Student Success Center

Learning On Your Terms

In today’s environment, learning is more complicated than ever. Not only are you required to learn what has been taught for many years, but new discoveries, especially in healthcare, have been incorporated into courses as well. In addition to immense course loads, you are also immersed in the technology of learning where things are available 24/7/365, which is both a blessing and a curse. Put all of this all together and we have a tremendous undertaking for such a simple word….learning.

Ramsey Musallam gave a TED Talk in April of 2013 that proposed a new way to approach teaching and learning. After a life-threatening condition, Mr. Musallam began to look at the way he taught his chemistry students with a different lens. He was motivated by the competence that he witnessed in his surgeon who ultimately saved his life. When Mr. Musallam asked the surgeon what made him so competent, he was told there are 3 rules to learning:

Curiosity comes first – ask the why – questions are the seeds to student learning; ask the hard questions and ask until you have an answer that satisfies your curiosity. The answers might not come from your instructor, but the answer is out there. Find it.
Embrace the messy and inevitable process of trial and error – learning is a process that takes time and effort. By allowing yourself the right to get it wrong, you provide yourself with the opportunity to understand on a deeper level and to truly learn.
Practice reflection to make sense of the information – by taking the time to sit and reflect on the learning that just occurred, you have the opportunity to own that knowledge.

I’ve always loosely lived by the mantra that every day that I learn something new is a good day. This belief has helped put some pretty stressful and overwhelming tasks or situations into perspective because at the end of it, hopefully, I learned something new. By giving yourself permission to ask the questions and seek the answers, allow for mistakes as long as you learn from them, and take time to remember the lessons, you give yourself the freedom to learn on your terms. By approaching learning in this new way, hopefully you will learn something new every day and have many, many good days.

The Art of Google: 5 Tips to Enhance Your Search Skills

Google is possibly one of the most important inventions of the 20th and 21st centuries. Though it was not the first search engine, it has been heralded as the best. By placing an almost endless supply of information at its users’ fingertips, Google’s popularity soared. Its complex and efficient algorithms gave users accurate, reliable, and fast answers to life’s big questions.

Learning the Art of Google

Today, knowing how to Google efficiently is a recognized skill and businesses seek employees who are accomplished in the art of Google. To Google is to know more than simply how to translate into a text string the questions which vex the mind and entangle the spirit; it’s knowing how to speak to Google so that Google responds with heartfelt answers. Here are five tips to help advance in the art of Google.

1. Be Specific

The most important advice I can give you is to be specific. Clear communication is essential to any good human relationship and your relationship with Google is no different. If you’re looking for ducks, search ducks. If you’re looking for a fix for a computer error, use the error message to search for the solution.

For example, Johnny is getting the following error message

Runtime error 0x01120328a User removed from chair and placed on spaceship.

If Johnny wants to get helpful information from Google, he should enter

Runtime error 0x01120328a User removed from chair and placed on spaceship.

Unfortunately, what Johnny (and most people) will Google is

How did I get on this spaceship?

You see the problem? Johnny hasn’t communicated clearly to Google about what he needs, so Google is going to show all sorts of possibly interesting, but ultimately unhelpful information.

The likelihood that you’re the first person to ever have your problem is slim-to-none. Most of the time, it’s already online with a solution. Being specific makes it more likely that you will find what you need. Specificity will also keep you from getting sucked into a conspiracy theory. Specificity helps when you’re working with your friendly IT guy as well.

2. Be Accurate

Accuracy is almost as important as being specific. Accuracy involves searching for ducks instead of docks, or death taxes rather than death & taxes. Language is complicated, and though Google does have some of the best technology to gather meaning from syntax, it can’t always distinguish between what you mean and what you say.

3. Gather Information and Try Again

Okay, so you were specific and accurate but still haven’t found what you’re looking for? What did you find? Many times, even if the information you’re looking for doesn’t obviously present itself, one of the top 5 results will have some wording in its description or breadcrumbs (links below the result that are part of the website) that will help you in your search. Incorporate some of these keywords and try again.

