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We’ve all experienced distractions one way or another when doing homework. Whether we decide to sit in front of the TV, talk to friends, or have our phone notifications on, we always tend to find something to distract us. This week, we are focusing on ways to continue motivating ourselves and eliminate distractions. Some distractions are easy to eliminate, such as going to a place that is quiet and away from friends. In regards to digital distractions, there’s a tool called Cold Turkey that blocks websites, games, and apps to help boost your productivity. I also found that the article we had to read in class(cited below) gives a list of resources to combat phone distractions. The most interesting app I found was Forest because it gives you incentive not to open your phone or your virtual tree will die. I used this app this week in order to start studying for my final exams and I will say when you see your progress, you don’t want to open your phone! I will continue to use this app as I still have two finals to take, but I do believe my distractions will be limited this time around and I hope to see this in my final grades!

Citations: https://getcoldturkey.com/

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-apps-help-fight-smartphone-addiction/

We’ve all been through the lectures in class on how to avoid Wikipedia. For me, I was always told it was unreliable, but I was never told why. This week’s blog post is dedicated to finding out why so many teachers are against the use of Wiki when needing information for a paper. Wikipedia contains articles that are considered “open nature”, meaning anyone can edit what is written in these articles causing vandalism and inaccuracy at times. Some argue that this is a positive because of how up to date the information on Wiki is since people are constantly uploading or adding changes to the article. Rather than saying don’t use Wiki, teachers should lean more towards it is a source, but not the only source you should use. Students should always cross check the information they use in research papers and try to cite original documents when applicable. With that being said, I think it would be beneficial to start using Wiki for research papers, but I would not base my whole research on this one source. As students, we want to make sure the research we are finding is more reliable from things like academic journals. I wouldn’t be opposed to using one fact I found on Wiki and then backing up this fact with another resource found elsewhere.

Citations: https://marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-Search_vs_Research-01.pdf

The big debate we have faced for many years is whether or not to take notes on a laptop or with a notebook. Some students believe taking notes on a laptop is easier and more convenient to have all their notes in one spot. However, we have all had old school teachers that refuse to have technological devices in the classroom in order to prevent distractions. This week, we have been able to take a deeper look as to which one is better. In the Youtube video, Best Note-taking Device Ever: iPad Pro vs. Paper Notebooks, they are able to show you the different apps you can use in order to take more efficient notes on an iPad. This includes taking your written notes and forming them to text, bookmarking pages, and being able to highlight and put notes on a textbook you’re reading. In another article we talked about in class, the pros and cons of handwritten and types notes were listed. A pro of typed notes included being able to organize and type the notes faster. A con of this was you will more than likely forget what you are writing about since it requires less mental work than handwriting.

In my opinion, I believe that handwriting is the most efficient way to take notes. I am a visual learner, so I enjoy writing things down to help me remember. I also use different colored pens when I take notes in order to point important information out for myself, which I think would be harder to do online. I also like to highlight and circle things, so it makes more sense for me to continue handwriting my notes. I have tried to type my notes and I find them less efficient and harder to read.

Citations:

Handwritten vs. Typed Notes: Which is Best for You

Do you find it easier to read a paperback book instead of a book on your tablet? If so, I have the perfect solution for you! This week we are discussing how to be more proactive when reading online. One thing that really stuck out to me was to make sure that you maintain being interactive with online reading like you would with papers. This means that you should highlight information, pausing to quiz yourself, developing diagrams on the information you learned, and making symbols or acronyms to remember certain information! It is important to keep in mind you want to reduce what you are reading by only highlighting and taking notes of the information that is important. This week I applied annotation strategies from the Utah State University link below. I was able to use a similar marking system that they provided on their website and did it to each chapter I had to read in an investments book this week. For me, I was able to notice I was able to look back more quickly and glance at my notes more efficiently to help myself retain the information every day before class this week. I also decided to color code my annotations because I am a visual learner and think it’s easier to spot things when they are different colors. Even though doing both of these things increased my reading time, I do believe I was a more efficient reader.

Citations: Lesson Materials Powerpoint Slide 6, https://www.usu.edu/academic-support/studysmart

Procrastination….many of us know what it is, but not a lot of us know how to overcome it. While reading the Forbes article this week, I found a few useful tips for students to overcome procrastination. The first is multitasking. I know in my experience I will always be almost done with something and think to myself since I am close to being done I can reward myself by taking a break and doing something else in the meantime. This is mentally draining and reduces our productivity since our brain has to alternate back and forth. From now on, if you’re almost done with the task, spend those final minutes finishing it completely and then reward yourself with a break! Next, I found reflecting on stolen time to be an important idea. For me, time is valuable. Therefore, I put into practice this idea this week. The amount of times I found myself thinking about how I have to do a task and then an hour later I thought the same thing was ASTOUNDING! I think I spent more time thinking about the task I was dreading to do compared to the actual task. Therefore, as soon as I had a thought like this I would decide to take on the task and complete it before I could spend any more of my time thinking about it. This was very helpful and it will be something I will continue on in the future!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/04/13/14-ways-you-can-overcome-procrastination/?sh=5360e38917df

Working in a Group….Online Edition!

As a college student one of the most dreadful assignments are group presentations. This is especially true when you have group members who aren’t doing their part or who are submitting their section of the assignment at 1 in the morning. A few helpful tips I have been able to learn about this week include the communication aspect of working in a group. In order to be the most efficient in a group it is evident to go over the group project when it first gets assigned and divide tasks among each other right away. This information was provided to us in the 5 Tips for Dealing with Lazy Group Project Members on Youtube. In my personal experience, I have found that dividing tasks clears up most communication issues because everyone has a set task to do. I think one thing I do still need to work on is providing multiple communication methods, not just email. There have been group projects I have been in where we communicate through email and it is hard to have an efficient conversation on there because people aren’t on their emails the whole day. I think Groupme has been a good communication method and Google Docs/Slides as well.