For convenience, I’ve created a Dropbox folder with the following College Without the Campus press files:
The Dropbox folder is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5q500tkmutd470r/AAB1BuMcNoaWNwbdqLYuOM-ja. You can also find this link on the Contact page.
On school days when I was in seventh grade, my mom would wake my sister and me at 6:00am so we could exercise before getting ready for the day. I vividly remember half of me trying to wake up and the other half falling back asleep until my mom called again, this time with one of our exercise tapes queued up. Her loving but insistent “second call” voice did the trick to get me out of bed.
These days I’m the one queuing up a YouTube exercise video to start my workout. My motivation for exercise has become internally driven. I have taken charge. Thinking about this change in my life makes me realize that self-motivation is part of the maturing process.
I needed this internal motivation during my college years. College requires students to become their own boss in ways that life may not have required before. I certainly needed motivation to select a course from my degree plan, find the appropriate credit-by-exam test, and then study. I also needed motivation when I felt like I might never finish my degree because of the number of tests left to take.
Pulling from chapter 7 in College Without the Campus, I’m going to share a few of my favorite ways to kick start my day and find motivation to get things done.
Perhaps writing down why you are working your tail off will help you to press onward. I find periodically writing down long-term goals helpful for reorienting my outlook on life. I’ve seen some inspiring Instagram posts of goals written in bullet journal style.
Procrastination is quietly deadly. It kills my creativity and focus. When I’m procrastinating, I rarely feel satisfied with the work I get done in a day (because I’ve left off doing what needs doing most!). This dissatisfaction leads me to dread the next day of more stalling—which doesn’t make for a happy attitude to wake up with. Fortunately, procrastination can be quickly killed by simply attacking the problem. Note that I say quickly, rather than easily. 🙂
Sometimes moving to a quiet area to complete a project can help, as can capitalizing on the morning hours. One of the more drastic measures I take is hiding my phone. Having a break from this distracter can be unsettling at first, but freeing in the long run. Probably my all-time favorite motivating strategy is to schedule a reward for completing a goal. There’s nothing like having a coffee date or a ice cream trip in my sights to make me buckle down. One final point is to pray. Without the purpose of something greater than myself, I wouldn’t continue fighting everyday battles. If I talk to God about these problems, I can find peace and even joy to bring into my life struggles.
Though I completed my degree in 2012, I’ve continued to use these motivation techniques to keep me on track toward reaching new goals. Even during the final week before Christmas with all the last-minute errands, the final preparations for gatherings, the buying and wrapping gifts, motivation is crucial. Something inside has to give me the will to move forward, especially when I might rather just sleep in! I hope these tips will spark ideas on what motivates you!
Me: “Hi, I’m Hillary.”
New friend: “Nice to meet you. Are you going to school here?”
Me: “No, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Thomas Edison State University in New Jersey. But I used distance learning so I could live here in Walla Walla.”
NF: “Cool—so you took online classes?”
Me: “Actually, I used credit-by-exam tests. I studied on my own and then took a test for college credit.”
Pause.
NF: “Oh, I see.”
In some conversations, I go into more detail, but often I feel that credit-by-exam tests are shortchanged in my meet-and-greet banter. Even if the person I’m talking to doesn’t have experience with CLEP or other similar tests, they seem to have a rough idea of what credit-by-exam tests are, but they aren’t exactly sure what’s different from online courses.
I totally understand. Distance learning is a broad term, and it’s been used over the years to refer to many things: correspondence courses where you snail mailed your assignments back to the teacher, pre-recorded videos of lectures, and, more recently, online courses.
These online courses have dramatically changed our education landscape and become nearly ubiquitous here in the US. In a 2012 survey of 2,820 colleges, 86.5% offered online courses.[1] Probably because of this widespread availability, online classes are the poster child for distance learning.
However, there is one key difference between online classes and credit-by-exam tests: one is professor led and the other is self-directed. For online courses, you have someone who will outline assignments and be available for questions. For credit-by-exam tests, you create your own schedule and seek out mentors or resources.
In online classes, you don’t have to worry as much about getting stuck on a problem or concept that you can’t understand. Also, you will be given deadlines.
In preparing for credit-by-exam tests, you may be challenged at times in learning the required material. (I highly recommend YouTube and forums for helpful explanations.) You will have flexibility in the time frame for test preparation.
So, the difference between online classes and credit-by-exam tests is who is the leader. Neither one of these types of distance learning is a quintessential solution to learning. But, fortunately for us students, neither is exclusive: you can take an online course while studying for a credit-by-exam test. The credit earned via distance learning can be a big step toward achieving a goal, whether that is a degree, expanded knowledge for work, or personal enrichment.
[1] I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman, “Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States,” Babson Survey Research Group (2013), pp. 20, 32 and 37: http://onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/changingcourse.pdf.
During this last month of 2016, there have been quite a few fun things to enjoy. Here are my top five:
Walla Walla, along with much of Washington State, has received snow in the past two weeks. The best part is that the snow has stuck around instead of melting within a day of falling. Rather than having to travel to the mountains to admire the beauty of snow, I get to see it right at home!
I love a cup of tea when it’s cold out. Lately I’ve been favoring herbal peppermint, organic green from Uncle Lee’s Tea (this one doesn’t go bitter after steeping), and Celestial Seasonings’ Tension Tamer.
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve felt lucky to meet with friends to chat and drink coffee or cocoa. Walla Walla’s own Hot Mama’s Espresso has a great environment for visiting, and I like the Hot Tamales candy that comes on the lid of hot drinks. Smokin’!
From Diana Krall’s “Christmas Songs” to “Cool Christmas” by Bobby Zee & Zoe to “Christmas” by Michael Bublé, Christmas music is one of my favorite parts of the season. I love putting on an album for a little festive background music.
Somehow, reading is extra cozy once the temperature drops. I’ve been reading Mass Effect: Revelation, a book recommended to me by a gamer who asked if I was into video games or science fiction books. When I told him I hadn’t spent much time on either, he suggested I read Mass Effect. I’m over halfway through and it’s been a fun read so far. I’m also reading Isaiah and Luke in The Message translation. Though it’s pure coincidence that my daily readings feature these books during December, they couldn’t have come at a better time!
That’s my top five things currently. How about you—what do you love this time of year?