🍀Know About Me🍀
“Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast.“-William Shakespeare-
Assalamualaikum, hello and welcome to my very own page.My name is Emilia Nur Hannah Binti Suzairy @ Mohd Riza. Usually I would let people in the Uitm to call me by my nickname, Emisan. I’m from Semenyih, Selangor and have been living there with my family for almost 10 years.
So, basically I’m taking Diploma Fine Metal Art (AD113) in Uitm Machang, Kelantan. Well, what’s challenging about studying here is that I’ll be far away from my family, learn to be more independant and socialize with new people. However, I’m honestly excited doing something new so, I’d find this challenge very fun and interesting.
After staying here for the past two weeks, I met so many friendly people from different states and was pretty surprised how determined they are. I have also been volunteering activities , auditioning a performance and joining many interesting clubs.
Now you might have been wondering why I’m creating this portfolio. I am over the moon and would love to share my knowledge that can help students to have a better understanding about study skills.
🍀About This Course🍀
“Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.”
-Albert Einstein-
What is this UED 102 study skills all about?
This course prepares students with learning skills essential for varsity life. It exposes students to basic academic skills. For example, effective time management, setting goals, learning styles, learning strategies, and processing information from lectures and texts, which would help students cope with academic demands at the tertiary level.
Once the students complete this course, the students can apply knowledge of study skills in academic settings and develop a personal study skills portfolio.
Here are the contents:-
- 🌸 Getting ready to learn
- 🌸 Goal Setting
- 🌸 Time Management
- 🌸 Getting To know The Campus
- 🌸 Memory, learning and Improving Concentration
- 🌸 Taking Lecture Notes
- 🌸 Academic Integrity and Performance
🍀Topic 1: Getting Ready To Learn🍀
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
-Marilyn Monroe-
So this very first topic in Study Skills focuses on learning styles and characteristics of successful students.
Learning style inventory
Now, it may sound a little cliche, but there are a few people that actually have no idea what learning styles they would be better at. I guess you’re wondering, why do we have to know about what our learning style we prefer? To make things simple, once you know what kind of learning styles you are capable at, you can use the trick to help you understand well.
I was given a sheet of paper prepared with quizzes and was told to just answer yes or no. So this here is actually one of the ways to know your study styles.
When you completed all the questions, it will tell you to count the ‘yes’es you got in three separated marks. Easy as pie right?
Hmmm? Why is there three separated marks you ask? Basically those three things represents the sum of 3 different study styles.
- 🌼 Visual Style
- 🌼 Auditory Style
- 🌼 Kinesthetic
So here are my results,
As you can see, I’m more better in Visual style and Auditory Style. The information I’ll get when using one of the study styles I’m great at could be easier for me to understand.
🍀Topic 2: Goal Settings🍀
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
-Oprah Winfrey-
What is the first thing you think when you hear the word goal? To me, I always have an image of a soccer player perfectly shoots the ball into the goal. And that’s when everyone starts shouting “GOAL”.
The meaning of goal that suits this srudy skill course is the object of a person’s ambition or effort, an aim or desired result.
Goals are the ends toward which we direct our effort. In other words, goals are things we want to achieve. Goals are important in varsity life because they help motivate you to do work, attend classes and study for exams. Even though you already may have set some goals were realistic. You can actually do well that increase your chance for success.
Benefits of goal setting to students
- Improves academic performance
- Increase motivation to achieve
- Increase pride and satisfaction in performance
- Improve self-confidence
- Effective use of time
Your goals must be S.M.A.R.T .
What is S.M.A.R.T? S.M.A.R.T is an acronym for the 5 elements of specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based goals. It’s a simple tool used by businesses to go beyond the realm of fuzzy goal-setting into an actionable plan for results.
- 🌼Specific
Sometimes our ideas about what we want are too vague to build an action plan around.
Examples for students to turn dreams into action items might include figuring out what entry-level job could lead to the position you ultimately want and then seeing what qualifications you need to get onto that first step of the ladder.
“It can be like ‘OK, it sounds like what you’re talking about is more of a long-term goal. How can you break that down into smaller S.M.A.R.T goals along the way, and then prioritize them?” Martin said.
