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Final Blog Post

Taking this course, ESEPSY 1159, has been and will be extremely beneficial to my academic career here at The Ohio State University. Through the different modules and the variety of assignments, I was able to learn a lot about myself as a student, learn a lot of study techniques, and a lot of different tools to use as I go about my ways through college academics. First off, this class showed me so much about my procrastination habits and how well of a studier I am. After doing those different self-assessments, it really opened up my eyes. I realized how I put things off at times and how I tend to do easy tasks first before bigger, more important tasks and homework’s. As I quickly realized my bad habits, this course really helped me to change those bad habits and help me for the better. By doing the calendar and sorting out my whole day for each day of the week, I was better able to utilize my time. The calendar helped me study at the times I needed to and helped me to actually do things at the different necessary times. Secondly, I learned a lot of great tools to help me as I write papers, especially research papers. The biggest tool I learned was the certain websites to make sure I format my citations correctly. I say this because plagiarism and copyright infringement are nothing to mess with especially at the university level. By utilizing these tools, I now for sure won’t commit plagiarism or copyright infringement. This also was the most meaningful experience through this course due to the severity of the penalties for committing these two faults. It was also meaningful because by having to do this in class, it really shows the university wants to do its best by teaching us how not to commit these faults so we don’t have to face these penalties. Another great tool I learned was how to use the refined search tool when doing research. In today’s age with the billions of different things on the internet, sources and hits on Google can get a bit crazy. Now that I know how to use the refined search tool on Google, I can limit the amount of bad sources and hits and just find the good ones. This will be huge when I am doing research because it will save time and primarily give me good and reliable information to use. The final tool I learned that will be of huge help to me is the different websites I found for Module 4. These websites are great for my to study in the future. I found different websites for online flashcards that are already made, note sharing websites, and many more. These will play a great role in my future as a student here at Ohio State. By already having pre made notecards and shared notes, it will take less time for me to make that stuff and give me more time to actually study then.

Searching and Researching Effectively

As going through this module, I learned a lot about searching through the internet and researching effectively. First off, I learned how to use the refine searches. Using the refined searched helps really narrow down the search’s hits so it more related to what I am searching. Instead of having to look through over tens of millions of hits, it will give you a lot less and give you the best hits first. Also, I learned to cite things properly. Using online sources, I can make sure that my citations are proper and correct so I don’t commit plagiarism and copyright. A third thing I learned is to use good sources when I research. Through this module, I can now tell a good academic source from a source that is not reliable. And I can see this directly from the Google search. I do not have to click on the site, I can just look at the URL at the bottom of the search on Google. Lastly, I learned about being able to find articles online and have them sent to an Ohio State University website. After countless times of seeing an article that could be useless but not being able to open it, I can now send it to an Ohio State University library and get a hard copy.

Educational Video

The whole idea of this video is to give people strategies to do well on an exam. There are several main points in this video that explain to the viewer on to do well on an exam. The video starts off with telling the viewer to ask questions about the exam to the professor. Ask questions like what material will the exam cover and how is the exam structured. Then, the video goes on to explain looking over your notes and make sure you have them all. If you do not have all the notes, ask a friend to send you his or hers. The next step is to set a study schedule. Plan studying for 5 days before the test and follow it strictly. The last main points of the video tell you to keep a normal diet, keep normal exercise routine, and to get regular sleep.

 

This video enhances my knowledge of the topic exam strategies in several ways. First off, I honestly never realized to ask the instructor about the structure of the exam. I understand now that asking about the exam structure will help me study better. Also, that video taught me about the 5 day study schedule. The 5 day study schedule would greatly help me by studying all the material in the first 4 days and then reviewing the main ideas and concepts the final day. The 5 day plan would help me study for exams because I wouldn’t be just cramming like I normally do for tests.

 

Web Enhanced Listening and Viewing Strategies

When you are learning on the web or with the web, it can be tough at times to grasp and understand things like you would in class. But, in certain ways, learning on the web or with the wed also can be very beneficial to your learning. First off, the biggest advantage this gives you is being able to pause, rewind, slow down, and restart lectures. You must take advantage of this feature because when you are sitting in a lecture hall, you most likely are not going to be able to ask the professor to repeat things and such. Another way to enhance your learning when listening to lectures is to have the professor’s notes outline ready, whether its an online lecture or in class lecture. As you listen to the lecture, follow through the notes because what is in the outline is what the professor thinks is important. Lastly, make sure you know how you are going to take your notes. Do not just randomly place information anywhere on a page and go everywhere on your page. Make sure you have a system down, such as the Cornell notes for example or even your own system. Just know what you are doing and make sure you will be able to understand your notes when you go back to study them later on.

Web-Enhanced Reading and Study Strategies

When working through this second module, I had a few ideas and concerns about the material was covered. First off, one of my biggest concerns with web-enhanced reading is the role of the professor. Nowadays, as the reading said, professors have become mores on the side of all classes. Less and less are they now up in front of people talking and talking strictly from the textbook. So my idea now is that ss a college student, you must take advantage of office hours. If you struggle with the web based learning, visit your professor face to face and learn in person. Instructors are always willing to help.  For a lot of people, learning just directly online is a difficult thing so getting a nice visual in person can help you in a class a lot. Another one of my concerns is with readings that are strictly online. As a student, I always need to take notes during readings on the margins of papers and highlight important facts and things like that. So, I have struggled to follow along and really comprehend what I’m reading through my computer. So as i went through this module, I realized that I can take notes as I read on my computer. Through different computer applications like Adobe, you are able to take notes on the margins of pages and highlight different things, according to the E-Learning Companion book. As I have begun to do this, my reading comprehension of online readings, has become  a lot better and I am retaining more information.

Communicating and Collaborating Blog Post

As a student, projects have always been a huge stresser of mine. Projects usually entail extensive work and very detailed thought on each portion of the project. It wasn’t until this class ESEPSY 1159 that i realized a few things through the readings and Module 3. On of the biggest realizations I came to was that we can now use technology to get feedback on things at any time. For example, I’m writing this blog post and at any time and anywhere, I can get feedback from another student or teacher. Then you will know where your ideas or work stands in the view of your peers or teacher. You can then see what needs to be worked on more, or written better, etc.. And now, there are many ways to get feedback or even collaborate on projects through the use of technology. You can set up a text messaging group chat, and online group chat, an email chain, or even post things like on a blog for example. Another tip I learned through Module 3 is making a good first impression online. First impressions mean just as much online as they do in person; they are very important! So when you start projects and so forth, make sure you start off things grammatically and politically correct; show that you are there to work and get things done and done correctly. But also at times, you want to personalize emails. For example, if you need someone to send you notes from a lecture that you missed, ask how they are doing or ask if they need any other notes you have but they might have missed. The third idea I learned on communicating and collaborating on projects is that you can using technology to sort things out better. Not all projects are on your own and sometimes you may have a partner or two. In high school, for me, group projects were the worst because I always got stuck with all the work. But when you’re using technology, you can for example, develop a google calendar and add tasks (like we did in Module 2) and split up the work. This way, each student knows what they are being held accountable for. The last tip i learned is that technology will help to reduce the chance of miscommunication. If you are very detailed and extensive in your emails, say if you are telling one what they should do on a project, then it will be harder for the person to take it the wrong way. If you were to say it in person, the chance is greater for the person to screw it up because they may not have heard it right and also because it was only said once. Using technology, your shared thoughts or ideas is in not going to go away so someone can reread it and also, it can be however long you want.

These were just 4 quick tips and ideas i learned through Module 3 on Communicating and Collaborating on projects through the use of technology.