Week 4

TOPIC 6 : TAKING LECTURE NOTES

Why take notes in class?

1. Organized notes will help you identify the core of important ideas in the lecture.
2. A permanent record will help you to learn and remember later.
3. The lecture may contain information not available anywhere else and maybe only your chance to learn it.
4. Lecture is where you learn what your instructor thinks is important, and he makes up the exams.
5. Class assignments are usually given in the lecture.
6. The underlying organization and purpose of the lecture will become clear through note taking.

Taking the notes class: A brief summary

1. Before the lecture begins 

• Make some preparations for the lecture so that you will be more likely to predict the organization of the lecture.
• Sit as near to the front of the room as possible to eliminate distractions.
• Copy everything on the blackboard and transparencies, especially the outline.
• Have a proper attitude. Listening well is a matter of paying close attention. Be prepared to be open-minded to what the lecturer may say even through you may disagree with it.       

2. During the lecture

• Have your lecture paper and pencil or pen ready.
• Write down the title of the lecture, the name of the course and the date.
• Watch the speaker carefully.
• Listen carefully to the lecturer. By knowing the outline, you will be better prepared to anticipate what notes you will need to take.
• Be brief in your note taking. Summarize your notes in your own words, not the instuctor's. 
• Try to recognize main ideas by signal words that indicate something important is to follow.
• Jot down details or examples that support the main ideas.
• If there is a summary at the end of the lecture, pay close attention to it. 
• Ask questions about points you did not understand.
• Don't be in a rush. Be attentive, listen and take notes right up to the point at which the instructor dismisses you.

3. After the lecture

• Revise your notes as quickly as possible, preferably immediately after the lecture since at that time you will still remember a good deal of the lecture.
• During the first review period after the lecture, coordinate reading and lecture notes.
• Review your lecture notes at lease once a week and before the next lecture. 

Tips on taking notes

1. Collect notes for each course in one place, in a separate notebook or section of a notebook.
2. Write notes on one side of the page only.
3. Use a loose-leaf notebook rather than a notebook with a permanent binding. See the pattern of a lecture by spreading out the pages.
4. Write name and date of the class on the first sheet for each lecture.
5. Use 8 1/2 X 11 sheets of paper for your notes. This size will allow you to indent and see the structure of your notes.
6. Do not perform manual activities which will detract from taking notes. Do not doodle or play with your pen. These activities break eye contact and concentration.
7. Enter your notes legibly because it saves time. Make them clear.
8. Use abbreviations.
9. Box assignments and suggested books so you can identify them quickly.
10. Mark ideas which the lecture emphasizes with an arrow or some special symbol.
11. Pay close attention to transitional words, phrases, and sentences which signal the end of one idea and the beginning of another. 
12. Take down examples and sketches which the lecturer presents. 
13. Review your notes as soon as possible. Read through the notes and improve the organization if necessary.
14. Listening and note taking are skills. The more you practice these techniques, the more skilled you will become.

Note-taking exercise using the Cornell Method

1. Cornell Note Taking

2. Two column method

3. Outlining method

4. Mapping method

TOPIC 7: ACADEMIC INTEGRITY & PERFORMANCE

Plagiarism

Copying another person's ideas, words or writing and pretending that they are one's own work. It can involve violating copyright laws. College students who are caught plagiarizing can be expelled from school or college. It can permanently damage a student's reputation. Writers who plagiarize commit serious legal and ethical violations. 

Types of plagiarism:

• Direct Plagiarism: copying and pasting someone else's work, or making minor changes to someone else's work to pass it off as their own.
• Self-Plagiarism: happens when a student submits all or part of their own previous work without permission from all involved professors.
• Mosaic Plagiarism: or called "patch writing", is when parts of other works are copied without using quotation marks. It also can be when a student keeps the same structure and meaning of an original passage and synonym.
• Accidental Plagiarism: this can happen when a student does not cite their sources. It also can be happen when a student paraphrases information without giving attributing.

How to prevent plagiarism: 

1.  Start early
2.  Cite correctly
3.  Proofread
4.  Quote
5.  Paraphrase
6.  Add value
7.  Plagiarism checker
8.  Reference page
9.  Ask your lecturer
10.  Internet is a source

Calculating GPA

GPA (Grade Point Average), is a number that indicates how well or how high you scored in your scored in your courses on average. It’s meant to score you (usually on a GPA scale between 1.0 and 4.0) during your studies and shows whether your overall grades have been high or low. 

