Butler Resources

Case Study #4 Failing Classes
Damon is having a hard time at Butler right now. He is about to lose his job if he keeps his low gradepoint average so he should check out Financial Aid options on the Butler website. This site will tell you what sources of financial aid Butler offers and how to apply for it plus more. Damon also needs to bring up his grades. He should check out the Tutoring services that Butler offers. He could also check out Butler's Academic Achievement Center site. It offers a variety of services to help Butler Students be more successful. If Damon is still wanting to pursue his interest in a business degree he should check out Butler's Business Education. It will develop skills required in a business environment and get him started in the right direction. Damon also might need some help with his alcohol problem since he just recieved a DUI. He could look at Butler's Addiction Counseling Services which will help him make positive changes in his life. All of these sites are on the Butler website and are available to all students. There are many other things that Damon can do to start getting better grades and getting involved in his education.

Learning Profile

1. There were many themes that were talked about in the textbook. The first one was to Engage and adjust to the college life. You have to learn how to set attainable goals and to motivate yourself. I also learned that you should surround yourself with positive, upbeat people and also learn to overcome your fears. Another theme was how to manage college resources. This includes keeping track of money and possibly receiving financial aid or scholarships. You should also learn to accept criticism, know the college policies so you can follow them, talk with your teachers if you have questions, have good classroom etiquette, and talk with your advisor about your classes and possible transfer issues later on. The book also talked about how students need to prioritize like managing their time and organizing a schedule to fit in all the activities in your life like school, family, sports, work, and hobbies, etc. One of the big lessons was DO NOT procrastinate because it will only lead to more stressful situations. The book also talked about if you want to have better reading skills you need to read more frequently, concentrate more to have better comprehension, and build a stronger vocabulary. Also finding your own learning style was mentioned. If you find your learning style it will help you become a better active learner. Also you should find a note-taking system that works for you like the A, B, C-1, 2, 3 Outline technique, the Cornell Split page system, or to use a mapping system. To help you remember things, you should consider your study environment. You should pick a place that is not too hot, too noisy, too dark, or crowded. You should also get proper sleep, a proper diet, exercise, and have study breaks to help with your memory. The last thing I learned from the book was to develop test taking tactics that work. You need to reduce test anxiety in order to be successful on the exam.

2. I feel that my strengths as a learner are that I am a good listener, I am committed to getting things done, and I pay attention in class and try to understand things. I also take good notes in class, I study the material that will be on the tests the night before the exam, and I try to keep an open mind about everything. Some activities that seem to come easy to me is setting up a note taking system. I have my own way of taking notes in order so that I can understand them when I look back through them. I also am good at getting assignments done on time and to the best of my ability. Some subjects that seem to come easier to me is math and science classes. If there was a new student in class I think that I could help tutor them in math or science classes. I could also help them take notes and tell them my way of taking notes to help for studying, and I could help them work on a study system so they can do better on tests.

3. I feel that my weaknesses as a learner are definitely reading and comprehension along with writing. I wish I could just write freely and easily about topics and subjects and not have to sit and think about it for awhile. I also wish that I could read faster and actually understand what I read when I read it like some other people do. I also wish I didn’t put off studying until the last possible day before the test because it stresses me out and if I didn’t procrastinate like some other people I would be more stress free and maybe do better on the tests. I wish I didn’t get in unmotivated moods to where I don’t feel like studying or doing homework. The subjects that take up most of my time are biology and psychology right now. They have a lot of information to know and remember for the tests. The thing that I need most work with are getting things done before the last possible moment.

4. There were a lot of things that I learned in this class. First off, we did an activity in the book to find out our personality type and what kind of person we were. I ended up being an introvert and seem to keep my feelings inside rather than projecting them. I also found out my learning style in this class. I am a visual learner and seem to learn better from taking notes, looking at charts, and reading graphs. I also learned to set goals weakly so you always have something to achieve each week and to also set long term goals. I also learned with the career/interests assignment that I had a lot of the interests in the medical field. Some things that I know how to do now that I didn’t know how to do before I was in this class was how to navigate through the Butler website. Also to access the library databases from off-campus and to use all the library tools and citation machine. I also learned not to procrastinate. The important realization that I had was learning what steps I have to take to continue moving forward towards my goal of being an audiologist. It is important because it will be my career and I have to know all the steps to get to where I want to be. The important skill that I learned was to work on reading. Through the semester I think my reading progressed and that is something that I will always use throughout the rest of my life.