Martin said one way to think about specificity is in asking who, what, where, when and how. A goal for a job search might involve reaching out to particular professional contacts within a certain period of time or attending networking events.
- 🌼 Measurable
Here’s a basic rule of thumb: It’s not a S.M.A.R.T goal if you can’t tell whether you’ve achieved it or not. For example, Williams said, many people want to be more confident. But if you want to know whether you’re moving toward that objective, you need metrics that you can review.
So you might make a note of how often you speak up in a weekly team meeting you attend and then set a goal for how many times you’ll raise your hand and make a point. You can track your results in a journal or an app, or ask a friend to keep you accountable for improving your numbers.
Martin’s S.M.A.R.T goal examples always include numbers. Referencing the job search networking example, she said you might set a goal for how many people in your new industry to make contact with over the next two weeks.
- 🌼Achievable
A good goal is one you really believe you can achieve.
Angelique Kim, a business development partner for SNHU career services, said she often finds students applying for jobs that they don’t have the necessary qualifications. These may well be jobs they could eventually get, but if they apply without taking the time to get the required credentials and experience, they may end up disappointed and frustrated.
“There’s a lot of reality checking and expectation-setting with students to make sure that what they’re looking for lines up with the experience they’ve had in the past,” she said.
Setting goals for work might include getting an internship or some freelance work to develop the qualifications you need to get your dream job. In these cases, Martin said, making sure that goals are realistic can mean the difference between getting discouraged and developing increasing confidence with each small milestone you achieve.
- 🌼Relevant
As we strive to make our goals specific, measurable and achievable, we run the risk that we may lose track of that big dream that started us setting goals in the first place. Passing an introductory business course might be a more achievable goal for you than completing a challenging course in human anatomy, but if you’re dreaming of being a nurse, it’s probably less relevant.
“Relevance to me is my ‘why,'” Williams said. “If you’re not able to clearly articulate a motivation for yourself, the rest of it doesn’t matter.”
In some cases, she said, students may come to college or into the workplace with goals in mind that are their parents, not their own. That often means that they feel less motivated to take the necessary steps forward than if they stopped and took the time to figure out the goals that felt personally relevant to them.
- 🌼Time-bound
The very worst enemy of successfully achieving goals may be procrastination. We often have so many things we want to accomplish that if we’re not careful we can end up taking half-steps toward all of them and not completing the things that are our highest priorities. That’s why deadlines are crucial.
To make sure that those deadlines are challenging but not impossible to hit, Martin recommends starting by taking a close look at how you spend your time now and how long the tasks you need to accomplish will take. For example, before deciding how many networking events to attend, consider how much time you need to spend with your family or on your current job or coursework each week.
Williams said that, in many cases, it’s not just one deadline that we need but a number of smaller end-dates for taking steps toward our goal.
“If your goal is to run a marathon, you need to put in some mini-check marks, mini-SMART goals,” she said.
Reference: https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/2018/09/what-are-smart-goals
🍀Topic 3: Time Management & Organization Skills🍀
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.”
-Steve Jobs-
Time Management Skills
“Time management” refers to the way that you organize and plan how long you spend on specific activities.
It may seem counter-intuitive to dedicate precious time to learning about time management, instead of using it to get on with your work, but the benefits are enormous:
- Greater productivity and efficiency.
- A better professional reputation.
- Less stress.
- Increased opportunities for advancement.
- Greater opportunities to achieve important life and career goals.
Failing to manage your time effectively can have some very undesirable consequences:
- Missed deadlines.
- Inefficient work flow.
- Poor work quality.
- A poor professional reputation and a stalled career.
- Higher stress levels.
Organization Skills
Staying organized is important for any student to be successful. However, many struggle to stay organized. In fact, our recent survey highlights that a lack of organization is the leading barrier to student success.
For some, it’s an issue of getting started and for others, it’s difficult maintaining an organization system. Organizational skills for students apply to any age. It’s never too late to practice organization in the classroom.
Here are 7 ways to enhance organizational skills for students:
1. Start With Sorting
It may seem obvious, but sorting alleviates disorganization so that important papers and documents aren’t misplaced. Sorting school work into binders and folders is a practical skill to teach students. This skill not only teaches students organization skills but also how to prioritize items.