4. Learn The Signs

Ducks are pretty general, and maybe you don’t want anything to do with brown ducks. Or, maybe you’re looking for classical music but you think Mozart is too popular. You can use signs to tell Google that you’d rather not discuss those topics:

The minus sign ( – ) can be used to remove search results that include words or phrase. Searching ducks –brown would get you results on ducks, but none of the results would include the word brown
The plus sign ( + ) will only get you results with whatever word you attach. Searching ducks +hunting would only get you results that include hunting.
Quotes ( “ “ ) around a specific phrase you want to find is great for solving the errors above. Looking for Runtime error “0x01120328a” User removed from chair and placed on spaceship makes certain you at least find all posts that include that error, increasing your chances in finding a solution to your problem
The asterisk ( * ), also known as the wildcard, can be used when you’re not sure exactly what you need, just a general idea. Maybe you remember it was a something-winged, something-billed buffalo duck. Instead of searching something-winged something-billed buffalo duck, try searching *winged *billed buffalo duck.

5. Ads Are Never Accurate

Google may be your friend, but never forget that Google began as a poor group of college kids who mostly ate Ramen, and they don’t want to go back. Google pays for itself by selling ads. Google may be the biggest ad seller on the internet. Make sure when you search for Duckbilled Platypus alien coffee mugs you don’t click those pretty green ads on the side or top of your search results. In fact, you’d be wise to get an ad blocker extension to cut through all of that and avoid the pain those sites often bring.

Executing these 5 tips properly will get you information quickly, and enable you to cut through the heartache that comes with ignorance. Google is a powerful tool that is often misused, mistreated, and mistrusted due to user error. Don’t be that guy. Google has what you need; it just wants you to ask nicely.

Create a Mind Map with Text 2 Mind Map

What is a Mind Map?

Mind mapping, also known as concept mapping, is a way of visually organizing information around a central concept or idea. The process begins with a central concept, the “big idea” that stays in the center of your map. That central idea is surrounded by connected branches of associated topics. The connected topics contain explanations, details, and facts about that topic as it relates to the central idea. The information is visual, in the form of images, keywords, and short phrases, and color is employed to clarify the relationships. Mind maps created with computer software can even include short video clips and web links. The easiest way to understand a mind map is to see one, so I have created this simple mind map about summer.

Mind mapping benefits students in a number of ways. First, mind maps organize information the way your brain stores memories – by linking new information to the things you already know. Mind maps are clear and easy to understand. The main concept is usually in the center of the map. Mind maps are flexible; they help you understand the connections between concepts, and improve your ability to recall information.

You can create a mind map easily with a pencil and paper, but it can be difficult to make changes and add or delete information. Using computer software gives you more flexibility and helps you keep your map neat and orderly. There are a number of free mind mapping programs online, and mind mapping apps are also available.

Text 2 Mind Map

Text 2 Mind Map is an online mind mapping tool that lets you create a mind map from an outline, and is very easy to use. To create a mind map, simply type (or paste) your outline text into the text box provided. The site will not recognize your outline formatting, so you will have to use the Tab key to indent and Shift + Tab to out dent. Once your text is formatted the way you want, click on the Draw Mind Map button and Text 2 Mind Map will create your mind map. You can reposition the elements by moving them with your mouse, and you can use the options panel to change some of the elements. Then, download the map as a PDF or a PNG image. That’s really all there is to it.

Features

Anyone can use the free version simply by going to the website. It’s very simple to use, has options for configuration, and all the maps you create are downloadable as a PDF or PNG (image) file. You can also save your map with a title. You won’t have immediate access to your map, however. The save feature is there so that the company behind Text 2 Mind Map can email you the map if you lose it. Still, if you don’t need to save all your maps in a collection online, the free version should be all you need.

I think that Text 2 Mind Map is a terrific tool, and I am completely satisfied with the free version. I don’t have any need to store the maps I create in an account, and I don’t mind seeing ads. When I tested the site it was very clean and there weren’t any ads visible. I find using this tool very helpful when I want to distill my notes into non-linear, linked elements. The ability to easily go from my text outline to a visual mind map makes it easier to check my understanding of new material. Text 2 Mind Map is the only tool I have found with the text-to-map capability which should make it useful even to people who are unaccustomed to creating mind maps.

