Introduction
The acquisition of meaningful education is reliant on several support systems co-working in harmony. While the learner relies on the teachers and the institution to deliver content in a manner one can understand, the onus is on the student to be proactive in the learning process. On many occasions, a learner gets brilliant ideas, or undergoes experiences that aid him/her to become a better student. In this essay, I will discuss experiences I have had in time management and group discussions. Moreover, I will highlight the influence of the experiences of Bronfenbrenner’s microsystem and mesosystem has had on my development and how I applied my experiences to improve online learning. Group discussion and skills in time management have had a profound impact on my successful academic life.
Time management
I have always been conscious of time. However, when I enrolled for an online course, I found it hard to manage time since I had so much freedom in my hands without there being an institutional timetable, which I had to obey. After I missed some deadlines for some assignments and had to redo larger and tougher assignments, I had to manage my time better. I set up specific times for waking up, alarms for various chores around the house, pop-up reminders for different tasks, marking of my calendar, early planning, and prioritization of tasks among several other issues on time management. Although, I found it hard within the first few days, I had become highly efficient in managing time by the end of the month. The results were amazing, I was able to achieve better grades that semester with relative ease, I was able to squeeze in some leisure activities and not feel guilty of having some fun, and most importantly, I was able to adjust my life in a manner that will suit me even after I complete my schooling.
Group discussions
I was used to having group discussions during my days in high school. I loved the group discussions since they gave me an opportunity to understand concepts better. I also gained massive confidence through group discussions as I explained concepts to other students in my group. To say the least, I owe a lot of the commendable communication and interpersonal skills I have today to the group discussions. When I enrolled for an online course, I was taken a little bit aback by the nature of the learning. It dawned on me that I was somewhat all alone. After learning the basics of navigating the course room, I felt that I missed something-group discussions.
I decided to use social media to enlist any people from my neighborhood who could be taking my course. Through facebook, I created a page asking such students to join me in a group discussion. I was lucky that there were four other students in the neighborhood. We agreed to meet twice every week at a public library nearby. The group discussions have proved to be very helpful as we can discuss concepts deeply, share experiences on how to improve our grades and prepare for life after graduation. The networking and the teamwork skills have also been invaluable. I now feel complete as an online student and my life is going in the direction I had planned.
Influence of Microsystem on each experience
The best support I have had come from my time management skills. Without proper time management, I would not have time to for the group discussions, which have also proved to be very helpful. Bronfenbrenner’s microsystem explains the microsystem to be the environment or settings in which someone grows up, lives, interacts, and is influenced (Mossler, 2013, P.61). I consider personal time management to be subject to my immediate interactions, activities, people, and relationships since all require time. As such, my time management skills have helped me to make sure that all things in my microsystem are going on well. By organizing my household chores such as cleaning to some specific time, I feel that the organization supports my online learning by helping me to attain self-efficacy. Bandura defines self-efficacy as beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments (as cited in Terry & Doolittle, P.196).
Influence of Mesosystem on each experience
According to Bronfenbrenner, the mesosystem is made up of two interacting Microsystems (Mossler, 2013, P. 61). In this case, the group discussions that engage in and my personal efforts to succeed in my education through time management would constitute a mesosystem. I have found the group discussions and time management to be very complementary in the achievement of success as an online student. I have never missed deadlines to submit assignments, and I have understood tough concepts with relative ease by engaging in the group discussions. Petrides (2002) quotes a study that stated that online students reported that it was easier to work in collaborative groups without necessarily rearranging everyone’s schedule, as would be the case in a classroom-based course (as cited in Song, et. al. (2003).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the experiences I have had in time management and group discussions have been immensely helpful to me in taking my online course. I have gained confidence, broadened my social sphere, and improved not only my grades but also my communication and interpersonal skills. I believe my experiences can be replicated by other students taking online courses in order to improve their learning experiences and gain life lessons.
References
Mossler, R. (2013). Adult development and learning. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.
Song, et. al. (2003) Improving online learning: Student perceptions of useful and challenging characteristics. Internet and Higher Education 7 (2004) 59 – 70
Terry. K & Doolittle, P. (2008) Fostering Self-Efficacy through Time Management in an Online Learning Environment. Journal of Interactive Online Learning Volume 7-3 (195-207).
