Category: No Pain No Gain

Goals are great. Amen.

In order to set goals that can be achieved, your goals should be:

-Realistic: Can the goal be achieved? If not, how can the goal be divided into smaller goals? You should try to have short-term, intermediate, and long-term academic goals. A short-term goal is one that you will achieve within the next few days. Intermediate goals are ones that you will achieve within the next few weeks or months. A long-term goal is one that will take longer still, perhaps a fee months or even years. Most people make the mistake of making only intermediate and long-term goals, but short-term goals are also important because they help you follow the progress you are making and they help you stay on track.

-Believable: Do you feel that you will be able to achieve your goal? Being confident about your ability to learn is crucial to your motivation. If you feel that a task is too difficult for you to achieve, your motivation will decrease and you might give up before you even try. Some students believe that they can succeed only in certain topics. If you find yourself believing this, take a minute to reflect on how that negatively affects your motivation to learn in those courses.

-Desirable: How much do you want to reach your goal? In order to succeed in reaching your goals, they should be goals that you really desire. Then, learning will be particularly rewarding or enjoyable to you and it will be easier to achieve. Your goal may be to graduate from college within four years and to land a good job in your field, but you must have the desire for success to reach that type of goal.

-Measurable: How will you know whether or when your goal has been met? Some goals are easy to measure. If your goal is to lose 10 pounds, you will know whether your goal has been met when you weigh yourself. However, sometimes learning goals are not so easy toes sure, so you need to set some standards to help you measure your progress. This may be as simple as taking a few minutes to think about what you have learned after each study session or it may include a more in-depth assessment. In general, you will need more checks of your progress for long-term goals than for short-term goals.

Read this wonderful section from the book ,

You may not realize it but you are always motivated. No matter where you are or what you are doing, you are always motivated to do something even if it’s just sleeping. Focusing your motivation on learning, however, may be challenging sometimes.

It’s important to understand right from the beginning that you are responsible for your own motivation, even in courses that you don’t like. Although an interesting instructor makes it easier for you do stay motivated, no one can directly motivate you to learn. But given that you are always motivated to do something and that you are primarily responsible for your motivation, there are some differences between students who are motivated to learn and students who are not.

You may have heard the terms INTRINSIC and EXTRINSIC, especially as they relate to motivation. Intrinsic motivation occurs when the activity is its own reward. For example, some people read for the sheer enjoyment, others like to calculate numbers for the pleasure of it. Still others like to conduct experiments for the thrill of discovery. Think of intrinsic privation as being curious about something or doing something you choose to do.

Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, occurs when your incentive is a reward, such as grades or praise. Think of extrinsic motivation as trying to “get it done” rather than for the sake of learning. For example, you may be failing organic chemistry, but when the professor offers an extra credit assignment, you decide to do it even though you are not motivated to learn in the course. In this case, you are extrinsically motivated to earn extra credit points that can boost your course grade rather than by learning organic chemistry for the sheer pleasure of it.

The more you are intrinsically motivated to learn, the easier learning will be for you. The key to becoming intrinsically motivated, even in classes you don’t particularly like, is to find SOMETHING about the course that you find motivating and try to focus on the positives about the course rather than the negatives. It also helps to focus more in understanding the concepts to be learned rather than focusing solely on grades.

Excerpt from College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.

Is it hard for you to be motivated? Learn what influences motivation and find reasons as to why you aren’t motivated.

1. The amount of choice you have about what you are learning. Sometimes your professors will offer you several projects to choose from, or sometimes they will even ask you to choose what topics will be Cortes. Choices like these will help to increase your motivation. However, even if you are not given choices about the class content, college offers you many choices about what you will learn. You choose your major, and to a certain extent you choose the courses you will take, and your course schedule.

2. Your desire to learn. It’s likely that because you are currently enrolled in college you do want to learn, but sometimes you might be required to take courses that you are not particularly interested in.