5. The assignments that I felt were very relevant to this course were the Reading and Comprehension activities that we did in class on the computers. It helped me realize I needed to work harder and more frequently to be at the reading level that I want. I also thought that finding our learning styles was very important. It helps people know how they learn so they can take notes, or read charts and graphs like me because I am a visual learner and all that would help me remember things better when I’m studying. I also thought that the presentation from the Librarian was good too because she really showed us how to navigate through the online databases and other things that I would not have known about. I also like the video about the girl that was binge drinking and she died because it is something that a lot of people can relate to and they need to know that drinking is dangerous. I think all of the assignments and presentations or activities that we did in class were relevant in some way, there were no completely irrelevant activities.

6. The course worked well from my perspective as a learner. Things concerning content that we should keep at all costs is the learning your own personal learning style. It was fun to answer the questions and find out what style fits you best. Nothing should be dropped concerning the content. Of the methods and activities that we did in class, we should keep the binge drinking video because it is very important for everyone to realize what a serious problem this is. Also keep the reading/comprehension activity that we did in class because it helps students realize if they need to work more on their reading skills. Some things that could possible be added are to set different goals each week and at the end of the week write about the goals you set and if you achieved them or not and why. I liked the way that our work is evaluated because we evaluate ourselves for participation along with the teacher evaluates us on if our blogs are complete along with the assignments for the day. I think that you as a teacher did a very good job designing each class period so we always have a new activity to do. I like how we did a lot of activities instead of just doing three for the whole semester. You were always helpful when we needed help or had a question so your conduction of class was also very good. I like the way that you evaluate the class as well.

7. For future students that are planning on taking this course they should know to get the blog assignments done on time and do them as they are assigned so they don’t pile up and you end up doing them all at the end of the semester. The three most important things you should make sure you do is to keep up on your blogs. Also to attend class and participate in the activities for the day. The last thing is to do the homework assigned on the day it was given out so you don't forget about it. The words that you should hang on a sign above your desk to help make it through this course is "Diligence, Focus, Motivation, and Time Management.

8. My experience as a learner in this class has progressed. I have listened to other people's stories and incidences and have learned from them. Some things that I will do differently in my life and work as a result of this class is I will not procrastinate. I will also try to volunteer more and help others if they are in need. I will also start to set more goals for myself and time lines to get the goals accomplished by. I will also have good time management skills so i can schedule things and still have plenty of free time. This class has also made me more people oriented because we get to interact with the other fellow students along with the instructor as well. This class has helped me understand not only myself better, but also everything that is going on around me too.

Academic Integrity

Academic honesty to me means that a person does all of their own work without copying from a reference or from another person. They are being honest about the work that they have done and should be proud that they did it with out cheating or copying from someone else. There are many issues surrounding academic honesty. The issues start with the fact that academic dishonesty puts the honest students at a disadvantage in classes, there needs to be a stronger culture of academic integrity, and academic dishonesty is more prevalent now than it has been in the past. The definition of plagairism is to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one's own or to use with out crediting the source. Academic integrity is defined at this website. There could be many reasons why students would resort to academic dishonesty. Some causes include poor study habits, having many assignments at the same time, fear to express one's own ideas, a lack of confidence in one's writing skills, and poor time managment. Some suggestions or solutions for maintaining academic integrity and avoiding dishonesty issues are to manage your time better to where you have plenty of time to do assignments and not have to copy someone else's work. Also start developing your own ideas, and also people could learn to take more pride in doing their own work and have a better sense of self-satisfaction.

Academic Plan

My purpose for going to college is to get a good education. I also want to further my learning in the career of my choice. Currently I am attending Butler to play softball and get schooling paid for so I can save money and go to a bigger school eventually. I am planning to finish my schooling at Butler and get all of the required classes out of the way. After that, I plan to study to be an Audiologist. After my schooling at Butler Community College I am going to transfer to the University of Kansas to get a bachelors degree in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Disorders. The previous website contains some of the classes I should be taking when I start studying at KU. If that doesn't work out I am just going to still transfer to KU but I will get bachelors of Arts & Sciences degree. Then I could still go on to my graduate program for Audiology if i get accepted into the graduate school. Audiologists can work at many different work sites including their own practice or at an institute or hospital depending on the persons choice. I became interested in Audiology because that is what my father and his two brothers do and they own their own business. If someone is having trouble making decisions on what career you want to choose you should check out some websites. It asks you questions about your interests and gives you some possible career choices that you might be interested in based on your abilities and interests. Finding the Best Job for you is also another place to go to try and find a career that will fit you.

