JB School

I've been thinking a lot about what's been working this term, and why, and meaning to share those thoughts for a while. Thanks to a conversation with my A&P instructor this afternoon, I think it's time.

There are a number of positive factors involved, to my mind:

Accountability:
This is where I get to abuse you folks, a bit. Having this blog not only serves to keep people informed, since I'm horrible about email, but it also keeps me on track. I know exactly what's due when and how much each assignment is worth, relative to one another. I'm also trying to be open in sharing my successes and challenges, both here and on Facebook, as well as with family and friends in other forums. This definitely a huge change for me; if I'm honest, in previous years my parents' inquiries on progress would always elicit the same basic commentary on how things were going ok, regardless of actual progress. Even more relevantly, I actually know how I'm doing in all my courses at this very moment (Hum - B, Mit - B, A&P - B, Com - A), rather than having a vague notion of individual assignment grades and being surprised when things aren't as rosy as I'd have hoped at the end of term. This is especially important now, as I'm having to work much harder than ever before to get reasonable grades due to the wonderful effects of aging and trauma on my memory capacity.

Technology:
I'll readily admit to being a tech addict, but I'm making it work for me here, as much as I can. Anatomy and Physiology, especially, is difficult to study efficiently. While testing utilizes 3d models, such models are not normally available other than in class, which means that constant exposure to the material, preferably utilizing multiple 2d views, is key. For this purpose, I've made a number of investments and acquisitions. I currently have an Anatomical Atlas, Grey's anatomy, Netter's Anatomy flash cards, and Ultimate Anatomy flash cards on my shelf, soon to be joined by a set of Netter's Anatomy volumes donated by my father. While these are handy, and certainly see a fair amount of use, they do have a few defects from my point of view - namely portability and alternate terms. To address this, I've taken advantage of a very handy birthday present, my Ipod touch.

As it happens, there's a phenomenally handy program available at a price of just $3.00 called Mental Case designed for creating and studying flashcards. I won't go into the detail of why this program is so wonderful, you can read their page for yourself, but suffice to say that one of the selling points for me is the fact that the app can tie into FlashcardExchange and download any of the thousands of flashcard sets there, including any relevant images, for offline study. This makes studying on the go just as accessible and easy as my ebook habit (I've already preached the virtues of ebooks on Stanza to many of you), and since I already use the site extensively (free to study any flashcards, free to create text based flashcards, $20 one time fee for the ability to create multimedia flashcards) for online study by creating my own cards, this is wonderfully effective. This gives me the benefit of having cards with the terms in use in class, with images of the actual models being used for testing, just seconds away anywhere I go. If you're interested in seeing what's possible, my cards are here, feel free to use them as you will.

Interface:
As you know, I'm horribly shy and introverted by nature (although it's been said, by a few people, that I'm the loud one of my family... go figure), with social skills that could best be described as stunted, if you were feeling generous. I'm trying to work on changing that, or rather changing my outward face (I'm still horribly shy, probably always will be). I think I can honestly say that all of my teachers know me on sight by now, because I've been trying to interact in all of my classes. I've even managed to pick up a few friends along the way. Historically, I'm the guy that stays in the back, with nothing to say, not even really engaged in the lesson. This is a good change, I think; it helps to stick things in my brain, and it seems like the teachers are willing to work with me when things aren't clear. Then again, that might speak to the quality of the teachers in question, which brings me to my next point.

If it don't work, fix it:
Not only am I shy, but I also tend towards passivity - if something doesn't work, my natural tendency is to simply wait it out. One of the bigger changes I made this term was dropping a teacher that simply wasn't meeting my needs. Frankly, in the scope of me taking action, this was huge! I've also taken to typing all of my notes (and heck, actually taking notes!) - the stuff that comes up in class is obviously the selection of material that the instructor actually cares about, and thus will be on the test. Once that's done, I just throw a keying question on each paragraph and set them up as more flashcards online - seems to make the key concepts stick a lot more than merely reading through the material.

