Week 7 - Re-Assessing the Honors Institute

So my experience within the Honors Institute has been a good one, I've enjoyed the classes that I've taken in order to fulfill my requirements, even when they weren't applicable to my major.  I do feel however that an expansion on the classes available would be an excellent change that could be offered.  As a high unit Bio major, fitting in 6 classes that were not related to my requirements for schools was difficult and a bit trying at times.  For example, this quarter I had to pass on Chem 1B simply because the Honors class times are so limited that the schedules constantly conflict with one another.  By offering a greater variety of classes with a wider range of times, the Honors Institute might be able to combat these problems.  I do feel that the seminar requirements are actually really beneficial.  Although taking 1 unit classes may seem like a pain, I have really felt that the opportunity to "dabble" in other fields is great.  Perhaps creating even more Seminars would further expand this opportunity.  For example:  I feel that the lack of any Bio seminars is a shame.  Many Language/Arts majors don't have to take a Bio course for their requirements, and I definitely feel that the addition of a seminar within the field would be a great resource for these majors.  Obviously they won't want to take a 6 unit lab class, but a 1 unit introduction seminar into the field might be something that other majors would be willing to take.  However, on the downside of the seminars, it is difficult having a work load more applicable to a 4 or 5 unit class for a 1 unit one.  The physics seminar is more demanding than a calculus or physics course! And it's one unit! Ridiculous! The institute should impose a few more guidelines to prevent that from becoming an issue.  I immediately dropped from that course even though I wanted to take it simply because I didn't have the time to dedicate so much work to a 1 unit class.  Overall though, I feel that they Honors Institute serves it's purpose well.  In all honesty, most students use it as their "in" to UCLA, I certainly did.  But the experience along the way has definitely been worth it, I've taken courses that I never would have bothered with if I'd stuck to fulfilling my major requirements only.

Week 7 - Steve Jobs

So I absolutely loved this speech, I even copied it and sent it to my mom and boyfriend so they could read it as well.  Talk about inspirational for a college student, even one who isn't graduating.  I personally related to this a lot.  His words "you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life" are so applicable to life as a college student.  For me personally, it helped with a decision that I just made, saying no to UCLA and yes to UCSD.  This was hard!!! UCLA has the name, but I'm a Marine Bio major and therefore UCSD is a better school, plus I know that I will be happier there.  But there is still that question of having made the right decision, did I?  Who knows, but reading his words about trusting your gut and connecting the dots backwards makes me feel better about the decision that I made.  Even his words about loving the work that you choose is something that I found inspirational.  As a Bio major, money obviously is not a big part of the picture, so loving your work is essential.  Now I personally LOVE my major and everything about it.  The idea of spending the next 40+ years of my life doing research and studying marine life totally floats my boat.  Reading this speech made me realize how lucky I am to feel that way.  Sure, I won't be raking in millions of dollars, but I can honestly say that I don't think I'm going to dread going to work the way so many people do.  That in itself is far more important than the amount of zeros on your paycheck.  For someone who has gone through so much, Jobs has maintained a remarkably positive attitude about everything, something that I think is really impressive.  Although I don't want to drop out of school and take a calligraphy class now, I think that the lessons that can be learned through his actions are still important.  When I started college my mom told me to make sure to take one class a quarter that I wanted to take.  She said that this would help keep me going, even when other classes seemed overwhelming.  She was right, following this idea has kept me from throwing up my hands and quitting many times.  Jobs proposes a similar idea when he talks about calligraphy class and the value of dropping in on courses that he found interesting.  Marine Bio was one of my "enjoyable" classes, and look where that took me.

