Assignment « Online Learning Success

Let me first start off by saying, I am happy that this term is almost over and that I have survived so far! It has been so draining working, full time school, family, and life that I am so looking forward to having a week off. I will say these past few weeks have been the hardest academically this term for me. I have been more unorganized, had more frequent procrastination battles, and my time management skills are in need of serious repair. I almost feel like I did when I was in high school, fighting “senioritis”. With all that being said though, I have enjoyed and learned a lot from this class.

My strengths that will aid in my succession at OSU is my drive, persistence, and organization skills. I know that being an online student may challenge these strengths a lot, but I know in the end I will get my bachelor’s diploma. I plan on taking the helpful tools and resources that were introduced and taught in this class to improve my strengths and better my weaknesses. Having learned about the different learning styles and the helpful tools and tricks will continue to help me succeed as an Ecampus student.

I have learned the importance of having my own workspace and keeping it organized. While doing the learning styles test I learned that pictures, videos, and music are very beneficial for me. I hadn’t really thought to analyze myself to find my peak & valley times and appreciated the idea. I do not work really well in the morning (not a morning person), but really well mid-day and around 9-10:30 pm. After about 12:30 am, my brain and vision starts protesting and I usually have to stop to get ready for bed. I have enjoyed my blogging experiences in this class, and want to get myself in the habit of doing that more frequently.

I will continue to use the Library, Ecampus Student Success, and the Learning Corner websites in my online journey. I learned a lot from the Library Webinar and feel a lot more comfortable using the Library site. There are a lot of resources like the academic calendar, Ecampus advice blogs, time management worksheets, counseling and coaching information available on the Ecampus Success and Learning Corner sites. I found the Canvas calendar and course stream to do list very helpful. This helped me stay organized and on track with assignment due dates.

The SMART goal setting lessons and assignments were very useful to me. I have many goals, but I have never written them down. This week I printed out a picture of me with my boys, on the day I received my associate’s degree. I listed the goals under the picture and added some words of encouragement. I pinned it to the wall above me desk to act as a reminder of how proud they were of me that day. In 2017, I will take another picture like this, holding my bachelors degree and standing next to my boys.

To start I want to say my life will be changing dramatically here very shortly. Yes everyone, I am still pregnant. She was supposed to be due on June 3^rd, so we are still waiting!

But anyways, to go on with this I have noticed time management falls under both a weakness and a strength for me. I feel as if everyone can improve on their time management skills since life is always throwing new curve balls at us.

One of my greatest strengths is reading. Online learning requires a significant amount of reading. Which is something I love to do. So yay me!! I am also very good at finding key points within these readings. Which in my opinion is also a very good strength to have in online learning or just learning in general.

One of my weaknesses is being a very shy, anti-social person. I have a hard time contacting people when I need the help. I feel embarrassed to ask sometimes. I started being independent straight out of high school because I joined the military so sometimes it’s very hard to ask for help. I need to improve on my social skills and get over the fear of asking for help because sometimes you just need it. I know in some of my other courses I will be required to work in groups so improving on this will help me greatly with these types of projects. Also being able to contact other students or even my professors when I struggle with a certain assignment is something I may need to do in the future.

One major tool I will use to help me with future online learning will be highlighting while doing my readings to find those key points. This has always helped me. I will also be trying the method of playing music in the background while doing school work to help calm me and focus my studies. One other method I want to try that I haven’t yet due to the heat in California will be working outside in the fresh air, maybe next to a lake or river. Also suggested to me during my interview on an earlier assignment by Professor Sanchez was to find a new spot to do my school work instead of doing it in bed. So I will be looking into buying a desk so I can have a place where I can solely work on school.

Some of the OSU resources I would like to use in the future is Net Tutor. Next term I am taking a math class and math is probably my weakest subject. I also want to look into Khan Academy for help with my math as well. I also want to contact a success counselor to help me out with my future at OSU. And lastly I have already contacted my internship coordinator, Rebecca Goggans to help find the right place for me to internship at.

