Learning Profile

There were many themes throughout the book. The first important theme was "adjusting to the culture of college." This involves adjusting from the high school setting to the college setting. College has the "Freedom Trap" where some students take advantage of the new-found freedom they have away from parents and it causes problems for them in school. Attendance is not taken as closely as it was in high school and many professors leave it up to the student to learn material and be successful in the class. Because of this students have to learn how to manage their own schedule and time. Goal setting is another part of adjusting to college. A number of different things can help with this. Surrounding themselves with positive, driven people, overcoming their fears, and moving out of their comfort zone are a few things that can help students reach their goals. Another common theme is "management;" this includes management of time and schedule to keep stress levels low. Along with this comes procrastination; procrastination destroys time management and is what causes stress. Not planning out things and waiting till the last second on tests and projects can cause a lot of stress. Management also includes managing college resources and money. Things like counseling, advising, and financial aid are all available at the college. In the financial aid department students can get information and apply for work study, loans, grants, and scholarships. All these things can help students pay for their college. Budgeting and managing their money is also important. Cutting down on spending and only getting things that are essential will help with excess spending of money. Also avoiding credit cards can help students stay away from debt. Having credit cards can seem like free money when they are really just spending money they don't have. The next theme is "knowing what works for you." Knowing the best ways to study and read to get the most out of the information is essential when preparing for tests. By knowing this students can cut down on study time and learn more in a short amount of time. Other things that are helpful are developing a note-taking system that is good for the student, coming up with test-taking and problem solving tactics, and becoming an active learner. The last theme is "prosper." Planning careers for the future and a student knowing their strengths and how to use them in a career can help them become successful. Keeping an open mind to things (which is developed in college) is something that will help students all through their life. Also by keeping an open mind it can form supportive relationships that students can depend on and help them make important decisions in life.

One of my strengths as a learner is to get things done completely to the best of my ability. I always put through a lot of effort whether it be a project or just an assignment I will get it done. Another strength is my note-taking. I can write down things in ways I know I will remember later. I also write them down so it is easy for me to study them later before a test. This leads me to studying for tests. I know how to study for tests for different subjects; for example when I study for my chemistry tests (which is my main subject) I read and take notes over the chapter the test is over. I don't do this the night before I do it gradually throughout the time we are learning the material. The next thing I do, usually about three days before the test, is complete all the suggested practice questions from the book. I always do them and then check and see if they are right before moving on. Finally the night or two before the test I look over my notes and see if there is anything I need to look at more in depth. One thing a student new to this class can use to learn is knowing how to manage their time according to their own personal schedule. Cramming and procrastinating will prevent the student from really learning the material. Another thing that would help them is to always keep an open mind to different classes, instructors, and students. Getting caught up in things that are different from your own beliefs can interfere with your learning and even enjoyment of college. Keeping an open mind can allow you to learn new things.

My main weakness as a learner is my reading. My main problem is reading things and comprehending them right away. I tend to read to quickly and then not realize what I read. I have to read things more than once and this makes me take extra time when studying just to read. I also get distracted when I read. My mind likes to wander and think about other things when I read, especially if I am not very interested in it. The skill of reading and comprehending is definitely something I wish I had. It would cut down on a lot of time when studying and it would make studying a lot easier. Another weakness I have at times is procrastination. I am very good and getting things done but sometimes I do not feel like doing homework and when this happens I put things off. If I am supposed to study for a test in a subject that I do not enjoy I sometimes put off studying until the night before the test. This is the same with long term homework assignments and projects. One main thing I have struggled with this semester is lab reports. I always get them done but I usually do them the day before they are do instead of doing them as we complete them in class. We always have a lab test over certain labs and the day of the lab test is when they are due. To get more out of courses in the future I need to work on my reading comprehension skills and learn to not procrastinate no matter how uninteresting the topic is.