Sharpen Your Study Skills

Good study skills are a requirement for student success. Even if you’ve never had to study much before, you will need strong study habits to meet the rigorous academic requirements at UAMS. Don’t wait until you are falling behind to develop your study skills. Take control and start now.

Take Time to Prepare

Study skills begin before a class session. Students with the best study skills plan for their class meetings. Review your class syllabus and schedule so that you know what content the instructor plans to cover during the class session. Before each class, skim materials like your textbook to get an organizational snapshot of the content. Read the learning objectives, headings and subheadings, and pay attention to charts and graphs. You will be much more open to receiving explanations, details, and facts from your instructor if you have a general understanding of how the topics are connected. Your notes from the class sessions will be more meaningful if you take the time to prepare.

Be Active and Participate in Class

Good study skills are rooted in how actively you listen and participate in your classes. To maximize your ability to retain and understand information, you need to be completely engaged in your learning. This begins with being an active listener. Don’t sit passively and let information drift over you. Instead, take notes and ask questions. Don’t try to write every word. Use short phrases and abbreviations but be careful that what you write is meaningful, because you will need to understand it later when you review your notes and materials. If you ask a question, make sure you can restate it in your notes so that you fully understand it. If you took the time to preview the material for the class session, you will already understand the general outline and organization of the material your instructor is covering which should make note-taking more efficient.

Plan for Reviewing

Good study skills include multiple opportunities for reviewing your notes and materials. Plan to review your notes the same day as your class session, or at least within 24 hours. Reviewing your notes shortly after the class session will allow you to check that you understood the material presented, and that your notes are clear and complete. Mark anything in your notes that you don’t understand. Then you can go back to your resources and find the information you need.

In addition to the same-day review, you will want to schedule study sessions on the days your classes don’t meet, like on the weekends. Use that time to review your notes and materials, re-read portions of your textbooks, summarize information in your own works, make connections between newer and older information, and test yourself through self-questioning and practice questions. Try to schedule some review time with other students in your classes. Explaining the material to another student is an excellent check of how well you understand what you learned. Listening to a peer’s explanation can give you a new perspective on the content as well.

Helpful Resources

The Student Success Center’s website has resources to help you improve your study skills, including information on how you learn and retain information, reading strategies, study strategies, and test taking skills. For more information, visit the Learning Resources page.

You need good study skills to be academically successful at UAMS. Taking time to prepare, being active and participating in class, and planning for reviewing your notes and materials will help make the hours you spend studying more productive and increase your academic achievement.

References

Texas A & M Health Science Center, http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/academic-support/active-learning-techniques/managing-class-content.html

University of Waterloo, http://uwaterloo.ca/counselling-services/curve-forgetting

Time Management

How Good Are Your Time Management Skills?

Success at UAMS is dependent on time management. You have multiple courses, projects, exams, study groups, and deadlines, and keeping up with them can seem overwhelming. In addition, many students also have to manage family, friends, and a full-time job. Learning to manage all the demands on your time is not just a skill for academic success, but one that will serve you in your future personal and professional life

There are many time management strategies and tools available to you, but most of them center on three components; scheduling, prioritizing, and completing.

Scheduling

Learning to schedule your time is one of the most important steps to learning to manage you time effectively. Get a calendar. It doesn’t matter if it is a traditional hard-copy notebook, or an online calendar you have on your phone or mobile device. Just make sure you have some place to keep track of your coursework. As soon as you can, download the schedules for all your courses and put all your assignments, projects, tests, and deadlines for all your courses on the calendar. Your calendar will give you a clear picture of when you are going to be the busiest.

Prioritizing

Learning to prioritize will help you make certain you are doing the most important things first. Break down your big projects into manageable chunks and work on them a little at a time so you aren’t overwhelmed when the deadline is upon you. Make a to-do list each week, and prioritize your tasks according to importance.

