Learning Profile

1. The student connect text book was very helpful to me during my first semester here at Butler. Overall, the book had a lot of very useful information in it. One of the most useful things in the text were the evaluations and questions that you could use to help you decide if you were a more hands on person or if you were a more visual person. I found that I was a visual person as well as a hands on person. It made me understand that by being a hands on person that I would much rather interact with what I'm studying than just read about it. Reading about a topic can be rather boring and I don't feel that I would get the same fulfillment out of the material. There were many questions to answer and by totaling up the scores you would find out what study habits were yours. I think that this course and text book should definately be taken by every freshman that goes to college world-wide because it is very useful and helps alot with every aspect that a freshman might deal with. Student Connect class and the text book that was provided helped me learn alot about not only myself but how to get organized and focused on my future.

2.
Because of the Student Connect class, I can now evaluate and analyze what I feel that my strengths are as a learner. Some activites that come very easily to me include things that I also enjoy w hich are reading, and writing, and also dealing hands on with the things that I am learning about. Class activities that come very easily to me again are reading about material as long as it is not only reading about it, pictures or diagrams that may further educate me about the material are very helpful and simplify things for me. I think I could make a student who is new to this class learn more about themselves by seeing how they reacted to learning a subject that is simply reading, and then compare it to how they would react if it were more hands on and interactive to see what kind of learner they are and what their interests are. By taking this class they will come to learn more about themselves and learn many other things such as how to organize their time in order to succeed in college and further their education. This course will benefit anyone who takes it no matter what level they are at in college, but having it my first semester of college has been so helpful to me.

3.An analysis of what you feel are your weaknesses as a learner. What capacities did you notice in other learners that you wish you had? What tasks seemed to give you the greatest difficulty or to take up the most of your time? Which of your skills and capacities do you think need most work if you are to get more out of a similar course in the future?
My weakness as a learner is definately how I manage my time. I always get distracted and I definately a procrastinator. I will of course always get my assignments done, it just is up in the air whether or not it will get done the night before it is due or a week before it is due. Mainly it all just depends on whether or not I have things going on outside of school work. I am very involved in athletics, such as volleyball here at Butler and sometimes I feel like I am struggling to keep up with not only that but with all of my school work on top of it. Other capacities in other learners that I wish I had was the ability to just sit down for two or three hours at a time to study material. I can never sit down for more than one hour at a time to try and get alot of studying down. I also wish that I had the ability to retain all of what I cram into my head at one time and keep it for the rest of my life, though I don't think I have met anyone with that talent quite yet. The thing that takes up most of my time is computer work that I have to do because I am easily distracted with all of the hype that goes on with the internet these days, my main addiction right now, sadly enough is facebook! So, definately the thing that needs the most work with me is my focus and attention, and also organization.

4.
This class has taught me alot about myself and the kind of learner that I am. I think that the main problem is my focus because I get distracted and caught up in many other things a lot. What I know now that I did not know before I came to Student Connect is that I need to seriously set aside time that is quiet and that I can focus in, and make myself sit down and study. By doing that I will get things done as long as I keep telling myself that I need to really get things done in that period of time that I set aside in order to study. Before coming to this class my mosti mportant realization concerning the subject matter of the course was that the class was going to be a HUGE bore. I thought th at this course was going to be in a huge lecture hall and we were going to go through rules and guidelines of the college. I thought that because we were all freshman we all had to take it to get used to the college and know all of the rules. The most important skill that I learned was managing my time, I feel that I have done alot better at doing so. This skill is very significant to me because without it I would never ever get any studying done and thus probably not pass any classes because of lack of studying.

5.
The one major assignment/subject that we learned about one day that was very meaningful and touching to me was when we watched the video about the girl from Nebraska that died of alcohol poisoning. The reason I found this subject so relevant to my life is because it relates very closely to one of my best friends. My best friend lost her mother to alcohol poisoning and I saw how badly it effects people. Not only are you losing a parent, but you're losing one of your best friends that would be there for you no matter what happens in life. I think that students in college forget how important that they are to this world and get caught up in alot of things that may force them in the wrong directions. Do not get me wrong, I understand that we college students like to have our fun, but it's the things that happen when we have a little too much fun that get us caught up. Topics that I found were not very relevant in this class was keeping a blog constantly, I wish we would have done more work in class rather than having to do all of this online because we also had alot of internet problems during this course.

