Showing posts with label study skills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label study skills. Show all posts

It's a busy time. Check out some study skills links.

Study... study... study!
Image Credit: © Hans Hillewaert / CC-BY-SA-3.0 Wikimedia Commons











It seems like there are SO many papers to write, things to do, notes to re-type, and projects to finish sometimes.

Especially at the middle or end of a semester back at school.

Here are some links to help nontraditional students, and everyone - for readers who have been here before, and my new readers.

The Study Skills page at the Nontrad website

10 Tips and Links to help you do GREAT on your Finals and Tests

10 Tips for Tests for the Nontraditional Student

5 Calendar Tips for Nontraditional Students

More about Study Groups

Image Credit CC 3.0 Unported, by Tsca, Wikimedia Commons.












Betsyanne

More Nontrad links:

The Nontrad site and blog

Join Nontrads on Facebook

Nontrads on Yahoo

Nontrads on Twitter

Nontrad Secrets!

I ran across a great article today at the University of Miami Commuter Center.

It is called "A Nontraditional Student Shares Secrets of His Success."

In this article, Frank Koscielski, 47, shares his personal strategies for success as a nontraditional student.

One tip is to keep a tape recorder in the car. Another is to kill your TV!

Find out more here:
http://www.units.muohio.edu/saf/reslife/commuter/nontraditionalstudents.php#secrets

There are only a few links at the bottom that work. One is the GPA Calculator, and one more is the self-assessment of computer skills. Enjoy!

Nontrad Students in college - 11 more tips for success!

By Elizabeth Sheppard

Here are some tips for you nontraditional students in college right now or thinking about it. Some tips are just for face-to-face class students, but others will work for both in-class and online students.

1. Attend every class. (for online students, go online every time the instructor has scheduled.)

If you attended college before when you were younger, you might remember sometimes skipping class. After that, you might have asked a classmate to tell you what happened that day. I know when I did this, a fellow student might say “nothing much!”

Then, later, when it was test or quiz time, there were some questions that I just didn’t know how to answer. Oops!

That was back in the “bad ol’ days.” Much later, when I went back to school as a nontrad student, I knew that I needed every break I could get, so I just didn’t skip. Period.

2. Get to class early if you can. Online students, sometimes it might takea awhile for your computer to link up to the other computers if you are taking an online discussion class. Make sure you leave enough time to be online when class starts.

Face-to-face students: being early sometimes can help you make friends in class because you will be able to talk before class. Use this time to set up study groups or exchange phone numbers.

3. Keep a well-organized class notes folder, and take notes in class.

Online students: make sure you save every online session if possible.

Classroom students: You may choose to tape your lectures if you are an audio learner. Or you may just want to take notes in your notebook. Either way, make sure you keep some kind of record of each class to review before exams.

Keep your folder with you always. Label your folder with your name and phone number in case you lose it. (Always check after each class to make sure you put it in your backpack or the same location every time.)

4. Ask questions if you don’t understand something. Too many times, people won’t ask a question in class or online because they don’t want to look stupid. Believe me, the question you ask will probably be one that at least two or more people WANT to ask but are afraid to.

And if you ask it, the instructor will not mind at all. They want to be understood, and will most likely be very glad you brought it up.

And who cares what people think, anyhow? I know personally I used to care about that a lot more in the past than I do now. Maybe that’s because I’m older and realize that I’m not going to get everyone to like me anyhow, no matter what I do, stupid or not.

5. Don’t be afraid to highlight or underline in your textbooks.

I used to be afraid to mark in my textbooks. I just didn’t want to wreck them. I guess it was an echo from high school - - my teachers usually forbid any marking in a book back then.

But if it will help you remember something, or go right to it before a test, go ahead and mark it. It will help you get a better grade.

6. Sit in the front of the class. Remember when you didn’t want to be seen in class? If you are in a face-to-face class, it’s now OK to be in front. You can see and hear the instructor better, and he or she will probably remember you, too. It doesn’t hurt to get as many points as you can (without making the class hate you, of course…) Why not stack the deck in your favor?

7. Keep your hand down sometimes. Yes, you may always want to raise your hand in class every question the instructor asks… but let the other students have some time to talk, too. It’s too easy to forget that other people want to interact, too. Realize when you are talking too much and try to let others have their chance.

8. Exchange phone numbers with other students. If you aren’t able to access other student’s information, like their phone numbers, take the initiative and do it yourself. You should have at least three other students’ phone numbers in case you are ever sick or need information about class. Give them your number, and ask for theirs. Most people will be glad to have a contact also.

9. Search out clubs or organizations. If you have even a little extra time, you need to look up student groups that you can join. The addition of a social network at school can make school a lot more fun.

Many schools are now providing a nontraditional student group or center for nontraditional students to meet each other. If your school does not offer a group, you will find that many other student groups now are welcoming nontrads. Ask them and find out.

10. Back up your work. Make sure that you have an extra copy saved of that report, thesis, term paper, observation notes, etc. I remember several times that other students lost their computer disk the very week it was due. These students were in a world of hurt and had to make everything up in just a few days. They were devastated. I saw a few crying when they found out.

