SALS Assignment

Katrina Reynolds

SALS online is an incredible resource that Durham College offers to students. I first

signed up for SALS online a few weeks into the program for a couple courses I knew I was

going to have a hard time with. I signed up for Math and Anatomy/Physiology/Biology focusing

on Biology. I chose these two courses to focus on as most of the teaching videos who from the

professors speaking while going over the material. After the first couple of weeks, I found

myself having a hard time understanding fully the weekly content from watching the videos

because I couldn’t grasp what they were saying. Some of this was from how fast the videos were

going, such as in my chemistry and biology courses, while others were slower videos that I

would lose my attention, such as math. Going to the SALS online for the courses really helped

me grasp the information and understand the concepts that were being taught each week. I found

that most of the time the information was just written out with some graphics, examples, videos,

and sometimes they also included a quiz. I enjoyed the different ways to offer the information

through the SALS online as this helped my learning style, but I also had the opportunity to try

other note-taking techniques to see what would work best for me.

During week 4 of the PREP course, I discovered that I was a people-oriented

(empathetic) listener. I found this is be accurate and part of the reason I had a harder time than

expected doing the online courses. Not being in a classroom setting just watching videos and

reading textbooks didn’t allow me to connect with people who were communicating throughout

the courses. This is where having a team or group in a course helped me. A couple of the courses

such as this PREP course and my chemistry course, have assigned groups/teams that you work
on assignments with or just as a study group that you can communicate with throughout the

course to study with. I found this to be helpful as it allowed me to connect with someone one-on-

one or multiple people. Throughout the remaining weeks of the PREP course, I continued to

learn about my learning styles, note-taking, listening, test-taking strategies that helped me adjust

to the online learning compared to a class room setting. I used these new strategies not only in

my courses, but also on the SALS online and found that I was not only understanding the

information clearly but was having a better time memorizing the information.

I explored a different campus service offered unrelated to my learning throughout the

courses. This service was the Financial Aid and Awards and the Test Centre. When I was first

deciding to enter the Pre-Health program to further my education into the Dental Hygiene

program later, I had plenty of questions about finances and how to go about these programs. I

emailed the Financial Aid often about OSAP and tuition and they were always very

accommodating for everything I was inquiring about. They also sent me to the Admissions

department to help me figure out my pathway to go to Pre-Health to Dental Hygiene and how to

apply. The people at the Admissions department were more than helpful. They helped me apply

to the Pre-Health program and gave me multiple options about the Dental Hygiene program,

when to apply and what I would need to include with my application. Once I applied to the

Dental Hygiene program, I had to write the HOAE test as part of my application and the Test

Centre was very accommodating and helpful throughout the process. Picking a day, paying for

the test, instructions on how to get to the test centre, and once I arrived there was always

someone who was willing to help me to ensure the process was easy.

Two other activities that the college offers that I would consider taking advantage of in

the future is the Peer Coaching and the Campus Recreation Centre. In the future, when there is a
concept within a course that I am really struggling with, Peer Coaching is an activity that allows

you to meet with someone face-to-face, connect with them, and learning the concept of the

course that is causing difficulty. The Campus Recreation Centre allows students to get exercise

easily which is something I feel really helps clear my head, keep me focused, and releases energy

allowing me to focus on my studies. It is important for students to understand what services their

college offers and to take the opportunity to use them. When students are struggling, these

services are there to offer support and help students achieve their academics goals. I will be

attending Durham College in the fall and intend to take full advantage of all the services the

college offers.