6.
I think this course definately worked out well for the most part. I feel that some of the content should be dropped such as keeping a blog, but still you should cover the material that we have discussed in the blogs. I think that there should be more in class assignments rather than alot of take home things that have to be done online. This makes it difficult for some students who may not have the luxury of having their own computers at home. I think that more content should be covered about college experiences such as videos about issues that are happening in college such as drinking, drugs, emotions and things like that. I think that some freshman are dealing with alot of change so quickly and they think that there is something wrong with them, I think that videos will help them learn to deal with change better. I also think that the rubrics that we had to fill out for the class should be eliminated because they also counted for a quarter of our overall grade and alot of the time students may have forgotten to pick them up and therefore may have been counted absent for that class period.

7.
A summary of what I think other students who take this course in the future should know about how to survive and flourish in this course...
The theme that I will definately write about is "The words that you should hang on a sign above your desk about how you make it through this course." First off, I definately struggled making to class alot of the time. I will admit that I got a bit lazy, but I started coming and it was defiantely good for me, and my grade of course! The words that you should hang on a sign about your desk about how to make it through this course in my situation would be: WAKE UP, It's an easy class! And that's definately what it is, there's nothing hard about it, the only thing that may be hard to some is that it's too easy, if that makes any sense to anyone! The course actually goes by very fast, and you'll be relieved with your decision to show up and learn the material because it's not hard, and everyone is capable of doing it. So for procrastinators like me, though I'm not as much of one as I was before this course keep this in mind: It's not even a full semester class so just go to it and before you know it, it's over with and you're happy you went!

8.
Because of this course I will do alot of things differently I think this year and probably keep the habit of doing them throughout life. One main thing, again, is managing my time better and not putting off things as much as I have in the past. Another is if I do put things off, make myself sit down and get it all done and make sure that I do just as good of a job as I would if I would have done it a month ago! Anoter thing that is cool about this course is that you do alot of interacting with the other students, that are new to the school and you get to know a lot about them, and meet new people and friends. I know that I made a few friends and got to know them better by being with them in class a couple days every week. The instructor as well gets to know alot about the class and the students in it individually and that is one of the really cool things about being on this campus is that you are getting alot more attention than you would at a university. The course is alot of fun and very very beneifical if you make yourself stick with it.

Academic Honesty

According to Dictionary.com the definition of plagiarism is 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. A second definition defined it as something used and represented in this manner.

Plagiarism is an issue that many college and high school students may not know is a very big deal. The truth is, that the staff at any high school or college could go so far as to expell or kick you out of school. Punishment for plagairism is something that needs to be taken alot more seriously by students.

Some college students resort to academic dishonesty because of lack of time that they provide themselves to do their own work. They think that simply copying another students work is going to get them just as good of a grade. In order to prevent academic dishonesty, students need to give themselves time to do their work.

Cheating is an unfair advantage for college students. Sometimes people feel that they need to cheat in order to get good grades. Because of the pressure put on them by coaches, family, and friends. Other distractions include issues such as college life and students new surroundings. These distractions can be reason enough to consider cheating for many students. Organization can be a big help for struggling students. In order to achieve academic success, a student must have organization skills. Academic Dishonesty is not fair to students who are focused and self encouraged to acheive academic goals for themselves.

Coping With Change

In the past year, I have been through more changes than I think I have in my entire life. Senior year started off with a huge change, we were I guess, "a big deal" now. :) Things dealing with college even started popping up at the end of our junior year, so we were expecting alot more to come with senior year, naturally. Scholarships needed to be applied for, grades needed to be met in order to recieve these scholarships, they needed to met on time, etc. On top of all of that, you had to enjoy your last year of high school so you definately needed to leave a little time gap in there for all of the fun stuff. But this is where I got caught up, I caught a severe case of senioritis my senior year, though symptoms did start showing up as early as my junior year! But I quickly figured out that I needed to get with the program.

Change hasn't been that difficult for me. I think that I have dealt with it quite well and things are going pretty great so far. I think that change is definately necessary because without it you're not going to experience new things or move on correctly in your life. College has been a wake up call for myself, and I'm sure as well with many other freshman on campus here at Butler. In order to make this transition I had to first of all, get used to living with an apartment FULL of girls, secondly get used to the fact that Mom and Dad aren't going to call me every single morning to make sure I made it to school on time, and also: there not there to give me rules anymore! I will admit that I have taken advantage of the fact that I can do what I want now, but doing what you want won't always get you what you need, especially in college. I started making myself get to bed on time and making sure that I made it to class on time, though a few times I did slip!

I think that I have initiated change in myself because I have had to learn to become more responsible, and also more independent. By becoming more independent I have had to learn how to get things done on my own, such as the always anticipated LAUNDRY. I have also had to mentally tell myself that I need to sit down and study, when deep down I may have wanted to just go sleep, or go hang out with friends. I have experienced alot of emotioinal reactions to change, but most of those were the first couple of weeks that I was here. I'm not going to lie about it, I really really missed my parents being around...who would have thought!?

