Online Success

Words from the Wise

Here is some advice provided by last semester's BIOL 1 students. It's a lot, so skim it as much as you want. You will see that time management is the most often discussed topic of advice!

I feel like some advice I would share to future online BIOL 1 students would be that the class is more enjoyable when you actually want to learn. You'll likely discover something you never knew about but are happy you do now.

I loved that there was more emphasis on learning what you got wrong rather than getting it correct on the first try. There are many times I have learned from revising an assignment.

The advice I would give to future BIOL 1 students would be time management, it is so very important for this class, and the amount of time you put into it will reflect your grade. What you put into this class is what you will receive.

Although it is easy to get overwhelmed by the number of things in a module if you space the work out and look at everything you're supposed to do in a week you will find it's not so bad.

The only advice I have to give to future students, would be to use all your resources and be willing to reach out for help weather that be another student or the instructor.

I really enjoyed this remote lab class. In the beginning I was worried about how the labs would play out but everything was extremely smooth. The labs were very interesting and fun, I actually enjoyed doing most of them. I also enjoyed having the unlimited revisions on assignments because it allowed us to shoot for the best grade possible but also really encouraged us to actually know the information we were learning. Even though when you first initially look at the material for a new module each week, it looks like a lot, it is actually not that much and goes by very quickly with good time management.

I was concerned with the labs because this is my first lab class but I actually enjoyed it. I feel like a lot more classes should incorporate labs because it gives you better understanding of the material your learning. I feel like the term “labs” is what scared me but its more like a hands on process which I thrive in when I learn. I also appreciated the ability to get the best grade possible because not many professors allow that option, and it really made a difference.

I think that the outline of the class worked really well. The way that the modules are spaced out and lessons are set is fast paced but manageable. The assignments are great because you get as many attempts as you need to be successful.

What didn't work was waiting late minute to complete assignments and having them build up on me. Advice that I would recommend for future online BIOL 1 students is to not procrastinate, take the labs seriously, and reach out with any questions. Sometimes I over thought a lot of assignments and just reaching out to discuss my concerns was a big help to really understand what I needed to do.

I wish I would've put more time into answering the study guide questions and color coding them since that's my preferred studying method.

I loved how accessible everything was and how many resources Melody included. One thing that really worked for me was all the different types of videos she included and how I could pretty much choose one that fits how I learn. A little advice I would give to future BIO 1 students would be to not stress out about it because if you do you'll just be stress and anxious for no reason. Set a schedule and do your work. Ask for help and look at the resources she gives out!

Time management is very important, planning your week can help a lot with lowering stress levels.

Some advice for BIOL 1 students would be to do the work on time, even early, and take time to answer the study guide questions and do the assignments.

Some advice I would give is to try your hardest no matter what. Biology is a challenging subject, but taking the time to learn as best as you can is very important. Also, reach out to the professor for any help you have. She is very useful and understanding.

Watch the videos and do the study guides! It is honestly easier than trying to figure out assignments with no prior knowledge.

The videos and the interactive labs worked well for me. It really helped me understand the material. Also the flexibility of this class was extremely helpful. Do the study guides and watch the videos!

I found myself struggling with my own problems like life. I was struggling with my current life situation, and it just got in the way. If I could give any advice to the future students of this class, it would be to not procrastinate. As basic as it sounds it's true. Get everything done the second it is available. It will save you in the long run.

This class is extremely well organized which I greatly appreciate. The ability to "Zoom" with you, Melody, saved me. You are exceedingly good at what you do and have made the experience pleasurable and helped me learn so much. The study guides have been helpful too in keeping me focused and the variety of videos were both entertaining and have lots of quality information. This course is well structured and manageable and having flexibility with due dates has been beneficial as it's allowed me to actually take the time I needed to learn the material and not just turn in something hoping it was right. Quick turnaround with an email response and grading are much appreciated and have helped encourage and support my learning.

The videos were a big help to me because being a able to hear it and retain the information was key. I'm more of a visual learner and seeing and hearing someone was a great help for me and I presume others as well. Also being able to turn work in late and still earn full credit was unbelievably helpful. Watch all videos and make good use out of the study guides. And if possible work ahead!

This semester overall was super fun in Biology! Communicating with Melody worked really well for me, as well as the additional resources #teamAmoebasisters!! Another thing that worked well for me was making sure my study guides had plenty of details and examples! I used a lot of color in my study guide especially when I wanted to highlight information that I felt was important. I was really nervous about taking this course online fearing I wasn't going to learn anything, sounds nerdy I know ;)....but I actually learned A LOT and that to me is the real grade!

Time management did not work well for me. Unfortunately, murphy's law invited itself into my semester and I struggled to complete assignments on time which turned into falling about 2 weeks behind until tonight. While I am proud of myself that I was able to catch up, I do wish I had recognized the signs of potential struggle earlier so I could have better managed my time. My advice to future online students...hmm....okay....if you ever reach a point in this class where you think throwing in the towel is a better option. Don't. Instead, finish. And write this quote down and tape it to your laptop/computer...

"I did not come this far just to break down and lose now. I'm a winner. I'm going to win." -Denzel Washington

or this one...

