1. Transition To College
a. What did you expect college would be like 14 weeks ago?
– For starters, I thought college would be scary since it was only my first semester. I never would have thought I’d be in college already it was a shocker for me. What I expected was being on campus having classes and interacting with my peers, but it turned out to be totally different. I had one class in-person and it wasn’t what I thought a Chemistry lab would be like. In high school, everyone was working together closely, but ever since the pandemic changed all the rules it was as fun as I thought it would be. As time went on, I started to enjoy going to my chem lab to be with my peers and interact with each other.
b. What is something you wish you knew 14 weeks ago?
– Something I wish I had known 14 weeks ago is how the workload for each class varies. In some classes, I’d only have one assignment due every week, but in other classes, we had multiple assignments due in a couple of days. It was definitely a change from what I expected. I also wish I knew that your professors are always there for you no matter if it’s for help or even just to have a conversation about college life. I have contacted some of my professors who I knew could help me with something. They were very helpful throughout the semester.
c. What is a resource or activity you have found helpful this semester?
– There is this assignment that I found helpful in my English class. We have this essay called “The Writer Progress Plan”, and this assignment would have updates on our SMART goes about every month on something we would like to change or even do it differently. This assignment we had helped me keep track of things I would like to do differently and what I need to improve on. I like this assignment a lot because of the different updates we have and what we can change to make it a little different.
d. What is a resource or activity you have found unhelpful this semester?
– I didn’t find any of the assignments or resources unhelpful. Everything I have done at ODU has helped me no matter what it was. The professors are all helpful and the work they assign helped me figure out what I’m good at doing and what I can improve on. I believe that the ODU faculty and community are very helpful towards their students. There wasn’t a time when I knew there was something that could help me during the semester.
e. Name something you have learned this semester that will assist you next semester.
– Something that I learned that will be helpful for me next semester is my new study habits. I try and switch around from hand-written notes and digital notes. I do this because during the day I’m usually staring at a screen all day on zoom meetings. Since I have 5 online classes and 1 in-person class I find that doing digital notes are more helpful during my online classes. For my in-person class, I don’t really have to write that many notes, but when I do have to write my notes I try and make them as fun as possible. I use colorful pens and make studying more fun instead of it being boring. I find all these things useful for me to use next semester to assist me.
2. Study Habits
a. How much time do you spend studying for each class now vs. at the beginning of the semester?
– When it comes to studying, I always try and study as much I can. I feel like nowadays I study more than I did at the beginning of the semester. I spend 1 ½ studying for each class that I know I need to study for. In the beginning, I know I would slack a little bit and put a little bit of studying to the side, but I’ve changed my study habits. I make sure that I have time to study, but I also make sure that I take breaks when needed.
b. How have your study habits changed?
– Something that I have changed when I study is that I don’t just take hand-written notes. I also decided to take digital notes on my iPad. I find that switching from digital and hand-written is very helpful for me. I have the option to choose whether or not I want to take notes on my iPad or in my notebook. I also chose not to study right after class. I chose to do this because sometimes I would have things to do around the house, need a break, or I have to let all the information I just learned settle in my mind. I find this very helpful because it doesn’t stress me out when I feel overwhelmed.
c. What specific techniques do you think work best for you? How do these vary from class to class?
– When I take notes, I think some techniques that work for me are color-coding my notes, having a podcast playing in the background while working, and having a clear amount of work that I’m going to be doing. When I do take notes, I write with multicolored pens. I feel that doing this helps me out a lot. I can’t take notes that are written in just one color and I find it difficult for me to go over it again because it gets boring. So, I think writing with color makes it fun for my studying. I found out recently that playing a podcast helps me out when I want to study. I also make sure that I know how much work I have in for each class. It varies depending on what I’m assigned during the week. I do the same things for each class when taking notes and studying. I try not to do anything different that could possibly be hard for me or stress me out.
3. Health Professions Learning Community
a. This semester you were enrolled in at least SOC 201S, and HLTH 101. Many of you were also enrolled in CHEM 105N and CHEM 106N, and some of you were enrolled in HIST 104H with Professor White.
i. On the surface these classes do not appear to be connected however this semester each professor was intentional about drawing connections between content, and subjects discussed. Discuss the ways in which these courses are tied together.
– I think that the courses that I’m enrolled in are tied together because most of the people that are in these classes are in the Learning Community. I think seeing familiar faces is a good thing when it comes to having assignments that have to be done with other people. In CHEM 106N my lab partner and I are both enrolled in SOC 201S, HLTH 101, and CHEM 105N. I found this very useful because we could talk about work in the other classes and could ask each other for help when needed. The professors in CHEM 105N and CHEM 106N have the same units together so when we have to learn something before a lab the other class is already covering it through homework assignments and worksheets. I found this extremely helpful because if I didn’t understand something, I have either Chemistry class to go to and receive help. I thought this was a good idea to do by crossing paths with the work and having the same things to do.
b. This semester we provided events (Health Chats) for you to hear from health professionals from ODU.
i. Which Health Chat was most beneficial for you as a student, and why?
– I thought that the Nursing chat was very helpful for me. Since I’m a nursing major learning what they do, what’s expected in the courses, and what it looks like to be in the program. I thought that this was my favorite event that was held. I loved the information that was given to us during this event because I know that it will help us in the long run. I know that I will benefit from this event and in the near future.