As students keep their documents and school work organized by assigning a place for each item. A logical method is by assigning a folder for each subject or class. Have students use folders and binders as a designated place for tasks and school work, including:
- Handouts
- Tests and quizzes
- Class notes
- Homework
- Take-home forms
- Graded assignments
High priority assignments or information can be sorted into a separate folder in the front of a student’s binder for fast approaching due dates.
2. Use a Checklist
Checklists are instrumental in helping disorganized students get their tasks in order. Preparing a checklist also demonstrates to students how to prioritize tasks.
For instance, you can provide checklists to students in elementary school so they can get familiar with deadlines and project details. Print out a checklist, so that the student has it available with them wherever they go.
Older students can leverage project management tools for organizing checklists and practice assigning tasks to group members during projects.
3. Emphasize Brevity
Too many tasks on a to-do list can lead to students putting things off. Have students focus on getting a set number of tasks completed within a day, such as only working on four assignments at any given time. By organizing a concise list, students successfully complete their goals.
4. Leverage School Planners
Being able to know when assignments are due is an important part of being organized. Teach students to stay organized by using a school planner. While it’s great to use calendars on smartphones, writing down deadlines actually increases retention.
A Psychology Science study found that writing with pen and paper helps to boost your memory more than writing via laptops. School planners also have a built-in benefit of a calendar that students can leverage to plan out projects and assignments.
A school planner calendar is a great resource for younger students. Parents can place their signatures to confirm that the child completed a homework assignment. This helps students to better manage their time and increases parent involvement and communication.
Create space inside a planner where students organize handwritten notes, create project timelines, and structure lists.
5. Use Visual Tools
A simple way to facilitate organizational skills for students is by using visual reminders. When you use visual reminders, students can easily identify what needs to be done. Stickers and color-coded labels remind students about an important deadline or project to complete.
Visual tools not only serve as reminders, but as an easy way to maintain organization in and outside of the classroom. Try handing out color-coded labels to students at the beginning of the academic year, quarter, or semester. Students can adhere color-coded labels to folders and organize school work by subjects. Your students can then use a matching highlighter to indicate upcoming due dates
6. Assign “Buddies”
Hold students accountable for developing their organizational skills by assigning them a buddy. In this routine, paired student “buddies” are responsible to remind one another about important deadlines.
Older students can also serve as accountability partners and help absent students tackle missed assignments.
7. Schedule Cleaning Time
When your work area is messy, it’s hard to focus. Thus, setting aside time on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to clean is essential for success.
Teach your students the importance of scheduling time to clean their workspace and compartments, such as their desks, backpacks, lockers, or cubbies. Jars and cups function as a simple tool to hold pens, markers, or pencils.
Whether you’re teaching elementary school students or college students, organizational skills are necessary for students of any age in order to be successful. With the right organizational skills, students can achieve their educational goals.
Here is My Fixed Commitment Calendar:-
Reference:
- https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_00.htm
- https://www.schoolplanner.com/2018/03/21/organization-skills-students/
🍀Topic 5: Memory, Learning & Improving Concentration🍀
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”
-Benjamin Franklin-
What is memory?
Its the ability to remember past experiences, and the power or process of recalling to mind previously learned facts, experiences, impressions, skills and habits
Having a good memory involves both putting information into memory and getting it back out (both storage and retrieval)
Some students would have troubles in remembering what they have learned. But not to worry because there many strategies to improve your memory skills
Memory Strategies
Try out these memorization tips for students that will help you exercise your mind and improve recall.
- Organize your space
To improve your memory, you need to be able to focus. Distractions of any kind will prevent this, so make sure your space is clear of clutter and has all the materials you need for your study session.
- Visualize the information
Use the Method of Loci. This is a technique where you visualize a house, associating rooms in the house with bits of information. New information goes into a new room. Open a drawer to find a chemical formula. Open a closet to find the names of the bones in the foot.
- Use acronyms and mnemonics
Create patterns and words with from the information you need to remember. Associating the first letter of each item with a word, phrase, or rhyme, can make information easier to recall. These tricks are especially useful to help remember lists and ordered information.
- Use image-name association
Recalling names can be easier by associating images and names in a clever, unique way. Remember the names of the presidents by associating a facial feature with their name, such as ‘Mutton Chops Van Buren’.