Week 6 - Task 4

So I think that perfectionism would have to be my other big "learning weakness" other than procrastination.  Now I know that to most people (ie: non-perfectionists) this may seem like a ridiculous problem.  After all, who is going to complain about the need to get things done "perfectly?"  But oh, how little do they know.  Perfectionism can actual cause such a huge amount of anxiety and stress over doing something "perfectly" that it becomes almost impossible to do it at all.  I can stress myself out to the point of completely frying my brain trying to make something exactly "perfect" according to someone else's (normally a teacher's) expectations.  I particularly manage to do this to myself when confronted with an essay that has lots of "guidelines" and specific requirements.  For example: If you asked me to write a 15 page paper on procrastination I could do it.  No problem, no stress, great paper, congratulations Amanda.  However, if you ask me to write said 15 page paper with exactly 10 sources, each dedicated to one specific topic sentence and focusing on a comparing and contrasting the different elements that go into "procrastination," my stress level doubles.  Because all of a sudden there are all these expectations that I feel the need to meet perfectly.  As a result, I write 6 pages and don't like any of it because I feel that my topic sentences aren't "well-definited" (even when they are) or that my sources aren't supporting enough (even when they are), and then I get so worked up about it all that I won't to throw up my hands and cry because I will NEVER live up to my own expectations, even when I far exceed those of everyone else.  So welcome to a perfectionist's world, although you may think of it as more of a blessing it can most definitely be a curse.  

As far as overcoming my "perfectionism," I think I mostly just have to learn to live with it and bend it a bit.  Learning to accept that an A rather than an A+ is necessary.  Also, I definitely have to take steps towards becoming O.K. with not having something "perfect" the first time around.  Even if that means writing my paper, having my teacher tell me what I did wrong, and then going and re-writing it for a better grade.  Now to be honest, that grates on me like NOTHING else, but sometimes it's simply needed.  Also, I've learned to embrace the parts of my life where my perfectionism is a good thing.  For example, I am the most dedicated friend, girlfriend, cook, athlete, bookworm, biologist, therapist, whatever...you could possibly desire.  Simply because I constantly strive to better myself and achieve that perfection in my eyes and in others.  So perfectionism, just like procrastination, has it's ups and downs, pros and cons.  The trick is learning to enjoy the pros and accept the cons while learning how to work better and more efficiently all around.  Because the honest truth is that I will always be a procrastinating perfectionist, which is definitely one of the worst combinations ever.  I just have to learn how to work with it.

Week 6 - Task 3

So I have to start out with saying that considering "real work" as what will end up in your obituary almost completely rules out all undergraduate college work and lower division classes.  So, that mind set may not be the best!  

The main focus of this work seemed to be focusing on things that you enjoy rather than making To Do lists that you simply must get done.  The problem with this for me personally is that I'm a college student.  95% of the things that I need to get are most definitely NOT things that I want to do or even have any interest in doing.  However, he did make a point about the fact that we often make ourselves to busy to do work by filling the day with errands rather than getting a big "To Do" project done.  This is definitely something that I can relate to, I do always seem to have a million things to do, but I definitely pick and choose when I decide to stress about them.  For example, if I have a paper due in two days, I'll manage to spend every moment of those two days running errands, cleaning the house, and getting things done to keep myself from having any time to write the actual paper.  Having all these other things to do makes putting off the paper far easier.  The Type A, B, and C procrastinators were interesting as well.  I'm sort of a combination of all three depending on how I'm feeling or the mood that I'm in.  If I am just plain exhausted I'll tend to be Type A and just completely ignore what I have to get done and take a nap instead.  My "errand" tendencies could fall into Type B, which normally occurs when I have plenty of energy but absolutely no attention span for homework at the time.  And Type C normally occurs when I have stuff to do that I am actually interested in, so I work on that instead of the more pressing assignments that I don't find interesting.  So all in all I felt that this paper was certainly informative, but it had less ideas as to how to overcome the procrastination problem in comparison to the others.  Granted, the author mentions this himself, but then he also goes on to say that he has learned lots of "tricks" over the years to help with procrastination.  So I guess I would have preferred that he include some of those.  