Don’t let this happen to you. Always make a backup of your computer work and save it in a safe place just in case. Think of it as insurance.

11. Know where your classes are. Before you finalize your schedule, make sure you know where you need to be at what time. It may look like you have plenty of time to get across campus in, say, 10 minutes, but make sure you can get there. Some classes may be in buildings way across campus from each other, and you will be late to one class all the time if you are not careful.

Have another tip? Just add a comment here and I'll put it on the next Tips List. Thanks!

For more tips, help and info.:

See the Nontrad Page or
Join the Nontrad Yahoo group

Five calendar tips for nontraditional students


FIVE CALENDAR TIPS
for nontraditional students


These calendar tips will help nontraditional students find their way when they are first starting back to school.

1. Buy a personal schedule book and calendar. You don't have to get an expensive one, but do get a current one with plenty of room for all assignments.

You can also get an erasable calendar to put up on your front door, or just use your small calendar that will fit into your book back or purse. You will be surprised how much this calendar will help you with assignments and scheduling.

2. Write all your assignment due dates down on the calendar, and then work backwards from the due date to chop each assignment into manageable pieces. For instance, put "look up references" on your calendar so you can get that step done before your essay or report is due.

You will find that keeping up with notebooks and starting assignments early will really help you come "crunch" time. Then instead of cramming everything into one week, you will stay calm and collected and be able to study a lot more.

3. Put your class locations, room number, building and times on the front of your calendar. Also, put the teacher's name there. You will be surprised how much this will help. I know I did not memorize each teacher's name for awhile, and used my class location and time information every day.

4. Put at least one other student's name and contact information in your calendar, and note which class they are in. This will save your booty when you are sick or miss some inportant information in class.

5. (VERY important) Look at your calendar EVERY DAY. Do not ever forget a day. And look ahead in the calendar so you know what is coming up.

I hope this calendar guide is helpful!

Nontraditionally yours,
Elizabeth

See some great PowerPoints online at the Austin Peay site

PowerPoints on Interesting Subjects


I found some PowerPoints today while researching Nontraditional student groups to put on the Nontrad site.

They are at the Austin Peay University Site. (Just click to go there.)

Included here are PowerPoints on Stress Management for Test Takers, Time Management, Strengthening Relationships, and more.

They are perfect for non-traditional students!

You can view them using Microsoft Powerpoint or the free viewer, available here.

I hope you like them!

___________________________________
More Links for the Nontrad Student:

The Nontraditional Student website

The Nontraditional Student Yahoo group

Download the free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer here.

The header for this week's blog was made with clipart at the Microsoft Site.


AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Subscribe in a reader

What are the top Nontraditional Student issues?

WHAT OTHER PAGES SHOULD GO ON THE NONTRAD SITE?
I put a box on the Nontraditional Student site on the first page asking what other non-traditional students would like to have as the next page on the site.

So far, 19 people have voted. Here are the top three subjects people would like to see on the site:

1. The Best Schools for Nontraditional Students
2. Nontraditional Student Homework Help
3. This is a tie - with three ideas, Motivation, Time Savers, and Jobs and Home Businesses.

I also have another poll - Top Issues, which is located down the right side on this blog. The number one issue that people have voted for as Most Important is Keeping Up with Job and Family Responsibilities.

For nontraditional students who would like to talk about these issues and more, there is a Yahoo Nontrads Group that is open to new members.

That's it for today. Good luck, nontraditional students, on all the juggling you do with school, home, work, and more. Check out the links below to find out more.

The Yahoo Nontrads Group

The Nontraditional Student website

Email me with ideas for this blog

Later, gators!



AddThis Social Bookmark Button


Subscribe in a reader

10 New Year's Questions Just for Non-Traditional Students

Photo by siilur@morguefile.com

If you are like me, you will make a list of things you want to accomplish in 2008. In order to make that list, you have to ask yourself some important questions.

TEN (10) IMPORTANT QUESTIONS FOR NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS FOR THE NEW YEAR

Here are 10 questions you can ask yourself in order to find out if you have your priorities in order for the new year - - 2008.

1. Are you taking courses that will point you towards a job or career that you will like, or even love? If you are not sure about what you want to do, you can take a Tickle test online.

2. Are you taking time out once in awhile for your family and for yourself while you are in school?
3. Have you pre-registered for classes? This can often be done online now. Make sure to pre-register at the earliest date possible, so you can get your required classes.

4. Have you contacted the loan department at your school? Sometimes they must get your OK'd student loan notice via email before you can register online.

5. Are you organized? Have you bought all the books, notebooks, and supplies you will need for next semester? It's always better to buy these early. You will also want to print out all the syllabi for each class.

6. Have you taken a Learning Styles test? If not, you can take one here.

7. Did you arrange to pay for school next semester? You can check out your options at the official FAFSA site, and you can also check out the Scholarship Page at the Non-Traditional Students site.

8. Have you joined a local Non-traditional students group? You can search for groups on the Non-Trads site, or you can start a group yourself, and list it when you are done.

