Chapter 7, Using Brain Science to Improve Study Skills, October 10-16

One of the key concepts in this chapter is that we use all the senses to learn, a process called multi-sensory integration.  Of all the senses, visualization is the most powerful. 

Think about how you can use multiple senses (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, gustatory, olfactory) to be successful in challenging material in your present courses or think about one of the scenarios below and apply this concept to being successful in one of these situations.

For your second post, read what other students are saying and reply to their post.  Your reply to another student can be shorter than your posting on using multiple senses to learn.   

1.            You just read the assigned chapter in economics and cannot remember what you read.  It went in one ear and out the other. 

2.            In your anatomy and physiology class, you are required to remember the scientific name for 100 different muscles in the body.

3.            You signed up for a philosophy class because it meets general education requirements. You are not interested in the class at all.

4.            You have a mid-term in your literature class and have to read 400 pages in one month.

5.            You must take American history to graduate from SDSU. You think that history is boring.

6.            You have been introduced to an important business contact and would like to remember his/her name.

7.            You are enrolled in an algebra class. You continually remind yourself that you have never been good at math. You don’t think that you will pass this class.

8.            You are taking a math course that you need for graduation and don’t understand some of the math problems.  You are worried that you may not pass this course.  

Chapter 6, Using Brain Science to Improve Memory, Oct. 3-9

For this chapter, watch one of these videos and write a 100 word comment including what you like, dislike, or find useful.

 

For the second posting, read another student’s comment and add you own thoughts, goals for the future, or ideas for using the information to improve your memory and study skills.

 

Here are the links to the video choices:

The Nine Best Scientific Study Skills

Sleep to Remember, Remember to Sleep

These three videos are from the younger perspective:

 

How to Study Effectively with 15 Study Tips: Better Grades, Better Results

How to Get Straight A’s Study Tips

Study Hacks!  Get Better Grades 2015

Chapter 5, Managing Time and Money, September 26-October 2

This new chapter is about time management and is one of the most powerful chapters in the text. For this week's discussion, share one of your lifetime goals and describe the time management techniques you will use to accomplish this goal. If there are obstacles in the way, how will you deal with them? 

For your second post, read another student's post and make a comment about it. Sometimes it is helpful to read about other students' goals and how they are managing to accomplish them. The first post can be longer and the second one can be shorter. 

I will share with you one of my lifetime goals and how I used the ideas in this chapter to accomplish it. My lifetime goal was to write a book on how to be successful in college because I struggled as a young college student and learned how to be successful. Then I taught the topic for 30 years. I had some time off from work and set as my goal to write the text. I found myself distracted by things around the home. I would get up in the morning and exercise, make myself a nice breakfast, read the paper and do a few household chores. Soon the day was gone and I had not accomplished my goal. I decided to work on my goal first and then reward myself with exercise and other things that I wanted to do. It was just a matter of rearranging my tasks. I still found it difficult to get started. I used the idea of a leading task. I would just sit at the computer, fill my head with ideas and start to write. Then I would refine the writing the next day. Within 6 months I had the first draft of the text written. Today it is used in about 60 colleges across the country. This new edition of College and Career Success Online is my latest project.   

Ok, I have shared one of my goals and how I accomplished it. Now it is your turn. Tell about something you accomplished in the past or something you hope to accomplish in the future. See if you can use some of the time management ideas in the text.  

I saw this inspiring video about living your dream.  You can comment on it as one of your options this week:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ2xhBQ8eGA 

Chapter 4, Planning Your Career and Education, Sept. 19-25

The chapter for this week is "Planning your Career and Education." It has some useful information as you think about your future career.  You have begun the process of understanding your personal strengths, interests and talents.  The next step is to match your characteristics to the world of work.  It is important to understand the job outlook so that you will know about job availability and pay.  Note that your career portfolio includes indeed.com which is a site where you can look up current jobs in your area of interest to see how many jobs are available and how much they pay.  You can use your career portfolio and this site to find a job when you graduate.  

Choose any topic below. You can choose 2 topics of 100 words each or one topic for 200 words.

Go to http://www.indeed.com/ and look up some jobs that could be a match for your interests and talents.  What did you discover at this site?

Add your comment to another student's posting. Can you relate to what they are saying and can you share similar experiences?

What is your generation? Baby Boomer? Generation X? New Millennial? Generation Z? How will your generation affect your future career choices?

Review the employment trends presented in the career chapter. How will these employment trends affect your future career plans?

What tips would you give to a friend before he or she interviewed for a job that was really important?

Go to www.assist.org and explore this site. This site is designed to help you understand the courses needed to transfer to a four year university. Share with the group what you found there.