I actually have a few clear goals in mind. I will be taking the fall term off due to the move from California to Texas. I am afraid of not having the internet connection possible for doing online learning. So I want to wait until winter term to get back into school. After I get settled in Texas, I will begin my search for either an internship, a volunteer position, or even a part time job to help with getting the credits for my degree, as well as getting some experience with animals. On top of all this I will be helping my husband’s family with their elevator company. I will be dealing with all the paper work and finances of the company. And lastly I will be raising my daughter which will obviously be my greatest joy!

One last note to everyone! Thank you for all the advice you guys have given me and I greatly enjoyed having this class with all of you. Also I want to thank Professor Hoel for all the great encouragement. I wish you all the best of luck in your future of online learning, as well as any other great things you have planned for yourselves!

~Carrie Morgan 🙂

So far into the semester I have identified one strength in myself. I have found that I learn best by listening. In some of my online classes, the professors have posted video lectures on each weeks’ reading. I have found this very helpful in learning the material each week. It helps the online courses feel more like going to an actual class. I have also been surprised about how much time I have had to spend each week doing school work. I underestimated the amount of time that online learning would require, which, has also became one of my greatest struggles thus far. I also have a full time job along with going to school online. It so far has been difficult to balance work, school, and my social life. I feel that so far my school work has been pushed to the back burner. I am trying to work to fix this. I have been trying to develop a daily routine that allows me to work on homework at the same time each day everyday. It is taking some getting used to, but so far it seems to be working.

Well, I have never written a “blog” before, so this is a first for me! I am not sure if there is a “right” or “wrong” way, so here I go. I am a little amazed at how much I have learned about myself in the past few weeks. First off, when I tell people I am working part time, sometimes full time and going to school full-time, I have been told “Oh, at least it’s online”. Um, yeah no….your ideas of online schooling being “easier” are wrong! My strength of determination and perseverance is what is getting me through the transition of being back in school. I have gotten better with note taking (highlighters for the win) and I always have my music going! It has helped me stay more focused, especially while doing ALL the reading. Trying to study while your husband and kid are up and about is kind of challenging( ear buds for the win). Come midterm week, we shall see if the changes help during study/prep time.

I completed my associates degree with some online courses but it was mostly in person classes. I do miss the “personal connections” I made in the classroom, but I have appreciated the supportiveness and positivity that have come from my online fellow student peers. It has been a few years since I’ve been in college, so the transition isn’t happening as quickly as I had hoped. Online classes are not easy and I think somewhere in the back of my mind I had hoped it at least wouldn’t be “harder”; but it is. I find time as my biggest “struggle”. I am a mom, wife, student, friend, sibling, employee and the list goes on and I just don’t have any time anymore. I work 6+ hours, come home and take care of needed home stuff, study/do school work until 12/1 am and the cycle continues. I am exhausted daily and a new level of exhaustion is constantly reached. My best friends lost their Mom and Grandma the beginning of my second week of this term and I had to sacrifice school time to help and support them the first few days. I then spent that next week and some of this week, playing catch up. I am by no means on here “complaining”, I am loving that I am back trying to complete my bachelors. I just wish I could add a few more hours into the day. It’s easy for people to say, well just try to have more “you time/family time” but that’s extremely hard to do without playing catch-up. I am thankful for the supporters I have in my life, I am not sure if I could add “student” to my full plate without them. I can’t imagine being a full time online student without a great support team. I hope all those who are reading have the support they need and if not “Keep doing it, you can do this!!”

I am not a writer and haven’t been the greatest at writing papers, but I will admit that it has been neat and somewhat therapeutic blogging. I have actually enjoyed the time I have spent writing this out. 🙂 Hope I have done this right! Have a good night and weekend everyone!

Kara Culpovic

What makes online learning so hard? Many people think that it is easier than going to school on-campus, but it’s actually harder to go to school online because of the self-discipline, self-motivation, and things generally that rely on independence. Yeah, independence can seem more freeing and easy but it requires a lot of self-reflection to know what works for you and your individual situation, which is exactly what online learning is, adjusting oneself to their own learning on their own time.

I personally have done lots of self-reflecting in just the first two weeks of being a full-time online student. I have learned that I require more self-motivation and self-discipline. In a way I came to becoming an online student thinking that I was a perfect fit, but I really am not and need work to succeed. I am good at organizing things, but that doesn’t mean I actually get them done. I have begun planning things out so that I have the flexibility to move things around. It is so much easier to procrastinate in an online setting than it is to go to class every day and have homework due every day.

