La Bon Eleve

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Oh my...quite a while since my last post - what a crazy couple of weeks.

I've been so busy trying to get on top of a number of things, that this has just fallen to the wayside.

I am still trying to wrap my head around Cells, and have gotten about half way through it. I am so looking forward to getting past this, and also Tissues, so I can move on to Organs, and body systems. I received a rather large folder with my first unit learning guide in it, which I already had a digital copy of, but I am rather traditional in liking paper copies (sorry environment!).

I have been looking over the last week for some good and useful study aids, and I think I came across a gem the other day.

It's called gFlash+, by the company gWhiz, and they have made it for iPod/iPhone, Blackberry and Android at the moment. As you may guess, it's a flash card application, but also allows you to do multiple question and trivia quiz's if you purchase the gFlashPro.

gWhiz have a number of learning applications, but the main reason that I've fallen in love with gFlash+ is because it allows you to create your own list of flash cards which you can quiz yourself on for FREE! All you need is access to Google Documents, which you can sign into with your gmail account.

Another benefit to gFlash+ is that you can publish the lists that you have made into the public domain, which is very useful for study sessions, or shared learning groups. On the flip side of this, with a quick search of a key-word, you can download flash card lists that other people have created - the only small problem there is that you cannot preview them, but it's a very tiny download amount, so it's worth downloading a few that sound like what you need, and going through to see if they are the level of learning you need to study.

Hewf...anyhow, apologies if that sounded like a paid advertisement, i can assure you it was not.

I have created two different flash card lists for this application so far - and I haven't published them, but will have to look more into seeing if you can send people specifically to that list instead of them having to look around for themselves.

I have taken my notes from Topic 1 - Intro to the Human Body, and made quiz question and answers from them. (E.g.: What type of tissue can be described as 'a sheet of cells'? Epithelial tissue)

It was a great way for me to revise my own notes - I found that I had written things twice a fair amount, and there was quite a bit that I wrote that wasn't actually information, but helped my mind wrap around the concepts while I was learning them.

I will need to rewrite the notes into exam study notes at some point - but right now turning them into flash card questions is doing well for jogging my memory.

"I like nonsense, it awakens the brain cells."

Cheers

Kristy

6:56 PM

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Goodness...I had a slack day.

Okay no - slack implies that I did nothing. Realistically I had a busy day, I shopped, I cooked...I socialised....okay...it was a bit slack. But it's not as dire as it sounds. I shopped - for stationary (yay!) and food for Hubby's lunches, I cooked - Hubby's lunches, and I socialised - with my mother, while I cooked. I was slack in the way that I did absolutely no study today - unless subliminal counts? I did fall asleep listening to the Doc C lecture on Cell Function - so tomorrow when I actually sit down to study cells, maybe some of that lecture will have filtered into my brain. I think it has, it feels like its in there, behind a door and I just can't reach the doorknob. Looking at the books tomorrow and consiously listening to the lectures and taking notes will open that door, so I just need to be patient.

I did regale my Mum with some of the new words i've learnt, such as 'epithelial' (which I did just spell check before I went on). She reacted with suitable 'ohh' and 'ahh' noises, she's so nice.

One and a half days til the end of the week - and a bonus, Hubby has said if I can clear the backroom (currently housing washing, tv and a couch) all by myself, then he will turn it into a study for me! Excitement plus...now I just need to figure out how to listen to lectures, take notes, and clean - all at the same time. I get the feeling that my study breaks won't be too relaxing for the next couple days.

Ahh well, it'll all be worth it in the end - most things are.

1:00 AM

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

My brain that is...

I spent over 2 hours yesterday taking notes from audio lectures and the blackboards that this lecturer used and I made 7 A4 pages of notes, I was very proud of myself. Granted I did take a break every half hour for a cup of tea or snacky food. Something to give my brain a 5 minute break. I then took up my text book and began to take notes from that. I found this method worked rather well, even though there was some overlap in the study, it was good to be able to read the text and realise 'yup, I already know that'. I completed perhaps half of topic 1 before I had to go and pick up my husband from the train station. When he learned that i'd be studying for the last 6 or so hours, he made me take a break and watch a movie. Probably a good idea too, I would have sat there for any number of hours until I was satisfied i'd done enough.

So as I was sitting watching the movie (Slither, a horror, kinda) I wondered, 'Okay, i've got all this in my brain...but will it stay there, and will I be able to reference it outside the confines of the study room.' The answer is YES!

During the movie, a man gets split down his front by a creature, from top to toe, and my automatic reaction? "Ohh...right down the median plane!!!" And then blinking in suprise at myself and then smiling happily.

Yes, it seems I am learning, and more importantly - retaining the knowledge. So on to another day of learning - finishing topic 1, and then 2 hours of lectures about cells - and i'm actually looking forward to it!

Take care all

11:50 AM

Monday, February 22, 2010

Yikes, it's finally here.

Day 1 of my scheduled study. Althought I was hoping to use the pre-made study timetable from ACNT as a guide, I was informed that they are not drawing one up for the 2010 course - darn it. And it looks like some of the things (modules, unit names) have changed from last year, so I am trying to use the 2009 timetable as a base, but without knowing some detailed, such as recommended average time to go through certain units, it's difficult for me to estimate a timetable. I shot through an email this morning, so hopefully I get a response soon, they're quite good at getting back to me swiftly.

I found some interesting things online that may be useful to my study. Podcast lectures from Dr G Cizadlo, which teaches Biology in a college in America. He has sectioned off his Anatomy and Physiology classes seperately, so I can listen to them and take notes from his teaching as well as taking notes from my textbook, which I believe will be harder for me to get used to.

I also found out yesterday that some associations that ACNT is joined with do not recognise people who have studied totally by distance education as naturopaths and they cannot join, which is in very fine print. To combat this, when the ACNT campus opens in Melbourne I am going to start going there. I know that I started this course part-time, but I am going to try to finish it in a full time time frame - if I can do the first two part time years worth of study all this year, then I can go to the compus next year for the final year, and also the clinics. Hopefully by then, ACNT will have either the student clinic open at the Melbourne campus, or associated clinics.

Well, I have my lectures, a hot cup of tea and a make-shift desk - time to start I think, wish me luck!

11:18 AM