Learning Journal

Series One

Emily Hill | October 17, 2021

Learning Journals
1. Journal Entry #1

• Topic: Expectations vs. Reality

2. Journal Entry #2

• Topic: Dealing with Unexpected Challenges

3. Journal Entry #3

• Topic: Research for my Future

Expectations vs. Reality

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Expectations vs. Reality
Journal Entry #1

For my first journal entry, I want to reflect on how I felt starting the semester. It was a

classic case of the internet meme “Instagram versus reality”, where I quickly realized that

my expectations were not aligning with my reality. As a mature student, I put a lot of

thought and planning in motion before the semester started. I researched the path I needed

to take, programs, schools, and resources before starting the semester, and I even

attended as many online workshops as possible prior to September all while still working

my 50+ hour advertising job with Amazon. My first reality check came during orientation,

where I learned that the majority of my courses will be running with an asynchronous

approach. This was not something that ever came up during my numerous conversations

with Durham College before enrolling nor was it communicated beforehand in any emails

that I received from the school. To be honest, this scared me. A big reason why I chose a

College program over adult learning is that I expected a higher level of education and
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experience over an adult learning centre program. A bunch of questions that ran through my

mind were: How am I going to teach myself? How am I going to teach myself subjects that

I’ve never taken before (chemistry and biology)? What support will I have? Can I still ask

teachers questions and for help? How will I be able to engage deeply with content? Will I be

able to succeed the same way online as I would with in-person learning? etc. I had to pivot

my thinking and try to have an open mind about the approach. I quickly contacted Kim

Sharpe to set up a meeting to discuss my initial concerns, but at the same time, I also began

looking deeper into the course structures, DC Connect, and asking teachers questions.

Thankfully, I was able to alleviate most of my initial concerns once I learned how organized

DC Connect was and when my teachers were available. I also felt very supported by Kim

should I have an immediate issue or concern that needed to be addressed.

The next reality check that I had was when I realized that teachers had opened content and

had tasks due at the end of week 1. This was an issue because my start date on my

timetable was listed as Thursday, September 9th, and yet teachers that I had not yet had a

class with (scheduled before Thursday) had released content earlier in the week that needed

to be looked at. I ended up having to play catch up for almost an entire week's worth of

content in just two days. I remember staying up until 2 am on my second day of class just to

catch up. This made me feel frustrated and as if I was being set up to fail from the start

because I was already behind before I even started. As the week went on, I was able to get

back on track before week 2’s content was released, but I was already feeling exhausted.

After that, I started working on my monthly calendar to ensure that I was aware of what was

coming down the pipe each week as well as a weekly goal’s checklist - I am thankful for the

initial skills learned from Professor Fray to help bring skills and techniques like this back to

the light since I had not been to College in over 10 years.

In conclusion, I quickly learned that I was not as prepared as I thought, and while some of

the above feelings and thoughts may come off as a little overactive, as someone who

struggles with anxiety they are familiar to me. I try to plan ahead in order to know what to

expect as much as possible, but that isn’t always the reality and I am learning each week to

adapt, leverage my College support outlets, and go with the flow.

Journal Entry #1 Word Count: 663

Dealing with Unexpected Challenges

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Dealing with Unexpected Challenges
Journal Entry #2

I am going to start my second journal entry with another challenging topic, but it is one that

I learned a great deal from. The topic is how I dealt with unexpected challenges regarding

one of my classes in weeks 2 to 4. The challenges that I was facing had many different

elements involved: the curriculum, class structure, as well as the teacher's approach to

learning. This course is COMM. It is a class that I expected to excel at since I had

previously taken numerous COMM courses at two other Colleges and received grades

above 90%. I realized after week 2 and 3 that this was unlike any course or approach to

learning that I had experienced before, yet I tried to remain open-minded and optimistic.

