Module 6: Searching and Researching

There are definitely some good and useful concepts in this module.    Directly, the most useful concepts are the extra serach syntax.  While I already had learned and taken classes on boolean logic, I did not know a lot of these tools or about how different search engines utilized them differently.  The smaller tips  like using quotes to specify and instead of the default or is very nice.  I was already using some of the sources in this module.  I previously had a literature class that forced me to use the Ohio State library website a lot, and I learned to use it very well over the course of a few different papers.    I do think that I will retain a lot of the knowledge in the Purdue OWL  research paper, as it provided a very well thought out process for writing and researching an academic paper.  The advice I would proved to anyone about this unit is that while the internet is full of a lot of informative sources, it has a much smaller number of reliable sources.  This discrepancy makes it very important for a user to be able to differentiate between a source that is reliable and a source that is not.

Module 5 Blog: Strategies and Skills

The most useful idea I learned from this module was using other school’s online lectures to supplement my own school learning.  I have already taken some online courses, but they have mostly been unrelated, personal interest things and not really related to what I’m studying. The “dont get mad, get online” line stuck with me for using it to supplement professors.   Now that I’m approaching the point where Khan Academy doesn’t have guides to help me study for my midterms, this is incredibly useful.  This personal interest learning did apply to podcasts, however and I actually listened to enough econ podcasts over last summer that it inspired me to pick up an economics minor, and those podcasts have been really useful for my classes, as I have a decent understanding of most concepts going in.   I think I could use more online resources in general after this module.  For while I have used them in the past, It was mostly to answer specific questions or to look up flashcards instead of trying to learn concepts or to fulfill a need created by a professor I don’t learn well from.  The concepts I’ve learned in this module apply well to both students and professionals.  For students, realizing how much an online resource can help you through a tough class is incredible.  For professionals, using online resources to learn a new concept and keep your skills up to date can be even more important,

Educational Video Blog

 

This is a video by 3blue1Brown, a math youtuber.  He has a variety of videos from personal interest to more education focused.  This specific video is part of his linear algebra series, and sets up the later videos by carefully explaining what a vector represents in linear algebra, and what common operations on them represent.

This video supplements my learning on the topic by approaching math in a different direction.  He does very little calculations or any example problems, and instead focuses heavily on what the concepts behind them represent.  He does this very effectively by also using a calming art style that is reasonably entertaining while not being too distracting.  This focus on concepts and visualization combines well for an effective video.

MODULE 4 BLOG: Web-Enhanced Reading & Study Strategies

This module was over some of the various tools and resources the internet provides us that can help us with our learning.   Things like blogs, news websites, podcasts, and papers are all available online and can be incredibly helpful when learning. Even though it went and looked at a lot of different resources, the most valuable tip I found in the reading was SQ3R on page 7.  With all of the various ways to get information over the internet, sometimes it’s hard to retain the important information we need.  So, SQ3R is a solid strategy to help memorize and understand the important questions.  It involves surveying the reading, Identifying the important questions, Then reading the content.  Afterwards, you can recite the content and summarize it in your own words to verify your understanding.  You can then review for afterwards to make sure that the information stays fresh.  I think that I can institute this into my own life, as sometimes I will find a very well put together and helpful resource but then I will think I understand it once I’ve only looked at it for a bit.  By using these measures I can verify that I will remember it and not just be trying to cram it back in the day before an exam.

MODULE 3 BLOG: Communicating and Collaborating Blog Post

The most useful things I learned from the online lesson were the more subtle things That I have not thought of before.  These tips are nice things to keep in mind while sending messages and communicating both casually and professionally. Things like making sure to avoid any slight misunderstandings make a lot of sense because of the fact that so much of regular, in person communication in nonverbal, there are a lot of social cues that are not shown or can be easily missed.  I have already put the think before sending into practice, as I have a habit of saving emails as drafting and revising them later. This works extra well if you can wait a decent period of time, because if you can forget your original thought process when writing the email it allows you to effectively see it as an outsider, and lets you edit it in amore unbiased way.  I also believe that I could use emailing to more effectively communicate with my professors. To often am I forced to try to guess what my professor meant by something or what is and what isn’t going to be covered on a test, and communicating well could help solve these problems. The advice I would give based off this module is that communicating online is an effective and useful tool that needs to be used with some caution, as things can be misinterpreted or backfire.