Time Management

Now that I am in college, I find myself trying to fit in all my commitments in a days time. This can be very stressful trying to juggle school/academic work, with work, family, softball, and other social commitments in my life like my friends and boyfriend. A typical day for me would be waking up, going to class, then going to softball practice, coming home, taking a shower, call my boyfriend and parents and other friends, then doing my homework and studying, then somedays working at night, then finally hanging out with my friends in El Dorado, then going to bed. It is hard trying to manage all of these activities everyday! Some Time Management Tools like making an activity log and prioritized to do lists could help me plan my days better and leave me with more time to myself and to relax. When i manage my time poorly, like only study a half hour for a test, it always makes me feel bad because i know that i could have studied harder and got a better grade but usually i am time-pressed so i cut corners. Procrastination is a very bad habit to get into, but why do we procrastinate? Some causes of procrastination include: we aren't in the right "mood" to do something, we have poor organizational skills, or we have a fear of failure or success. Some other consequences of managing my time poorly is i loose sleep, get stressed out easily, and get really frustrated with everything. If I would learn better time management skills I would be feeling the Advantages of Time Management. There have been some instances when i have managed my time well and it is a very relaxing feeling. Some steps I could take to make better use of my time would be to do my homework on the day it is assigned and not procrastinate to do it at the last minute. In college I feel that I manage my time worse than in high school because there are more distractions. I do see progress in the results I am achieving so far and feel that I am maturing in my judgement of things to do. Even so, I could still use work in Prioritizing. There are more advantages to managing your time wisely and the Keys to Managing Your Time are setting goals and maintaining a personal yet flexible schedule.

Community Service

There are a lot of issues that you hear about in the news such as the Iraq war, abuse, security, unemployment, and homelessness. Whether or not we realize it, all these issues affect us in our everyday life. I'm going to focus on the issue of sexual abuse. According to Sexual Abuse and Incest, one out of four females is sexually abused by the time she reaches the age of 18, with about 75 percent of the perpetrators being family members. And to go along with that, one out of 5 males is sexually abused by age 18. This is a serious problem and epidemic in the world. It is just sad to think about child sexual abuse because they are put through a lot of pain and carry it the rest of their life. It is also sad to say, but abuse happens all the time when it shouldn't be happening at all. Many people are trying to address the problem of sexual abuse and child sexual abuse. For one thing many states are making harsher punishments for the perpitrators such as longer sentences. Also for the children and other sexual abuse victims, there are a lot of therapy treatments to help them get over what has happened to them. Trauma Recovery is a website that has some possible treatments for survivors of sexual abuse and their traumatic experience. If you are in need of help you should check out this website and get some pointers to help in your recovery. One thing i have thought of for people like me and you to make a difference is to just be observant. If one of our friends are acting weird or shy and seem to be shutting the world out, we should take that as a hint that something isn't right. The issue might not be that they are being sexualy abused but we need to talk with that person and try to find the problem and help them out. Often people who are sexually abused will not tell anyone but we as people need to be concerned when it comes to an issue like this. The best thing we can do is to get the victim to be honest and to somehow get help with their situation. Sexual abuse is a big problem in the world and needs to be addressed. Hopefully we will all see a decline in the number of sexual abuse cases in the future.

Coping With Change

The biggest change by far that I have gone through in the past year was moving away from my parents and boyfriend and going to college. It is really different going to school where you don't know very many people. Change is hard for me because of all the adjusting. I was used to living in a town I knew along with all the people and getting myself accustomed to the new environment in El Dorado was tough at first. Change is definately necessary though, otherwise you would stay the same all your life. I am glad i got the opportunity to go to Butler. I have met a lot of new friends, i still get to play softball, and i still see my parents sometimes on the weekends. College isn't a lot different than high school except for the fact that the classes are a little harder and you can pick your class schedule. Although in college I am now living on my own and am learning money management, responsibility, and time management. I have never really been a person to initiate change. I am perfectly content with how things are, but if change does occur then I embrace it and make the best of it then get used to it. The only real emotional change that I have had since being at Butler was moving away from my parents and not getting to see them everyday. It was really hard at first but now I am okay with it. I get more freedom and am learning things by myself. I still love talking to them and going home to see them. The change that has caused me the most anxiety is not being able to see my boyfriend. He goes to KSU and we have been dating for 5 years and it is hard not seeing your best friend. Women Today talks about how women can help themselves cope with change. Some attitudes that can stop or hinder change is just for me to be flexible and take what comes and make the best out of it.