Center for Learning Empowerment

Metacognition. Just the word sounds complicated and involved. However, metacognition is not all that difficult—in fact, thinking about the way you think is something you probably do without even realizing it. More than likely, you give thought to the way you want to organize your thoughts and approach to a new project at the outset. You already know the best way you think and operate—it just may be buried in your subconscious.

Metacognition is not just important when you start a new project at work, it’s also extremely important when you decide to go back and earn an advanced degree. After you’ve taken the Learning Styles Survey, it’s important to think about the way you think and create a strategy that will enable you to learn and achieve your goals through a customized approach. No two people learn the exact same way, and as such, no two people will have the same cognitive strategy. Your strategy should be specific to you.

According to Snowman and Biehler, cognitive strategy is divided into two segments: learning strategy and learning tactics. The first step in considering cognitive strategy is to determine your learning strategy: what is your general plan to achieve your academic goal? Map out a plan for achieving that goal. Each plan you map out becomes an objective (i.e., “Complete Biology course in 14 weeks”). These objectives will build your learning strategy.

Once you’ve determined your learning strategy, you’ll want to determine learning tactics that will be useful for you next. These tactics are what you will use to accomplish each individual objective that works toward fulfilling your overall learning strategy. There are two types of tactics: memory-directed tactics and comprehension-directed tactics. Memory-directed tactics are the techniques you use to store and retrieve important information as you study. Comprehension-directed tactics are the techniques that help you understand what you are learning (check out a previous post for an example). There are very few people who can use just one tactic or the other—both tactics are often needed to achieve success.

Give thought to what you feel will best help guide you toward success as you build your cognitive strategy. Not sure what strategies and tactics are best for you? Do a little research, beginning in our Center for Learning Empowerment  and work from there!

If you're thinking about pursuing an online nursing degree, there are many steps you can take to journey toward success. An article recently published on nursetogether.com offers some helpful advice for surviving nursing school. Here are four tips to help you succeed in your pursuit of online education:

1. Stay organized. Use a calendar to keep track of reading assignments for yourself and to schedule your exams. When you log in to The College Network Resource Center, you will see a calendar for just this purpose on the left-hand side of your screen.
    
2. Discover your learning style and use it. People learn in many different ways, but there are typically three major learning styles: tactile, auditory and visual. You can take a learning styles survey in our Center for Learning Empowerment to find out which learning style works best for you. Once you know your optimal learning style, organize your studying around that style to maximize your chance of success.
    
3. Seek assistance if you need it. If you are having trouble with a particular concept, don't hesitate to ask for help! Our Academic Support team is available seven days a week to lend a helping hand.
    
4. Take care of yourself. In order to succeed as a nursing student, it's important to pay attention to your health. Make sure to get enough sleep and to eat a balanced diet so that you feel your best when studying and taking your exams. It's also a good idea to get regular exercise to keep your stress level low.

To learn more about the opportunities for advanced nursing education available through The College Network, visit our nursing degrees page or fill out our information request form.

Starting an online program can be daunting. Where to begin? You may be like me and find little things to “help” you prepare to embark on a major task. I find myself reorganizing my desk, moving pens and pencils and notebooks from one side of the desk to the other—after all, how could I even begin such a major undertaking with my pens on the wrong side of the desk? Then there is always Internet distractors—I’ll just check my email/Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn accounts and then I’ll get started, right?

If you know it’s time to leave the pens where they are and stop procrastinating on Facebook, here are some tips for the best ways to get started in your program with The College Network.

1. Log-in to the Resource Center™ and familiarize yourself with the way it is set up. Check out the Center for Learning Empowerment while you’re there. Be sure to take the Learning Styles Survey and discover the best methods to help you learn.
    
2. Set a schedule with goals. Decide when you’d like to take your first exam and work backward from there, setting small deadlines along the way to make sure you meet your target date. Setting a daily routine that includes even fifteen minutes of study can help you stay connected with what you are learning and ensure you don’t procrastinate.
    
3. Familiarize yourself with the layout of a learning module. Don't worry about studying right off; just click through a lesson to familiarize yourself with the format of the material.
    
4. Check out the printable resources section. You'll find the full text of the modules that you can print and take with you to study when you're away from a computer.
    
5. You might also want to take a peek at the exams and quizzes in the Resource Center that will test your knowledge once you're ready.

That wasn't too hard now was it? And since you're already logged in and more familiar with the material, why not go ahead and get started? Put a stop to procrastination and get started with that first lesson today. There's no time like the present!

Since spring is the season of renewal and rejuvenation, it's the perfect time to start thinking about fresh starts in your life. Are you considering heading back to school as an adult learner? Are you perhaps intimidated by the number of years that have passed since you were last a student?

The College Network (TCN) wants to help you bloom into a confident learner with our Center for Learning Empowerment (CLE). The CLE is packed with information to help TCN customers get the most out of their learning experience. It includes engaging lessons designed to lead students toward effective and efficient thinking, studying and learning. The CLE is also home to a learning styles survey, which can help you identify the different types of learning styles that work best for you. 