Week 6 - Task 2

So this article was hilarious to read, particularly one section of it, "Active participation in anything tends to give you a positive attitude toward that activity; inactivity helps acquire an unfavorable attitude. In other words, the reason you dislike calculus is because it's hanging over your head, worrying you. Since you haven't acquires skills in it, you can't do the assignments, so why try? Also, there's a test coming up soon, and you MUST do well on it -- except you know you can't." This is a remarkably accurate summary of my life at the moment. I haven't managed to catch up on my calculus homework since being sick, therefore I don't want to do it since I don't know how to, and not only that, but I had a quiz today and felt completely defeated even trying to study for it because I hadn't finished the homework on the basics that the quiz took into account. This article was also excellent at describing my own personal tendencies towards procrastination. 1. I am a perfectionist, to the extreme. If I feel like I'm not doing something perfectly, I tend to become so frustrated with myself that I will just walk away and ignore it so that "it goes away" leaving me with a horrible deadline. 2. Even when I procrastinate, I tend to get A's, so there's that reinforcement that they talked about. I totally justify leaving papers till the last minute because I know I'm good at writing, and I always get an A, last minute or not. Therefore, it's easy to say "Oh, just relax. The paper will be a breeze anyways." 3. I am HORRIBLE about coming home, knowing I should start on homework, but deciding to relax for "a while" which always becomes the entire evening. 4. I also always know what I need to be doing, it's not that I have an issue with time management or like I don't know what I should be doing and when. It's simply that I have an insanely difficult time motivating myself to do things that I don't want to do. (For example, I'm avoiding writing an english essay by doing this homework because I'd rather do this than that, ta dah!)

So after reading through the paper I found one suggestion that I think will be a great help to me, and that is the "Five Minute Plan."  "Work on something for just five minutes. At the end of five minutes, switch to something else if you want. Chances are, you'll get involved enough to keep going."  This is sooooooo part of my issue! I avoid assignments largely due to the fact that I simply don't want to sit down and work on them for the next few hours.  As a result, motivating myself to start it is IMPOSSIBLE.  This plan seems perfect! Because normally if I at least start on something, I end up completing it because I get wrapped up in the subject and don't want to lose my train of thought.  However, using a 5 minute rule means that at least if after 5 minutes (or maybe 10) I'm completely over the work, I can let it go.  This does require that I use the rule way ahead of the deadline, however, that's fine.  If I have a week to complete something and use the 5 minute rule once without following things to completion, it's no big deal.  I can use it the next day and maybe even the next so that I'll still end up completing the work on time!  BRILLIANT idea, and one that I'm actually applying to writing my english essay this evening!

Week 4 - Task 2

So I started off by watching the film "What is Digital Storytelling?" because I thought this would be a good starting point.  The only problem was that I could barely hear her! I had all the volume up on my comp and on the video but her voice was quieted down and the music covered a lot of it.  However, from what I heard, the use of digital storytelling with younger students seems promising.  Her point that it will help students who would benefit from different forms of learning was one that I completely agree with.  Although I personally learn really well from reading, there are some people who need to have a hands-on experience to really learn the material and fully comprehend it.  This would also create a great basis in learning for students at a young age.  To create opportunities where they would be able to create their own story using their own voice could possibly increase their interest in the entire learning experience by making it more fun.  After all, designing and creating their own "digital story" and then being able to hear their own voice narrating it would be so exciting!  I definitely felt that this was a good idea, as long as the technological aspects of it wouldn't be too time consuming or difficult for the students and faculty involved.

My personal interest was better reflected in the "documentary" and "record of experience" discussions.  I actually brought up an idea similar to this when I was talking about the benefits of having voice recordings on an ePortfolio in one of the first assignments.  I was talking about using voice and video recordings to make research more personal, allowing it to reach out to more people and keep them interested better than plain research papers.  Using a "digital story" to document research and explain it to people in layman's terms and scientific terms as well would be beneficial for any case study or project.  As far as my ePortfolio project in class, this would definitely allow for even more creativity.  The only issue here is that I have no idea how to upload videos and the like onto the web and embed them into an ePortfolio.  Also, would you need a video camera? Because all I have is the video feature on my camera.  So these were my main concerns with the digital storytelling aspect.  