The class topics were very advanced and granular from the start and were very content-

heavy (week 3 alone had roughly 47 tasks to check off before the next week’s content

release). I started to see myself struggling with a topic that I once felt very confident in. I

was worried because the reason why I am taking this program is to increase my grade
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point average in order to get into a degree program. I went from seeing high grades to very

low grades on practice assignments. I was clearly struggling, so I reached out to my

professor for support and advice. I, unfortunately, did not receive the support that I was

seeking, so I went straight to DC Connect to sign up for SALS for additional support before

my next marked quiz was due. Sometimes all it takes is just hearing a different approach to

explain something - and that is what I was looking for. Thankfully, SALS was able to help me

greatly, and I was meeting with them 1 to 2 times per week for additional support in areas

that I wanted more support in. This particular course was running without a professor being

available for consistent group class time, so I also wrote on the DC Connect’s discussion

board requesting that we have weekly time scheduled with the teacher (as a group) so that

we can ask questions from the week prior. I received numerous replies from other students

who were interested in this, which resulted in the professor scheduling a weekly meeting. I

could see firsthand that these meetings were not only helpful for me, but for my fellow

students so I was proud of myself for asking this and being able to help others at the same

time. After another week passed, I was still not feeling as confident as I had hoped with the

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additional support. I decided to schedule a meeting with Kim Sharpe to discuss my concerns

and chat about my options since I was now spending a lot of energy on one class over my

other classes. We discussed what prerequisites were vital for me and what grades I needed

to achieve in order to reach my goal of being accepted into a degree program. During this

discussion, Kim and I reached out to Ontario Tech University in hopes to learn more about

admission requirements. To my surprise, we learned that my previous College COMM

courses would be accepted as prerequisites; I was not sure if they would since some dated

back to 2007. This took a lot of pressure off me, so Kim and I then discussed transfer credits

for an exemption. I ended up reaching out to a couple more Colleges and Universities to

confirm that my past COMM courses would be accepted, and once I learned that they would

be, I began the process of obtaining my past course outlines in order to apply for a transfer

credit through My Campus. I successfully applied for a transfer credit and it was accepted.

In the end, although my experience with COMM was not as I expected nor ideal, I learned a

great deal from this experience and process. I learned about resources that were new to me

as well as where my energy is best spent during the remainder of this semester.

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I learned just how wonderful and helpful SALS is as a student resource, the process to

submit a transfer credit request, and that my student advisor has my best interest in mind

when helping me navigate a school-related challenge. I am thankful for these learnings as

they have allowed me to tap into them for other courses, as well as help guide others who

may be struggling in these areas.

Journal Entry #2 Word Count: 750

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Research for my Future
Journal Entry #3

Over the past few weeks, I have been actively researching what my next step will be

concerning my career goals. While I was speaking with Kim Sharpe about my transfer

credit application, she and I began discussing prerequisites and types of programs. I

initially wanted to be accepted into the BScN degree program with Ontario Tech University,

but have since decided to take a more scenic route towards my goal of becoming an RN. I

began my research by reaching out to Ontario Tech, Trent, York, and Laurentian

Universities to ask them about their admission requirements. I was hoping to get a hold of

admission offices by phone but quickly learned that almost all school staff are working

remotely due to covid and are taking inquiries by email only. So thus began the lengthy

chain of emails. I was able to get information on prerequisites, grade point average cut-

offs, important deadlines, and whether or not the programs required a CASPer test. Since I

was in the headspace of thinking through what I was going to do after the PHSU course,
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I decided to explore RPN options as well. I had previously completed programs at both

Humber and Georgian College, so I reached out to them first followed by Seneca and

Durham. I inquired about the same topics that I mentioned above for Universities but also

was able to learn about the advantages that taking PHSU gives me with regards to

admissions. Kim Sharpe informed me that if I were to apply for the RPN program, that my

prerequisite course grades would be boosted. This was great news since I am aware of how

competitive nursing programs are. I also learned that most Colleges have a bridge program

that you can take after graduating from the RPN programs which allows you to move into a

degree program and complete the degree in less time. After having a thoughtful discussion

with my partner, and revisiting my SMART goals, I have decided that I will enter a College

RPN program and then bridge into a degree program through a University after. Over the

next few years I want to sell my house, start a family, and move closer to my parents, so the

College route with the initial commitment of 2.5 more years is my best option to move

forward in other areas of my life as well.

Having done this research has made me feel a lot more confident in my current decision.

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I am glad that I looked into my options further because it helped me think through more long-

term situations that I had not initially considered. I am thankful for being able to self-reflect

and write out some of my goals through our first assignment in Prep, as this initially kicked

off my desire to start researching. Now having done so, I feel more focused and prepared for

the decisions I will be making in the near future.

Journal Entry #3 Word Count: 490

Emily Hill | October 17, 2021

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Appendix Rubric

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