9. Is all your paperwork in order at your school? If you are not sure, you need to contact your school advisor to check this out. That way, you don't miss a class or prerequisite you might need.

10. Does your alarm clock have new batteries? Also, do you own a backup alarm? This may help you if you have face-to-face classes next semester.

11. You can add your own questions and hints for non-traditional students by adding comments below this post. Thanks - and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Digg!

Study Groups for Non-traditional Students


Greetings, fellow non-traditional students and those who are thinking about becoming non-traditional students. Today I am going to talk about my study groups that I made while in college for the second time, as an older student.

This is the second time I've chosen to talk about study groups. I did so once in November as well. I really think they are important, and can make the difference of at least ONE GRADE POINT every time you use them.

ABOUT STUDY GROUPS - AND WHY THEY CAN BE HARD TO START
I have had a request to talk about study groups. A writer recently told me that organizing or having a study group was almost impossible for him because everyone lived so far apart. My experience of using study groups was in a face-to-face class. We had the same difficulty in getting people together. For one thing, we lived in different areas. Although everyone could make it to class, some people had a very long drive to class. Coming in to campus on another day was hard at times. It was also hard to just come out and say, "Hi! Would you like to be in a study group for this class?" - but once I got into the habit of it, it wasn't as hard as the first time.

CHOOSING A GOOD TIME TO HAVE A STUDY MEETING
Everyone got together after class to decide when our study group would meet. Some people wanted to have the study group meet after class. Some wanted to meet before class (that was my idea). Others thought meeting an extra time before a test of quiz would be helpful. We decided to meet before class every week or two. This would not require an extra commute to school, and it was handy to meet at an area in the same building.

DIVIDING UP THE WORK
We had some hard tests and quizzes to prepare for; so we divided the work in to sections. One person covered one subject, and the others did others. We made quiz cards up and brought them to the study group meeting. We then quizzed each other, using the cards. This helped a lot to focus in on what we did and didn't know - and helped each of us know what we needed to study the most. Plus, making the cards helped us learn the material. We also helped each other by reminding each other about assignments and answered each other's questions.

MAKING THE MEETINGS
Sometimes, work or family responsibilities interfered with meetings, and some people could not come to one or more meetings. But usually, we still had enough people there to make each study group worthwhile.

SOME PEOPLE SAID NO
When I asked people around me in class if they wanted to be in a study group, some people just said no. I didn't let this bother me. Even if only 2 or 3 people would be interested, it still was a big enough group. The biggest group we had was about 6 people.

WHAT MY STUDY GROUPS ACCOMPLISHED
I truly believe that having a study group for class (especially a difficult class) made a huge difference in my grade. I think it helped at least one grade mark. Somehow talking with others and hearing what they thought would be on the test really made me remember facts a lot better than just trying to cram them in on my own.

AN ADDED BENEFIT TO STUDY GROUPS
Also, I believe that I really connected better with other students by being in a study group with them. We would sometimes talk about other things besides class, and that made the study groups a lot more fun. Most of the people in each group were a lot younger, but when we had the time (at study group time) to get to know each other, it also made going to class and studying a lot more fun. I now had people I actually KNEW in class with me. And today I still have some of the students who were in my study groups in my friends list in Facebook. I feel like I really made friends this way.

So... I would definitely recommend trying this if you are taking a face-to-face class. In an online class, it also would not hurt. You could get together online before or after class, or choose to call each other on the phone to touch base. I think it would definitely help.

Bucknall's Refuge

BUCKNALL'S REFUGE:

This is a great website - and perfect for non-traditional students to check out - that I rechecked tonight.

He has some books for sale, but FREE books and articles to download on his site, too, among which are the classic


"How to Succeed as a Student"
(#1 on the list) and

"Mature Students - University Certainly is for You" (#13).

Bucknall calls himself an "ancient academic" which I find very funny.

He is mostly interested in economics, it seems. He has put a little bookworm that crawls in and out of his webpage and tips its hat, which makes going to his site even more worthwhile.

Complete with photos, Bucknall's Refuge is a fun website that I highly recommend. I have read the "How to Succeed" ebook already.

If you didn't already click on the link above, here is the link to Bucknall's Refuge website again so you can check it out for yourself.

More about Study Groups

This photo is from Clarita@morguefile.com. She has a website at http://community.webshots.com/user/clarita137. She lives in Rome.

Today I want to remind non-traditional students about the power of study groups. I was in several study groups when I was a non-traditional student at Western Ky. University. They really helped me prepare for tests, share the workload, and see things from other points of view.

Also, I felt like I was making important connections that I still have today.

There is a great article on study groups here at About.com:
http://adulted.about.com/od/studysmart/a/study_groups.htm

In the article, Sharon Daugherty shares her views about study groups and why they help non-traditional students. She suggests picking a diverse group because then you will get many different takes on the same lessons. Also, each member will tend to excel in a different area.

It's not necessary to "go it alone" when you are in school. My advice is to take advantage of a study group for every class if you can. If there is not already a study group you can join, you can make your own. Simply ask people in the class if they would like to be in a study group. You may be surprised at the positive response.