Peer pressure, the good kind:
I'm also trying group study for the first time, with two of the young ladies from my A&P class, as well as trying to take the initiative in my other courses. By establishing a pattern where I have other people counting on me to get things done (like posting the week's flashcards), I tend to get 'em done much earlier than I would if I left myself the possibility of procrastination. This, in turn, leads to lower stress and greater retention. One other plus is that when my companions are having problems remembering something in particular, I tend to remember whatever mnemonic I come up with as well. Similarly, when I can't seem to lock something in place, their mnemonics (usually horribly inappropriate and/or hilarious) tend to stick. Ideally we'll expand our methodology to include locating bits on our own/each other's bodies this coming week for facial structures (which don't seem to be as horribly intertwined and layered as the limbs were), which my father says is more effective than rote memorization in this case.

Keep on learning:
I don't know if it's a matter of staying in studying mode or just changing the way I think, but it seems like my new hobby of photography and the associated reading/research that I've been doing have been helping to keep me focused on moving more and more information into the braincase. To an extent, it's almost thinking about thinking, most of the time. Heck, it even gets to the point of visualizing structures as I fall asleep. That right there is key, I think - visualization has never been a strong point for me, or even an ability I've consider myself to have any real measure of before now. Uploading and coding pics daily are also re-enforcing habits of responsibility - it's not something I have to do, it's something I choose to, but it helps to establish patterns. I would think that other semi-scholarly hobbies would provide similar insights and abilities. Beyond all that, hobbies provide a nice way to relax, from time to time.

Recreation in moderation
Frankly, I love to watch good TV, but the shows I like are being neglected, for the most part. I'm just not taking the time to watch. This doesn't mean that I don't have a show on while I'm working on whatever, from time to time, but I keep it to shows that are mostly background noise, and don't require full attention. I'll catch up later, and have the added benefit of being able to digest a season of TV at whatever pace I choose. Similarly, intense, drawn out gaming like MMOs is out. I have an obsessive personality, and I can admit it. Other than the horribly addictive, but short (and savable/pausable!), games that Nick has introduced me to from time to time (Half life 2, Plants vs. Zombies), I've been largely staying away from games as recreation, other than social games like Munchkin. This keeps me away from having to make the choice of one more level vs. schoolwork, which is a choice that has not always gone in a positive direction for me.

Motivation
Finally, I have a number of serious investments in making this work, and that helps me stay focused whenever various temptations intrude. First and foremost is my lovely wife, and the potential family we'll have some day - I'm not just doing it for me, or even mostly for me. The funding for being here is coming out of my pocket, even if a good portion of it is deferred through loans. Finally, I've realized that this almost definitely my last swing at a bachelor's degree. I'm older now, and it's already incredibly hard to process new concepts the way I used to. That's ok though - I'll make it work.

Well, it's done - registration opened for me 6 minutes ago, just registered for all of the classes I'm interested in. Not sure if I'll keep the accounting class; I'm considering doing a business minor, but I'm not really sure how useful that will be for the effort, since I already have an associate's degree in another field - going to talk it over with my adviser when I can catch him. The newspaper course isn't definite either; still waiting on a response from the instructor. That said, I'm fairly satisfied with how things land, even though the schedule is both heavy and spread out - should be about 50% heavy studying courses and 50% heavy doing courses.

**Web Reg** on Nov 10, 2009 Action 20089 JOUR 211 01 Undergraduate 3.000 Graded Pub/Student Newspaper
**Web Reg** on Nov 10, 2009 Action 22350 ART 207 02 Undergraduate 3.000 Graded Digital Photography
**Web Reg** on Nov 10, 2009 Action 25588 BIO 200 01 Undergraduate 2.000 Graded Medical Terminology
**Web Reg** on Dec 02, 2009 Action 24460 BIO 232 09L Undergraduate 0.000 Graded Human Anatomy/Phys II Lab
**Web Reg** on Dec 02, 2009 Action 25179 BIO 232 03 Undergraduate 4.000 Graded Human Anatomy/Phys II
**Web Reg** on Dec 02, 2009

Class hours:
M 10-11, 12-1, 2-3 ---- Jour (10-11, OW218), A&P (12-1, DOWE237), Med Term (2-3, BH106)
T 5-6:30 ---- Dig Pho (5-6:30, BH124)
W 10-11, 12-1, 2-6 ---- Jour (10-11, OW218), A&P (12-1, DOWE237), Med Term (2-3, BH106), Jour Lab (3-6, OW218)
R 11-2, 5-6:30 ---- A&P Lab (11-2, DOW257), Dig Pho (5-6:30, BH124)
F 12-1 ---- A&P (12-1, DOWE237)

17 in class hours