I think that change so far has played a positive role in my life. I am excited to experience other changes that will come along with the rest of my college career and also the future beyond that.

Time Management

Managing time is crucial in order to get things done. Developing time management skills can be done in many different ways. You may set goals for yourself in order to organize, prioritize and succeed in your studies. Some factors that may contribute to not getting things done, or that may cut into your time may be competitive activities, friends, work, or family.

Some strategies in order to use your time wisely include things such as developing a block of study time. For some, this block may be an hour, while others who become restless easier may only use 30 minutes. You may also want to schedule weekly reviews and updates, or prioritize assignments. When beginning to study some students get into the habit of starting with the most challenging subject or task. Another strategy is developing alternative study places free from distractions. In college, distractions are abundant so finding that place where you can study without a number of distractions is important.

An important part of studying is reviewing your studies and readings just before class, and also reviewing lecture material immediately after class because forgetting is greatest within 24 hours without review.

The most important thing about time management is scheduling time for your critical course events. Writing down upcoming events will be useful to you because you will be aware of what is coming up. By keeping a daily/weekly planner you could write down upcoming appointments, classes, meetings, and other events in a timely order. You may also want to keep a long term planner, or a monthly chart so you can plan ahead and be prepared.

Academic Plan

Academic Plan

While at Butler, I plan on getting all of my general ed's out of the way, which is what many others are planning on doing as well in order to transfer to a university. This semester I am taking Psychology, Music Appreciation, Public Speaking, Student Connect and US History.

At this point in time I plan on majoring in early childhood development or elementary education, though my plan will most likely change throughout college. Next semester I plan on taking courses such as child care administration, infant/toddler development, developmental psychology or child psychology, Principals of early childhood education and child nutrition and health. There are also many electives that I may consider such as children's literature, intro to the exceptional child, practicum for paraprofessional, early childhood mentoring, and spanish for early childhood staff.

Butler offeres several education options that will help me make my dreams of this career a reality. A total of 40 hours are required in addition to the required classes from the Associate in Applied Science degree for a total of 62 hours.

I think that majoring in early childhood development or elementary education is a good choice for me because I enjoy being around children and interacting with them. A reason why I lean towards this major I think, is because of the children that I have been around in the past, a perfect example is my nephew. I spend time with him and have watched him the past 2 years learn so many things. The courses offered here at Butler will surely help point me in the right direction to meet my goals.

Community Service

In the United States, over 2 million reports of abuse or neglect are made in just a single year, and 1500 of those victims die from their injuries. On a daily basis the people that children rely on the most expose them to abuse or neglect: their parents.

One of the highest rates of child abuse mortality is in Kansas City areas. Where abuse was confirmed, 45% wer eneglected, 24% were victims of sexual abuse, and 25% were physically abused. A scary statistic that I found was that 25-50% of all children will experience some form of abuse during childhood. One of every three girls will be sexually abused before the age of 18, and one out of every five to seven boys will be sexually abused by 18 as well.

A way that child abuse can be addressed is by informing people about how serious this issue really is. The only people that are required to report child abuse are mandatory reporters, who are required by law to do so. A mandatory reporter includes people such as dentists, physicians, school employees, etc. By informing people, it may encourage them to report abuse after they recognize that that is what is going on around them. All citizens have a responsibily to prevent child abuse and protect children. So by informing individuals they can help children in a variety of ways, from being their friend to protecting them.

Another way that child abuse may be prevented or at least limited is simply listening to the child. If the child has told you or another person that they have experienced abuse then they need to know that they are not responsible for the abuse. Let them know that you will provide them help and take the story very seriously. At this time in the child's life is a time when they need alot of understanding and support.

The last idea that may be used to prevent and limit child abuse is by joining a prevention organization. By donating money and getting other people involved in this problem, will help millions of children around the world from being abused.

Butler Resources

Case Study #4

"Failing Classes"

Struggling students at Butler Community College have many options available to them when it comes to failing their classes. There are many tutors that are willing to help students out that are having difficulty with their grades, and alot of resources that may also be helpful to students. Students that may struggle with test taking anxiety, or study habits can get help, if they look in the right places.

Brook, the freshman at Butler made the mistake of reading his assignments, the night before a test. This created problems for him because he wasn't organized or prepared for class just by reading it the night before it was due. Brook's mind wondered about what he was going to be doing over the weekend rather than what he should have been worrying about: his grades!

Another activity that Brook could have involved himself in is Student Activities which is mainly clubs and organizations. Instead of focusing on weekend plans he could have been getting interested in organizations that may help his study habits.

He lost control of his time management, he made it impossible for himself to find time to study, or to do assignments. If he was to get help even after all of the trouble that he's gotten into, he could still pull through and fix his grades. All he has to know is where to find the help.