In this weeks module we go into detail about building motivation. The most useful thing I have learned this week is how to find and keep your motivation. We as humans are different from one another. Something that motivates me might not have any motivation for someone else. That is why it is very important to find out what motivates you. For example some people are motivated by grades, a career, money, or personal ambitions. Once we find out what motivates us then we can use that effectively. Another Important aspect for motivation is making sure you have a positive environment. What this means is that your study or work environment is safe, comfortable, and quiet. This will help you stay motivated and more productive when you have a positive environment. Some people also work better with some background sound and Noisli is a good tool to use for that. Lastly making sure you get rid of any distractions is also critical. Sometime we can get distracted by other people when we are trying to study or work. It is a good idea to try and find somewhere you can be alone or close the door and have a sign that lets others know not to come in. Another distractions many people find themselves dealing with is cellphones. What you can do is put your phone on silent and put is somewhere that is out of reach so you are not tempted to grab it.

https://www.noisli.com/

This weeks modules talks about online learning strategies and skills. I learned more about academic writing in college. When writing papers in school they can be very different when writing in high school vs writing in college. When in college many times student are asked to write academic based papers. Typically  academic based papers are argument or inquiry driven. There are many aspects that come with writing academic papers in college. When writing a academic paper an important aspect is to understand and follow the requirements that your teacher has described. Then students can try and choose a topic that they are interested in. When you are interested in a topic it can be easier for you to write about. Creating a timeline with deadline can help students stay on track and be more organized. The next step student can take is to find sources for their paper. When finding sources it is important that students have credible sources. When determining if a source is credible student should focus on three aspects: quality, reliability, and utility. After sources are found student can begin to write their rough draft. A good method to use is to have someone else read and comment on your rough draft. Lastly student can then revise and complete their final draft of their academic paper.

https://umanitoba.ca/student/academiclearning/media/Writing_an_Academic_Paper_NEW.pdf

This week we learn about online learning strategies and skills. What stood out to me in this weeks module was the importance of taking notes. Taking notes is an important part of learning in school and other places. In this day and age we have different ways in which we can take notes. The most common way of note taking is using a paper and pencil. Now students are seen taking notes with their laptops or Ipads. There can be some benefits when taking notes on a computer or Ipad. Typing your notes is faster and can help you collect larger amounts of information. Also when your notes are on a computer you can use the control F function to find specific information your are looking for. However, there are also some disadvantages of typing your notes. When you are typing your notes you tend to have more distractions on a Ipad or computer. Also when you are typing your notes because you are writing so much information down, your brain might not be able to distinguish important and non important information. When this happens the information can become harder to remember. I Also prefer to write my notes on a paper and pencil. I do notice a difference when I write vs type my notes.

This week we cover module 4 that talks about Web-Enhanced Reading and Study Strategies. This module touches on the topic of  interacting with your online readings. Interacting with your online reading means that there is action and involvement from the reader. Interactive reading helps people go beyond just reading the words on the screen. I would like to incorporate  this strategy into my online reading next week. When I am reading online text sometime I find myself losing concentration. I then find myself rereading the same couple of sentences over and over. This tends to happen when I have a long reading assignment or I have to read many chapters. One way I would like to interact with my online reading is by summarizing in the margins. I will use the margin to summarize key topics, so that can help me briefly review key topics later. Another way I would like to interact with my online reading is with quizzes. When I am reading I will pause and quiz myself on the material. I think taking breaks and quizzing myself will be a good change for me. This can help me figure out if I am actually retaining the information that I read.

cite: Lesson 4 slide 6

module 3 does into detail about dealing with procrastination. The most important thing I have learned is the root causes of procrastination and how to deal with them. By definition procrastination means the action of delaying and postponing something. Procrastination is easy because as humans we tell ourselves that we have more time to get it done later. According to Piers Steel 95 percent of people procrastinate. When trying to overcome procrastination it is important to find out why you are procrastinating. There are a few common reasons why people tend to procrastinate. One reason people tend to procrastinate is because they don’t understand the content or assignment. Another cause of procrastination is when you are overwhelmed by everything you have to do. lastly, people also can procrastinate because they are dealing with too many distractions. If you don’t understand an assignment then you can review the course material and ask your teacher for help. If you are overwhelmed with tasks then you can use something like google calendar to manage your time better. If your are dealing with distractions then you can try to find a new peaceful and quite location to do your work. when we find out the root cause or causes then we can move forward on correcting them.

5 Research-Based Strategies for Overcoming Procrastination

https://hbr.org/2017/10/5-research-based-strategies-for-overcoming-procrastination

In this weeks module we learn more about online communication. I have learned quite a bit of information that I intended to use moving forward. Covid has caused me and many other people to increase our online communication. Many people now have to either work from home online or go to school online. This as been a big change to get used to for some people who are not used to so much online communication.  An important take away from this weeks module is the importance of how we convey our online communication. When we are sending an email people can not see our face or hear our voices. We need to be mindful of how we compose our online communication. For example if someone writes in all capital letters that can be perceived as you yelling in the email. When communicating online you should avoid using slang or word abbreviation because that can be perceived as unprofessional. When we use online communication that become a permanent footprint that is online forever. So, how we communicate online is a very important because that can be pulled up at any time. Online communication is something that we use now and will continue to use in the future.