Go to http://www.cuyamaca.edu/transfer_center and explore this site. This is our Cuyamaca College Transfer site. Share with the group what you found at this site.

Chapter 3, Exploring Multiple Intelligences, Interests, and Values, Sept 12-18

Hello Students,

For this week, choose any two topics below.

What are your highest multiple intelligences and what careers do they suggest?

Write about your experiences in college so far.  Have you been able to apply anything learned in this class?

What is your most important value in life and how are you acting on this value to achieve your life goals?

Comment on a successful decision you have made and how it matches your values.

Comment on an unsuccessful decision you made and how it did not match your values.

What are your highest interests as described by the Interest Profiler in this chapter?  How do these interests match your career choice or the major you are considering?  Interests include realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional.

 

Comment on another student's post. Can you add to their comment or raise new questions?

Chapter 2, Exploring Your Personality and Major, September 5-11

I was inspired reading all your blog posts on motivation.  Motivation sets the stage for success.  Many of you mentioned careers and the economy as motivators for going to college.  You are more likely to be employed and to like your career if you have an education.  One of the keys to success is what you do on a daily basis, so do a little of your homework each day and it all adds up to success.  

Chapter 2 began with the Do What You Are (DWYA) personality assessment which has a 4 letter code used to summarize your personality type based on your answers in the assessment.  For example, my code is ISTJ which stands for introvert, sensing, thinking and judging type. 

Posting 1:

Choose one of your letters and write 100 words about this aspect of your personality focusing on the positives of your type. Remember that one personality type is not better than any other.  Each type has different talents that can be useful in your personal or career life.  You may think that you are a combination of 2 different types.  It is OK to describe your unique combination. 

Here is a sample of about 100 words:

Based on the DWYA, I am a judging type which means that I prefer to be orderly and organized.  I know that this is true because I can only feel relaxed when things are orderly and organized.  I plan my work and think about priorities when managing my time which helps me to accomplish my goals.  I even plan out my vacations in advance and like to have everything planned so I can relax and have fun.  I have met some opposite types in my lifetime and try to appreciate their differences.  I have found that perceptive types can usually introduce an element of fun in the situation and they motivate me to be a little more spontaneous at times.  I’m still most comfortable with my plans and don’t like to change them.

Posting 2:

Read another student’s posting who has the same personality type as yours and write a response to their post.

Here is a sample response of about 100 words:

I am a judging type also.   I could relate to your need to be orderly and organized.  I generally plan my time and like to have all my things organized.  I get stressed when things are out of order.  I have also met some perceptive types and I have to admit that they drive me a little crazy.  I like your idea of appreciating their differences and just trying to have fun with them.  I know that these opposite types think I am too set in my ways.  Being a judging type has lots of positives.  I plan to major in accounting and this seems to be a natural fit for my personal strengths. 

Just as a quick review, here is a brief definition of all types on DWYA.  Please review these definitions before you make your comments.

(I) Introvert: private, likes quiet for concentration, likes to think before speaking

(E) Extravert: social, likes variety, sometimes speaks before thinking

(S) Sensing: works step-by-step, learns from experience, trusts what is concrete and certain

(N) Intuitive: values imagination and innovation, focus on possibilities, creative and imaginative

(T) Thinking: calm and objective, makes decisions based on logic, analyzes emotions, likes debate

(F) Feeling: makes decisions based on personal values, values empathy and harmony, caring, emotional

(J) Judging: orderly, organized, work first and play later, follows a routine, meets deadlines (Note: it does not mean to judge others!)

(P) Perceptive: spontaneous, go with the flow, play first and do the work later, dislike routine, difficulty meeting deadlines

Chapter 1, Understanding Motivation, August 29-September 4

It was great meeting you on the blog last week and learning about your educational journeys. We have a great variety of students in the class and many different educational backgrounds. This diversity makes for interesting discussion and sharing of ideas.

For this week, share your ideas on motivation with other students in this course.

Please read Chapter 1 in College and Career Success Online before commenting on any of these questions.

Remember to make 2 postings of 100 words minimum for each posting to get the full 20 points for the blog this week. Postings for this week are due before 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, September 4.  

You can choose to write on any of these questions.  

      

1. How do you motivate yourself to be successful?

2. Are there some new ideas on motivation in Chapter 1 that you find interesting or helpful?

3. If you are thinking about dropping this class or dropping out of college, how can you motivate yourself to continue?

4. What are some roadblocks to your success and how can you overcome them?

5. Read comments posted by other students. Are any of their ideas useful to you?

You can also write anything about your experience in starting college or beginning this course. You can ask questions about anything related to college and career success or comment on others students' postings.