3. How much you value the subject to be learned. The more you believe the subject to be worthwhile, the easier it will be to become motivated. For example, many colleges require students to take at least one foreign language course. If you believe that it is valuable to learn another language you will feel motivated-perhaps even enough to take a second course. However, if you do not, you may have a harder time motivating yourself to learn in your language course.

Excerpt from College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.

We know, it is darn hard to make yourself follow a schedule that involves things you don’t necessarily want to do. Check out these tips and you’ll be excited when it’s time to study……or maybe not.

-plan to study when you are most alert. If you find that you are tired or you cant concentrate when you study, you probably are not studying at your most alert time. Try to find some blocks of time that are naturally best for you. Some students study best at night, others study best first thing in the morning. Test several times of the day to find out when you are the most ready to study. Experiment with times that you might not initially think are your best times of day-you may surprise yourself and be a morning (or night) person after all.

-spend some time every day on each course you are taking. Even when you don’t have an assignment due, plan some time each day to read the text, review your notes, an prepare for the next class. If you are taking classes that require problem solving such as math or chemistry, it is a good idea to work some problems each night. If you are taking a language class, plan to review new vocabulary or work on verb conjugation every day. By spending some time every day you won’t have to cram for exams because you will always be caught up.

-be specific. The more specific you can be when planning your study schedule, the better because you will know exactly what you need to do each time to study. When you create your schedule, don’t just write down “study.” Instead, write “Read psychology text pages 219-230.”

-prioritize. When you make your schedule, it is helpful to prioritize what you have to do. You might want to label your assignments as “high,” “medium,” or “low” priority.

-make “To Do” lists.

-borrow time-don’t steal it. If you decide to go out for a pizza instead of spending an hour reading your psychology chapter-great. But remember that it’s important to just borrow that time. Be sure to add the activity you missed to your schedule or “to do” list for the next day so that you can make up that time.

-use the time between your classes. Many times students don’t know where all their time goes-an hour in-between classes, two hours between school and work, 15 minutes before classes begin-all of this time adds up and it is useful for getting your work done. You can read for class during hour breaks, review your notes while you are waiting for class to begin, use the time between lunch and class to review, or even meet with a study group in the laundromat. Don’t let this time get “lost.”

-schedule studying breaks. If you plan to study for more than an hour or so at a time, schedule a 10-15 minute break for each hour and a half to two hours of study. You should also plan short breaks when switching from one topic to another so you can give yourself some time to refocus. But be careful that your short breaks don’t turn into long breaks.

-take some time off. Many students feel guilty when they take time off because they are always thinking about the things they “should be doing” such as working on that chemistry lab assignment. But when you have a good schedule, you will be able to reward yourself by taking time off without guilt because you know that you have planned time to get all of your assignments done. So after you have completed your work-relax and enjoy yourself, you deserve it. In fact, you should plan some free time when creating your schedule.

-don’t spin your wheels. If you are having trouble in a course, get some assistance. Seek help from a tutor, a professor, or a friend, anyone who might be able to help. There is nothing that gets in the way of managing your time more than wasting it worrying, rather than doing something productive so that you can be on too of things in a course that is difficult for you. It’s important to get help if you need it and get back on track before you fall too far behind to catch up.

Excerpt from College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.

Once you’re done finally managing yourself-we knew you could do it-learn to manage your time. You have so much time to get your stuff done. Insert some deep quote about the mystery of time here. Let’s get started.

To manage your time effectively, you will need to determine three important pieces of information:

1. What do you need to accomplish? Consider the classes you must attend each week, your work schedule, social commitments, class assignments, and so forth. One of the hardest problems to figure out is how much time an assignment will take. Some of the ability to know how long things will take comes with experience, but the following general rule may help you plan your time: THINGS ALWAYS TAKE LONGER THAN YOU THINK THEY WILL.

2. What things do you currently do that waste your time? Before you can figure out how to spend your time effectively, you need to find out if and how you are wasting time. To do this, think about how you currently spend your days. Are there some things you do that simply waste large amounts of time? How might you restructure your days so that less time is wasted?

