The education journey is a long one and traces roots from the beginning of school to the highest level. In my case, each of the educational stages presented a different form of study orientation. The study orientation was highly determined by the objectives attached to the study. The study orientation has been improving for the better as I made my up the ladder. I applied the shallow orientation while I was at the high school levels. This is because my main aim was to pass the exam and nothing much beyond that. Therefore, I concentrated on memorizing the content provided for by the teachers as well as that in the books. This enabled me to do well in the exams, though I really did not understand the entire concepts fully. Upon reaching the college level, the study orientation changed to deep orientation. This was driven by the fact that I expected to get out of the school and seek employment. Therefore, I felt that it was only right to understand the content being taught in class as I aimed at applying the same in the field. Therefore, it was easy for me to understand all the engineering practice and theory so as to apply the same ion the field. This worked well for me as I found it easy to relate to the engineering field after attaining my first employment. After enrolling for my masters while still being employed, I utilized the performance study orientation. By this, I hoped of making the best engineer for my company. I expected that I would learn on the various concepts that would make the best out of me. I, therefore, concentrated on the improvement areas which could be applicable to work. It was all aimed at improving my ability to offer the best services as an engineer.
Successful and unsuccessful study habits
Successful study habits
Getting organized: this enhances the student to prepare well in advance of the study that he or she is to take
Developing a study plan: this is an aspect that enables a student to follow a certain procedure in carrying out a study
Creating study groups: Study groups are quite effective in successful studying. This allows better understanding among the discussion peers and thus pushes performance ability.
Looking into the future: students should have an objective that they intend to attain in future (Yin 2017). This is a study that is guided by the intentions, thus making it fruitful and directional.
Unsuccessful habits
Memorizing: this included clamming of the book content. It is done just to pass an exam. This should be improved to have a better understanding.
Connectivity: studying while being connected to the social media destroys the ability to concentrate. The student should ensure that he is away from such distractions
Insufficient time: studying requires some reasonable time to be enhanced. Therefore, the student needs to organize for sufficient time to cover the amount of work that matches such time (Hancock and Algozzine 2016). Too much content cannot be mastered in few a seconds.
Modification of habits to suit each of the orientation
To suit the performance orientation, I would change my habits to one where is set my study objectives. I would ensure that I determine the desired performance before I start studying (Lewis 2015). To suite the social orientation, I would ensure that I form a discussion group to carry out the study together. To suite the deep orientation, I would ensure that I develop the active learning habit so as to better my level of understanding. To suite the shallow orientation, I would develop the skimming procedures that require me to peruse over the details of a book.
References
Hancock, D.R. and Algozzine, B., 2016. Doing case study research: A practical guide for beginning researchers. Teachers College Press.
Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.
Yin, R.K., 2017. Case study research and applications: Design and methods. Sage publications.