If you are a TCN customer, you already have access to the Center for Learning Empowerment in our online Resource Center. Log in, and check it out! Knowing and understanding how your brain organizes and digests information will maximize your chance of being a successful adult learner. Additionally, the information you can gain from the CLE will help you become a more empowered learner for the rest of your life! 

You’ve taken the leap and decided to go for your degree, and now it’s time to get started! You’re ready to begin your first comprehensive learning module, but are you prepared to learn? Reading the material presented in the modules is your best path to success on the final exam, but do you take the steps necessary to actually comprehend what you read?

Simply skimming content or highlighting every sentence in the text does not always lead to true comprehension of the material. If you want to move away from the surface and really get to the core of what you need to learn, you might want to try the SQ3R strategy for reading. SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review.

Step One: Survey. Preview what you are about to read by scanning headings, captions, learning objectives, and review questions.

Step Two: Question. Take the chapter title, headings, and subheadings, and turn them into questions. As you ask yourself the questions you have created, you may come up with more questions to answer as you read.

Step Three: Read. Read the content and try to answer the questions you created in the last step. Be sure to re-read any portions of the text that you are not sure you understand.

Step Four: Recite. After each section, stop for a minute and ask yourself:

·         What did I just read?

·         How does this fit with what I have already learned or already know?

Take time to add to your notes by summarizing what you’ve read and verbalizing important concepts from the section.

Step Five: Review. Reviewing what you’ve read is not something you should do just once. In order to ensure that you understand and remember what you’ve read, you will want to come back to your notes and the text more than one time over several days. The more you are thinking about the content, the more likely it is that you will remember what you’ve learned.

While this may sound time consuming, it may actually save you time in the end. Instead of skimming through massive highlighted paragraphs or wading through extensive notes to review, this process will help you get right down to the most important information. And because you are actively thinking and asking questions as you read, you are more likely to remember what you have read when it comes time to take the final exam.

Check out http://studygs.net/texred2.htm for more specifics on the individual steps of this strategy. Each step is broken down even further to help guide you toward better reading comprehension. Then, be sure to check out the Center for Learning Empowerment in the TCN Resource Center for more information on how to maximize your learning experience!

As a lead advisor for the Academic Support department with The College Network, I speak with many customers each day regarding all aspects of the online programs that we offer. One reason why I have chosen to stay with The College Network for the last three years is because our company strives to do whatever we can for each of our customer. The Academic Support department prides itself on is caring about our customers and doing our best to ensure each learner’s success.

Our “We Care” attitude is demonstrated in a variety of aspects:

1. Initial Welcome Call: As soon as you sign with The College Network, your Program Advisor will connect you via phone to an Academic Advisor who will welcome you to the program and schedule a Guidance Call appointment.

2. Guidance Call: We strive to complete a Guidance Call for each and every customer. The purpose of the Guidance Call is to connect each learner with a member of the Academic Support team, familiarize the learner with the various aspects of their program, set goals, and navigate through our Online Resource Center.

3. Follow Up Calls: During the Guidance Call we ask each learner if they would like to receive a 45 day follow up call so we can check on their studies.

4. We’ve extended our hours! The Academic Support team is now available 7 days a week to assist learners with any questions or concerns they may have. As a reminder to all, we are available Monday-Friday 8:00am EST to 11:00pm EST and Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00am EST to 8:00pm EST. We’re here to address your concerns and assist with your progression when you need us! Also, learners are able to email the Academic Support department 24 hours a day for when questions arise outside our hours of operation.

5. Constantly Improving our Resources: The College Network strives to ensure that the materials and support we provide adhere to educational best practices. Our Center for Learning Empowerment was developed to assist the independent learner and make sure he or she understands and utilizes effective study strategies throughout the program. The Center for Learning Empowerment contains a series of short videos that focus on certain strategies or technique the learner can use to gage the level of learning and preparedness achieved. The Academic Support team undergoes training on these topics in order to provide the best service possible.

Overall, what it boils down to is, we really do care. All of the Academic Advisors have been through college and graduated with Bachelor’s or Master’s level degrees in a variety of subjects. We know what the post-secondary education experience is like and we know that at times it can be rough. Academic Support is not only here to support each learner educationally but also emotionally. We want nothing but the best for all learners, so please do not hesitate to contact us with questions or concerns at our toll-free number 1-800-634-1443. 

There are three main types of learning styles: auditory, visual and kinesthetic. Since every person learns differently, it is important for you to understand which style or combination of styles works best for you so that you can be successful in the learning process.

Auditory Learners learn best by listening. These learners prefer to hear things being explained rather than to read about them. Reading material aloud often helps them learn better.

Visual Learners learn best by seeing things such as pictures, graphs and charts. They like to see things written out, but may have a hard time concentrating while listening to a subject being explained to them.

Kinesthetic Learners learn best through hands-on experiences. Touching things or participating in an activity helps these learners retain information. They also prefer to write things down.

If you are a customer of The College Network, I encourage you to log in to our Online Resource Center and take the Learning Styles survey, located within the Center for Learning Empowerment, to find out which style of learning best suits you. This will help you focus better and ultimately retain the information you are learning, which will help you have more success with your exams.

