Personal Blog Post #4

Self-Assessment, Experience 4

I'm using the simple experience of taking my first online college exam.

My two greatest strengths:
1. I am good at managing time, even in the setting of a timed exam. It is easy for me to decide exactly how much time I can give myself on each individual question, whether I know them or have to look for the answer.
2. My other greatest strength was the ability to quickly search through my textbook and notes to find the answer to problems I didn't know. Considering I got an 84%, it obviously wasn't perfect. However, truth be told I had not thoroughly read all chapters of the textbook, and there were many questions I was unsure about. All in all, I think I did fairly well for my first online exam in college. Especially considering how much the class average went down...

My two areas for improvement:
1.
a. Short term plan: To improve for the next exam, I will do a better job of thoroughly reading the textbook.
b. Long-term plan: In general for online tests, I would change the setting in which I took the exam. I wasn't too worried because it was only 50 questions, but I was definitely distracted by surroundings.
2.
a. Short term plan: Again, for the next exam, I will make sure to have my PowerPoint's from  right by me, because I wasn't expecting any of the questions to be coming from there.
b. Long-term plan: For future online exams, particularly ones that are timed, I will do a better job of studying and being more well prepared for what to expect on the exam.

Insights about my performance:
Overall for my first time, I think I did well. Though I'm not particularly happy with the grade, it's still not bad and leaves plenty of room for improvement in the future.

Personal Blog Post #3

Page 71 - Learning and Moving On

An issue that I'm currently facing is what to do with my future in terms of my psychology degree.

1) Five characteristics of the problem:

• Whether to just continue on for a masters degree, or whether to strive for a doctorate 
• If I want my masters degree to be in psychology, counseling, or social work
• What is available in terms of education in South Carolina (I'm moving after I receive my Bachelor's)
• What jobs are currently available and hiring
• What will pay a decent salary but keep me happy

2) What are 3 strengths that you have that will help you to address the problem?

• I take time in thinking things through, I never leave a stone unturned
• I'm decisive when it concerns my future
• I'm open minded

3) What barriers have you created that keep you from addressing the problem effectively?

• I worry too much about what others say to influence my decision
• I have a tendency like the idea of something but not actually want to do it

4) Who can you use as a sounding board or to help you think through the problem?

My psychology and human development professor, Mr. Boyd. He has been a genuine inspiration and encouragement and I know he'll help me figure out what best suits me.

5) What are the real barriers to addressing the issue?

• Employment rates - can I even get a job?
• The economy - will I make enough money to support myself well?
• Not wanting to end up with a job I don't look forward to going to every day - I don't want to choose something I'll regret

6) What are you going to do to address these barriers?

Pay more attention to the news to learn about job rates, research on average how much someone makes in each profession I'm interested in, and then use though in consideration to picking whatever will be the most fulfilling for me. 

7) Has the way you feel about the future changed since you identified a way to begin addressing the problem? 

A slight bit. It's a lot of work just to address the barriers, and even more work follows that.

8) What this problem has to do with my identity:

College is currently a huge part of my identity, and the future job I end up with will be a huge part of who I am. It's what I will dedicate most of my time to. 

9) What this problem has to do with my sense of self-efficacy: 

This issue involves a lot of completing tasks and reaching of goals. All of college, and my future job will revolve around those two things.

10) What this problem has to do with my affective skill set:

 Being able to make a huge decision regarding my future takes skills. It may not seem it, but this decision will affect just about every other aspect of my life. If I can get through this, I can handle other problems as well.