Andrea's Survival Memo

Andrea Blaylock commented on Group 1's Survival Memo and Group 3's Survival Memo.

EDAC 634 is one of many courses that I need to complete my master’s program by Fall 2016. Typically with online courses, I am not sure what to expect. I teach full time at the community college, am active in my community, have two college kids, have two teenagers still at home, and a husband. So life can gets busy very quickly for me. So below are my survival tips I used to get me through this course.

• Time management is key to getting things done on time. Thus, setting aside specific times during the week to focus on the reading assignments. For instance, the initial discussions were due on Wednesdays, so I picked Monday nights to read the assignments and submit my response on Wednesday.
• Outline the reading assignments to help organize your thoughts and responses.
• For group assignments in online courses, it is challenging to effectively communicate with everyone at the same time. Thus our group used communication tools such as via conference calls, emails, discussion blog, and text messages.
• Make sure that you understand the syllabus. The syllabus kept me on track to regarding the content and context of the assignments.
• Do not be afraid to ask questions when you are unsure of an assignment. Our instructor, Professor Chang answered any questions that we had and would offer Commented on suggestions on how we could improve our assignments.
• It takes discipline. With my busy life and work schedule, I had to be diligent in getting my work done. My goal was NO late assignments.
• Use a calendar (print, Outlook, Google) to indicate when all assignments due and set reminders.
• Before you can consider the proofreading process complete, you should verify your sources and make sure that the document adheres to the rules of the formatting style that you are using; in our course we used APA. I struggled with this formatting style the entire course however Professor Chang was great in consistently providing resources and feedback for the students to get it correct. 
• Have another person outside of your group proofread your research papers. You gain valuable input of your writing, grammar, misspelled words, etc. 

Overall, my final survival tip for future EDAC634 students is to pace yourself. At times the workload will seem intimidating and overwhelming. If you follow the instructions for the assignment and turn in all of your work, you will be OK. This class will give you the tools necessary to stay motivated, disciplined, and engaged throughout your academic career.