Thank you to everyone for your patience while I dropped off the face of the earth for a few days. There were a number of things I didn’t do over the past few days and I’m just realising what some of them where. I will continue apologising to family and friends in person.

Ok. So Monday I submitted my final assessments for Trimester 1. And I finished classes last Thursday. Between those facts and no exams for my subjects I now have six weeks break and that’s going to give me some time to get on with some other projects, a bit of time for preparation for Trimester 2 and also a bit of reflection. This is the reflection.

It’s been an exciting time. Full time study is roughly nine hours per subject per week with either three or four subjects per trimester. I figured I’d be doing well to cope with three subjects so that’s all I signed up for and I’m ever so glad I chose three and not four. It’s been challenging to fit in all the pre-reading and do the assignments and the classes and all the stuff outside uni and I’m going to bear in mind my family has had some health issues I’ve not mentioned, and not mentioning Passover, birthdays and some more ands which I’m not mentioning as I’ve forgotten. It’s been a very, very big 11 weeks. I can’t tell you how glad I am that it’s all over. I hope I’ve passed as I don’t really want to repeat any of this but it’ll be a few weeks before I find out. While I’m waiting I’ll move on.

Being organised will help

I’ve already started getting organised for Trimester 2 (T2) and 3 (T3). I’ve done a chart so I can write in all my assignments and their due dates, organised by week and with dates. I have compiled a book list for each trimester. I’ve made plans to start by acquiring pdf files of each book. That might mean buying mobi or Kindle versions and converting them but that’s okay and that leads nicely into my next point.

Studying

I have issues with my memory. If I read an article and mark it up with what I think I’ll need for my assignment I will forget what I’ve done. I’ve discovered I can mark up pdf documents on both the iPad and the computer. What I will be doing is acquiring pdf files of everything I need to read then marking them up with highlights and notes. These highlights and notes I’ll then type up into a Word document in a grid ensuring I put in the page number. When I do an assignment I’ll then have all of this handy and ready to skim over and choose what I need. I’m sure I’ll need to re-read some stuff but this should make me much more able to do a better and faster job.

I’ll be using Deakin’s file storage called OneDrive. I’ve managed to install and use the app on my iPad so I’ll use this instead of carrying lots of paper or books to class. I’ll be able to call up the file during class and see what I’ve read and what notes I’ve made. I will feel much more prepared.

Filing

Deakin provide a large amount of files to be read. It’s all there on the Deakin website so I can download them to OneDrive all at once and file them according to their week’s reading. By using my iPad for all of this it means I should be able to stay up-to-date with my weekly reading and actually have some idea of what’s happening in lectures and tutes.

That’s the theory

So much for the theory. I can’t wait to try it all out in T2. Stand by to find out how it all works.