I think that I would classify online learning and working full time at the same time probably the hardest thing that I have ever had to do in my life. Just the sheer physical and mental exhaustion of working 12+ hour a day and then coming home and working on homework hits me hard every day. Believe me it is definitely not for the faint of heart. You have to have a drive to want to succeed. I believe that it probably my strength that is going to help me get through online schooling. A typical work/school day for me is about 17 hours. If I didn’t have a drive to want to get my degree I would have definitely given up a long time ago. One thing that has helped me cut down these long days is the time management skills that I have learned this term. I plan to keep using what I learned about tie management to help keep myself on track and focused since I do not have much time in the day to waste.

Since I am a more visual learner it is hard to strictly focus on techniques to help facilitate my learning styles. Sure I can watch videos, but still there is a lot of reading and writing that are involved in online learning. Sometimes I wish online learning was more like putting together Ikea furniture (yes I may be the only person on this planet that doesn’t mind putting together Ikea furniture). What I mean by that is I wish there was a step by step instruction guide for everything. I think the thing that will help me is by trying to find strategies to help me to become more of a “reading” learner.

I have always been an advocate for the OSU guidance counselors and this time is no different. They are like the go to resource at OSU for almost every case that you could come across while as an online student at OSU. I have never had such a caring counselor in school. I have been pretty honest this term about how I was not very successful from the start of my online career at OSU. However with the help of my assigned guidance counselor I was about to get myself a second shot. And for that I will always be grateful.

For my upcoming term at OSU I will say my biggest goal is completing all of my assignment on time. This term I have been better that I have in any of my other terms with getting homework in on time. However there were times that I may have missed a due date by a couple of hours or might have forgot completely. I didn’t miss enough assignments to put any of my grades in jeopardy or anything, but if I can get all of my assignments in on time next semester I will feel far more accomplished. My long term goal is to have at least 4 Straight A terms out of my last 7 terms at OSU. I feel that this goal is definitely something that I can accomplish and if I start by getting all of my homework in on time every time then I will get a good start on my long term goal.

I am naturally programed for setting goals I guess, from childhood my mother was a driving force in my need to establish goals for myself and not be afraid to set my sights high, “Reach for the Stars”. She taught me that there was nothing wrong with dreaming the big dreams and has been supportive all the way, she is a possibility thinker. Unfortunately my father was more of a practical thinker and even though he didn’t say it out loud, didn’t put a lot of value in setting goals that would stretch my limits.

The area that I would like to improve is my organization skills and time management skills. One of my students once told me that I was unorganized, referring to my in box of mail that was sitting on my counter behind my desk. It is true when it comes to my mail organization skills I need to learn better time management skills. I try hard to keep organized when preparing for classes. I guess I have always been that way, even as a child I remember the excitement of organizing my new clothes for the first day of school, but as the days went by that excitement did too. It is like new shoes when they come out of that box they have that new shoe smell, no stains, just brand new leather and I just can’t wait to put them on and walk around in them. But as time goes by and my new shoes get dirty and lose that new smell, I lose that excitement. So goes my classes, they lose that new class feel and so my excitement to be organized are gone. So I need to keep excited and that organization and time management will remain throughout the term. This class has helped me find some great tools like the Learning Corner and others, to help me stay organized and motivated.

The Term at a Glance is a great tool for me so that I can see the requirements I have for each day, each week and the term. I have found this to be a great tool this term and so thankful to have received this tool. The to-do list is another tool that will help me manage my time more effectively. I have used to-do list especially when preparing for a trip or a weekend Honey-Do list.

OSU resources that I plan to get involved with include the Student Sustainability Initiative (SSI), Academic Success Center and the Veterans page. SSI has a gardening and landscaping group that will help me with making a connection with the OSU campus if I can get a cooperative program going between the Heritage Farm in Clark County and OSU. The Academic Success Center provides help when needed and has a large variety of pdf documents that can provide success information. The Veterans page provides a good starting point with connections to a lot of the things that can help veterans like myself, be a success.

In developing my short and long term goals I tried to choose them based on those things that would help me to be better organized or continue my degree. My long term goal was developed because it is a major milestone that I must complete to continue my degree pursuit at OSU. The long term goal will be a challenge since it could require that I change jobs or at least work shifts.

This has been a very rewarding term for me and I hope for you also. I wish all of you the best of luck.

As the term comes to a close, I’ve reflected on how some of the weeks were relatively easier while others were a bit more stressful and I also learned a lot about my learning strengths and weaknesses. I believe the strengths that I naturally possessed regarding organization, as well as determination to stick to a plan or schedule helped me to stay on top of all 5 of my classes. There were a couple of slips however, and I notice that my weakness in my academics is outside stress. I noticed that a couple of times where I procrastinated and didn’t stick to the routine that I planned for myself for taking care of my coursework were when I had been really stressed out over things that were going on outside of school. This is something that I want to improve, because stressful events in life will always happen and I cannot let that affect my academics or one day I will fall too far behind.

