Learning Profile

-The overall theme of the class ways to learn the ways to improve your college life as a whole. Every chapter in this book ties into this overall theme. The chapters in the book go into detail about how to improve in each area. We hit on a few of the more common chapters. One of these was the Persist chapter. This was about managing your college resources like your money and your debt. Another chapter was about Prioritizing. This focused on planning your time and reducing stress. The next chapter we went over was about learning style. We learned what our learning styles were and how to use them to our advantage. All of the chapters that we went over are very important issues that we deal with as college students. Going over these in class will help us become better at them in the future.

-I have many strengths as a learner. One of my strengths is learning visually. I am very much a visual learner. I like to be able to see what I am supposed to do rather than just be given a quick explanation. If I see what I am supposed to do, I pick it up very quickly. Another one of my strengths in learning is hands on. I pick up things better when I am able to get hands on experience with them. This is like doing a lab in chemistry. When you do an experiment in a class, you are forced to figure out what to do and can visually and mentally work through it. When we did the class activity about our learning style I learned about my strengths. I think this is a very good activity for all students to do. It reveals to them their strengths as learners. This is very beneficial to students.

-One of my major weakness as a learner is reading comprehension. Reading comprehension has always been one of my weaknesses ever since I was young. I can read just fine; I just can't remember all that I read. I wish that I was better in this area. Doing activities that challenge your ability can help improve it. An activity that would help my comprehension problem would be doing practice tests like on the ACT. Another one of my weaknesses is my procrastination problem. Being an avid procrastinator hinders your ability to learn. Students are often pressed for time and are forced to do things at the last minute and very quickly. There are a few things that I wish I was better at. Procrastination and reading comprehension is just a couple of them. I would also like to be able to pick things and ideas up quicker, be able to listen and take notes better, and have an active study habit.

-During this class I have learned many things. First of all, to be more outgoing. I think that once we all get to college we have to go through the change of getting outside of our comfort level. I have also discovered what my learning style is. I am more of a visual learner. This will help me very much in the future because I will not waste my time studying in a way that I do not learn easy. I have been taught to use my resources that are available. These resources include the Butler website, tutors, the learning support lab, and my peers. We have also learned how to find books and archives in the library which will be very valuable for doing research. I think that all of these skills are very important. They all tie into making my college career more successful. I think that the biggest thing this class did for me was to adjust into the college life. It taught me a little about a lot of things. The transition into this new life has been easier knowing the stuff I do now.

-I think the major topic for many of us was the chapter over Time Management. This is very prevalent in the lives of college students. Learning to manage your time is one of the greatest tools that can be taught. Along with many other students, I too have a problem with procrastination. The chapter about this talked about prioritizing your schedule. Doing what was most important first then working down the list. I also thought that the discussion about "copying with change" was very good. Change is what is happening with every student in the class so everyone is going through it. I did not believe the 'academic plan" was very meaningful. For some people who have it all planned out that’s good for them. However, for those students who are just experimenting with things to see what they are interested in are not trying to lay out their future. They take it one semester at a time. I think that having everything planned out does not give you any freedom to find something new in yourself.

-As a whole I think that the class worked pretty well. Something’s were better than others. I think that the subject of time management should be taught in this class all the time because it is one of the most important things a college student can learn. I also think that learning about the resources at you school is very vital to the success of the students. These such as how to research with the school system, tutors, and the other resources. I think that the academic plan should be dropped as a subject of this class, or at least not stressed upon so much. Most of the students are freshmen in this class and many of them how no idea what they want to do. Therefore, they do not know what they want to major in or classes that they want to take besides the general education classes. I think that my advice to a teacher of this course would be to treat the students as adults. Most of the things brought up in this class, students have been exposed to. They may not know everything about it but they are definitely educated.

-I think that students should be open minded when coming into this class. They should be open to the idea of trying new things. During this class you do many activities and have a lot of discussions. I think students should open themselves up a little and participate. Although this class isn’t the most interesting to some, it will still help you. Even if students only take one positive thing out of their experience in class it still is a success. They learned something that will help them in the future. This isn't a class that is very demanding. The assignments are not very hard. They involve a little thinking, time, and your opinion. I think incoming students should be positive about this course. With a positive attitude they will get more out of the class, and everyone else will too.