My personality type is something that I learned from this class. Knowing what works for me and how I can learn things my way will help me through all of my life. Setting up schedules to manage my time and activities to reduce stress is also an important still that I read from the book and through the time management paragraph. My most important realization was when we explored careers on the Internet after taking the tests which matched my interests with careers that would work well with them. I got the chance to explore careers that fit my strengths and interests and I looked up careers that I didn't know very much information about and opened my mind to new paths. Also looking more into the steps to becoming a pharmacist for the academic plan paragraph helped my realize everything I need to do to prepare. I looked more in depth at the classes I am supposed to take so when I am signing up for classes I have a general knowledge of what I need to be in and I don't have to depend on someone else to know what they are doing. This is important to me because it is my future and it is stuff I need to be doing to be successful in life and to reach my goals. The most important skill I learned from this class was completing the reading exercises on the computer. It made me realize I need to work on it. I found ways to work on is and now I feel like my reading ability has progressed. This is significant because I will use reading all the way through college and all the way through life.

As I mentioned in the last paragraph I feel the reading exercises were relevant to my life because it exposed one of my weaknesses as a learner that I needed to pay attention to. The presentation of the online databases will help me as I continue being a student at Butler. If I had not had that presentation I wouldn't even know they are there for me to use. The career searching definitely had a relevance to my life because it concerns my future as a student and even afterwards. I am sure it had the same relevance to everyone else in the class also. One thing I felt was not very relevant to my own life was the butler resources paragraph. The case studies really didn't relate to me at all so it doesn't really have an impact on me personally and they aren't things that I could use. They may have helped another student that could identify with these problems or gave them information that they could give to a friend but I don't even have a friend that identifies with any of the case studies. Also some of the group discussions were not relevant because sometimes people were not willing to talk in the group and it is difficult to have discussions when no one talks. Sometimes we would start talking but it wasn't really about the subject and I never learned anything new from the group discussions.

In terms of the content I feel that the community service part should be dropped. It was nice learning about different things to do in the community and was others have done but many students don't have time to do community service and if they really wanted to take action for something and volunteer it would not be hard to research it on their own. The coping with change subject would have been more relevant (in terms of how to deal with change) if it was the beginning of the semester instead of the middle when most of us have already figured out how to handle things. The career section should be kept. Many students are undecided in their major and they can use this to explore options of careers. Something that could be added to the content that is especially relevant to the second half of the semester is how to prepare for finals and how to take them. Anything from reducing stress before finals to how to study for them could have been useful. One of the activities I think should be kept in the course is the reading assessment. I think everyone in the class benefited from this. The group activity that was a career checklist for personality types should be taken out. Sometimes the personality tests are not always correct and coming up with careers off the top of our heads is difficult to do. Interests and strengths better determine what career I want. I feel that the evaluation of the class was good. I liked the way we could do the blog on our own time. The rubrics are okay but I did not enjoy trying to hurry and just write something down to answer the rubric questions at the very end of the hour especially if I am trying to complete a different assignment from the class. Something I would suggest is making sure to discuss the 250-word paragraphs, i.e. linking websites and what you are looking for, in class rather than have us guess what we are supposed to do.

One major part of being successful in this class is not procrastinating. They need to make sure and do the paragraphs on the blog as the class progresses. Putting them off increases the work load and ability to complete the assignments fully and to the best of their ability. It is easier if towards the close of the class they do not have a major work load and they can relax more knowing they have it all done. Another thing is to stay on task in class and get as much work done as possible in class so there is less to do outside of class. Again this decreases the work load that they would have to do on their own time and keeps stress at a minimum. One suggestion for writing the paragraphs on the blog is to jot down ideas that address the particular issue and answer all of the required questions along with finding websites that also address each things they talk about in the paragraph. Having it all written out beforehand makes the paragraphs more organized and it makes it quicker to complete them. One quote I would go by in this class is "Just do the work!" Get all the required work done even if they do not think it is relevant to anything still do it and surprisingly they may learn something they didn't think they would learn from the assignment. This goes back to always keeping an open mind and doing these assignments to the best of their ability will allow them to expand their knowledge about many things.

