In this blog, I would like to share some of my experiences at Stenberg. I have been at Stenberg for 3 months now and I am really enjoying it. It is hard to believe that a few of the courses that initially seemed so daunting are now finished and they are behind me now. How time flies!
I still remember how anxious I was on my first day of my class. On my first week at Stenberg we had an Orientation course. When you hear Orientation you might think about a regular “orientation” like getting to know your classmates or just orientation about the school and the program. Maybe you might think to yourself “What is this all about? Orientation for a week is kind of too long.” Well, that is exactly my question to myself when I heard that Orientation was for one entire week. That is until I started the course. I learned that this orientation is combined with student success skills and I am glad that I didn’t miss any days of my orientation classes. I learned many things during this first week such as information about the school, the policy, free classes that you can attend like ESL training, free recap classes for the students who want to get extra lessons of the subjects and so on.
We also had group exercises which I found to be a good way to get to know my classmates because at first I was actually very shy to talk to anyone. I also learned how to identify my personal and academic barriers in my life. I found this is very helpful because it made me realize how many barriers I had when I never thought I had any. It helped me plan and think of solutions ahead of time to deal with these barriers. I also learned about study techniques that fit my personality, and techniques on focusing on my goals. One thing that I learned when we were doing our essay assignment that is very new to me is about the word “plagiarism”. It might sound very weird but it’s true! I didn’t know copying someone else’s work without crediting them is against the law. I don’t really remember coming across this back when I attended school in the Philippines. I am now very aware of plagiarism and I always make sure to credit my sources in my essays.
My next class was keyboarding and computer – although I knew how to use the computer, it has been awhile since I used one in a class situation. Programs have evolved and changed through constant upgrading. I realized that my knowledge about computer was outdated and very limited. I learned about the Microsoft Office suite of programs – this includes Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. The program that we used for studying this computer course was very helpful because it starts with the basics and then gradually gets more and more in depth and detailed. It helped me refresh my memory about what I already knew about the computer and then taught me new information that I didn’t know. In fact, I had no experience working on a PowerPoint before and by applying what I learned in the class I managed to do my first PowerPoint slide presentation in front of our class. I’m also not familiar with the Excel program but with this course I learned to do basic computations and make a simple spreadsheet. I also learned the netiquette – in terms of using internet and how to talk to people in an online communication with correct manners. Aside from learning the computer programs we also had keyboarding classes. I learned the proper posture techniques and how I position my fingers right on each key.
We also have Professional Communications class that I learned about the cultural sensitivity. This class provided information about the types of people and personalities that I might possibly encounter in the workplace and how to handle it. I found this very useful and important to know especially if I will be working in the hospital with people of different cultures and backgrounds. I look forward to next year when I will have my practicum in a local hospital.