It might help to organize your tasks into three categories: Must Do, Should Do, and To Do. Work through these in order of priority, and be disciplined about taking care of the most important things first. Just remember, that Should Do and To Do items can become Must Do if they are not taken care of when you have the opportunity. Take satisfaction in checking items off your to-do list. It shows you how much you have accomplished, and motivates you to stay focused and finish strong.

Completing

Scheduling and prioritizing are great for planning, organizing and understanding your workload, but the actions you take to complete your tasks and accomplish your goals are what will make your time management plan a success. Follow the schedule you have created and work through the items on your to-do list. Remind yourself of your goals when your motivation sags, and don’t be discouraged when unexpected interruptions occur. Make sure to reward yourself when you complete a large task or achieve a goal. Your success will be a reflection of your discipline and determination in carrying out your plan.

Find Support

The are many different ways to manage and organize your time and workload. Click here to find information, tips, and tools on the Learning Support page.

Your success in managing your time and tasks directly impacts your success at UAMS. Keeping up with your courses, projects, exams, study groups, and deadlines can be overwhelming without a plan for managing it all. Using a time management plan that includes maintaining a schedule, prioritizing a to-do-list, and completing your work will not only help maximize your academic success, but will help you succeed professionally.

Setting Academic Goals

If setting academic goals isn’t part of your preparation, it should be. Goals provide structure to your academic life. Setting and prioritizing goals helps you focus on what’s important and ignore other distractions. Without specific and realistic goals, you will find yourself making random decisions you may regret.

Set Your Academic Goals

Goal setting starts with your vision of what you want from the academic program you are pursuing. What do you want to do with your education? What is the 5 or 10-year result of being in school? Knowing what you want to accomplish with your education is powerful motivation, especially when you are struggling.

Write a declarative statement for each of your goals. Formatting your goals in the right way increases your likelihood of achieving them. Use positive language. State what you want, not what you don’t want. Say, “I will get a B or better in Equipment and Techniques this semester”, instead of “I don’t want to flunk Equipment and Techniques this semester”. Thinking positively will empower you to be more successful.

One of the most effective ways to format your academic goals is to write SMART goals. SMART goals are effective because they are both realistic and relevant; making it more likely that you will persevere and achieve your goals. Align your goals with the following SMART concepts.

Create an Action Plan

Goals aren’t accomplished simply by writing them down. You need to create a plan of action in order to achieve your goals. Break each goal down into a set of smaller tasks and subtasks. Checking off each of these tasks and subtasks will give you a sense of accomplishment and feed your motivation to successfully complete your goals. Remember, your goals will never be accomplished unless you take action.

Identify Resources/Challenges

Obstacles and setbacks are a natural part of life, but you also have resources available to you to help you overcome them. Try to anticipate the challenges you may face. Make a list of potential obstacles and identify the resources that will support you.

Maintain Your Motivation

As you work on achieving your goals, you may have trouble staying motivated to push through to the end. One way to combat that “slump” you will likely experience is to ask others to help hold you accountable for achieving your goals. We all perform better before an audience, and having people who will celebrate your successes and remind you to stay on track can be a powerful motivation booster.

Another way to maintain your motivation is to visualize your future accomplishment. What will the accomplishment your goal look and feel like? What will be the benefits from achieving the goal? Will you have more personal time? Will your future goals become more attainable? Whatever it is, visualizing the benefits can help motivate you to progress to the next step.

There’s an App for That!

There are numerous ways to track the progress of your goals. If you like to use old fashioned hard copy methods you can put your goals into your calendar, journal, or on a piece pf paper taped to your bathroom mirror. Just keep them where you can see them every day. If you like a tech solution, there are a number of apps for goal setting and habit tracking available for your smartphone or tablet. You can use any app that meets your needs, but I recommend that you check out these two apps.

CheckMark is a great tool that was designed to help you achieve daily goals. This app is extremely useful for helping you complete the tasks and subtasks associated with your goals. It’s easy to use and the design is very simple. The goals you input are the ones that your want to achieve today, not tomorrow or in the future. The goals expire at the end of the day, whether they are achieved or not.

