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Happy Monday and welcome back to my blog! It’s the last week of classes! I hope you’re all pushing through these last couple weeks. This weeks topic might be very beneficial to those of you who need one last big push: maintaining motivation.

The most useful thing I learned from this module is how much your mental, emotional, and psychological state can help/hurt you when it comes to learning. To successfully learn, you need to be in the right mind set, and with that comes good health overall. This sounds difficult but the good thing is there is many ways these things can be controlled. As for mental health, there are multiple suggestions to improve ones stress levels and emotional health, as well as online resources listed to help those (slide 21-23). Some examples of these are getting enough sleep and relaxation, getting physical exercise, doing things you enjoy, getting help if you need it, and so many more. This is definitely something everyone needs to be aware of because the life of a college student can get pretty hard sometimes, which is why we need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves in every way.

Something from this lesson I already put into practice is exercising, getting adequate sleep, and doing things I enjoy to help manage my stress and stay in a healthy mental state. One of my bug New Years resolutions was to do these things and I can confidently say that I have stuck with them all through the last four months. Consequently, I have found that my mental health is a lot healthier, leading to less stress and more motivation to get things done.

Something from this lesson I hope to put into practice in the future is taking intentional breaks. By this I mean taking breaks to get a snack, take a walk, call a friend, etc., rather than taking a break to get on my phone. Majority of the time I’m completing a task and go to take a break, that break consists of scrolling through social media and then returning back to my work. This makes going back to work extremely hard, so I hope to take more intentional breaks from now on.

Now, my advice to all college kids out there is to take some time to fix your sleep schedule and get some exercise. It sounds stupid but you won’t believe how much it can help in so many aspects of your life- mentally, physically, emotionally, academically, etc. Even if it’s just a half hour a day taking a walk, trust me it will help out in the long run.

Well, that’s all from me this semester. It’s been real and it’s been fun. Good luck out there Buckeyes.

XOXO, Kasidy.

Week 6, welcome back. Happy you’ve stayed tuned this long. A couple more to go! This weeks topic is searching and researching. Yes I know it sounds boring, but this is definitely something all of us college kids need to know so please, I’m begging, keep reading.

The most useful thing I learned from this weeks module is the actual difference between searching and researching. Whenever I am looking for information on a topic, I tend to always just Google it and go from there. Now I know this is probably not the best method, especially if I want accurate information. I mean we’ve all done the quick Google search when we’re sick and we end up thinking we’re dying because of what comes up, yet end up just having a cold. You’d think that would’ve been a red flag to me a long time ago. But now, I know that researching is asking questions, as well as looking at the quality of the information and analyzing whether or not it’s a credible source, rather than just finding the answer to our question. Instead of just googling things from now on, I will use Google Scholar, or university libraries.

Something I already put into practice from this lesson is using Google Scholar. Now, I do not use this as much as I would like to. I often find myself being lazy and just doing a normal google search to find the information I’m seeking. Although, when it comes to writing papers and doing assignments, I always use Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com). I find it is the easiest resource to use when looking for credible, peer-reviewed articles.

Something I really hope to put into practice in the future is using more university library databases. I can honestly say I really never use these, yet I know how helpful they can be in research. In the future I really hope to branch out from just Google scholar and the normal Google search and use some university library databases as well.

Now for advice for all you college kids out there. You’re probably not going to want to hear this but STOP USING GOOGLE for academic purposes!!! I know it takes a bit of extra time to use Google Scholar or a University’s library, but I swear it’ll give you so many more credible sources. The worst thing is submitting a paper or an assignment and being told that your source isn’t credible, so please just take the extra time to do some more research and find those credible sources. It’ll help you immensely out in the end.

That’s all for this week, folks. Talk to you all soon. Stay safe out there, and don’t forget, use Google Scholar!!! 🙂

Good afternoon readers and Happy Monday! I hope everyone is staying sane during this time and getting a hold on this whole online learning thing. I’m hoping my blog posts are helping at least some of you out. This weeks topic will be about web-enhanced listening and viewing strategies. So let’s get right into it.

