Prep week 3

Hello there,

 Today is Tuesday and I am working through my Prep Skills for University today. I have just finished reading my first reading for today and want to answer some questions before I go on any further. I am really enjoying this part of the course as I have had some negative experiences with learning in the past and this module is giving me some insight into those times and helping me to overcome them. I loved all the information on Optimal Learning (page 53 Cottrell, S 2008, The Study Skills Handbook). These are all fairly basic things that really most of us already know but having them there written down brings them all together and makes it easy to say exactly where we are going wrong.

In the past especially at school I have not been able to use my 'whole' brain - UH do you remember those times tables. Yukko just repeating them over and over and over, no wonder they didn't stick in my brain perhaps if our teachers had been a little more creative and come up with some more fun ways of remembering them I would now easily recall what 7 x 8 equals instead of having to stop and work it out.

But then I can also recall a time in my life that I gained new knowledge easily and that was when I worked for a particular company and I can now see that they had a wide variety of ways for us to learn the new information. It was given to us then we where given different ways of remembering it, reinforced with videos and other useful ideas.  I look back on these days as very rewarding and fun, it didn't feel like I was studying. Obviously I have to remember these ideas to keep my learning journey fun and refreshing this time.

So three things that I need to do to acheive my optimal learning are going to be:

• Use both sides of my brain, read the information and then be creative about a way to remember it.
• Use mediums that work for me. Take notes, talk out loud, recount information and tell someone all about the information (someone real or imaginary)
• Make it fun, enjoy each moment

Ok so if you happen to walk past my study room and I am rattling away to myself - you will know that I am not crazy (although some may disagree) I am in the learning'zone'. Thoroughly enjoying myself, chatting away, recounting all of the things that I have learnt in my current session.

Ok well you have a good rest of the day

talk soon

x joy

It's Week 3

Hello and happy Monday to you,

It's week 3 already - oh my goodness where did that time go???? Wow it has gone fast - it feels like it was only yesterday that I started week 1.

I got back late last night from attending 'The Big 1/2 Day In' at Rockhampton on Saturday, so we are all a little tired after our big drive. But I had so much fun! It was great to be on campus and meet some other likeminded people who are going through exactly what I am feeling. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and learnt so much as well.

One thing I did learn was to make sure that I read my course profile really well cause I have found out that I did last weeks and this weeks computing course all last week. Which is great cause I can spend this weeks time going over it all and doing revision but I could of saved myself alittle time and stress last week. Oh well, lesson well learnt.

Another thing that I missed last week was the actual details of the big day in that where attached to an email telling us what to bring. I assumed that it would be well sign posted and it would be easy to find but NNNNNOOOOOO!!!! We drove into the uni grounds and got totally confused and lost (luckily I had Hubby with me - cause I don't do lost really well at all) anyway we stopped at the Security Office to get directions and the man there assured me that there was no Big Day In today as he had not heard about it. Hehehe Luckily I then found Karen who had all the information from the email, that I had missed, and she knew exactly where she was going. Thank you Karen! I think I would be still wandering around that place looking for it, if I hadn't found you hehehe (That place is HUGE). Another lesson well learnt.

Ok so it was a great day - I feel so much more confident about my studies now (for the time being anyway hehe). And more importantly I met some lovely people (big wave hello to everyone I met). So here I am ready to get into week 3 although I have planned a little R & R for this morning. I have a very dear friend who I have not seen for weeks (since I started running off to Brissy for my surgery's - so that is since the beginning of Feb) and it is time that we had coffee (or diet coke for me ). So I have a nice chocolate cake fresh out of the oven and a few ice cold diet cokes ready to go. Then I will get into the study this afternoon with a clean frest brain ( I can hope anyway).

Ok well you have a happy day

 talk soon

 x joy 

The Eager Beaver's Guide to Study

Hello and happy Thursday to you, What's all this Eager Beaver rubbish I hear you ask. Well I have decided today that my learning style is 'The Eager Beaver' style. Why Eager Beaver - well after writing down all my study and learning skills I thought the little beaver was a good way to describe them all. And then when I added my eagerness to the equation, it became Eager Beaver. hehehe

You see Beaver's are very creative, work alone or with others, they are motivated, organised. they love interesting facts (well maybe interesting sticks) and I am sure they must love talking and listening (how could they do so much work without chatting about it). Although I do believe they need a little work on time management, cause they just keep on working. Also perhaps need work on considering alternatives - cause really they could just call in a dam building company and have that thing up in no time. (oh and I forgot to mention they are cute - as I am cute as well as everything else HAHA)

 So this little fella is me:

I am going to build my dam!

So time management and considering alternatives are two area's I need to work on and this week's module 2 for Prep for Uni has certainly given me some skills in the area of time management. And I have already used one of the new techniques today - saying no to someone when I was asked to help. We can only do so much and as my goals are very important to me so I am sticking to my guns. The considering alternatives is one area that I do need to pay a little attention to as sometimes I think of the first thing that pops into my head and run with it - I need to investigate different ideas more.

