Student Course Reflection Lyndsey Sorteberg US-101 September 21, 2013 Bethany Chappel Student Course Reflection When I first decided to enroll in school I did it to fill a void. My husband had just walked out on my son and I and nights were really hard for me and I thought it would be a good thing to fill those hours between the time my son when to bed and the time I went to bed. Do not get me wrong I always had wanted to go to college but my ex-husband had always told me I did not need to because he was there to provide for our family. Since I have been in school for 9 weeks I see it is so much more than just filling a void, it is so much more that taking up a few hours in the evening. It is a real commitment and well worth it. Completing a degree in higher education opens so many doors for a person. It will allow me to gain the knowledge and skills I need to advance in a career that I will enjoy and be able to grow in over the years. Notice I said career and not job because that is what I will have is a career. Right now without a degree, all I have is a job. There is no stability in a job but there is stability in a career. I think the value of a degree is priceless. I know grade school and high school were mandatory, but college was a choice. It was a choice I made, and when I am finish I get to say “Look at what I have accomplished!” I climbed this mountain, made it over, and I succeeded, and that is worth its weight in gold! That degree has just paved the way to a better future. The assessments in this course showed me what kind of a learner I am (kinesthetic) and then some of our readings supplied tips to help with that certain learning style. Like in Week 3, “Study Strategies by Learning Style said kinesthetic learners should use all their senses in learning: sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. Supplement your notes with real-world examples. And also, move and gesture while you are reading or speaking your notes." The My Career Plan link was a very useful tool as well. The Career Interest Profiler showed me that I was conventional, enterprising, and social. It then gave me a list of jobs that fit into those categories. Then there was also the Competencies evaluation, the Work Culture Preferences, and the Reasoning Aptitudes. All of these tools told me a little bit more about myself and help stir me in the right direction toward a career that would fit me and my personality. Goal setting was a stupendous topic for me because I always have had a hard time finishing ones that I have started. This course gave me some amazing tips on accomplishing more. Such as using the SMART criteria. It helped me break my goals down and make sure that I am specific on what I am trying to accomplish. Then make sure my goal is measurable and attainable. Then look to see that the goal I have set is realistic. Finally, make sure that I have set a reasonable time frame to accomplish this goal. If I follow these steps, then I should have no problem getting my goals accomplished. Not only did the course give me some stupendous pointers on accomplishing goals, but also did some of my classmates. I had one classmate tell me that they write a large goal onto a dry-erase board and then break that goal up into smaller, more manageable goals that will eventually equal that one large goal. They then will erase the smaller goals as they accomplish them until all are gone. When all are gone then they know they have reached the finish line to that one large goal. I thought that was a really neat idea. Time and stress management should be a course everyone should have to take! I am a horrible procrastinator and Week 2 gave me some awesome tips and pointers on how to help better manage my time and overcome this demon. I need to take control of my time, learn to prioritize my goals, and definitely anticipate the unexpected. The key to all this is organization. Some of my classmates gave me some great ideas on how to get more organized, like creating calendars for school assignment due dates, study times, appointments, and work schedules. By not over extending myself and making sure I have some breathing room will help eliminate stress. The University has so many resources available to students. The University Library has the Center for Writing Excellence and the Center for Mathematics Excellence. The Library also has Ask a Librarian, Tutorials, Reference and Citation Generator, and also Writing and Grammar Guidelines. It has everything available in one convenient location to help you research and write any paper for school. The CWE will also help you with your writing skills. That is also where you will find Write Point and the Plagiarism Checker which you will use with all your papers in each course you take throughout school. I will be taking advantage to the CME in the near future as I am not very good with math. There you will find Building Math Confidence, Running Start with ALEKS, Step-By-Step Math Review, and Math Tutorial. All really great tools to help sharpen your math skills. In conclusion, Introduction to University Studies is a great course and I learned so much. Not only from the material and the guidance of our instructor but also from each other. I can now see why it is the first class we are required to take as online students. I was so overwhelmed when I first started and this class has given me the confidence needed to complete my degree online.

Reference Gardner, J., Jewler, A., & Barefoot, B. (2005). Your College Experience, Pg. 59 (9th ed.). Boston, NY: Boston/St. Martin.