Success Strategies

1. Success Strategies Nursing 101 Fall 2013

2. Identify your Learning Style

3. Study Strategies Visual Learners • Recopy your notes • Use outlines, pictures, diagrams to review notes • Use highlighters to color-code key concepts, terms • Make a visual image of what you are learning • Make lists of important concepts, terms • Use flashcards to remember important details, facts • Auditory Learners • Speak your answers aloud • Talk with others about topic of study • Read your notes aloud • Participate in group discussions • Tape record your notes after writing them • Make up rhymes, raps to recall information • Kinesthetic Learners • Put plenty of examples in your notes • Make and use flashcards • Role play the information • Move around while studying • Write out your notes • Take frequent breaks and study in different locations

4. VARK Learning Inventory

5. Time management • Set priorities • Choose major goals, and make them first priority • Coursework should be your first priority

6. Choose a good study space • At home, pick a desk or table near natural light • Study with quiet or “white noise”, not music or T.V. • Turn off or silence your phone • Some people like the same space always, some not; see what works for you • Libraries, coffee shops, bookstores; try different places

7. Study time • Include study time • One hour in class = three hours of study out of class • A tough class may require more study time, or different study methods • You can budget study time in amounts, rather than specific times • Plan how much time per day must be spent studying • Studying right after class is very effective; Plan on it • Study during daylight hours, in the library, on campus, at home

8. The Semester Schedule

9. Weekly Schedule

10. Schedule categories • Obligatory - Classes and Labs: • These start and end at specific times. • Work, regular appointments, commuting • Maintenance - Study Time • These events are for maintaining lifestyle. • Housekeeping, religious meetings, fitness • Free Time: • Everyone needs this. Your brain needs to rest. • Family, friends, rest and relaxation, favorite activities, SLEEP time

11. High PriorityTheory, Labs, & Clinicals • Be on time • Come prepared • Get yourself focused • Be active in theory and labs • Sit up front

12. Metacognition The ability to: • think about thinking • be consciously aware of yourself as a problem solver • monitor and control your mental processing • be aware of the type of learning that you are doing

13. Metacognitive Awareness Inventory • Knowledge About Cognition • Declarative Knowledge • Procedural Knowledge • Conditional Knowledge • Regulation of Cognition • Planning • Information Management Strategies • Comprehension Strategies • Debugging Strategies • Evaluation

14. Monitoring Metacognition • What is the purpose of learning these concepts and skills? • What do I know about this topic? • What strategies do I know that will help me learn this? • Am I understanding these concepts? • What are the criteria for improving my work? • Have I accomplished the goals I set for myself?

15. Use Metacognition to Study Smarter • Constantly ask yourself “why” and “what if” questions • Move your activities higher on the Bloom’s taxonomy scale • Do “think aloud” exercises • Always test your understanding by verbalizing or writing about concepts; practice retrieval of information

16. This pyramid depicts the different levels of thinking we use when learning. Notice how each level builds on the foundation that precedes it. It is required that we learn the lower levels before we can effectively use the skills above. Bloom’s Taxonomy Evaluation Graduate School Making decisions and supporting views; requires understanding of values. Combining information to form a unique product; requires creativity and originality. Synthesis Identifying components; determining arrangement, logic, and semantics. Analysis Undergraduate Using information to solve problems; transferring abstract or theoretical ideas to practical situations. Identifying connections and relationships and how they apply. Application Restating in your own words; paraphrasing, summarizing, translating. Comprehension High School Memorizing verbatim information. Being able to remember, but not necessarily fully understanding the material. Knowledge Harford Community College * Tutoring Center F103 Fallston Hall 443-412429 www.harford.edu/tutoring

17. How do you move yourself higheron Bloom’s Taxonomy?Use the Study CyclewithIntense Study Sessions!

18. The Study Cycle • 4Reflect • Preview beforeclass– Skim the chapter, note headings and boldface words, review summaries and chapter objectives, and come up with questions you’d like the lecture to answer for you. Preview Attendclass – GO TO CLASS! Answer and ask questions and take meaningful notes. Attend Review after class– As soon after class as possible, read notes, fill in gaps and note any questions. Review • Study – Repetition is the key. Ask questions such as ‘why’, • ‘how’, and ‘what if’. • Intense Study Sessions* - 3-5 short study sessions per day • Weekend Review – Read notes and material from the week to make connections Study Assess • Assess your Learning– Periodically perform reality checks • Am I using study methods that are effective? • Do I understand the material enough to teach it to others? *Intense Study Sessions

19. Concept maps facilitate development of higher order thinking skills

20. So, What Can You Do, Starting Now, to Ensure Your Success this Semester? What behavior will you commit to changing?