I just stumbled across the option to create blog posts and thought why not. Whether I write any more after this one only Pythia would know (if she were still here!).
So what am I going to write about? I feel like this is going to be a Virginia Woolf stream of conscious exercise!
Let me kick off with my study experience at the Open University so far; a journey which, in such a short space of time, has had quite a profound impact on my life!
Coming into the course (I signed up right at the last minute - perhaps a week before the deadline - after an incomplete attempt a few years ago), I knew that I wanted to study for personal development, but that as a concept was vague and poorly defined. However as the course has progressed, I've found that my goals have become much more definite which has helped massively for being motivated to study.
There was actually a definable turning point where everything just clicked into place, and it was largely in response to one of the chapters in the D110 textbook on learning. In this chapter, the author talks about and explores a few concepts which really resonated with me, and it felt like this was the missing piece I needed to connect seemingly disparate aspects of my life which, in turn, provided clarity and definition on what was up until this point, just hazy concepts.
Since reading about these concepts - these were the notions of intrinsic motivation and the effects of being intrinsically motived, deep processing and active learning - I began to make conscious changes to my behaviour. I explored in more detail what 'personal development' looked like to me both in an academic sense and in a personal context, and I also made a radical shift in my approach to study from the position of the aforementioned concepts.
Since adopting these ideas, I have found that my motivation for study has increased exponentially, and I think it has a lot to do with knowing exactly why it is that I am studying. It's interesting looking back at my notes over the past weeks leading up to this epiphany; they're inconsistent in their approach and reflective of a person trying to find their feet. I was watching a lot of videos on YouTube and trying out different methods - at first I did what just felt natural - but nothing felt quite right. I was constantly playing catch up and a lot the ideas weren't sticking in my mind, add to that, that I didn't have a solid routine in place and was cramming in large chunks of studying and then missing a few days, which never helps for retaining new information.
Now I find myself thinking about studying a lot, talking about what I've been learning with friends and family and discussing the ideas presented in the course materials. In fact, a lot of the time I can't wait to hit the tomes, ask questions of the information presented to me and write my thoughts down in my notebook. As a result, I'm finding that the ideas are staying with me and I'm getting a better understanding of the concepts, and when they remain unclear I ask questions to my tutors or post on the cluster forum (in full disclosure both of which I've only done once so far!).
I've also signed up to the OU Psychology Society and The Open Psychology Research Centre Collaboration Lab, I'm reading journals and papers, its like I can't get enough and what's even more important is, I'm really enjoying the journey!
I'm not sure if anyone will read this but, if you're a student reading this and you've made it this far, I hope that there may be something in my experience which you find useful; perhaps having a look at the chapter on learning in D110 (if you have access to these materials, you can always google them if not) and think about applying some of the ideas expressed, or you may take some time to really think about what your goals are and what they look like. I don't want this to come across as some self-aggrandising post - although I can't ultimately help how people perceive it - it's just when you have a good thing, it feels good to share it out!
Reejai!
Comments
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Love this! Thank you for sharing!
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What a beautiful post Easy. It was lovely being on tutorial with you just now and even more fascinating reading this.
I'm a first time OU student and to be honest, I'm finding information retention the hardest thing so thanks for the tips.
I look forward to seeing/hearing more of you!!
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Thank you for sharing Easy, I was also on the tutorial with you yesterday and many of the things you were saying resonated with me, I too felt a massive shift after the learning and studying week as up until then I kept feeling the imposter syndrome of should I be here doing this, am I good enough to do this but after that week I knew I was doing it for all the right reasons and that's what's motivating me through.
I am still struggling with getting to grips with the right note taking methods as well as ways to help the information sit better, but I do think its because I'm not talking enough about it with others to be able to get my thought processes out there, so some of your tips are really helpful!
I need to be asking more questions of the module materials and what is presented and find more confidences in my own ideas and arguments.
Hopefully the more discussions on here the easier it will be to discuss the different content with each other.
Fran
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Thank you everyone for taking the time to read, share your thoughts and experiences, and of course your kind words!
I was just working through the textbook and thought I'd share a resource you may find useful for helping to retain information a little better. It's a flashcard app called Quizlet. I use it to put in definitions, key people, concepts etc that I think are important or I'm interested in. The cool thing about the app is that you can share flashcard sets. Mine aren't super thorough but they could be a good starting point for you; they contain most of the definitons of the terms included in the various chapters. Of course you are welcome to use these and test yourself periodically. This really helps with memory retention but you have to be consistent! Only 5 mins a day but try to do it everyday - I am terrible at this btw! It does take practice!
Anyway, I just wanted to share this with you quickly and now, back to the books!
Happy learning!
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Fantastic blog Easy thank you!! You talked about a quizlet app, how do we get started on that on share flashcards? Maybe I'll put a post on the forum so others can see it - thank you thank you thank you reading all your posts really helps my learning and most of your points resonate with me.