Student Course Reflection

Student Course Reflection

I feel as though this class has greatly improved my chance of success to attain my academic and career goals. Over the last nine weeks I have learned about and perfected new skills that will be needed in my future classes as well as in the professional job market. The exercises in critical thinking, my writing foundations lab and ethical lens inventory have helped me by refreshing my grammar and vocabulary skills and showing me why and how I get to conclusions in certain situations. These skills will get tremendous use in my upcoming courses and in my field of work. By mastering the assessments on my writing foundations lab and doing the corresponding work associated with it, I feel much more confident in my skills on punctuation, sentence and paragraph structure and my overall writing abilities. The critical thinking used in answering discussion questions will also be used frequently in my future classes. I have learned to use others input and ideas to further my own opinions and have come to realize that I retain so much more information by listening to what others have to add to my posts. The value of getting a degree in higher education for me is use that degree to obtain a higher paying job within the company that I am currently employed. In the long term obtaining my degree will enable me to save more money for retirement, live a more comfortable lifestyle and also put more money into my children’s college funds. I also believe that obtaining this degree will give me a sense of accomplishment and will also be used as an example to my children that will hopefully motivate them to go to college and get their degrees. Times have changed and many folks even with degrees are struggling to find work. So they are taking any type of job they can get. If you do not have a degree, you are at a huge disadvantage right from the beginning. The most enjoyable part of this class for me was the online learning system in place at University of Phoenix. The collaborative learning environment is a great tool to obtain information. By reading others posts to discussion questions and responses it helps me open my mind to new ideas and build on my own thoughts. Many times after reading what others have to say, you see things in a different view that you had never seen before. Which then starts a whole new way of thinking. It is very rewarding and challenging at the same time. I also like the different forums in place for students to utilize. The chat forum lets students talk freely with one another and get to know each other better on a personal level. The individual forum is like a one-on-one conference with your facilitator. This is helpful when you need a question about the class answered or questions about assignments. Another topic in class that I found useful was the effective study habits and personal learning style. I have taken tips from my fellow classmates on how to make a specific area to study and make it the way you need to get your school work done. My personal learning style consists of an area in a room with good lighting away from my children with some sort of music playing in the background. The music helps me not focus on other background noises in the house and continue to focus on the topic at hand. This also leads into another topic that we touched on which is time and stress management. Having a work area that is conducive to your learning style will help you keep stress levels down and allow you be more productive which will keep you on track for completing assignments. I have found that proper time management can make a huge difference on my stress level as well. I have come up with a routine that helps me get my schoolwork done in an efficient manner. Not waiting until the end of the week to complete assignments is the best advice I have received from my classmates. I try to complete my assignments by the middle of the week to keep me from getting too stressed out as the due dates approach. Sometimes things come up that can take away from the time you have allotted for school work and if that time is at the end of the week, you could end up losing points by turning the assignment in late. The resources provided to the students at University of Phoenix are amazing. In this class I have learned how to navigate the University library and how to use it to do academic research. It is a great tool because it provides students with credible information and links to the primary and secondary sources. It also gives you options to see articles from certain publications and if they are peer reviewed or not. This is the main tool that I will use in my future classes. The center for writing excellence and the center for mathematics excellence are great tools as well. I have used the writepoint reviewer as well as the plagiarism checker and am amazed at the results they give you. These tools will be essential as we as students continue doing research papers and essays. In closing, I must say that I have learned much more in this class than I had originally anticipated. This is not only an introduction to university studies, but also a course that teaches you about yourself and your abilities to think critically, write properly and interact with other students within the classroom. I definitely see why this is the first class taken because it gives you the necessary tools to be successful at the University of Phoenix as well as in the workplace.