- Use chaining technique
Create a story or sentence around a bit of information so that it can be more easily recalled. Remember the order of the planets by telling a tale about them going on a picnic. The story can be silly and fun, which will make it easier to remember.
- Learn by doing
Learn information by acting it out. Using hand gestures and other movements can help you better remember information with muscle memory. If you can’t move around when studying, use your imagination to picture it in your mind.
- Study in different location
Your memory can be triggered by different cues in your environment. If you are having trouble remembering the material you are studying, try moving to a new spot to help the information stand out in your mind.
- Revisit the material
Review the material you studied a couple days after your study session. Make a mental note of anything you have forgotten, and review those areas again.
SQ3R:
- Survey- Make a survey to get a whole picture about the topic that we will read
- Question- Make a question while reading so that our minds are always looking for answers
- Read- Read the sentence to understand the information
- Recite- Summarize and rephrase the sentence
References:
🍀Topic 6: Taking Lecture Notes🍀
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
–Thomas A. Edison-
This topic introduces students to why they should take lectures note. Now, what is note-taking? Note-taking is writing down ideas from lectures and reading in our own word.
Why should we take notes you ask? It helps us pay attention in class and promotes active listening . Hence, it helps us study for quizzes, improve our memory and provides an accurate record of information. Moreover, it provides an opportunity for repetition of material, help us engage our sense also organize and process data.
Review your notes! The reason is because we lose 80% of what we hear if it is not reviewed within a few hours. Identify any question for peers, the next class or ask lectures. Moreover there is not enough time to absorb all the information given in class if it’s not reviewed on regular basis.
How do we take notes? Here’s a little tip:
- Date and label notes
- Give ourselves space to write
- Use abbreviations and symbols
- Use an outline to show main ideas, supports and examples
- Use our own language for easier understanding
How to prepare for class:
- Review syllabus
- Identify the main ideas of the lecture and organize your notes easier
- Preview previous notes
- Look up key word prior to class
While taking notes, be an aggressive, not passive listener. Go ask question and discuss if it’s permitted, Read the text assignment before the lecturer to build background on the topic. Do focus your attention and listen with open mind, setting aside your own biased. Do avoid distractions as well.
Here is an effective note taking system:
The Cornell Note-taking system has an excellent format for setting up your note page.
🍀Topic 7: Academic Integrity & Peformance🍀
“You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated.”
–Maya Angelou-
In this section, students are exposed to what is plagiarism, the common types of plagiarism and how to prevent plagiarism when writing their assignment.
What is plagiarism? Plagiarism refers to the act of taking an idea, writing or creation of another person and suggest proudly that it is the result of his own creation
How to prevent Plagiarism:
- Express the meaning of (the writer or speaker or something written or spoken) using different words, especially to achieve greater clarity
- You need to plan how you are going to include other sources of information in your paper
- Organize the information that you have found by taking thorough notes of all the sources before you start writing
- A paraphrase is a restatement or rewording of a text or passage giving the meaning in another form in order to achieve clarity
Use References which provide (a book or article) with citations of authorities. One of the most important ways to avoid plagiarism is referencing.
Steps to refrencing:-
- Include a reference page or page of works cited at the end of you paper
- Be sure to edit your research paper carefully and check for plagiarism before submitting it
Calculating grade and point average
GPA AND CGPA
- A Grade Point Average (GPA) refers to the calculate average of the letter grades a students earns in each semester following a 0 to 0.4 scale
- Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) refers to the overall GPA, which includes dividing the number of quality points earned in all courses attempted by the total credit hours in all attempted courses
ICGPA
- A system or mechanism for assessing and reporting learner’s integrated development and learning gains of their ADAB (ethics and values), their declarative and functional knowledge and their disciplinary skills & technical abilities.
- The reporting illustrates attaintment of attributes outlined in the six students aspirations stipulated in the MEB (HE) as well as the eight domains of learning outcomes listed in the Malaysia Qualifications Framework. It is mechanism that aims to assist various stakeholders in making decisions or planning for improments
HOW TO CALCULATE GPA
The total credit values registered and attempted in the assessment of a semester
The total credit unit acquired in the same semester