The most useful thing I learned this week was the many different methods of note taking there are. For example, the outline method, the Cornell method, the mind-map method, the flow method, and the write on the slides method (https://youtu.be/AffuwyJZTQQ). These are all methods I didn’t know existed; my whole life I’ve just been taking notes in the most random “write what I think is important” way. I think any one of these methods will end up being extremely more effective than the way I take notes now, and I am eager to use them in the future.

Something from this lesson I already put into practice is using online resources to really enhance my learning. Oftentimes when I am struggling to understand a concept, I will go online and try to find a video of someone explaining it, often in a visual manner. As I’m a visual learner, I find this helps me immensely. Lecturers don’t often explain hard topics using pictures but I find that doing a quick YouTube search can lead me to many educators who do.

Something I hope to start using are the note taking tips they discuss in the Indiana University Student Academic Center video (https://youtu.be/Yc5qyMTjO3k). In this, they talk about numerous different note taking strategies that can really enhance your learning. After watching it I realized that I don’t use any of those methods, I kind of just write down whatever I think is important. Consequently, sometimes I am missing out on information. I would really like to try out the Cornell method, as this is the method that is farthest from how I take my notes now; it seems super effective in good note taking and is definitely something I want to try out.

If I were to have to give one piece of advice to college students it would be to use more online resources!!! I promise you it helps so much. If you’re struggling with learning a certain topic, or have a professor who might be making the information seem harder than it is, go online! YouTube alone has so many educators that post videos in hopes to help us kids out. I promise you won’t regret it.

Good afternoon and welcome back to my blog! It feels like it’s been forever. Does that mean I’m getting used to this “blogging” thing? I hope so.

This week I’ll be talking about using the internet to enhance your reading and study strategies. Sounds boring I know, but trust me, you’ll want to keep reading. In a time where you may be struggling to adjust to online classes, this will benefit all of us college students stuck at home with nothing to do but schoolwork.

Getting right down to it, the most useful thing I learned from this weeks module is how to effectively highlight when reading. All my life I’ve read through passages and just highlighted what I thought was important. After watching Professor Steven Chew’s video (https://youtu.be/E9GrOxhYZdQ) I’ve realized you should read through the text completely then be selective about what you highlight based on its importance related to the other information. We should be highlighting connections, key distinctions, and applications, not simply what we think is important during the first read through. I wish I had thought more about this sooner because I think knowing how to correctly highlight will help reading comprehension immensely.

Something from this module I have already put into practice is using technology to boost my learning. I very often use apps such as Quizlet and Notability to aid in my learning and note-taking. I find these save a lot of time over making handwritten flash cards or taking handwritten notes. I would recommend these apps to anyone! Although, there are so many more apps out there that I’m looking forward to exploring.

An idea I hope to put into practice in the future is to reduce my multitasking. When I am doing homework, most of the time I have something to watch on in the background because I feel as if it makes completing the task more enjoyable. But, I have realized through this module that this is a very ineffective and distracting thing to do. If I want to put my best foot forward and make the most progress I can, I need to be focusing on the task at hand and nothing else. Now, this doesn’t mean I can’t have breaks, but when working on that task, it should be JUST THAT.

Okay, last thing I promise. Advice for the college students. If you haven’t payed attention to the rest of the post, at least pay attention to this. STOP MULTITASKING! I promise you that Netflix show and your Twitter feed will be there when you’re done. Just finish your task and then reward yourself with whatever it is you’d usually do while working on the assignment. I promise you it will get done faster and you’ll be a lot more focused on putting in your best work.

Well, it’s been fun. Looking forward to seeing you all next week!

XOXO, Kasidy

Hello readers. Welcome back to my second official blog post! Still getting the hang of this thing but I hope you all enjoyed my last one. This week I’ll be discussing efficiency and time management in today’s day of social media and technology. Pretty exciting stuff I know. But with how dominant these things are in everyday life now it is important to know how to not let technology take over your life (in a bad way). That is why I am here to help.