"All it takes is ganas (desire)" -Jaime Escalante, Stand & Deliver

I felt that the way the semester was structured worked well for me. I felt the multiple ways to learn the information was good helpful. I truly appreciated how fast Professor Schmid responded to questions and how willing she was to make herself available for help. The fact that Professor Schmid made the whole process of online learning and the study of biology as stress-free as possible was, I believe a huge part of how well I did this semester. I was very nervous taking this class and the early contact from Professor Schmid and what to expect alleviated some fears, and the knowledge that assignments were not timed, and could be revised and re-submitted eased more fears.

For future students I would recommend to take a deep breath, this class is not nearly as scary as I feared it would be.

I found this course to still be very interesting and interactive even though it was completely online and asynchronous. I feel like I learned a lot, and I never really felt bored while reading articles and doing a lot of the lab activities. However, I found it pretty hard to hold myself accountable this semester due to a bunch of personal stuff going on, so I didn't complete most of my work in a timely manner. I really appreciate that you accepted late work without penalty, and let us revise assignments as often as we wanted to get better grades. I feel like that helped me actually retain information better, and I really liked all of the extra videos that you included as well. I also really liked that we had three small labs due each week rather than one that would take a long time to complete. It made it a lot more manageable to complete a bunch of smaller assignments rather than one larger one.

The study guides were an amazing help. Everything i needed was easily laid out for me and it helped with understanding the subject. The labs were diverse, fun, and doable. The videos were engaging and helpful. I struggled with my mental health in the middle of the semester so i ended up having to catch up, but Melody was understanding and helped me recover.

The abundance of knowledgeable sources was very beneficial, I like to hear the same information reiterated in case for some reason my brain doesn't get it the first time. You provided so many different readings and videos available to help and it was greatly appreciated! You are also very easy to communicate with and respond very quickly! I also really needed the flexibility this semester last semester my work schedule took over and one of my classes suffered because of that. This semester life has just been rough. I guess its just testing me but you're flexibility has really helped me and made this experience so much more enjoyable and less stressful.

As far as advice goes, DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE! There's just way too much to cover each week that you are likely to go crazy if you do that (and I'm normally a procrastinator).

Follow the module step by step. Looking at it as a whole could be overwhelming but if you follow it in order and give yourself an allotted time each day to tackle a section of the module a day, it gets done in no time. Do not wait to the last minute!

What worked well for me was asking questions. If I had a serious question I would email Melody and I would get an answer the same day. Very useful resource.

Tell future Bio-1 kids that this class is valuable and information compact. That they will be required to put in effort every week but is very beneficial in the end.

I really enjoyed this semester. I thought the labs really worked well it was fun being able to do science from home. Everything worked out for me I would say the hardest thing was working full time and school as well but in the end it worked out. Advice I would share is talk to the teacher, she will always make your questions into clear answers!

If I had to give advice to future students of this class, I would say to STUDY! study and take notes frequently! Also get your work done before the day that it is due because you may have a good amount of work one week but not so much the next week. Always go back and do missed assignments and if you have questions then ASK!

What worked well for me this semester was the video explaining our modules and the videos explaining topics in our modules. I am much more of a visual learner and that really changed the semester for me. Everything in this course worked great for my success. The flexible dates and multiple attempts allowed me to take a look at what I did wrong and gave me another chance to understand the material.

I am, admittedly, not the best student when it comes to my study habits. I procrastinate and can have a very difficult time focusing and staying focused when I do sit down to do homework. It is very easy to get behind in this class if you have a procrastinator mindset, I would tell future students that if they do have this type of mindset and are worried to breathe, if you are really and truly determined to complete this class Melody is willing to work with you and help you.

I think the study quite was a really useful tool as well as the textbook and other resources that were always linked. I would advise future students to get their work done ahead of time if possible because it is easy to get behind.

Staying organized really helped me with many of my courses, without a clear schedule, its easy to push assignments off and not put in the effort necessary. Before I obtained more structure I had a very hard time keeping up, not putting away a set time can really effect your performance. Advice I would give to a future online BIOL 1 student would be staying on top of assignments, by doing things ahead of time, everything feels less stressful and you can overall get better quality work.

I think something that worked well this semester was how all the work was due on one day. Unlike my other classes it made it way less confusing. Also looking over what the work is before I do it is helpful. I get a good idea of what to pay extra attention on. I would share that looking over the work instead of just looking at how many assignments will help students to put the work into perspective. Some assignments only have a few questions and some are simply videos. Its not a scary science class online if you just stay up to date on work!

What made this class for me personally is you as a teacher. I think you did a great job just because you truly do care about all of the students success in the class and always check up to make sure we understand everything that’s going on. I’m not the best in online classes so I tend to procrastinate a lot of my time away. The minute I started falling behind you sent me an email saying that I can still do it.

I fell behind a bit towards the middle of the semester because of some personal things; however, I was able to catch up nicely because of the no late penalty policy. I felt this helped with the world's current situation and made doing school online more manageable. My advice for future online students would be not to abuse the no late penalty policy; I found this out the hard way and had to make up everything last minute. This class is a great class to learn and discover new things, take your time on each module to understand the material, and you'll do great.