 

Our goal at The College Network is to enhance the customer experience. We have a great product, and we want to ensure that our customers are aware of all the resources available to them.

For example, during the past year we have worked to build our Center for Learning Empowerment located in the online Resource Center. Our customers use this to access their course content. The Center for Learning Empowerment is designed to coach customers on how to learn online by empowering them to achieve.

We also consistently work on the customer experience through our “We Care” initiative. Throughout every department, not just customer support, we are focused on improving touch-points by making processes easier, developing proactive communication, and enhancing our products.

Monthly meetings are held at The College Network where departments are asked to present what they’ve accomplished related to “We Care” and what they plan to accomplish before the next meeting that will positively affect our customers.

We make your success our goal, and we are here to serve you – our valued customer. 

When I first started at The College Network—I must admit there was a bit of a language barrier.  And, probably not in the way you are thinking; so many of the terms and abbreviations were ones that I had never heard before.  I was able to understand the terminology only after I studied about the online programs offered, and how our customers learned the materials.  

I approached my new job like a class.  I researched terms, their significance and meaning, in order to give myself a foundation.  As a marketing person, I cannot speak to others about that which I don’t understand.  Some of my questions were:  What exactly is Lean Six Sigma?  Bloom’s Taxonomy?  Who knew that I was an auditory learner?  And, I had never heard the word asynchronous before. 

Understanding how The College Network works isn't quite as significant as understanding why The College Network works. Why does it work you ask? Because it functions like no other educational institution. 

At The College Network, our Comprehensive Learning Modules are a customer's professor, text book, and classroom all wrapped into one convenient package, and what makes it even better, is that it can be accessed online through our online Resource Center. The RC, as we like to call it in Product Development, gives learners access not only to their Comprehensive Learning Modules online, but also to quizzes, exams, the Center for Learning Empowerment, and printable copies of the learning material.

Intimidated by online learning? The College Network has a department dedicated solely to helping learners with any questions or concerns they may have regarding their learning modules, The College Network, or any specifics regarding affiliated programs or partner universities.  

Why does The College Network work? Because we're dedicated to making the most convenient, efficient, and customer-friendly experience possible.

"Change is vital, improvement the logical form of change." The value of change cannot be overstated; as people age, they change - sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Making good changes is integral to improving oneself - not just for the benefit of the individual but society as a whole. 
 
Since I've been with the Product Development department at The College Network, over three years now, the company has been through many changes, weathering the financial crisis and adapting to survive in a tough economic environment.  In order to accomplish these feats, The College Network has been continually working to improve the quality and quantity of our learning material. 

When I first started working, we had just recently switched to building courses online - which was a cutting edge development at the time. Within a few months of that though, we decided to give our online content a "face lift," thus improving the deliverability of our content with the current online Resource Center - giving the customer's greater accessibility to the Comprehensive Learning Modules and also several other learning tools, including quizzes, practice exams, and The Center for Learning Empowerment. 

For those of you interested in The College Network, you should know that we're a company that is built on never being satisfied with the status quo. We are always aiming for improvement to provide our customers with the best technology and products to help them further their education.

The Product Development department is one of the many important divisions at The College Network, but it also has a reputation for being one of the more mysterious areas of TCN. 

Much of what takes place in the department varies daily. From editing marketing material to acquiring subject matter experts to creating content for the online Resource Center, the Product Development department works to provide its customers with the most up-to-date and highest-quality information. 

The leaders of the department are responsible for many of the advancements the company has made in online learning. The new Resource Center and The Center for Learning Empowerment are both ideas that came to fruition thanks to the diligence and hard work of the managers in the Product Development department. 

There are several projects currently under development that will add more facets to many of The College Network's current Comprehensive Learning Modules. Stayed tuned for more information.

If the idea of online education frightens you, you're not alone. For many people, the concept of earning a degree, completely online without ever reporting to a classroom, is hard to wrap their mind around. I completely understand which is why I am going to help you overcome any fears of signing up for distance nursing programs with The College Network.

First off, online doesn't mean alone. Our Academic Support department is committed to providing quality customer service, academic planning and support services for TCN customers. Academic Advisors are available to assist you with academic counseling and course analysis along with providing customer follow-up to ensure your satisfaction.

Academic Advisors are available 8:00a.m. to 11:00p.m EST Monday through Thursday and 8:00am to 9:00p.m. EST Fridays. You can reach an advisor by calling 1-800-634-1443, e-mail academics@collegenetwork.com, or you can chat live with someone via our website.

In addition to our Academic Support Department, our Online Resource Center is available to assist you throughout your program. Included in the resource center you will find the following:

• Defined key terms
• Completed course objectives
• Interactive end-of-chapter questions (with immediate feedback)
• Practice exams
• End-of-chapter quizzes
• Printable files

Among the items listed above, you will also have access to The Center for Learning Empowerment - a site designed to teach people how to learn, and discussion forums where you can connect with other online learners for support.

So, fear not future online learners! You will have a plethora of support throughout your online degree program. Just remember, we at The College Network care as much about you being successful in your program as you do!