3. How can you keep track of what you need to do? Most people who manage their time successfully say that they can’t live without their schedule book or daily planner. It helps them keep track of appointments, assignments, social commitments, and even important phone numbers. If you don’t already use some kind of schedule book invest in one today. Take your schedule book with you to class and be sure to mark down your assignments. But writing things down is only half the battle-you have to make a habit of checking your schedule book every day to see why you need to do.

Excerpt from College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.

Are you hard for yourself to manage? Well you better learn fast if you want to succeed. Yeah, I’m calling you out.

Before you can manage your time effectively, you have to be able to manage yourself. We believe that the key to self-management is being able to organize and keep track of all the things that you have to do. College life is very hectic(what are we talking about! Life in General is very hectic). You may also have a job to help pay your way through college or you may have daily family obligations. The secret to getting organized is to create a balance among school, home, work, and social life.

In order to create a balance between all the things you have to do and all the things you want to do, consider the following points:

– Treat college like a full time job. If you are a full-time student, academic work should take up about 40 hours each week. So for the next several years, consider college your full-time job. You might be in class only 15 hours per week, but the other 25 hours should be spent studying and preparing for class. If you break it down, it is really not so bad. You will spend 3-4 hours in class and 4-5 hours reading, studying, and preparing for your assignments each day. The rest of the time is left for other activities that you want to participate in or a part-time job. The good news is that unlike a full-time job, in college you have more control over when you want to schedule your classes and your study time. No one says that your studying must take place between 9:00-5:00 Monday through Friday-you are free to study whenever you want.

– Schedule your classes for your most alert times. Are you a morning person? A late afternoon person? An evening person? Are you up with the sun or are you lucky to be awake by noon? If you know you will never make it to an 8:00 AM class, don’t schedule a class for that time if possible. Likewise, if you are totally useless in the afternoon, try to schedule your courses before lunchtime. Many students don’t consider their class times as an issue to think about when making their course schedule, but because you have the luxury of creating your own schedule, you should try to tailor it to your needs as much as possible.

– Go to class. Although many professors don’t take attendance, most still believe that going to class is a very important part of learning. Students who skip a lot of classes miss out on the important part of learning. Students who skip a lot of classes miss our on the important information that they can only get in class.

– Don’t procrastinate. Procrastination is intentionally putting off work that needs to be done. This problem may actually be the toughest part of self-management for some students. Because you are in control of your own time, it is tempting to put off work until later. It’s just human nature. But you can quickly become overwhelmed by all you need to do when you continually neglect your work.  Procrastination tends to become a bad habit and a way of life for some students.

Excerpt from College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.

Now let’s talk about different learning styles. Learning styles? Yep. The different ways people learn. For me personally I learn easier by seeing things visually. Read these descriptions of each learning style and decide how you learn best.

Visual learners: those who learn best by watching or seeing. Visual learners like to be shown how to do things and often learn best through diagrams or by using imagery. If you are a visual learner,(like me!) if someone asks you how to spell a word, you probably have to write it down yourself first, rather than simply trying to spell the word in your head or out loud.

Are you a visual learner?

Auditory learners: those who learn best by listening or speaking. Auditory learners can learn easily through listening to lectures or by talking information over with a peer. If you are an auditory learner, you probably rarely miss a class lecture and you may participate in study groups for many of your courses. You may rehearse information by saying it over, either to yourself or out loud.

Are you an auditory learner?

Kinesthetic learners: those who learn best by touching or movement. Kinesthetic learners generally learn best through writing or even typing things out. If you are a Kinesthetic learner, you may rehearse information by writing it several times. You also may enjoy lab courses where there is a hands-on approach to learning. Are you a Kinesthetic learner?

Excerpt from College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.

The tasks: a factor that influences active learning.

