To be honest I really can’t believe that this term is pretty much over now, can you?! It really feels like time has flown by for me, but I’m sure part of that is because I will be moving back to Texas next month now so I’ve been looking forward to that as well! Hopping right into my first term of college and my first serious experience as an online learner, my strengths which I brought to the table with me mainly focuses on my motivation. I always told myself that if I took a year off of  school after I graduated, I had to start back up within a year no matter what or else I might want to keep taking time off. This allowed me to really push myself into going back to school and not only that but also to do well in school. And of course my daughter has been my motivator as well. This self-motivation did come with the ability to keep myself on track most of time. “Most of the time” is where I feel like I need to improve and eventually turn that into “I keep myself on track all of the time”.  My time management has always been a slight issue for me just trying to revolve it around my daughter’s schedule as well as mine and housework and so on. I am planning on using what I learned from this class in my pursuit of success by really taking away what it means to be a successful online student.

In order to allow myself to be working at a level that suites my learning style, I plan on using a variety of different tools, tips and strategies. Over the course of this class I have been able to assure myself that I am very visual learner who prefers working where there are not many distractions or if there are distractions that they are not being directed at me. This applies when my daughter is still awake and I need to provide her with my full attention versus when she is sleeping and my husband might have the Xbox on doing his own thing. As long as the distraction taking place doesn’t bother my concentration then I’m good. To address my visual learning style, I will make sure to always have access to colorful sticky notes as well as an assortment of highlighters to keep track of all my information.

The OSU resource that I plan on using for academic support in the future would be the Academic Success Center’s “Learning Corner”. Ever since this was brought to my attention, I have loved going back to it to discover the variety of resources it provides. I particularly enjoy looking through the time management sections as well as the procrastination sections because those are both things that I tend to struggle with at times. There is also information regarding tools for reading and taking notes as well as just an overall broad range of knowledge for becoming a better student.

One goal that I currently have towards the next term I will be taking is the same goal that I had for this term, which is to maintain grades at or above a 95% in each class. A few ways I can achieve this goal again is to keep up with each class closely and really understand when my assignments are due so that nothing is deducted points for being late. Another way I plan on reaching this goal is by making the most out of what time I can and rather than being drawn into distractions like looking through my phone, I’d just leave my phone off or in another room and only focus on what needs to get done. When it comes to my longer-term goal though I do have a couple in mind. The first being to gain hands-on experience in the career path that I am interested in and I can do this by researching and contacting local institutes in my area. Another goal I have is to graduate from OSU as fast as I can while also staying realistic with how long that might take. Unfortunately I don’t think I will be able to graduate within the 4 year “norm” and that was something I was really worried about coming into this first term. As the weeks went on though, I have been able to realize that taking 5 or maybe even 6 years to earn my degree won’t be the end of it all and ruin my life plan so I just want to do the best I can to cut down on time in the future!

Hi everyone!

I find it so hard to believe that we’re already 3 weeks into this term and its even more hard to believe that I’m actually pursing my goal of going back to school! These first few weeks as an online student have been quite interesting but also a great experience to better prepare me for what is coming next in the remainder of this term. I have never been involved in a blog, nor have I hardly ever read too many other people’s blogs so this whole thing is a completely new experience that I willing to embrace!

I would like to start off by talking about my struggles that I have gone through in order to be where I am today. As many of you already know, I am a mother to my beautiful daughter, Gracelyn, and an Army-wife to my amazing husband, Brendyn. Becoming a mother at the age of 18 definitely gave me that extra push towards being the best that I possibly could, and following my husband 1,700 miles across the country caused me to struggle for a while and figure out how I could go back to school this Fall. Thankfully I discovered Oregon State University one night in my frantic search for online degrees and since I got accepted, I have never felt more sure of what I am doing to not only better my daughter’s future, but to better mine as well.  My biggest struggle is finding time to balance my school work with my daughter. I am a stay-at-home mom so that right there seems like I should have all the time in the day to sit down and complete my school work, but the first thing that I learned was I cannot focus at all if my daughter is awake and playing in front of me. This means I do my work while she is sleeping in the morning before she wakes up, during her daily nap, and after she goes to bed. Another struggle with that is the limit on how much I can do during those short periods, which caused me to reduce how many credits I am taking at a time and that has been a struggle to accept still because there’s always this feeling of standards that if you don’t graduate within 4 years then you are slacking. I am slowly getting more used to the idea that I won’t finish my degree in those 4 years. One thing that I do to give my break a mind from the daily routine is take my daughter for car rides to the surrounding playgrounds around town or on my day “off” from school when I am ahead of schedule, we’ll pack up the car and drive 2 hours to Lake Michigan! If any of you are ever in Michigan by some chance visiting relatives or just on vacation, I would definitely recommend you take a visit to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes! It’s like a piece of heaven on Earth in my eyes!

With the presence of struggles in life comes the ability to gain strengths to help you get through that tough part! Online learning has really opened my eyes to how simple things can make a huge difference in the long run. In high school, I always stayed on schedule and I never really ventured too far ahead in getting work done days before the work was due. Online learning has been my motivator to getting as much work done as early before it is due in order to have more time to spend with my daughter without always having assignments or due dates stuck in the back of my mind. Also, I have been able tot take advantage of my white board calendar that has sat bare in my closet for years because I have never really had use for it before I started up classes this year. Aside from my self-motivation that has been slowly becoming more profound, I also have grown to appreciate the flexibility that online learning offers its students. Having that flexibility really takes a weight off my shoulders and I don’t need to worry about putting my daughter in a daycare while I go to campus classes or worry about what credits will transfer where when my husband and I move back to Michigan after he gets out of the Army.

And last but certainly not least, I have had my share of plenty of surprises when classes started up 3 weeks ago. Actually my first surprise was when I got my acceptance letter in the mail saying I will be starting college this Fall because I was really doubting my ability to get accepted after taking a year off after high school. I’m sure at least some of you can relate on that feeling of relief when you opened that letter and read the news of acceptance! I had taken various online classes in high school, but I had no idea what to expect that first week of classes. I was very surprised how after feeling pretty intimidated the first few weeks prior to classes starting, I did not feel intimidated at all once I saw how things worked in the classrooms. Another huge surprise to myself is how well I have been doing so far. Especially after taking a year off after high school I thought I would be set back some by doing that but I have not struggled academically yet which is one of the best feelings for me.

These past 3 weeks have been going by so great so lets keep up the good work through the remainder of this term! I know I tend to write a lot so thanks for bearing with me through that!