I actually enjoyed taking this course much more than I initially thought I would have. It put things in perspective to take the time to evaluate myself and my learning skills and weaknesses. I will definitely have a new and improved outlook on how I approach my academics from here on. I will continue to use the organizational tools such as the planned weekly schedule that I have been using as well as trying out a couple of new ones (Term At A Glance Calendar) in the next term. I haven’t figured out how I am going to keep outside stress from affecting my academic performance quite yet, but since I won’t be continuing until Fall term, I will take advantage of the summer break to practice habits in dealing with that. I will definitely be utilizing the OSU Library more and will most likely use NetTutor starting Fall term as I should be taking a Math class then as well as Chemistry soon afterward. I know these are my weakest subjects, so I will turn to those resources to guide me in improving my skills in those areas.

My goals for the next term as well as those following will remain as achieving the best grades as possible in all of my classes. I don’t want to graduate by slacking and barely passing the courses that I’m not as knowledgeable in just to get by. I want to get the most out of all the courses that I take and to do so will require a lot of dedication to my planned routines, as well as practicing good time management habits. I know that there will probably be some cases where I do not perform as well as I had hoped, but it will be alright as long as I know that I tried. I will just continue to make improvements because the moment that I start to really procrastinate and lose priority in my academic performance will be the moment that the achievement of my goals will begin to be at risk which is not something that I’d like to look back on and regret. Overall, I’m confident that the next 4 years of my degree program will be full of great learning experiences that I can proud of!

This term was a bit of a rough ride for me. I was 1 week post op from a major surgery and then at about 5 weeks in, I had to have another surgery. The fact that I was able to keep up (with a single exception) with two classes , work and home must be partly attributed to better utilization of tools available to me and improved time management.

I was seriously beginning to think that although my learning styles should support an ecampus approach, that I wasn’t cut out for it, but I am doing quite well this term. Using Canvas was a big part of that – I especially liked the calendar function for assignments. And for anyone that didn’t realize, there is a Smart phone app for Canvas that helped me keep track on the go too. I used to just schedule in my calendar but would inevitably miss something – this tool made sure that I didn’t. But as with most things, you have to use it for it to work! I did and it did!

This course really helped me realize there is a lot more available to me at OSU too. The library services presentation was very good. I had something similar in my Masters program at PSU – in person. Having the online resources so readily available was something I didn’t realize. This should be particularly helpful in any future writing intensive courses. I also had no idea about the support services for e campus students. I imagine I will continue to visit these sites into the future.

The biggest change over the term is that I decided to quit taking courses randomly and without purpose. I’ve already started the process of post bacc admission. I only wish I had done it sooner!

I took this course because I had struggled in previous online courses and thought it would help. I’m actually glad now for that struggle because I think it will improve my online course journey. Thanks Brandi! I also want to thank my fellow students. Everyone was very supportive and kind. It seems we lost a few students, but the ones that hung in there – thanks!

Boy, time sure does fly by when you’re, I’m not going to say having fun because it was definitely not all fun, so I’ll say busy. This has only been my second term as a college student ( my college career so far has been completely online), and I must admit that I have experienced a lot more frustrations than in the first term. I realized that while most instructors of online classes are prompt in their posting of assignments and grades, as well as giving feedback when grading, occasionally there will be those that can’t get it together (I had one of these this term). Although this instructor’s untimely posting of assignments and total lack of feedback has caused a lot of stress, my innate stubbornness and ability to learn on my own has helped me to muddle through. I must lend credit to this class, Online Learning Success,  as well. As a natural procrastinator, the time management skills and tools I learned in this class are the main reason I continue to persevere and haven’t dropped the other class which is a baccalaureate core requirement. So for all of you who may be experiencing difficulty in a particular class, utilize your tools and resources. They can be a lifesaver!

I cannot put enough emphasis on the importance of the time management skills and tools that I discovered through this class. My learning style is multi-modal, and I can pretty much learn from any media. My main personal setbacks have been procrastination and memory loss (because I’m old). Learning to better manage my time and the implementation of my planner, which I believe is essential for all students, has proved to be crucial to my online success. Now, I do still procrastinate, but I procrastinate in a much more efficient manner.Learning how to utilize the OSU resources to discover areas for student involvement has also been interesting.

Through searching the OSU resources, such as the online Library and the college website that governs my major, I discovered a source of study that I did not know was available: the Hatfield Marine Science Center. One of my goals is to attend classes at the Marine Science Center in the summer of 2016. In doing so, I would not only be fulfilling some of the requirements for my major, but I would also be giving my children the wonderful experience of living close to the ocean, if only for a few short weeks. Who knows, maybe we’ll love it so much, we’ll decide to stay!