Week 4 - Task 1

So this I definitely thought that the Google Apps were pretty incredible! I definitely felt that the most impressive aspect of this is the "free" part.  A school, teacher, or division being able to set one of these up for free seems beneficial to the entire process.  This eliminates the need for paying for an individual server, etc.  It also seems that having the clear organization and affordability of the ePortfolio sphere would mean that more people would become involved.  After all, if it's easy enough, why not?  This would then allow for the expansion of the use of ePortfolios, along with creating the potential for more businesses to include them in their interviewing processes.  Also, having all of the ePortfolios grouped together means easier access and organization for the teacher and the students as well.  I also thought that the Google Docs online powerpoint presentation option was a good tool.  To be able to present a powerpoint online would be a valuable, it made me think of the Second Life options.  Just a bit less technological, and perhaps a bit more doable for the average Joe?  Using Blogger is certainly simple enough, so it seems like a good idea to continue with having all the applications be as simple and easy to use.  Although Second Life may certainly be a creation of the future, the Google set-up seems like one perfectly suited for the present.  

However, the one thing that I was curious about was the privacy aspect of having all of this associated with google.  I understand that using Blogger is one thing, but reading about having all of your pictures and videos stored online and associated with an ePortfolio makes me a bit nervous.  I was just curious about exactly how private all of the links would be? For example, would people "googling" be able to access your personal videos and photos?  Those were my main concerns about the entire set up.  Other than the privacy issues, the entire Google ePortfolio "sphere" seems like a great idea and a far more affordable option for both universities, teachers, and students alike.

Week 6 "Structured Procrastination"

I loved this article, I thought it was absolutely hilarious and a completely intriguing fact.  Also, this is an idea that would totally work for some people I know.  My only personal problem with this idea is that I actually do something of the sort, but I always manage to avoid the school things on the list.  For example: If I need to go to the DMV and renew my license, get dog food, go for a run, write a paper for a class, and read a book for the class, I will do absolutely everything but write the paper.  Even if it is the only thing that is due the next day.  As a result, I get a lot of important things done, but then I'm still up to 3am writing the paper (which I'm actually doing right now).  This article does propose some unique ideas though.  It definitely is possible to trick yourself into completing more tasks than you planned on.  My issue with procrastination is usually just getting myself to start whatever it is that I have to get done.  Once I get started on it I'll will complete it all in one sitting, but actually making myself sit done and get it done is the hardest thing for me to do.  Plus, I'm horrible at breaking big tasks up into little parts.  I absolutely HATE doing that, I would always prefer to sit down and pound out whatever it is in 5 hours then break it up in to seperate 1 hour components.  I definitely enjoyed this article though, and maybe I'll try it out for myself!! I'm really excited though to read the next few articles about procrastination to see if there is an idea better suited to my own, unique form of procrastination.  =)

Extra Credit - Second Life

So I thought this was pretty incredible.  I Wiki'ed "Second Life" before watching the YouTube video and found the entire concept pretty insane.  The fact that they have their own currency called "lindens" that is actually exchangeable for the dollar is crazy.  So I have to admit that reading the Wiki version of Second Life made me not like it a bit.  I have to admit, I'm someone who thinks that the virtual world is replacing human interactions too much.  I feel that sometimes you should pick up the phone and call someone instead of leaving them a Facebook or Myspace comment.  The idea of an entire virtual world almost completely cuts out all interaction.

