it in chronological order together, not separated by classes. That way you have just one sheet to glance at when you need to know what needs done. For exams I put a reminder two weeks before then a week before. I schedule it in like an assignment, ‘exam review’. For big assignments I look at the description and break it into the major parts. It help for two reasons: one when I actually have to do it I’m not totally unfamiliar with it doing it at the last second, and second it’s easy to do it in chunks, it’s not a project so much as a series of related assignments. I like to do a paper version first, then month by month add in into my online calendar so I know what’s coming up.
My parting words of advice to readers would be: make sure you know what you want out of your education. For maximizing your ability to balance school and the rest of your life (work, friends, relationships, family)- learn to manage your time. Figure out what you actually do vs what you want to be doing with your time. Maintain your health, don’t sacrifice sleep for school, but don’t excuse your TV addiction by saying it’s self-care. What you get out of it depends what you put into it. You can’t get great grades without putting in a significant effort.