This course taught me to complete assignments on time and by getting them done it was less stressful. I also learned things about my particular learning style and personality which is something I will always keep in mind and work on my weaknesses to become a more rounded person. Learning how to use the Butler "My Courses" tab will help me for any other classes that may require me to utilize it. If I had not used it in this class I wouldn't know how to use it for other classes. Although not all of the group discussions were very in depth some of them were relevant. I learned how to have group discussions about some topics and I learned how to keep an open mind to every one's ideas. Later in life I will be able to always be open to others so I can learn new things and they can learn from me. The group discussions helped me to find ways to communicate effectively with others which is always an important ability to possess especially if you what to get a point across to someone. Managing my time is something that will always help me live my life with ease. Throughout college with all the tests and assignments and then adding to that all of the appointments, daily plans, and work schedule being able to manage my time to each thing will reduce stress and help me keep my life in control. When I group up and have children I will be able to manage all their activities along with any of mine and making them all work together. Disorganization is not the way I want to live my life because it would cause too much unneeded chaos.

Butler Resources

The student in case study #4 can get help in a number of different ways. He has many problems that are going on in his life and at Butler he can go to student counseling and a counselor will help him figure things out and help give him strategies to get his life back on track. The counselor may suggest that he needs to get tutoring to help him with his grades. There are a number of different ways he can get help; he can talk to a fellow classmate who is doing well in his business classes or he can go to peer tutoring. At peer tutoring he can get one on one help from a fellow student who has volunteered their time to help other students. Something else that might help him is to get involved in other things at Butler. Going to student activities and meeting new people who aren't always going out and partying can help him get back on track. The student activities calendar shows many different events he can go to. Another good thing for Damon to get involved in is Phi Beta Lambda, it is a special organization for business majors and here he would be around people who are in to what he is and can help him with his classes. Finally the case study addressed that he was unsure of how to take good notes in class. This website has excellent guidelines that will help him out as he is trying to improve his notetaking.

Academic Honesty

Academic honesty is an issue all across the united states. It is found all the way down in middle school up to colleges and universities. It is defined as any behavior or act that implies an intent to make someone believe what is not true, as by giving a false appearance. This website is from Washington University and it has a good overview of what academic honesty is and the different kinds of things that are dishonest. It also contains the repercussions that Washington University inflicts for cheating. Plagiarism is the most common type of cheating. Dictionary.com defines plagiarism as "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." Ways to avoid plagiarism are to summarize information in your own words, to use statements that credits the source, or to use quotations around words or phrases that you don't want to change. Other suggestions can be found on this website from Purdue Univeristy; it explains safe practices for plagiarism. Many students commit plagiarism on accident. A lot of times students will be researching to write a paper and will use sentences and parts of their research in their own paper. Also by citing a lot of resources in their paper it makes their information seem more credible but too many quotations and using parts of others work without giving them credit for it can cause plagiarism. Some students resort to plagiarism and cheating because of pressure that is put on them to get good grades. It also seems that it has been more acceptable because "helping" friends on tests does not seem like cheating to many students. There are also reasons like poor work ethic and not enough time to come up with their own original work. The website Why Students Cheat from the University of British Columbia explains many common reasons why students commit the act of cheating. Many students think it is okay to cheat if they can easily get away with it but building this kind of mind set can effect them later in life. If they don't learn how to do things honestly then they will not know how to do anything correctly in the long run. As courses get harder and more demanding it is important to know how to do your own work and do it well. This website explains the benefits to academic honesty and why it is important for the future to maintain it now.

Academic Plan

Here at Butler I am taking classes to eventually transfer to a university and get into Pharmacy School. Right now I am on KU's Pre-Pharmacy curriculum; after I complete the requirements I have to take the PCAT test and score high on it to be eligible. This website explains the steps to becoming a pharmacist. The last two years in high school I took four classes (Speech, Lit & Comp, College Algebra, and Calculus) and got college credit for them so now I have room to take my art classes on the side. These classes aren't necessarily going to any degree but they are for my enjoyment and provide an extra source for money with the scholarship. After I leave Butler and complete all of my Pre-Pharmacy classes I can start an intership at different places. Some places offer a program where they pay for the tuition in Pharmacy School if one works for them for a set number of years. Others will take someone after they complete school and have a higher starting salary. This is a link that explains Walmart's intership program. Walgreen's intership is a little different and this is their link. I am one of the college students that knows what I want to do and what classes I am required to take but there are many students who are undecided on a career and what direction they should be going. Different websites help these students to find what they are good at and what jobs would be good for their strengths. This website is about career decision making and it includes a checklist for career searching and frequently asked questions and answers to these questions.

