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As a wrap up to the course, this final module gives tips for staying motivated and focused throughout the rest of the semesters. Focus is very dependent upon not being distracted, because it costs another “23 minutes” to get focused after even a small break. There is a video in this module that I think teaches the most valuable thing in the section, how to avoid distractions. This video states that the use of applications to disable other program use is the first way to stay focused. Secondly, separating your work and free time into two different accounts is how you keep yourself on task. It’s also valuable to make sure you clear your work space of any possible distractions, and it has also been said that doing this makes your head clearer as well. You should also make sure that you write down whatever thoughts you have. This has been said previously in this course as well, but putting them on paper gets them off your mind and will give you the ability to keep yourself focused. Lastly, having a good background playlist is really valuable. If you don’t have one, it’s recommended that you simply look on youtube for a study or focus playlist, and there will be plenty there to use. So use your time wisely and use these tips to stay focused. Don’t be afraid to take breaks, you’ll wear yourself out mentally if you don’t take a breather at some point. These tips are just meant to help you not get distracted, so that you have more productivity and more time for a decent break.

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the year,

Christian Alexander

Here is a list of resources I would like to keep for use in future courses.

GoConqr:  Resource is for setting goals

This resource outlines goal setting and gives access to a great mind map resource.

SMART Goal Setting for Students

When Is Good?: Resource is for collaboration/communication

Useful for organizing meetings in an effective way with members of a group or team. It allows everyone to collectively find a time that works for a meeting.

http://www.whenisgood.net/

Google Calendar: Resource for planning and time management

Google calendar is great for putting all the things you have to do in one spot. I need to make sure I keep using this to help myself stay on track.

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/r

Quizlet: Resource for studying

Quizlet is great for making flashcards and taking mock quizzes on information you want. This resource is really helpful for studying.

https://quizlet.com/

Khan Academy: Resource for note taking

Khan Academy is really helpful as a supplemental resource, if I don’t take great notes or need help understanding a topic I can use this to improve it.

https://www.khanacademy.org/

Google Scholar: Resource for finding resources

Scholar is really helpful for finding peer-reviewed articles, which are incredibly useful for college research paper writing.

https://scholar.google.com/

Cold Turkey: Resource for productivity

Cold Turkey can block you from doing anything that might distract you while working on homework or studying.

https://getcoldturkey.com/

Module 5 starts with the discussion of digital versus physical note writing. From my personal perspective, and the module to some degree, there are pros and cons to both.

With notes taken on a laptop, the biggest possible issue is mindless transcription. Because it’s easier and faster to write on a laptop for most, you have the ability to quickly write down all of the things slides and your professor say. The issue is that this habit can cause you to just type, and not try to absorb and decipher the information being presented. This hurts your knowledge gained in a lecture, and can cause you to only focus on the notes and not the subject. Although, laptops have the ability to be very powerful. You can easily organize and keep all of your notes, and you never have to worry about paper or lead. There are also lots of different software options on laptops that can make your note taking process really easy and efficient.

With notes taken on paper, you get access to the mechanical memorization of writing and also it’s easier to absorb the information you’re writing. Obviously, mindless transcribing, as the module calls it, is still possible. Although it’s less likely, because most people have to think about each word they write and the speed of writing is much less. The speed of writing is a draw back, but it forces you to put things into your own words or make the notes concise and precise. Handwritten notes encourage active listening, which is “taking steps to engage your mind and effectively process the information you hear”. Organization of your notes is the biggest possible issue here. It’s hard, especially as college students, to keep everything organized when you’re traveling from place to place. We usually have less time to physically do all the work it takes to organize notes, and I personally gave up trying to do that after my first semester. The rocketbook is one suggestion of helping this issue by allowing you to take a picture and send your notes to any software you choose. The pages are also all erasable with a wet wipe down. I think this option sounds very interesting, but it could be a lot of extra work trying to constantly transfer your physical notes to software programs for organization.

In the end, I think the best middle ground is an iPad. I personally have yet to get one, but every time I see a classmate with one I feel jealous. With an iPad, you get the software and organization benefits of the laptop, with the handwritten note benefits as well. This helps eliminate mindless transcribing, while allowing pictures with notes on them, different tools, and the mechanical part of handwritten memorization. I feel like anyone who has problems with active listening, note taking, or the time it takes to organize notes would find this to be the best solution. OSU is actually including these with tuition for new students now, and I think that’s a brilliant idea. If you use this tool correctly, with good note taking knowledge/ability, this could be the difference between a good and a bad grade. I suggest trying to invest in an iPad or in some sort of good organizational habit for your note taking and notes.

