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Final Post

This course has taught me a lot of information not only about different online tools/resources that I can use as a college student, but it also provided me with information to help solve my procrastination problem as well. I have learned quite a bit about using Interlibrary Loan when looking for resources that might not be directly available at my specific library. This course has also taught me a lot about determining reliable sources based on the quality of the article as well credential author information for example.

Because of the surveys that I had taken in this course, it helped me determine how much of a procrastinator I am and ways that I can help fix the solution. By doing my work ahead of time, it helped eliminate my procrastination somewhat.  Making sure I turned in good quality work as well was very helpful. If I keep my assignments organized as well as prioritize them, this well help greatly in eliminating procrastination.

Another survey also helped me determine my best learning environments as well as well as providing online resources to help with my learning process. The survey helped me determine I have a moderate preference for visual learning compared to verbal learning. This meaning that I will learn and understand the material better if it is shown in charts or diagrams compared to an instructor verbally giving the information.

I believe the most meaningful experience that I learned in this course dealt with using Google Drive. I had a gmail account for a long time, but I was never aware about Google Drive. I thought it was very interesting to use especially Google Docs. With Google Drive, I was able to create calendars as well as documents that I could access from anywhere as long as I had an internet connection. Its very useful since I only have one laptop and it can become a hassle to take my laptop everywhere with me. With Google Drive, I could access and work on any of my documents from any computer. I found the calendar tool very useful as well. After I had set up a calendar that contained all of my college classes and the times I had those classes, my phone would receive alerts everyday about 20 mins before my class. This is very useful in case I were to forget about my class or something else were to come up. After I used Google Docs, I looked up alternatives to it, like I-Cloud for example. I have a lot of Apple products and with I-Cloud, I can pretty much do the exact same thing as Google Drive. The reason I like I-Cloud more though is because it is easier to access from my Ipad, Iphone, or Macbook than it is to access Google Drive from any of those products. If it wasn’t for Google Drive though, I never would have really looked at I-Cloud and seen the benefits of it.

There are many things that I learned in this class that I will apply in the future. I need to work on not procrastinating and use the tips I learned from this course to help avoid it. Another important thing I learned from this course is Google Docs although I will use I-Cloud more than Google Docs. It is very useful though because I take my I-pad everywhere with me and when I have access to internet, I can use my I-pad to work on any homework assignments that need to be completed. I learned a lot of information from this course and it will help me greatly in the future.

Searching and Researching

There will be many college classes that will require some sort of research that needs to be done. Using the internet can be very helpful though when it comes to conducting research. A lot of information is located online already in databases or you can just simply use Google as well. There are more effective search strategies that you can use rather than just simply inputting words straight into the Google search bar. Taking advantage of the advanced search in Google allows you the chance to use limiters, such as language for example. This will help narrow down your search results. It is also very helpful to use very specific keywords in your searches in order to get the information that you need. If you cannot retrieve the information you need online, you can always use (Interlibrary Loan) from your universities library website. This allows them to hold onto the exact book that you need for you to conduct your research. One thing to keep in mind though when researching is that you need to make sure each resource is reliable especially when it comes to information on a website. Articles that are located on .gov and .edu websites are a good sign that the source is reliable. If contact info is provided about the author as well as the article not containing any bias, then these are more signs that the source is reliable.

Listening and Note-Taking Strategies

When attending lectures at college, there is a lot of information that is introduced each class period. It is vital to being successful in college that you focus during lecture, listen carefully, and take very good notes. Even though these are the same basic ideas that are used during classes in high school, it is much more important in college. Lectures can be very rushed since there is a lot of information that needs to be addressed. This means that there isn’t as much time to copy down all of the notes as you would in high school. You need to listen carefully to focus on the key concepts that the lecturer is talking about and provide supporting details to each concept that you think is relevant. It is also very important that you keep your notes organized as well. You can do this by keeping notes for different classes separated as well as marking a date and time on them. Keeping your notes organized will help you with later situations in class when it comes to studying for exams. You can also use different methods for taking notes as well, which may be more helpful than others. One method for example is the mind map method. This method can be more helpful than regular not taking because it will allow you to see how all of the information will fit together on a topic and it provides a more summarized version of your notes.

Finding a Moment About a Point Video

This video describes how to find the moment about a given point. For example, in the diagram in the video, there is a force P producing a moment on Point A. Force P produces a clockwise moment, so in order to calculate the moment, the Moment would equal the force P times the distance from force P to point A.

This video provides a good amount of information that helps me with this topic, even though the video just describes the process for basic problems involving moments about a topic. IT does work the same though for more complex problems that involve more than one force that will produce a moment about a Point. The process may take a little longer, but this video has definitely provided me with good basic knowledge of the topic.

Here is the video below:

 

Web-Enhanced Reading and Study Strategies

In order to be a successful college student, you must put a lot of effort into learning and studying. Many people have different ways when it comes to studying and learning, whether it involves online reference material, or notes straight from class lectures. There are many websites on the internet though that can be very helpful when it comes to studying and learning. For example, websites like “www.chegg.com” and “www.quizlet.com” are very useful websites. I have personally used them many of times. I really like using Chegg because it can be very helpful with different homework questions that are giving you trouble. Chegg allows you to input questions that people can answer later on in the day. When it comes to studying for upcoming exams, Quizlet is very useful. There are tons of flashcards on Quizlet and specific flashcards for each class. The flashcards already contain questions and answers tat you can use to study for exams. You can also take practice exams on Quizlet to help give you an idea of the score you might receive on the exam. An important aspect that can help you when it comes to learning is to make sure you stay organized. Keeping your notes and homework assignments together, will make it much easier to find specific information that may be on tests. If your well organized, you wont have to spend time searching for specific documents, which will allow you to use that time more wisely.

Communicating and Collaborating Online

Going to college is a much different experience than being in high school and there are a lot of changes that you will experience when it comes to succeeding in your classes, especially online ones. There are many tools that can help you with this. For example one tool is using your email much more frequently. Before I came to college, I would barely check my email each week. Now that I am in college though, I check it multiples times a day for information on my classes, assignments, and news involving my major. Your email is also very effective when it comes to communicating with your instructors. It allows you to discuss assignments and other things with them and they will do their best to answer your questions as effectively as possible and to the best of their abilities. When sending emails to your instructor though, you need to keep in mind how to send the email properly. You need to use proper greetings like “Dear” when greeting your professors, Using proper spelling and grammar is also a good idea as well when sending emails to instructors. You need to make sure you also stay well organized as well. Organizing all of your assignments and class information into separate folders is very useful as well and keeping an organized schedule can be helpful as well. It will help you so you don’t get confused when turning in assignments, due to the amount of assignments you will receive from your classes.