-There are a few major things that I will take form this class that will affect the way in which I live and work. I have been taught the importance on time management. Time management includes both prioritizing and procrastination. I think that after learning a few things from this course I have become better in both of those areas. I will also use my new found learning style to my advantage. Finding out what way you learn best will help you not only to learn more but learn more quickly. Another thing I learned is to step outside of your comfort level every once in a while. If people never do that then they never experience anything new or different. The discussions in class helped to improve this for me. The main idea of this class is to help new college students to be connected with the school they are at. This connection is both with other students and the resources that the school offers.

Academic Plan

My academic plans are very much undecided. I am currently majoring in agribusiness. However, I am not sure that I will keep that major. I know I want to do something in the business marketing and sales field. Right now I am currently enrolled in ag in society, principles of animal science, ag economics, student connect, and english comp I. I have taken public speaking and college algebra when I was in high school. Next semester I am planning on taking mostly general education classes. These classes such as phsycology, biology, english comp II, art/theatre appreciation, etc. My plans are unknown right now about the fall semester of next year. After junior college, I am planning on transferring to a four year university to finish my degree. The college will depend on my football career. Football is a great tool to pay for my education and I plan to take advantage of it as much as I can.

Coping with Change

This biggest change that I have had to go through this year is going to college. This was a very drastic change in my lifestyle. Change is hard for me because it makes me feel uncomfortable. I have never been a person that accepts change very well. However, change is necessary. In high school, your teachers and parents were always there to push you along the way. Now that you are in college, you are own your own. Major changes are moving away from home, being responsible for yourself, and managing your time. I am usually not the person that initiates change unless it absolutely has to be made. Moving to Butler gives you some mixed feelings at first. New students always get homesick at first. As time goes on, you begin to feel more comfortable with the new surrounding. Keeping a positive attitude is crucial for coping with change. It will be easier to accept it and get through it if you have the right kind of attitude.

Academic Honesty

Academic honestly means doing your own work. This is also known as plagiarism. 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. This is the major issue involving academic honesty. There are many ways to find other's work on the internet and use it as your own. For example, you can get written essays for free to use as your own. Many students resort to academic dishonesty because they are lazy. They want to find the easiest way to get their work done. There are now internet cites that teachers use to check for plagiarism in a students work. In other cases students do not know what to write about so they just use what someone else wrote. The other major area of plagiarism is music. Cites like Limewire allow people to illegally download music. Laws are becoming more strict that deal with academic honesty. This will help to improve the integrity of the students, because if they plagiarize, they will usually get caught.

Community Service

There are many issues in society that play manjor roles in our lives. I think that the top three issues are abortion, cancer, and poverty. Cancer is one of the most deadly diseases. There are many different types of cancer. The different type vary in the severity, but all kinds can be deadly. Now days there are many treatments for cancer but there isn't a real cure for it. A lot of money goes towards research centers. I think that people need to be more aware of the need for research. How can I help out? Well there are many ways. I could do some fundraising at a smaller level, give my support to everything, and set up a donation program.

Time Management

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. These are great words that tie directly into time management. Managing time is one of most important things a person can do. When I don't live up to my expectations because I didn' tmanage my time properly I feel like I let myself fail. The biggest consequence to not managing your time is not completing whatever it is that you are doing as well as you could have. When I manage my time well I feel that I have done my best. There are many steps to managing your time. First of all, have a schedule and stick to it. Secondly, prioratize what needs to be done first and work through everything else. These are just a couple of the many steps. Managing your time in college is totally different than in high school. In high school the teachers we always checking up on you along with your parents. In college you are on your own. I think that I manage my time pretty well. However, there is always room for improvement. There are many articles on the internet about how to manage your time. One site I found is exclusively about time management. There are also some sites that talk about time management in college. I have read some things about a step by step process to managing your time. All of these sites are good resources to learn how to manage your time better.

Butler Resources

A freshmen in college has to deal with many new things. For example, it is the first time living away from home. Also the college teachers do not baby the students like many high school teachers do so it is easy to feel lost. Here at Butler there are many resources available to students who feel just like Brook. For academic problems, a tutor could be an option. This is the link to the tutoring program that Butler provides peer-tutoring. Another academic resource at Butler is the Gayle Krause Learning Lab where student can go to receice help. A possible way of connecting with the right type of people to help u stay out of the drinking and partying would be to meet people on facebook that go to school here. You can do this by joining the Butler network. Part of learning to deal with the change of college is to get involved in your college's activities for students. Getting involved in activities will help connect to other students. One of the biggest challenges college students face is the matter of how to manage their time. Time management is one of the most important things for college students to learn.