Thanks for reading and have a great day,

Christian Alexander

Reading is everyone’s FAVORITE pass time, right? Not really. Although many people love reading a good book with a story line that entangles them and pulls them for some kind of adventure. This isn’t the case with readings many of us have for college courses. They’re dry, filled with verbose paragraphs and descriptions that aren’t appealing for a morning, afternoon or evening read. They are filled with tons of information, which is why any of us would read through a textbook at all. Textbooks are extremely important for us, which the module highlights: “[W]hether or not the content is reviewed during lecture, you are often expected to know the information for a test or paper”. This is what makes active reading valuable. Active reading involves making notes, highlighting important information, and using systems like diagrams to help us remember the things we’ve read. One of the most important points is to use our online textbooks to their fullest potential. Many online textbooks have tools for highlighting, and you can even add notes to specific passages or sentences. This is crucial for getting the most out of a reading that you probably don’t want to do.

The key point is to use active reading to help with memorizing. Use the highlighted parts and the notes you’ve taken to show the important information you need to study for your next quiz or exam. This allows going back to the text to review less taxing and more helpful. Your brain will also have an easier time remember the small bits you’ve highlighted than the entirety of the super interesting text. It will allow easier memorization and help you find textbooks to be better than you previously thought.

Doing well in college isn’t easy, and it takes a lot of time outside of class in order to excel. These tips will help make life easier, and make the amount of time you spend more efficient. To help with your efficiency, try to keep yourself to working on “one assignment or activity at a time”, as the text says. The more efficiently you work, the more time you’ll have to do what you enjoy. And remember to use the technology you have to make these tasks easier, it’ll boost your time management capabilities to help with efficiency as well.

Thanks for reading, have a great day!

Christian Alexander

According to Chris Bailey from the Harvard Business Review, “About 95% of people admit to putting off work, according to Piers Steel, author of The Procrastination Equation. And I’d argue the remaining 5% are lying.” That’s a pretty high number, but I’d also argue that everyone procrastinates. Personally, I find it sad that putting things off is so easy. As college students, we have class and homework nearly daily with extracurriculars and work also consuming extra hours for some. Working so constantly on what you have to can be extremely draining. This is what makes “the 5 minute break” such a dangerous concept. Technology is readily available to us; a majority of my work involves being on my laptop and my phone is always next to me. The danger of any break is that it’s very easy to let it go longer than we mean to. Five minutes turns to 15, 15 turns into 30, and sometimes time flies by and we’re way out of focus.

What’s the solution to this issue? Well, conveniently there are actually plenty of resources that have been developed to help with productivity and habits to compliment them. The module gives Freedom, Cold Turkey and Selfcontrol as apps for computers to help with limiting distractions. There are also software components developed for smart phones to help limit screen time. I only know this for iPhones, but you can set up parameters for limiting the amount of time you can spend on your phone in your settings. Using time scheduling habits can compliment these softwares and help with the other pieces they can help you with. From personal experience and the module, I can say that tracking your time can be a very eye opening experience. You can see, physically, the amount of time you waste every day. Giving yourself a specific list of tasks or a schedule for each day can improve your time wasted. The same settings on iPhones can also set downtimes for your phone, which you can schedule during your set studying/homework times. I found all of this information to be the most helpful and important in the module.

Procrastination comes from looking at the activities and work negatively. We procrastinate, according to Bailey, because the activity is boring, frustrating, difficult, ambiguous or lacking your own personal interest or reward. Taking time to reorientate your perspective will help tremendously, and I highly encourage taking your new schedule and putting some time every week to put a positive spin on the work you’re doing.

It may seem like a lot, but I believe in you. Take the time to improve your future.

Best of luck,

Christian Alexander

The second module of ESEPSY 1159 covered helpful tools and information in the world of internet communication and collaborating. I found the tools for collaboration to be the most useful. Scheduling polls like doodle.com and whenisgood.net are extremely useful when trying to get meetings together. I have been managing a team for a video game tournament, and that’s when I learned how complicated and frustrating putting together a meeting can be. It’s for something everyone enjoys, everyone wants to do and everyone only has to get online at home. Still, I find members dipping left and right, making the number of times we’ve practiced very limited. On the other hand, group work is something that everyone needs to do, but not everyone wants to do. This makes it easier to gather for necessity, but harder because most want to do the minimum and still get an A. Getting the group involved at a specific time can encourage all pieces to play their part, and using collaboration tools makes this process a lot less painful.

This requires knowledge like netiquette, computer efficiency and how groups work. Our technologically advancing society does make those skills more readily available, especially for younger people. Although the normal texting language, like “lol” or “yo”, as is put without exaggeration in our slides, does seem to be a detriment to the necessary email language. Sarcasm, as you can see above, does not always come across correctly as well. This makes it so it’s essential to take online communication like you do driving, defensively. Assume everyone else is a moron, besides your professors which you should write to formally, and you should be okay. 

Hopefully the scheduling tools and extra knowledge on how to properly act on the internet help you on your online course adventure.

Thanks for reading,

Christian Alexander