Many people who are online students have much busier lives than I do, they have full-time jobs, or are a full-time parent. This is why they almost have to take school online; I don’t because I chose this way of schooling. Yes, I had my own reasons for it, but I really didn’t have to. I am still a full-time student, with a part time job but I have come to realize that having a significant other really effects my online learning. In a way, having a significant other in my life can be both positive and negative.

The best advice I heard once was that being in a relationship while being a student is like adding another 3 credit course load to my life. I recently realized how true that is. My significant other can make me motivated to complete my work, but also can be a big distraction in actually succeeding. A perfect example would be this week, I am currently looking forward to a visit from said significant other so I am determined to get things done before he gets here so that we can spend time together without me having to set time aside to do my homework. But on the other hand I am really distracted because I am excited to have him over and we are planning our time together and I am preoccupied with our daily conversations about our future adventures that we are planning. I feel like I am conflicted about having a relationship but I am also very glad to have someone to help me when things get rough, I have a strong support system that will be there to remind me to do my studies but also able to plan adventures together because of the flexibility of online learning.

Well, Carrie, first time online learner and first time blogger. Honestly never read a blog or even seen one before this. So this blogging thing is going to be something else. I absolutely love to listen to music, so I am now glad to know that this is actually a learning preference! Listening to my I-Pod now. It calms me and helps with writing my many different assignments and discussions. I also love to read and write, so this explains why I’ve excelled in things of this nature. I live in a very hot and dry area so doing my school work outside is a little undo-able considering I’m 7 months pregnant. This is very upsetting to me because that outside air is just so amazing to work in. I wish I had a lake or river near by I could take my laptop to and just type away. The closest I get to nature is having one or all of my 5 pets laying next to me (which can be very distracting because they’re just so darn cute!).

I was extremely surprised how fast the past few weeks have gone by. When you have so much on your mind sometimes you forget what needs to come first. So I really need to sit down and make a schedule for everything in my life so I don’t procrastinate in any aspects of life. Full- time work, starting a family, and now throwing school into the mix is a lot more then I thought I could handle. But so far I am managing to make it through half alive. One of my biggest challenges is going to be having a newborn here shortly and not having the amount of sleep I am going to need to get through a day of work and school. My mother actually says I am insane for starting school now. I just tell her, “If your daughter can join the Marine Corps, she can do this.”, so we’ll see about that. Honestly when I first thought about taking online classes I thought to myself oh, this will be easy and my little sister (who is going to community college the old fashion way) still tells me the same thing. I try so hard to explain to her that is really isn’t that easy. You really have to apply yourself if you want to succeed. You have to study just as hard as you would if you were sitting in a classroom. Reading the readings isn’t enough. You have to read and continue to go back to those readings to fully grasp things. Another huge struggle is going to be stay focused on what I am doing in class. As of right now I’m joyfully singing Hopelessly Devoted to You (one of my favorite songs). So I guess you can say I’m easily distracted. So when my daughter comes along, its going to be really hard taring myself away from her.

In the end, I know I will have every day struggles, as well as those huge struggles that can stop everything else in your life until you figure it out. But I say BRING THEM ON!!! I am extremely excited to walk onto that stage and receive my degree in a few years. I want my husband, daughter and my whole family to be proud of what I accomplished. And this is where it starts!

Hi everyone – ok, here again is your Blog Post #1 prompt:

In this class we have begun exploring what makes for successful online learning, how your readiness as an online learner prepares you for success and where potential challenges lie, and you have spent in-depth time investigating your learning styles this week. Reflect on all that has happened to you during your first couple of weeks of becoming an online learner.

In your first blog, please address the strengths you have identified in yourself, the surprises you’ve already encountered during your first two weeks, and the struggles that keep you mindful of the challenges of online learning. Read and respond to your classmates’ thoughts. Aim for commenting on at least 5 of the blog entries this week and replying to every comment you receive to your own entry.

To guide your writing for this assignment, review the Blog Rubric, which outlines the criteria that will be used to evaluate your blog post.

If you need help posting a blog or navigating this blog site, you can find the tutorial in our module: “Week 3 – Blog Post #1”.

Online Learning Success – Spring 2015

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