I have spent some time thinking about my goals today with Module 2 and I now have some very SMART goals. My first short term goal is to successfully finish my three courses in the allowed 12 period ensuring that I complete each weeks module by Friday of that week. My medium term goal is to successfully finish the STEPS program in Feb next year. And my long term goals are then to be able to enroll in an undergraduate program at the end of STEPS and finish that inwith in five years.

My Hero's Journey activity that I did before this post has really helped me to list some of the things that I want to achieve with my Uni studies. I want to make up for having not done any higher education earlier in my life and to prove something to myself. I know that I am able to do this and I will complete these studies. I am setting myself up for success. My little craft room is now set up as my craft/study room. It is my own private haven. The boys know that when the door is closed that I am studying and only to disturb me if something is important.

I think all the things that I have already covered are the only threats or problems that I will face (that I can think of now anyway) and I think I have already started thinking of them as just challenges and opportunities to learn. Any problem that is acknowledged makes you aware of it and then you are more able to solve it or work around it.

The last thing I want to talk about today is a Time Management Hero that I have had for a while now. This person achieves so much in her life - I sometimes wonder just how she does it all. But I have sat back and looked and listened and noticed that she has very effective time management skills. She makes lists, uses diaries, delegates and most importantly - gets jobs done! She also stays up very late at night which is just something that I cannot do - after all us Eager Beavers need our sleep.

Ok well thats all my ramblings for today

I hope you have achieved as much as I have today

talk soon

x joy 

Learning Journal Activity 2-2

The Hero’s Journey: Reflective Writing

1.  The Ordinary world

My ordinary world has until now involved some dreams, vivid dreams that I revisit over and over, most nights. These dreams involve me going to school and completing my Year 11 and 12 studies. I see myself proudly standing at the Graduation Ceremony holding tightly to my Certificate of Completion. I am happy in these dreams, so happy I am crying with joy.

These dreams are not my reality; in reality I didn’t complete these final years of schooling. I didn’t want to do them. I couldn’t wait to get out of school and away from the place. In reality it took forever until I was 14, and to the end of year 10, the point at which I could go my own way. I didn’t enjoy school. I struggled with what I now know to be a normal part of growing up, trying to find out who I was and where I fitted in. I spent so much time on this that I never studied. Why would I study when I was only ever going to get an ordinary job, perhaps in a supermarket when I finished. What skills would I need for that?

Thirty years on and I now have these dreams. Something is missing in my life. But what is it? I fill each and every day completely, with the day to day running of a household with a happy family in it. All housework is done, I help with homework, I bake delicious afternoon treats and meals and I spend a great deal of time doing all sorts of volunteer activities. I love my life, but there is just a little something not there.

2. The call to adventure

That was until I went on a University camp with my then 12 year old son, with his school. The camp was aimed at getting these grade 7 children involved in starting to think about Uni following their Year 12 studies. Little did they or I know that they would light a candle of excitement for my future. I came away from that camp so excited. I was bouncing off the walls with excitement. My Hubby must have thought I had gone crazy. I talked non-stop for days about all the wonderful things that I had seen and done.

I had never had any contact of any sort with a University before. I had always thought that it was something for the super elite, a small group of people who had extraordinary knowledge. I had no idea it was such a rich learning environment that could nurture an average person, like myself, and guide them into further education.

A few days after our return from the camp, I made contact with the camp organiser, Robyn and discussed my excitement. Robyn suggested that I do some research and investigate the STEPS program at CQUni. Which I did and the things I discovered made me all the more excited. This was my call to adventure – I applied and to my delight I was accepted. And so my journey began.

See I told you that I would be back again

Hello again, it is still Wednesday, in fact it is only a few short moments since I last wrote here but I am back again. I have just finished reading Module 1 and it has given me some very important things to think about. I hadn't really given much thought to these things so I am now going to explore these area's.

Am I making connections between prior learning experiences and my experience in this course so far? Hmmmm definately I am making connections between the two although it has been an awful lot of years since I last learnt any of this stuff. And I think that I can confidently say that some things have changed their names over the years. I must also admit that some of the basic stuff has really been lost. I remember Nouns as naming words, verbs as doing words and adjectives as describing words, but remembering what words are what is making the grey matter work hard! And then we go further with auxiliary verbs, complete verbs etc etc blah blah blah - no wonder I'm confused hehehe

I have always enjoyed writing. I often sit and write, either blogging, writing letters (yes some of us still do it), my own journalling and even writing the odd poem (usally only for my eyes only and even sometimes just in my head). But going through what I have in this module it is making me second guess what and how I write. I feel I need to go back and revise everything that I have learnt and get to know it a little better to help with my confidence levels.

Everything that we have learnt is going to be useful in not only my future studies but also in life as well. I read yesterday that I can use 'me' after someone else's name i.e. Ashley and Me. I have spent 40+ years thinking that I always had to say 'Ashley and I'. (apart from those few days when my Brother in Law Michael tried going through it with me and I couldn't understand - Sorry Michael). I now know that it is perfectly ok to use it at the appropiate times.