Smart Goals is an all-in-one goal setting, bucket list (dreams) and habit tracking app. The goals feature helps you set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) goals. It allows you to create smaller tasks and subtasks, or milestones, that lead toward the accomplish of your bigger goals. You can re-order your goals or convert goals to dreams or dreams to goals. It is a strong tool for tracking your long-term progress, and it’s editing tools allow you to make changes in your goals as you encounter life changes.

Make goal setting a part of your academic preparation. You will be able to focus on what is most important and complete your academic courses successfully. Your specific and realistic goals will help you make the right decisions to achieve the academic and professional life you envisioned.

6 Tips for Student Success

The start of a new academic year is filled with a sense of new beginnings, possibilities, and optimism. It’s a fresh start. It’s about what you can achieve as you strive toward academic excellence. It’s a chance to take control of your intellectual development and drive your professional success.

Now is the time to set yourself up for academic success. Here are six tips to help you start out on the right path.

1. Set Your Academic Goals

If goal setting isn’t part of your academic preparation, it should be. Goals provide structure in your academic life. Setting and prioritizing goals helps you to focus on what is most important and ignore other distractions. Without specific and realistic goals, you’ll find yourself making random decisions you may regret.

Set goals that are time-specific and measurable, so you will know when you have accomplished what you set out to do. Make sure you re-evaluate your goals on a regular basis. If things aren’t working, ask yourself what you need to change. Do you have to change your behavior? Would your goal be more achievable if you broke it down into smaller chunks? Is your goal realistic? Determining the answer to these questions will get you closer to achieving your goals.

2.Check the Technology Requirements

Several of the colleges and programs at UAMS require students to have a laptop. Therefore it is wise to understand what the technical requirements are before you start. Make sure your computer will work with Blackboard and any other online tools your instructor uses. You don’t want to waste time solving compatibility problems after your courses have started. Check the 2015 Laptop Buying Guide for more information.

3. Master the Online Tools

Access your courses in Blackboard as soon as they are available. Instructors set up their Blackboard sites differently, so it is a good idea to navigate around the site to learn how things are organized and where information is stored. Many instructors use online tools in their courses, so take the time to learn what they are and become familiar with how they work. That way, you aren’t trying to learn new tools when deadlines become pressing.

4. Employ Time Management Tools

Success at UAMS is dependent on time management. You have multiple courses, projects, exams, study groups, and deadlines, and keeping up with them can seem like a part-time job. To help you manage it all, get a calendar and combine it with a To Do list. I prefer to use an online calendar and to-do app that will sync across all my devices, but if you prefer a hard-copy calendar and to-do list, that’s fine too.

As soon as you can, download the schedules for all your courses and put all your assignments, projects, tests, and deadlines for all your courses on your calendar. This will show you when you are going to be the busiest. Break down your big projects into manageable chunks and work on them a little at a time so you aren’t overwhelmed when the deadline is upon you. Keep tasks on a To Do list and check them off when complete. Having a good system for your calendar and tasks will keep you organized and make your academic life much easier.

5. Sharpen Your Study Skills

Good study skills are a requirement for student success at UAMS. Even if you’ve never had to study much before, you will need strong study habits to meet the rigorous academic requirements at UAMS. Don’t wait until you are falling behind to develop you study skills. Take control and start now!

Preview what you have to do and prioritize your workload. Don’t try to cram for tests. Instead, spread your studying out over time. Organize the information and test yourself. Find someone from class to review with before a test. Try to select someone who doesn’t understand the material as well as you. Answering their questions will strengthen your own understanding.

6. Know Where to Find Help

At some point during your time at UAMS, you may need help. Become familiar with all the services that UAMS and the Student Success Center have to offer. You might find yourself falling behind in your courses or struggling to pass a class. Don’t wait to seek help. Go get the support you need right away.

Over the next six weeks we will be exploring these tips in more detail. Check back for more information and tools you can use to achieve more in your academic pursuits. And please, stop by the Student Success Center on the 3rd floor of the UAMS Library to discover more ways we are here to help you achieve academic excellence.