However, watching the Ohio University's YouTube video was interesting.  The concept of having such an in-depth learning experience available online is extremely interesting.  It would definitely allow for students who don't have the ability to commute to school to have a more interesting experience than your generic online class.  But I do have to admit that I really value my in class time.   I don't particularly like the idea of online worlds taking over a classroom experience.  I think that the human interaction and simple act of verbal, in person debate is extremely valuable in an individual's learning process.  I'm planning on attending the presentation at the KCI center tomorrow so I will be able to learn a bit more as to the specifics of the Second Life program, however at this point in time I definitely feel that it has it's pros and cons.  I do think I'm a bit old-fashioned though, I don't even like having books replaced by online texts (although it does save trees) just because I absolutely love having me books to read.  Which is probably why I have 5 books shelves...

The video show an absolutely incredible world of technology.  I liked the idea of the 1 hour learning modules.  This is definitely an idea that appeals to me more than actually replacing a class with an online one.  I think that using those modules in conjunction with a class would be an awesome idea.  Also, having those available to students would allow for exploration into new fields that they may be interested in.  I know that if I could look up a catalog of 1 hour modules on different subjects I would definitely take the time to listen to a huge number of them in a vast array of subjects.  

I definitely think that Second Life is a valuable idea and I am interested to see how the implementation of it at Ohio University will go.  I would love to see statistics as to the number of students who use it, and those who find it useful or not.  

Journey Week 5

Thinking about parts of my life that could qualify as a "journey" brings up a lot of different ideas.  My schooling, research that I have done, moving to and from DC, family journeys, etc.  However, I decided to choose one that I feel I have grown tremendously from in the past 9 months, and that is the journey of living on my own for the first time.  Although this may not seem like a huge deal, it has been a HUGE thing for me to overcome and get used too.  Both my mother, my boyfriend, and three of my best friends moved at the beginning of this school year.  I was left alone, in my house with my four dogs for company.  Now, apart from the simple difficulty of having my mother 3000 miles away from me in DC and my boyfriend 400 miles away in San Diego, living alone is an experience all in itself.  So I feel that this relates well to a journey in which I have had to overcome many obstacles, or "ogres" if you prefer.  Initially, the devastation of having the two people who I loved most move away from me was huge.  You get used to always having somewhere there or at least a phone call and five minute drive away.  All of a sudden, my mother was no where near me and the three hour time difference made sad late night phone calls an impossibility.  Then on top of this, as anyone who has been in a long-distance relationship knows, having your boyfriend/girlfriend move far away to college with his two best friends as their room mates is hardly the most comforting situation in the world.  I had to overcome feelings of worry and possible jealousy, knowing that he was going out to bars without me and meeting new people at school.  But most of all, I had to overcome the huge obstacle of feeling completely alone.  Coming home to an empty house, going to sleep in an empty house, waking up in one...It's hard, especially if you've never done it before.  But I overcame obstacles like this by throwing myself into school, into working out, into playing with my dogs and enjoying the time with them.  I started hiking everyday with my puppy Benjamin and making weekend beach trips to go run with him a requirement.  I found that staying active, especially with the company of my dog, made me happier.  Those endorphins do work!!  I also found a new friend, my boyfriend's friend's wife, Valerie.  She is now probably my best friend, second only to my boyfriend.  She and I forged a fast friendship during these past 9 months as she helped me through everything.  We became workout buddies, shopping buddies, beach buddies, completely inseparable.  She, along with my puppy, helped pull me through the darkest times, and as a result, I came out with a new found confidence in myself.  The confidence in my ability to be alone, to live by myself.  Along with an actual appreciation of having time to myself, time to throw a leash on my dog and hike for two hours and not worry about anything else.  As a reward, I have an amazing relationship with my boyfriend, our relationship has only strengthened.  I have complete trust in him, as he does in me, and we're even closer as friends as we've helped each other deal with the drastic changes in our lives.  My mother and I improved our relationship too.  I've definitely discovered that having one of us "leave the nest" creates a far more balanced relationship as mother and daughter (ie: a lot less arguing).  So all in all, these obstacles or ogres have simply become learning experiences.  Things that have only made me stronger for all the pain and trouble that they caused.  Although it may not have been an easy journey, it was an important one, and one that isn't over yet.