CGPA

Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), the GPA of a student that he has obtained in college or university, in the courses that he has taken. To arrive at CGPA, grade points obtained by a student in all semesters are added and divided by the sum of his total credit hours. 

GPA Calculation

Failure & Dismissal

Assessment

• Calculate the GPA for first semester:

CHM138 - (A , 4.00 x 3.0)

CSC134 -  (B , 3.00 x 3.0)

CTU101 - (A- , 3.67 x 2.0)

ELC121 - (B+ , 3.33 x 3.0)

MAT133 - (A- , 3.67 x 3.0)

MIC102 -  (B+ , 3.33 x 3.0)

(12.00 + 9.00 + 7.34 + 9.99 + 11.01 + 9.99 = 58.33) /  17

= 3.49

Week 3

TOPIC 6: MEMORY, IMPROVING CONCENTRATION & READING SYSTEM

What is memory?

Memory is the power of the brain to recall past experiences or information and the power  of recalling to mind previously learned facts, impressions, skills and habits. Memory plays a big role in our life. Memory Strategies is a techniques that can be used to learn and retain new knowledge.


How to improve memory: 

1.  Meditate to improve your working memory
2.  Eat berries for better long-term memory
3.  Exercise to improve your memory recalls
4.  Chew gum to make stronger memories
5.  Sleeps more to consolidate your memories
6.  Drink coffee to improve your memory consolidation

To learn and remember, we must encode, storage and retrieve information.

STEP 1: ENCODING 

Allows the perceived item of use or interest to be converted into a construct that can be stored within the brain and recalled later from long-term memory.

STEP 2: STORAGE 

Process of placing newly acquired information into memory, that modified in the brain for easier storage.

STEP 3: RETRIEVE

Refers to the subsequent re-accessing of events or information from the past, which has been previously encoded and stored in the brain. 

Sensory memory

A very brief memory that allows people to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimulus has ceased. The purpose is to retain information long enough for it to be recognized. 

• Iconic memory: also known as visual sensory memory, involves a very brief image. Typically lasts for about one quarter to one-half of a second .
• Echoic memory: also known as auditory sensory memory, involves a very brief memory of sound a bit like an echo. Can last up to three to four seconds
• Haptic memory: also known as tactile memory, involves the very brief memory of a touch. Lasts for approximately two seconds.

Short-term memory 

The capacity for holding, but no manipulating, a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time. It also should be distinguish from working memory, which refers to structures and processes used for temporarily storing and manipulating information.

Long-term memory

A system for permanently storing, managing and retrieving information for later uses. This may be available for a lifetime. It divided by two types;

• Explicit memories: also known as declarative memories. Explicit memory can be further divided into episodic memory (specific events) and semantic memory (knowledge about the world)
• Implicit memories: mostly unconscious, includes procedural memory which involves memories of body movement and how to use objects in the environment. 

Concentration
The ability to think carefully about something you are doing and nothing else.

Cause of poor concentration:

• Lack of practice
• Doesn't understand the material
• Distracted by external stimuli
• Lack of motivation
• Not getting proper sleep or nutrition
• Learning difficult 
• Anxiety

Strategies for improving concentration:

• Pay attention
• Get enough food and sleep
• Relate new information to what you already know
• Understand information
• Rehearse information
• Exercise your mind
• Develop a healthy lifestyle

SQ3R : Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review

• A comprehension strategy that helps student think about the text they are reading while they're reading. 
• Helps student "get it" the first time they read a text by teaching students how to read and think like an effective reader.

Week 2

TOPIC 4: TIME MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS 

Time is defined as the duration in which all things happen, or a precise instant that something happens. Time management is the way you regulate or schedule your time or the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time between specific activities. Good time management enables you to work smarter so that you get more done in less time, even when time is tight and pressures are high.

Organizational skills refer to your ability to stay focused on different tasks and use your time, energy, strength, mental capacity, physical space, etc. effectively and efficiently in order to achieve the desired outcome.


