Week 2: Understanding your goals and motivation

During week 2, I learned about the steps of goal setting and what it takes to successfully achieve goals. Goals are distributed into short, mid and long term (Cuseo, 2010). I learned that there are four major steps to goal setting which are 1) Awareness of yourself, 2) Awareness of options, 3) Awareness of the options that best fit you and 4) Awareness of the process (Cuseo, 2010). While following these steps, this has helped me prepare my goals in effective ways. I also learned the importance of motivation. Motivation leads to how much success you will have with achieving your goals, whether these goals are school related or personal. I learned that motivation is divided into three parts which are 1) Drive, 2) Discipline and 3) Determination. One thing that was most influential to me during this week and this weeks readings is having self-discipline and completing goals even when you do not feel like it will benefit you in the long term. Also, it is acceptable to have different time periods to achieve goals because this will reduce stress.

Week 4: Build your knowledge (Online-reading and note taking)

In week 4; I learned about effective note taking. I learned how challenging it is to take notes because you want to receive as much information as possible but may not be able to hear or retain all the information during a video or lecture. This week taught me that there are different note taking strategies that will benefit the type of writing you are used too. My favorite type of note-taking strategy is Outlines. Outlines can be as messy or as organized as you want them to be. For me, outlines help me to stay organized in my work and what ideas go with what. One note taking strategy I learned was the use of Abbreviations. Abbreviations makes it easier for people to write down information from professors or videos or readings while utilizing fewer words and it takes less time to do so. I find it easier to memorize the information you are abbreviating and also retain the information better. For example, symbols are apart of abbreviation note taking strategy. A symbol such as —-> can mean leading to a term or this idea matches with this statement.

Week 2/ Week 5: Different Learning Styles

In week 2; I learned about different learning styles but in week 5, the class touched more basis on these different learning styles. I learned that there are approximately eight different learning styles. These learning styles are Visual, Aural, Verbal, Physical, Logical, Social, Solitary and Naturalistic. Learning styles are installed into people at very young ages. I learned each learning style has the ability or abilities on the way we learn and sometimes how we interact with ourselves and one another. It is possible to have more than one type of learning style and these styles are exposed when people are in different environments. For example, in the classroom I am a visual learner but when I am in the public, I tend to be a social (interpersonal) learner. I believe that I have benefited from having different learning styles because I may not always gravitate or fully understand material from being an original visual learner.