Learn, Unlearn, Relearn

– "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." ~ Alvin Toffler

Archive for category productivity

The most essential technology skill

Aug 3

Posted by admin in highered policy, productivity, students, technology | 1 Comment

ProfHacker recently posted a question about essential technology skills for incoming students. Within the article and the responses there are several “essential” technology skills. I don’t disagree with any of the skills listed.

However, I think there is one essential skill that was left off the list. What I would most like incoming students to know about technology is where to find help. I’m not referring to just a friend that can walk them through something, but help in actually understanding and using technology as a tool.

It is important for students to be able to access and understand the help function of the software they are using. How to find help via the search function and the index, and how to interpret and follow the guides provided.

How to Google for help, and how to determine what is quality help when looking at the results.

How to find help on campus and the benefits of taking a basic computer course. I find the assumption that all (or most)  ”millennial” students know how to use technology frustrating. Sure, students know how to text and access the internet, social media, email, and possibly a few Office programs. But knowing how to use technology doesn’t always equate to knowing how to use it as a tool. Email is a prime example. I have many students, but not all, who are familiar with using email, however, I am often frustrated when I receive emails from students because they are a) written in “text” speak b) have no signature c) do not have a clear subject line and d) are not sent from school accounts as it states in the syllabus (and several other places).

So the essential skill, for me, is the ability to learn proper technology use via a variety of sources. Then we can move on to information literacy!

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Summer email to students “Summer Untangled”

Jun 1

Posted by admin in productivity, students, time management | No Comments

Are you a fan of “Lost”? I know I was looking forward to the series finale and dreading the end of my Tuesday night fun all at the same time. Which is similar to how I feel about summer. I love the warm weather and the less crowded feel of campus, but I also dread the push to get so many things accomplished during the “summer”. Now without “Lost” there is also no more Lost Untangled with Dr. Pierre Chang.

I may not be as witty or creative as Dr. Chang, but I hope to help you untangle your summer with a tip on quarantining yourself to become a more efficient stellar student!  Summer courses are fast, condensed, and a great way to stay on track as you work toward your goals. Even if you aren’t taking summer courses the season will speed by with a list of projects, fun, and other responsibilities. So I’m taking some time to pass along a few great tips from, you guessed it, Cal Newport and his post “Monday Master Class: The Quarantine Method for Producing Better Work in Less Total Hours“.

If you’ve had an FYE course with me you’ve heard that the location and surroundings you study in are very important to how effective and efficiently you study, as is the time of day you choose to study. To achieve great results relatively painlessly you need to take these two factors into consideration. Keep track of your mood, energy level, and ability to focus every day for a week. Use this to decide on an optimal study time. Keep in mind that you may be most effective at 8:00 in the morning or 8:00 at night but it might be more convenient to study at 4:00 in the afternoon. If you want to study for longer hours and retain less then you can choose the 4:00 study time. Or you can adjust your schedule to free-up the hours where you are most effective and cut back on the amount of overall hours you study.

Choose the tools and setting that make you feel inspired and help you focus. For me this means a clear desk or table and my favorite pens and Roll-a-bind notebooks. I also like to study in open spaces with as much quiet as possible. A comfortable cafe or bookstore are sometimes the best places for me. I feel the constraints of actually being busy because the people around me assume I’m busy!  So I will turn off my phone, block any unnecessary computer applications, and “quarantine” myself during my most productive hours of the day. Freeing-up hours by being totally focused on the task at hand.

So “untangle” a busy summer and let me know how it is going!

Stay productive and wear your sunscreen!
J

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January Email to Students

Jan 13

Posted by admin in productivity, students, time management | 1 Comment

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I occasionally lament that I do not blog anonymously (like Dean Dad, I love him) so I am not able to share some of the day-to-day situations I encounter with students or coworkers. But something I can share are my communications to students. I try to send one brief email per month to my caseload. Our semester started last week and the students I advise received the following email.

How to Ace the Spring 2010 Semester

Based on the Study Hacks blog and “How to become a straight – A student” by Cal Newport

I always love the start of a new semester. It is a clean slate and another opportunity to put my best foot forward. I’m looking forward to working with you during this semester to make the most out of your academics and activities here at Owens Community College. I’ve compiled a few helpful hints from two of my favorite sources.  In this email you will find two ways to help you make the Spring 2010 semester your best ever!

No way a Pen and Paper can make you a star student?  Sure they can, if you know how to use these powerful tools to your advantage! Using a these tools can help you focus your thoughts, avoid distractions such as email and Facebook, and promotes critical and creative thinking.

  • Buy a good spiral bound notebook for each class. Use the notebook only for the specified class!
  • Buy a comfortable to use pen or pencil. It is important to buy one that does not cause hand cramps!
  • Pack-up your notebook and pen and head out for a quiet and relaxing place with minimal or no distractions (this means turning off your cell phone and leaving your computer at home). Finding such a place can be challenging, but don’t forget places you might not normally visit – like the LIBRARY or an out of the way coffee shop.
  • Spend a dedicated predetermined amount of time (say, no less than 50 minutes and no longer than 3 hours) working on the course.
    • This is a great way to develop thoughtful questions to ask in class.
    • Be sure to spend some of this time free writing about what you are learning in the course and how this connects to other courses, your goals, and your life.
  • Before you pack-up spend some time summarizing what you have learned and worked on. Be sure to date and title your summary page.