Why is time management important to student?

1. Time is limited.
2. You can accomplish more than less effort
3. Improved decision-making ability
4. Reduce stress
5. Free time is necessary
6. Self-discipline is valuable 

The benefits to be obtained if having a learning schedule:

1. Can divide time for each subject to revision equally
2.  Can train and discipline themselves in timely manner
3.  Time table will be more organized and manageable
4.  Can avoid long-practices for doing something
5.  Can balance the time division between learning time and leisure time

My fixed-commitment calendar :

My prioritized task list:

My job task analysis:

TOPIC 5: GETTING TO KNOW THE CAMPUS 

Here, I attached the video assignment about five important places in UiTM Negeri Sembilan Campus Kuala Pilah.

Week 1

Topic 1 : Getting Ready To Learn



Making The Transition From School to University

As we know, there are a few differences between high school and university. Many things become new to us especially when it comes to our routine and daily life. Plus, we also will make new friends in university that will be by our sides for few years in university. So, by hook or by crook we need to adapt with our new life in university and never give up.



Characteristic of successful students

• Accept responsibility. You can see as primarily responsible for your outcomes and experiences.
• Are self-motivated
• Master self-management
• Are independence
• Have safe awareness
• Believe in yourself

Learning Style Inventory

Learning style inventories are designed to help respondents determine which learning style they have. These inventories typically take the form of a questionnaire that focuses on how people prefer to learn. There are a few types of learning modalities such as auditory, visual and kinesthetic. These types will tell you which person you are. 

• Auditory learners prefer to hear info rather than reading it or seeing it displayed visually. These auditory learners like to recite information out load to remember it; give them a chance to repeat your points back to you by asking questions and calling for audience answers.  
• Visual learners prefer to see info and to visualize the relationships between ideas. Give them charts and graphics, make your presentation highly visual and show the relationships between your various points. 
• Meanwhile, Kinesthetic learners more to hands on, experiential learners; they learn best by doing. These kinesthetic learners sprinkle in a few exercises that get your audience to stand up and move around in order to demonstrate or experience certain points (i.e. role playing); you can also ask kinesthetic learners to write things down in order to remember. 

You can know which learning style you are by checking on google or on this website: 

http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml



So, this is my learning style:

So, now I already know what type learning style am I which is I am more to kinethetic person.  I can develop this learning style on my study skills.





Topic 2: Goal Setting

Goals are the things that we want to achieve, things that we want to aim as we pursue a certain course of action. There are two types of goals which are, long-term action and short-term action. We must have our own goal setting that we need to think about our ideal future and to motivate ourselves to turn this vision into reality. The process of goal setting will help you where you want to go in life. A SMART goal is used to help guide goals setting. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Therefore, a SMART goal incorporates all of these criteria to help focus your efforts and increase the chances of achieving the goals.




SMART goals are:

• Specific: Well defined, clear, and unambiguous.
• Measurable: With specific criteria that measure your progress towards the accomplishment of the goal.
• Achievable: Attainable and not impossible to achieve
• Realistic: Within reach, realistic and relevant to your life purpose.
• Timely: With a clearly defined timeline, including a starting date and a target date. The purpose is to create urgency. 

Goal statements - The Five Step Approach

Introduction

Assalamualaikum and hello, 

Salam UiTM dihatiku, 

My name is Amirah Najiha binti Marsaid. I am from Johor. Right now, I am studying at UiTM Negeri Sembilan Campus Kuala Pilah for course Diploma in Microbiology(AS114) for second intake. I am so glad to be one part of student here. And I really hope I will pass every subject in this course for five semester with flying colours. 

One of the important purpose I'm doing this e-portfolio is because I want people to know about learning skills. So, people will have their effective time management and get to setting their own goals with their own learning styles. 

Required items that's need in portfolio:

1. Learning Style Inventory

2. Goal Statements - The Five Step Approach

3. Fixed-Commitment Calendar

4. Job Task Analysis

5. Prioritized To-Do List

6. Memory Strategies

7. Organizational Strategies

8. Concentration Strategies

9. Concentration Chart

10. Reading Text

11. Note-Taking Strategies

12. Note-Taking Exercise using the Cornell Method

13. GPA Worksheet