I also learnt about superscript and subscript on Monday. I have gone years wondering how to do that - but now I know. And I even know that super is the above script, as in Superman and sub is the under script as in submarine. Is any one following what I am saying or is this just the raving of someone who is 'brain dead' and delerious hehehehe.

Have I changed as a person - yessiree!!!!! I am feeling much more analytical. I am reading and rereading stuff to get the meaning, sometimes still not taking it in, but I am taking much more notice.

Ok well that will be all of my ramblings for now. I am off to go feed the troops.

talk soon

x joy 

Hello and Welcome to Week 2

Boy Oh Boy - what a fun couple of days it has been. I am exhausted, brain dead and thoroughly confused all at the same time.

Today is Wednesday of week 2 and I am feeling so tired. It is quite funny because even as I am writing this, I am making so many spelling mistakes; I don't normally do that so I must be brain dead. This is what my brain feels like at the moment. Hehe!

  

I have gotten through most of my Computing for Uni Module for this week. I has some fun with that as I saved all my work and then promptly lost it, so had to do it all over again. I had actually forgotten to unzip the original file that everything came in and then as I 'saved as' along the way, it all went to some Temp file that I couldn't locate. Lesson well learnt after redoing it all - I can tell you!! I had to send two pieces away for feedback and I only made one mistake - Yippee!! I had not changed the size of font in my footer to 10 - so I will remember that one. I only have the revision to do in that course for this week now - but I needed to take a break from looking at the computer all day, so I will come back to that.

Now I am just about finished this weeks Essay Writing for Uni module. I have read about grammar,  punctuation, subordinating conjunctions, verbs,  relative pronouns, complex sentences and dependent clauses just to name a few. I can tell you they are swimming all around in my head and when it came time to do the given activity for this module, I was so confused that I couldn't remember my own name, let alone all this other stuff. Anyway I completed it and sent it off and will await feedback.

So really now I have to get stuck into my Prep for Uni tonight and tomorrow. I don't have Friday this week to study, as we are all heading into Rocky so that I can attend the Uni's Big Day In on Saturday. The boys are coming along also as they need to do some shopping and truth be known; I hate driving that far by myself. Anyway we will get to go have some junk food so that will be fun.

Last week I was having trouble keeping focussed and this week I am doing much better. I have been able to close the door to my little room and ignore everything else, which has been good. And my Hubby (Frankie) is being a super darling this week by keeping me supplied with snacks, water and huge, lovely sandwiches. I wish he was on days off every week :) .

Ok well I will go for now - I'm sure I will be back with another little update again soon.

Talk soon

X joy     

End of Week One

WOW what a week it has been!! My brain is scrambled!!! Although looking back it was not as bad as I was thinking that it would be. I spent a great deal of time procrastinating and really if I have just jumped straight in on Monday morning I would of got through the week so much better. Note to self - just get straight into it next week, no mucking around.

I have completed all week 1 modules of my three courses. I started jumping around alittle from one to another but then found it much easier to just work on one at a time. I was a little worried at the start that by just working on one at a time, I would get to Friday and only have one course module completed hehe. But that didn't happen. As it is I have had plenty of time to do each module then sit back today and check that I have done everything that is required. I only have one thing left to do and that is email my Computing Skills for Uni task into my Lecturer, but I don't know who that is yet - I have seen afew other people have made similar comments on the forum regarding this so I am not alone. But I will email the course coordinator to see what I have to do.

It is really great to think that I have completed week one and survived - I am very proud of myself ! What a good start - I even wrote a poem and put it up on a forum for my classmates to see. That did stretch my comfort zones but I did it. I just hope now that I can remember all the things that I have learnt so far. My plan at this stage is to go back and reread alittle over the next weekend before I start Module or Week 2. I don't want to rush in and end up not remembering things - I'd rather go at a slow and steady pace. I have already found myself thinking about the new topics that I am learning in everyday life. And Frank (my Hubby) is eager to hear all about what I am learning - I don't know if he realises what a great support he is being by doing that. It helps me to go over it all and learn it again.

Now during the next week I need to do a few things to make my study a little easier and they are,

• I need to organise my time better - get straight into it and not procrastinate

Actually I think that is about all I need to do hehehe I was ready for there to be a great big list of things(hence the bullet points) that I needed to do but when I really think about it - this topic covers it all. I guess I am being a little hard on myself .    

I have found the CQUni My Portal a little confusing but I think that I am getting used to it now. I just need to remember to go to Moodle for each of my courses each day and have a good look around to see what is going on. Checking emails is easy as I do that several times a day at home anyway. I do hope that I haven't missed anything. I do like the week one checklist that came with the Prep Course as it is a very valuable and useful tool to help make sure I don't forget anything - I wish one came with each course. Anyway I guess I could make my own as I work through each component of the others.

Ok as it is now 2.55pm  I am off to go and get ready for the kids coming home from school - they rush in the door with "whats for afternoon Tea" everyday. I love it! It breaks the quietness when they are not here. Mind you I must say that 'that quietness" is my study heaven. I love the peace and quiet to work. Have a great rest of the day!
 talk soon
 x joy