The most useful thing I learned from this lesson was how extremely important it is to use some type of calendar, whether that be Google Calendar, the calendar on your phone, or a simple paper calendar, to input anything you have going on in your life. That can range from needing to go grocery shopping, to having a job interview, to your class schedule. It can be whatever you want it to be, but it is definitely a necessity! I had started using Google Calendar a couple months back and it changed my life! Now I can block off times to do certain tasks, block off time to relax, time for literally anything. It is very helpful being able to see what all I need to do and when I need to do it by just looking at my calendar. I would recommend this to anyone, whether you are a student, have a full time job, are a stay at home parent, etc. It can benefit anyone!

An example of something from this module I have already put into practice is like previously stated, the Google Calendar. Although, something else I have already implemented into my daily life is strategies to overcome procrastination. This is one thing I would say I am pretty good at avoiding for the average college student. I find myself always prioritizing the ultimate goal, such as writing a paper, over an immediate desire, such as hanging out with my friends. This has been extremely beneficial for my mental health and my grades. Yes, sometimes I do miss out on social events but by competing those tasks I get to take part in them later on, so it is not that big of a deal to me.

Some ideas I could put to use in the future are breaking my larger tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks. I am the type of person who gets overwhelmingly stressed when I know there’s something big I have to do. Therefore, I will force myself to sit down and finish it in one sitting so it will take the stress off. Although, this often leads to me getting very frustrated, not wanting to finish the task, and sometimes not putting in my best effort because I just want to get it done. I think if I were to break my larger tasks into smaller steps I can complete each day, I would benefit greatly. It would ensure I am submitting my best work, as well as taking off a lot of stress of finishing it in one sitting.

If I were to give one piece of advice to my fellow college students out there, it would be to STOP PROCRASTINATING!!! Procrastinating does nothing but add on much more unnecessary stress on top of the already existing stress that I know we all have. Stop waiting until the last minute to cram and get something done! Your friends party can wait, and it will be much more enjoyable knowing you do not have a whole paper to write the next day. As I talked about in the last paragraph, split your larger tasks up into smaller tasks. For example, if you need to write a paper, do a paragraph a day, instead of doing it all the day it is due. It will do wonders for your mental health, trust me. Some other tips are to ask yourself where you are, what you want to do, how doing it will make you feel, and analyzing your ultimate goal vs your immediate desire (https://youtu.be/VA8D1cGW5Qk). With these three techniques, life will be a lot easier.

Hello readers! My name is Kasidy. Welcome to my very first official blog post, this is exciting!

This module was super interesting to me! I feel like I learned a lot about my own time management capabilities, as well as various different collaborative resources available for future projects, which is always extremely helpful. The most useful thing I learned from the slideshow, and video on slide four (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvkbDc1LiVI&feature=youtu.be) was how to appropriately interact with others and portray oneself online. Netiquette. A word I did not even know existed! There is a word for everything these days, right? I never really thought about the fact that readers might not understand the tone one uses online, or the fact that capital letters can come across as yelling. This is something I will definitely remember and pay a lot of attention to from now on when interacting with others online, as it is extremely important to ensure not offending/upsetting anyone, or making oneself look bad to others.

As for something I have already put into practice, I firmly believe I am very good at managing my time effectively. After taking the time management assessment, my score was quite high, telling me that I am quite good at this somewhat challenging task. Although I did not think my score would be quite that high, I felt very confident in it. When it comes down to it, I usually always prioritize what is most important and accomplish that task first and then begin going down the line from most important to least importance. It is not easy to do, but trust me, it saves a lot of midnight mental breakdowns.

Something I am definitely going to put into practice in the future is as previously stated, good netiquette. I will certainly think about this crazy made up word every time I participate in an online discussion, email my professors, send a text to my friends, etc. Another thing I will use are the web-based tools created to make it easier to collaborate with others. I think each of these websites are life changers and I can not wait to use them in the future!

Okay students listen up, if you have not paid attention to the rest of this blog post, at least pay attention to this. Advice. Honestly, my main piece of advice is to always, no matter how good at it you are already, improve your time management skills. STOP PROCRASTINATING! I know you want to go out with your friends and binge watch Netflix, but they will be there tomorrow! Do your homework now! One night of fun is not worth the emotional stress you are going to put on yourself for pushing off your assignment. Trust me, I have been there. If nothing else, take this advice!

On that note, that is my first blog post. I hope you all enjoyed. Be back soon!

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