Hocus-Pocus-FOCUS! One of the most important skills for students is the ability to focus. I’m not talking for 10 or 20 minutes during a lecture. I’m talking about hard focus, to push past the desire to check Facebook for ‘just two minutes’, or to leave your email running in the background and your cell phone on.  Hard focus does not need to be a natural talent. It is possible train your ‘focus muscle’ (that would be your brain).

  • Start by putting away all of your distractions and setting a timer for 20 minutes. Focus ONLY on studying or homework for those 20 minutes before allowing yourself a break.
  • Keep your break times short. Just 5 to 8 minutes and use that time to get your blood flowing. Grab some cold water and move around a little. Avoid using this time to check email or other electronic distractions.
  • Get back to work! Repeat this process until your allotted study time is up.
  • Each day extend the time between breaks a little further building up to 50 minutes of work for each 5 to 10 minute break.

I’m looking forward to meeting with you in January to see how these ‘Study Hacks’ are helping you reach your academic goals! Please call the office at your earliest convenience to schedule our first meeting of the semester!

Focus, have fun, and do good work!

J

So far, what little feedback I have received has been positive! Yeah!!

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/caitlinator/ / CC BY 2.0

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Thinks Links

Jan 6

Posted by admin in Thinks, productivity, relationships | No Comments

Okay – returning to the online world after a break over the holidays. Please at least pretend you missed me!

  • Do we need to construct our Passions, Scott H. Young tackles this topic and references Cal Newport who is one of my academic heroes.
  • How to Hack a Confrence – Networking never comes easy for me and I’m already thinking about the ACPA annual conference in March.
  • I didn’t purchase a new Moleskine this year. I loved my Moleskine agenda last year, but I’m trying to make the move to a paperless system. But I do love what Dustin has done with his.
  • I love the idea of a Dissertation Journal Blog. Someday….
  • I didn’t make any New Year Resolutions for 2010. David Seah wrote about his Groundhog Day Resolutions and I really like the idea and have my own twist. Watch for an upcoming post!
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When doing less is doing more

Dec 14

Posted by admin in personal, productivity, time management | 2 Comments

Mondays were almost always the busiest day of the week for me. I was out the door by 6:30 so that I could be on one of my campuses by 8:00. It didn’t matter if it was BGSU for class or TU for my internship the day started off with a 90 minute drive. I would spend the day in class, working, in meetings, all of the stuff a ‘typical’ grad student would be doing. By 4:30 (hopefully) or 5:00 (panic!) I was back on the road for a 90 minute drive home. If I had left by 4:30 and there wasn’t much traffic I would have time to run into the house, change my clothes, and grab some food before loading The Girl into the car for the 45 minute drive to ONU for her flute lesson. Depending on my mood I would spend the hour in the car studying (okay, and occasionally napping!) or across the street at the coffee shop studying. By 8:00 we were back in the car for the drive home, pulling into the driveway just before 9:00. By that time I had been on the go for 16 hours and was near collapse.

As you can imagine being a student, employee, parent, spouse, and friend combined with over 20 hours a week in commuting made for a pretty packed calendar. I’m also a person who requires a full 8 hours of sleep per night, so on an average day I would have about 5 hours to devote to studying, writing, extra-curricular activities, house work (which my family did a LOT of), parenting (sorry kids), and any other crisis that may arise (and there were a few).

And then BAM! Graduation and six weeks of looking for work. I’m lucky it was only six weeks because I was indeed going stir crazy by the end of the second week.

Now Mondays are different. The Girl can drive herself to flute lessons. (Thankfully!) I am out the door at 7 and home by 6. There isn’t any homework, or reading, or papers. I’ve spent the past five months making lists of goals and things I want to accomplish. Things like get my Ph.D., get published, get involved. In other words I was looking for ways to fill-up that schedule again. Having worked full-time for a majority of my undergraduate years (all 12 of them, thank you transfer credits) and then being part of an excellent and intensive graduate program for two years I don’t think I remember anything but that constant go-achieve-do-more type of schedule. The closest thing I could think of to relaxing for any length of time was the 8 weeks I was trapped at home with a broken leg.

So, in my new quest to fill time I started working with Sean Cook who is a great Higher Education Life Coach. I was looking to Sean to help me find some direction for all of this time I have on my hands. Several sessions with Sean have yielded great results in achieving some of my goals and putting myself on the path to achieve others. And achieving goals is what I’m all about! (well, except for that weight loss goal..but lets not talk about that right now)

During one of our early sessions Sean and I were talking about graduate school and schedules and he said something to the effect of ’sometimes you need to give yourself permission to relax’. Of course I *knew* that, but hearing him say it made a difference. Not only did I need to give myself permission to relax, but I needed to remember some of the promises I had made to my family about ‘when I finish school’. It was time to do my least favorite grad school practice – self-reflection! Nooooo!!!

So I reflected, and fretted, and reflected and decided that I do need to try something new. But not the formal add more to my schedule type of new. I need to learn that it is okay to not have a full calendar. So now instead of reading time management and productivity blogs (well, I still read them!) I’m taking closer looks at posts like these: 10 Reasons why lag is an advantage and Doing Less.
Wish me luck that I can keep my lack of focus through the new year! I think my family enjoys having me around working on jewelry, reading a novel, or working on my cross-stitch while watching television!

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