The time has finally come. The end of the semester. The last blog post. I have truly enjoyed writing these posts every week, and these past 7 weeks have flown by. As this is my last blog post, I would like to sum up and reflect on everything I have learned this semester is Online Learning Strategies and Skills.
My knowledge and skills at the beginning of the semester of online learning strategies and skills was very small. I am not going to lie, I never really thought about how I could utilize the internet and web to help me be successful and enhance my learning. Now, at the end of the semester there are so many online tools I am aware of and have begun to use to be more successful. The internet, google and the web are more than just the place you check your email and scroll through facebook. There are useful tools out there at your disposal!!
There are many useful things that I have learned throughout this course. I would say the most useful, to me personally, is the time-tracking calendar in google. I am able to schedule and track my life, and I really enjoy using it to stay organized. Another useful thing I learned was all the helpful websites for learning, studying, writing and time management like the Purdue Online Writing Lab, Quizlet, Khan Academy, Study Stack, Chegg, etc. There are a lot of great websites out there over a vast number of topics and techniques that can be useful to help you study, write or manage your time. I was pretty ignorant of most of them, but now there are multiple that I visit for help.
I have learned quite a few things about myself while taking this course. The Time Management Self Assessment at the beginning and end of the course taught me how well I managed and prioritized my time. At the beginning of the semester, I was okay at managing and staying on task and not getting distracted. After taking the assessment at the end of the course, I have become much better at goal setting, prioritizing, managing interruptions and procrastinating. So, basically I learned that I had a lot of room for improvement, and I think throughout this course I really did improve on time management, Also, after taking the Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire, I learned what type of learner I am. I am a reflective, sensing, verbal and global learner. I would have had no idea of what type of learner I was, but not I can use that information to figure out the best way to learn and obtain information in class.
I will definitely apply a lot of what I learned in this class in the future. I will 100% apply the time management and organization techniques to my everyday life. I have learned about myself that I work best when my life is very organized and planned out. So, I will definitely be using the google calendar in my future to organize my life, as well as time-tracking to make sure I am utilizing my time well, and to see areas of improvement. I will also apply the note-taking techniques I learned about to better take notes during my lectures in class. Also, after learning about the different learning styles (page 6), I will apply the study skills and strategies into how I study in the future, as a visual learner.
My parting advice to you future college students is to stay on top of things from the get go. Your college life will be so much easier if you stay organized and manage your time from the beginning of your freshman year until your graduation. Don’t fall behind in classes, take notes, ask questions, use the internet to your advantage and utilize your time! Figure out the way you learn best and what styles and techniques do and do not work for you. Set goals and follow through! Don’t procrastinate! Be the best person and student you can be! Good luck!