Community Service

One issue that is concerning the nation currently is animal abuse. The most recent case that was all over the news is Mike Vick's case of dog fighting which is a form of animal cruelty. Animal abuse can be so graphic sometimes that people don't want to think about it but the people that are committing this crime in large masses cause people to open their eyes about this issue. Each state has its own rules relating to animal abuse. Some states call it a felony, some call it a misdemeanor. Many states are starting to take action and impose stricter laws. Some states like Nevada require counseling or psychological treatment for a child who committs animal cruelty. Arkansas is trying to increase their animal cruelty laws from a maximum fine of $1,000 and a year in jail to a Class D felony which means fines up to $10,000 and six years in jail for adult offenders. The main opposition to these actions is the complaint of laws being to vague. Contrary to this a vague law allows judges to decide with a series of cases what exaclty is animal cruelty and what isn't. Many laws are built up in this fashion. One case where offenders were not prosecuted was when two adults beat two of their dogs to death with aluminum bats because they were worried the dogs barking would cause them to be evicted. They were not prosecuted because it was argued that the dogs were killed instantly and they did not suffer while being beaten. It was said that because the dogs were killed instantly it would b the same as killing the dogs through injection. We can all take action through the community to help keep stories like these from happening. One way to help is to volunteer at a local animal shelter to help the animals that are being abused. El Dorado has a local animal shelter where pets can be rescued and put up for adoption. Another way is to keep an eye out for dogs that look mistreated and to get it reported as soon as possible. ASPCA is a nation wide organization that is a society created to prevent cruelty to animals. There are steps to reporting animal cruelty in different places. This website describes ways to file a report in different states. On ASPCA's website you can do anything from finding information about adoption to starting your own shelter. The reason most of the stricter laws are passed in different states is because of action from people. By going out and showing support for stricter laws we can get them passed and help to stop animal cruelty.

Time Management

When I left for Butler I gained more responsibilites since I am living on my own. Academically I have to take hard classes and keep very good grades to be able to be eligible to go to Pharmacy School. I also have the responsibility of being on the softball team; which is like my job. It is paying for my school which is what a job would do. I have to work practices, games, and study halls into my schedule. Also I have a committment to my family to go home and visit them on occassion. I will go home for holidays, birthdays, or some other event. Because I usually go home on the weekends I have to learn to manage time between family and new friends. I didn't come here with very many friends so if I don't stay some weekends to go places I won't ever get close to anyone. Most of the time when I fail to manage my time properly I procrastinate and put things like projects off till the last minute. Instead of working on homework I will hang out with friends or do something else. When all of my responsibilities seem like they are just building up on each other it causes me to stress out and to not enjoy myself. To be able to handle all these things I have to stay very organized and keep track of all my important events that I have to attend. Also by understanding my own lifestyle and how I study I can play time to study and to go out with friends. By studying a little every night I can eliminate the need to cram study for tests or cramming to get projects done. College is a lot different from high school in that there is more flexibility with school work and going to class. I think I have been adjusting pretty well so far to this new kind of time management. Without time management I would not be able to balance all my responsibilities successfully.

Coping with Change

This past year the biggest change I have gone through was moving away from home and going to college. At first it was hard to adjust to living in my own apartment and not knowing very many people. There were times when I was very homesick and missed my family, friends, and the easy structure of high school. Now in college there is so much more freedom that sometimes it is hard to keep priorities straight and to always be successful. My parents aren't there to always tell me to do homework or check on my grades; it is up to me to do that on my own. The website from students first has very good tips with adjusting to college with different solutions to different topics; the page is provided by counseling services just for college students. College softball is also very different compared to high school softball and summer softball. It is more demanding of time and much more challenging. There is a lot more competition and I have to work harder to earn a spot on the team and to keep earning my scholarship that pays for my education. Because my major is pharmacy I have to take more challenging classes and work hard to keep good grades and with softball and my art scholarship I have had to learn to change my time management so I still have time to enjoy my life. If I was to just give up and decide not to work hard or not adjust to change then I would be unsuccessful with both school and softball. I have to have the drive to change and allow myself to be flexible and learn new things.