Learning Profile

In this class we have covered a variety of information. It seemed like we did not do much, butow it is as i look back at this half of the semester it shows that we have accomplished a lot in the small amount of time that we have been in class. There have been 6 major assignments that we assigned. The first one dealt with coping with change. With this activity we took the time to reflect on the changes that we are experiencing and describe the way we feel about change in general. The next one was time management. I learned about certain tips that help with managing your time and trying to keep my schedule from making me stressed. We also learned some tips to deal with stress to go along with this section. I also learned about the importance of community service in our lives. i learned about what it can do for the community and how it is beneficial. The next topic was butler resources where we learned about all the different things butler has to offer. This section was accompanied with a lesson on online researching through the butler website. the next topic dealt with academic planning. In this section we were to take certain tests that describe you as a learner and then had to evaluate plans for the future. The last section was over academic honesty were we were to look up different types of dishonesty and the importance of having honesty in school. Each of these sections were accompanied with discussions in the class and a blog for reflection.
In a general sense school has never been a struggle for me. I am the type of student that you may call an "over achiever." I am not one to just slack off and get by with the bare minimum, instead I work hard and put 100 percent into whatever I am doing. I can't just not care. My education is too important especially now that I am paying a lot of money for it. It is what I consider to be an investment and I don't want it to go to waste. My strengths as a learner as said before is that I am a very hard worker. I have a mind set that I can accomplish whatever the teachers dish out and I don't get discouraged if something is a little challenging. Some people need help or special incentives to do well in school, but in my case I am a self motivator. I push myself to do well in school and to get better at whatever i am doing. Because this is a class that incoming students do not know a whole lot about my advice would be to keep an open mind about the learning possibilities in this class and try not to worry about other peoples expectations of the course.

My weaknesses as a learner is that I tend to procrastinate on my assignments in school. I feel that I have improved with this problem now that I am in college, but i still could do better with it. With procrastination I feel that it can cause so much more troubles then if you were to make yourself sit down and complete the assignment ahead of time. Some things that I have noticed about other students that i admire, is that they are more laid back with school then I am. I know that I just said how important school is for me but I tend to be pretty hard on myself at times, which can lead to me being a little stressed. I just need to know that if something doesn't turn out as well as i hoped, i should try and be like that other students, and not to worry because it will all work out in the end. There is one task that has given me trouble ever since it has become a big chunk of school and that is writing. i feel that I am not the strongest at writing papers, poems, short stories, you name it, it is just a little trick for me. When I sit down to right a paper I will be in front of the computer for hours trying to put my thoughts down in a way that flows and makes sense. The skills that I would work on if I were to take another class like this one is to not procrastinate because then everything just seems to snowball. If i were to stay on top of my assignments then i could really focus on learning from the course.

As I reflect back on what we covered in this course I realize that I learned a lot more than what I thought i did. This course tested me a little bit by asking me to evaluate myself as a student and evaluate what is important to me. For instance doing the community service made me think back to what is a true concern for me. The academic plan made me think about how important planning out my future is and that I am a little off course at the moment. One thing I did like about the class is learning about the resources at butler. This assignment introduced me to what Butler has to offer. This is something that I would not have gone out on my own to try and figure out but I am glad that it was covered because I discovered that it is important. i have already used the online resources shown to try and find information for another class. I now know all the different resources that are at my finger tips and I have learned that I will use them my two years that I am at Butler.

I think that most of the coursework in this class was very relevant. The academic plan, community service, and coping with change were all things that made me self evaluate. I find this important because no other class really makes you do this. Sitting down and actually thinking about how much my life has changed since last year in the coping with change assignment made me realize how important my decisions are in my life right now. It was a little reality check to think about that the things I do now can affect the rest of my life. Also with the academic plan it made me think about the possibilities for the future. I know that I am undecided with my major but it helped me evaluate my situation and know that I still have time to figure things out. Another thing that really hit home even though it wasn't a major topic was when we spent the day talking about binge drinking. i enjoyed watching the video and it helped send the message that yes it is okay to go out and have fun, but in moderation. At this age people need to realize that they are youthful but they are not immortal so they need to make smart decisions. One assignment that I was not needed was the academic honesty because it has already been drilled into us throughout the 12 years in the public school system. Overall I feel that the topics discussed were relevant topics.

Like i said before I feel that most of the things covered in the class were needed and relevant. Some of the things i believe should be kept for sure is the academic plan. It is a good thing to cover because most students think they already know what they want to do but this plan can help the ones that may not know decide what they are wanting to do in the future and may make the ones that already know reevaluate and possibly change their minds on a few things. One thing I did not like about this section was the tests from the book explaining the type of learner you are. i feel that since we are on the college level of our education we already know what is our strong and week points and it seemed a little pointless to me. I think you could afford to loose the information on the academic honesty. I think the students have been told enough on this topic and their time should be spent on something else. One thing that you may want to cover better in the future is t time management and coping with stress because we are in a time in our lives that is occupied by both these things.

Here are a few words of advise for incoming students on surviving this class. Number One-come to class. Sure this is a simple thing but without coming to class you will not know what is going on and then you will have to rely on other people to fill you in. Also if you do skip class then you will miss instructions and due dates on assignments which can make your grade suffer. It is just better if you come to class so there will not be any confusion on what is going on. Number. Two- keep and open mind. If you come in thinking "oh my gosh this is going to be a boring class" then yes it will be and you will not get everything you can out of it and hey-you are paying for it so you might as well get your moneys worth and final Number Three- Do Not Procrastinate !!! This is what can really hurt you in the end. The blogs do not take that much time to do so don't put them off thinking that it is a simple task and you will do them later, because chances are you wont. The thing is they are assignments that come with ease but when you leave four of them to do the night before you turn them in, then they can become time consuming and a big hassle.

This course has taught me that I have gotten better at my procrastination problem. As I am sitting here writing this the day before it is due, I am proud to know that I have made some strides and overcoming one of my weaknesses as a learner. This class has also taught me about being open minded to new ideas and new people and the thoughts and feelings that come along with them. Because discussion was such a big part in the class it taught me to sit and listen to your peers and see what they have to say. Normally i am a shy person and I feel this class helped me step out of my comfort zone a little bit. it forced me to not just sit back and listen to what everyone else has to say, but open up my mouth and share my thoughts and feelings on different issues. i learned that by being an active participant in the class you are able to feed off of what others are saying and voice your own opinion on the subject. I don't think I will do anything too different because of this class. I will in the future however know that sometimes by sitting down and self evaluating what is going on can help things appear more clearly and to just stay open minded when i am being thrown into new situations.