All Students: Catch-Up and Study Tips

Hello everyone!

I hope you're all enjoying your vacation! After pushing through half a semester of work, you deserve a break. I know you all have families, jobs, etc. to tend to, but at least you don't have the weight of a hundred deadlines hanging over your head.

Please, cut out some "me" time for yourself.

On another note, some of you have work to catch up on. Maybe you don't know your muscles as well as you should, you're missing homeworks, or your documentation isn't up to snuff. Now is a good time to catch up on that stuff while you have the time.

I suggest that you all check your gradebooks and see what assignments you're missing. A good way to do this is to click the "Report" tab at the top of the course space, change it from "Attendance" to "Grades" and click "Run." Some teachers don't have all of your grades put in so your final grade won't be accurate, but most do. You can see what assignments you haven't turned in yet as well, and can check to see if you're still able to turn them in for partial credit.

MAT126 students, you've probably already done this for the midterm evaluation, but I suggest you tally up your hours so far and record them somewhere.

Reminder: we have tons of resources to use in Open Lab: Anatomy flash cards, face paint crayons to draw muscles on each other, all kinds of textbooks/reference books, clay, skeletal models, and (obviously) space to practice. Come on over and get stuff done this Wednesday :-)

Also, here are a couple study tips I've seen help students immensely:

• I had one student make a dotted list for each class of everything due for the week in a notebook. At the beginning of each class week, she'd write down what assignments, quizzes, and discussions were due and when, and she'd write it down in an organized list. As she completed her assignments, she'd check them off.
• When writing a discussion post, always type it in a word doc. first and save it. Then you can copy & paste it over to the discussion board. If the class times out for some reason, or the internet goes out, you won't lose your work.
• Some people need tangible assignments to hold in their hands. Because of this, some students have printed out everything and organized the papers in three-ring binders. It's a non-eco-friendly option.
• If that's not an option, every week go through your classes and save everything to your computer. Copy & paste any info into a word doc. and that can't be saved otherwise and save that as well. If the internet/web site goes down, you can still see what is due and complete those assignments.
• When I saved my class assignments, I was very organized. I'd have a folder for every class (ex. "MAT111") and a folder for every week (ex. "Week 8") and then I'd specifically name every assignment/doc. I saved (ex. "Ppt Hydrotherapy" or "Disc Ethics" Ppt = powerpoint and Disc = discussion).
• If you have a calendar (virtual or otherwise) mark down when the course week for each class begins and ends, as they're usually different. That gives you a general understanding of when assignments are due.
• Now that you know your professors, make a mental note of what they look for and keep that in mind when completing their assignments!

Hope these help! And again, enjoy your vacation. :-)

~Jess