Simply put, tasks are what your professors ask you to do. You can think of them as daily tasks, such as reading your text before you attend lectures; or larger tasks, such as preparing for various kinds of tests or writing papers. Most professors are pretty clear about what the task it. They will let you know the number of tests you will have and the kind of tests they will be. Some will even let you examine old copies of old tests or student papers so that you can see the kinds of questions they will ask or what their writing expectations are. Others will give you example test questions so that you can get an idea of how the questions will be asked.
But some professors aren’t so clear in defining course tasks. Some may even give you conflicting messages. Therefore, it is important to try to get your professor to be as clear as possible about the tasks you must undertake. If you don’t know what is expected of you, then you can’t select the proper learning strategies or the most effective way to approach your texts.

The texts: a factor that influences active learning.

Texts are crucial to learning in college. In fact, it has been estimated that 85 percent of all college learning involves reading. Whatever types of text you are expected to interact with, you should know how the particular text is organized. In most textbooks, each chapter is usually organized in the same fashion. In addition, your professor’s lectures probably follow the same organization each day. Even visual texts have organizational patterns. Once you have determined how your text is organized, learning the material becomes a much easier task.

Learning strategies: a factor that influences active learning.

Strategies for active learning have several features in common.

Strategy one: declarative knowledge.
Declarative knowledge is knowing what- what you need to do and what strategy you need to use.

Strategy two: procedural knowledge.
Procedural knowledge involves more than knowing what you should do. It is knowing how to do it.

Strategy three: conditional knowledge.
Conditional knowledge means knowing under what conditions to use certain strategies-knowing why.

Techniques to stretch your memory.
-acronyms. You can use mnemonics to learn a list by creating an acronym. This means taking the first letter of each item you are trying to memorize and making them spell something.
-imagery. Forming images is another powerful way to help you remember when you review.
-method of Loci. Imagine a place that is familiar to you. Then you walk down this path through your memory. As you proceed, you attach a piece of information you have to learn to different places and objects to help you remember it.

Excerpt from College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.

Characteristics of the learner: 1 factor that influences active learning.

As a student, you bring a variety of unique characteristics to each learning situation. These characteristics play a key role in how well you will perform, your interest in the material, and the strategies you will select to learn the course content.

-motivation is one of the most important characteristics you can bring to a learning situation. Without motivation, you would find it hard to get out of bed each morning. And you will probably experience frustration and failure as a student. General interest in the topic being studied helps, but if you are open to learning new things and expanding your interests, you will be more successful.

-background knowledge plays a role because the more you already know about a topic, the easier it is to learn. This means that it might be a good idea to select at least some courses during your first semester or two that you know a lot about.

-your ability to concentrate on what you are reading or studying also affects your learning. Everyone has times when his mind wanders and concentration is difficult. But if you frequently leave class or finish reading a chapter feeling that you got little or nothing out of it, learning may be difficult. There are things you can do to improve your concentration, however.

-your beliefs about knowledge and learning is a characteristic that is rarely discussed, but is very important. What do you believe knowledge is? Do you believe that knowledge consists of information that is transmitted from your professor to you? Or do you believe that you can be a part of creating knowledge? How you answer questions such as these influences the way you learn.
Excerpt from College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.

Whoever said active learning was dumb? Definitely NOT me. Okay, I’ve heard from some folks that learning can be boring. Well, that’s just because they’re doing it super, hecka wrong. Active learning is the real deal. Why? Well, when you are actively learning – you are actually more engaged, interested, and you actually retain the information much better.

So, when that big test or standardized exam comes up, you are ready to smack that test right up where the sun don’t shine. So, what are the Benefits of active learning, exactly?

1.  Active learning leads to higher grades, increased time to pursue extracurricular and social activities, and most importantly, gained knowledge.

2. Active learners tend to earn higher grade point averages, seek more involvement with their professors, and like to learn new things.

3. And while active learners certainly all don’t believe that they are studying simple for the “love of learning,” they are more apt to find learning new things more of a challenge than a chore or a bore.

4.  Once active learners experience academic success, they want to continue along this path of success. Being successful makes them feel good about themselves, get positive feedback form family, and often influences future goals.

Everyone knows that it’s much easier to continue to use the skills you have acquired if you get positive feedback about how you have applied those skills. Excerpt from College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.