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One of the biggest things I feel that college students consistently struggle with is finding motivation. There are so many various distractions one can encounter in college that it can severely hinder a person’s motivation. From balancing social distractions to extracurricular activities, a student needs to learn the places he finds motivation to keep his priorities in line and themselves on track.

For me personally, I found it extremely helpful to find motivation in my friend group in college. The people I have become closest with are people that I feel share a similar drive and aspiration in their goals. They’re high achieving people that help contribute to my mindset and keep me focused. For me personally, I keep my motivation in line when other people are constantly holding me to a higher standard. My friends do that and it helps me stay focused on my goals. I think it is really important for students to find a group of people in college with similar goals as them. It helps to keep each other in check when you’re faced with a difficult set of priorities. Another important thing for motivation is understanding the situations in which you’re most effective. For example, from the “Organizing Your Space” article, I think it is important for one to figure out the sets of spaces they are comfortable in. For me personally, I study the best when i’m alone and then I work well in groups for assignments that require creativity. I know what scenario to put myself into to be the most effective. Once students figure out where they can draw the most motivation from, I believe college becomes significantly easier and those habits set you up for life.

Resource: https://open.lib.umn.edu/collegesuccess/chapter/2-2-organizing-your-space/

Searching and researching are very important parts in a college student’s career. Every paper that you write in college will rely on the foundation that is set with the research that is conducted. Research makes or breaks your paper, and thus it is very important to conduct thorough and effective research. For me personally, researching for papers was something that I use to struggle with initially. I would primarily use Wikipedia as my resource and it led to me writing weaker papers that didn’t get the grades that I wanted. Once I started devoting proper time and effort to researching, I was able to find resources that were more applicable to my paper. This in turn, led me to writing papers with better fleshed out ideas and more credibility which would show in the grades that I would receive.

A resource I highly recommend to students that was discussed in this module and is one I always use is Google Scholar. I think Google Scholar is a great tool to find academic articles and research that you can use in your papers. Google Scholar is very easy to use and the database is quite large. The best part in my opinion, is the ease of finding another resource if the first article you come upon doesn’t fit what you’re looking for. Overall its a great tool to use and has helped me tremendously throughout my academic career.

Resource Mentioned: https://scholar.google.com/

Note taking is a critical part of every student’s college career. No matter what your major is, knowing effective note taking strategies is crucial. The biggest part is finding out what methods and strategies work for you as everyone has different ways in which they retain material the best. For me, I knew I wasn’t a visual learner going into college. So the note taking strategy of creating maps and other visuals didn’t really pertain to me. From there, I developed my own strategy that I felt I could implement in any class. Personally for me, I like having bullet points and my notes laid out in the same structure and preferably sequential order. I found it to the most effective way for me to learn and study from my notes.

Each student is different and has to find their own method of note taking. I enjoyed watching the video on note taking strategies because I felt that it had information that was extremely beneficial. Whether you’re a visual note taker or not, the Cornell method or the Map method are both great ways to organize your notes effectively. I definitely plan to pull from the Cornell method in the future when i’m taking notes.

Video referred to: https://youtu.be/Yc5qyMTjO3k

This module is an important one for students that struggle with effective reading and studying strategies. A lot of classes in college require some sort of reading for a textbook. Usually these textbook aren’t the most interesting reading materials so students must find ways to make sure that they are actually learning the content and not just reading mindlessly. Thus, one strategy I really liked that was mentioned in this weeks lesson is for students to stop and quiz themselves periodically while reading. For me personally, I found this to be an effective way to make sure i’m actually comprehending the content that i’m reading and committing it to memory. It allows me to pinpoint which areas of the reading I understood quite frequently and which areas I might need to go back and reread to get a better understanding. I highly encourage all students to utilize this strategy as it is a great way to truly learn the content from a textbook.

I also think students have some great resources that they can utilize more to help them study more effectively. As mentioned in the article, “20 Useful Websites Every Student Should Know About” there are plenty of online resources students can use to study content or just make their overall life in college much easier. For me personally, I use Wolfram Alpha frequently in my math based classes to help me understand the calculations better so I can see where I went wrong in the math. In conclusion, there are a plethora of resources out their that we as students can use to make studying in our classes easier.

Resource Mentioned: https://collegeinfogeek.com/20-useful-websites-for-students/

This module is one that all students struggle with. Time management is an ongoing skill that each person must conquer in their own way. From my experience, you have to find the methods and skills that are most helpful to you. What works for your friend may not work for you and as a result, you have to try and implement different strategies to find the best possible time management skills for yourself. One big thing I learned from this module is how to limit your digital distractions. For me and other students my age, technology can be the biggest distraction when trying to do work. It is very easy to just pick up your phone and get distracted or browse the web on your computer. Thus, you have to make an active effort to reduce your distractions. I definitely recommend to other students to put their phones in a place where they can’t see them or are out of their reach. That is incredibly helpful in staying on tasks and reducing your distractions since your phone is one of the biggest distractions.

One specific idea in managing your workload from this module that I think is helpful for all students is breaking your work down into small portions. As the video about 3 Powerful Techniques To Beat Procrastination states, breaking big jobs down into small tasks really helps to achieve your goals and projects. It makes it much more manageable and in my personal experience, it has led to me creating better work overall. In conclusion, time management is tough but trying out various strategies as a student is the best way to be effective and reach success.

Link to Video Referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA8D1cGW5Qk&feature=youtu.be

I think this module is really important for students. Especially in this day and age, students must have proper “netiquette” since so much of our communication is done through technology. Specifically referencing slide 8 in the module lesson, sending proper academic emails is something students tend to not put a lot of thought into. I know in the past that I use to just send my professor’s emails until I realized the reason that I wouldn’t get a quick or effective response is due to my email etiquette. By having proper email etiquette, it shows professors that the students value their time and are treating them with respect. Professors will take notice of that and be more open and friendly to answering your questions and giving help in general. It also just makes it much more easier for them to reply since they know specifically what they are dealing with and how to respond the most effectively. From my personal experience, I have had professors remark to me that my email etiquette left a good impression on them and they remembered my name even though they would teach classes with 400+ students. Having good email etiquette when emailing professors is only beneficial for students during their academic careers and should not be blown over at all. It is a great way to build and maintain a solid relationship with your professors.

Link to slides referenced: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQDfFfTekNgYcbrYPPkUhWXlokk8kZ0vBsy6JbPfO6XxCFxAsOpaGwqpZG0YCteIT0UwhNSv2eqpl0e/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000&slide=id.gd01f746_27_0

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