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Module 7: Keys to Motivation for Online Learning

The most important thing that I learned was just how important motivation is in terms of focusing. If youj don’t have motivation, you will have trouble focusing because your mind isn’t in the right place. In the video on slide 14

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAv0ko2pelE) it gave really good advice on how to stay focused. It said to only have the necessary material you need while doing work. This means leaving your phone somewhere else. This should help immensely with distractions because my phone is the biggest distraction I have. One method that I already use is taking breaks while studying. I feel like this helps a ton because I don’t get overwhelmed by new information. This way I can keep my motivation throughout my study session. I also feel like I remember things better when taking in information in smaller chunks instead of trying to learn hours worth information all at once. One thing that I want to implement is using exercise to de-stress. I think it has the potential to be really helpful with the learning process because if I’m stressed I’ll have trouble learning, so taking that stress away through exercise should help. If I had to give advice, I would say find out what motivates you. In my case it is instant gratification. Then do something that allows you to stay motivated, like making a to-do list. I do this because it is gratifying checking something off my list, so I stay motivated that way.

Module 6: Searching and Researching: The Foundations of Academic Writing

 The most important thing that I learned from this module was how to determine whether I should use a source or not for a research paper. Well I learned is that you have to look at a source for three things, do you have to look at a source’s reliability, quality, and its utility.  This is really important because it allows you to have a good foundation to build your research paper on. One thing that I already did this before this module was pre-searching.  In my opinion, I think that it is useful, but sometimes I don’t think it is necessary.  I would recommend using pre-searching if you have a really complex research question. Something that I don’t use but want to implement is using an outline for my. This is talked about in the writing tips video on slide 6 in the module.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2DRdOts5lY) I think this is a really useful tip for writing a paper. It should help you organize your thoughts and streamline the process of writing because you will have had everything planned out from the very beginning, which should let you just write with no issues or obstacles. If I had to give some advice, I would say when finding a source, use common sense and use the three characteristics of a good source.

Module 5 Assignment: Web-Enhanced Listening and Viewing Strategies Blog Post

The most valuable thing I learned from this module was to be an active listener while taking notes. This will help with my note quality because instead of just listening to a lecture, you are now preparing your environment and yourself mentally, in order to put yourself in the best possible situation to learn. Afterwards, an active listener would reflect on heir notes, which in turn helps with learning and memorizing the material. This is evidenced by the link on slide 14 in the module 5 slideshow(https://open.lib.umn.edu/collegesuccess/chapter/4-3-are-you-really-listening/). With using active listening, a student becomes better at taking in new information, which is very important in deciding how well a student does in school. One aspect that I have already put into place is taking notes with Notability. I couldn’t recommend notability enough for those with iPads. It is really easy to keep track of my notes with all of them being on one app. It is also very easy to use and it has a lot of useful features, such as being able to search your through your notes by looking up a keyword  in the search bar, even the hand-written portions of your notes will pop up if they match the keyword. One thing that I don’t use, but I should put into place in the future is the active listening. It would really make taking notes easier and I would learn more out of each lecture if I became an active listener. Some advice I have is that you shouldn’t be afraid to look at how you are studying and change. Often times there are different ways of studying that might be more effective, but habits are hard to break.

Module 4: Web-Enhanced Reading and Study Strategies

The most useful thing that I learned in this module would definitely have to be all the study tools that are available for me to use. This coupled with the fact that there are tutorials on how to use these study tools, should make studying a lot easier. One study tool that I already use is Quizlet. I use Quizlet when I either need to make a new set of flashcards or if I can find someone who already made a set and use their flashcards. I use it to study for exams and tests, and it has been very useful in studying effectively, for me. One strategy I could use in the future is active reading. On slide 5 it gives an active reading and note taking method called SQ3R.(link –https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=0dhcSP_Myjg). This video explains what SQ3R means, Skim, ask Questions, Read, Recite, Review, and how you are supposed to integrate it into your reading. This should help with not only how you read and take notes, but also how you remember the information that you are reading, which should help with your studying. Some advice I would give to students is to use the study tools. Study tools are popular for a reason. To put it simply they work, so use them!

Module 3-Efficiency in the Digital Age

The most important thing I learned from this week’s module was the cause of procrastination, how to avoid it, and how to overcome it through the use of time management techniques. There are multiple reasons for procrastination such as not understanding the material, being afraid that the material is too hard, being in an environment not conducive to completing an assignment, etc. These things cause a fear of doing the assignment, which leads to us doing something else in place of that, which ultimately leads us to wait until the last minute to do an assignment. Once you find out what is making you scared to do the assignment, you can correct it, and overcome the procrastination. One technique I use to avoid procrastination is I made and try to follow a schedule. It works very well for me because when I follow it, for the most part I get my work done on schedule, which is ahead of time when comparing it to the due date. One technique I would like to try is the Ultimate goal vs the immediate desire that is talked about in the video on slide 7. (link https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=162&v=VA8D1cGW5Qk). This will help me realize why I need to do things ahead of time instead of the last minute because I will have to think about my long term goals instead of my current wants. If I had to give advice to students, I would say tackle the issue of procrastination as soon as possible because once it becomes a problem, it becomes very hard to solve.

Module 2: Communicating and Collaborating

After going through the module lesson, I learned a lot. In my opinion, the most important thing I learned from the lesson in module two was the plethora of communication and collaboration tools there are online. This is really important because throughout college there will be a ton of group assignments, so this will hopefully help me ease into all the available resources that are available to me in order to succeed in a group setting. In the module it mentioned Google Docs. This is something I frequently used and had used previously, all throughout middle, junior high, and high school. I had put Google Docs into practice through writing essays throughout my entire school career on Google Docs. Google Docs works really well, and overall, I would say using it has turned out great for me.

Some ideas that I found to be really useful that I could also put into practice were the five tips to deal with lazy group members. This video was on slide 14 of the lesson (link to video for reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZRyDgDlvqA). The tip I found to be most valuable from the video was to assign roles at the very beginning and to establish lines of communication within the group. This will be implemented in all my future group projects.

If I had to give advice to my fellow students, I would say utilize all of your resources. Not only are there a bunch of free tools collaboration and communication tools, but there are also tutorials on how to use them all, and the best part about this is that everything is free, you just need to invest some time in learning how to use them.