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This module addressed something important to most people when it comes to studying, going to class, etc. for those in college: keeping up the motivation to finish college. The most important thing I took from this module was how interruptions can really impact performance; interruptions can take over 20 minutes to regain productivity from, and can increase error rate, whether that’s missing some points on a key homework question, or skipping some important sentences while studying for an exam.

What I tried to use was a mixture of taking care of my mental health, because your mental status can effect your motivation greatly, and having a good learning environment. Before I study, I like to make sure my study room is clean; clutter puts me in a bad mood and is quite distracting. By cleaning beforehand, I can tackle two things at once, and the productivity gets me in the mood to continue making better decisions. When I feel productive, it is much easier to get a good study session in.

I could probably use the techniques for calming myself down; when my schoolwork begins to pile up, it’s very easy to lose sight of what’s important and shut down. I lose productivity by worrying about the future. So things like deep breathing, and guided meditation would be useful for getting back into the zone, ready to begin my work again.

The best advice I would have for anyone reading this is to take care of yourself; you perform your best and at your best capacity when you are healthy and stress free. The (controversially) greatest chess player to ever live, Bobby Fischer, maintained his concentration and work ethic by playing tennis and swimming. When you take care of the body, you also take care of the mind.

Research is such an integral part of the college experience (especially for science majors), and yet very few people know how to do it correctly right out of the gate. You have to find a source, verify its accuracy and the validity of the source, figure out which method you must use to cite it, and be able to accurately paraphrase or use the information that was found. This week’s module focused on just this very topic and provided some insight. Since I’ve been in college for quite awhile myself and researching/writing is a skill you need right out of the gate, there wasn’t a lot of new information here for me. But rather than be upset that there wasn’t something extra that I could learn, I was delighted that it was something that I already had an excellent foundation, and could relate to.

Much of what was discussed was 1. Efficiency in searching 2. Ordering your research (and the difference between research + search) and 3. Citing your sources effectively. Probably my favorite part of the lesson surrounded a topic I was scared to broach with my professors in the past; the dreaded beast, Wikipedia. Many of us in our careers have used Wikipedia, and find it quite reliable. However, citing it directly is still considered a bad idea; it is better to use it as a quick reference and cite only primary or secondary sources.

This week’s module focused on note taking, and the introspection required to take clear, concise notes. We started off taking mock notes of an impromptu history lecture and I learned a few things about my note taking style. The greatest and worst drawback was that it was SLOW – while writing in lectures in the past, I have always been a few sentences behind. I write my notes by hand, because it feels more “free” in that I can draw pictures as necessary to help illustrate the professor’s points. I use the indent/bullet point method which also can cause issues in terms of continuity in the notes. This module actually helped me; realizing that I’m too slow, I want to create outlines moving forward. I will review the lecture readings from the night before, and create a template for the notes, adding things like chapter number, content to be covered, my thoughts from the readings for the lectures, and any graphics/pictures/drawings necessary that I would normally put in my notes. In the space I provide myself, I can then add any additional notes necessary that the professor adds on top of the reading during lecture. This also relates back to an earlier module in this class, where doing the reading and annotating can be a useful tool.

This week’s module focused on active reading and study strategies for those who need to learn online; for many who didn’t know (like myself), active reading is the act of reading while maintaining deliberate focus; if the content is tough, it’s easy for your mind to drift as your eyes glaze over and just “scan” the page. I’ve had to read many a research paper leading up to my degree, and I can assure you that this happens quite easily. Thankfully, there are some steps to take that you can boost your reading comprehension, although this will take some work. These steps I read in the module for this week have helped me quite a bit become a better reader.

My favorite is “having a dialogue” or “speaking to the text” (these are my names for them). Essentially, the direction for this technique is to… write in the text somewhere. Provided what you’re writing in is yours, you should definitely mark up the margins. Add notes, ask questions. When you “solve” something by reading further in, go back and answer your question with more writing. If you discover something outside the text that answers the question you asked in the text, go back and reference it. If you have thoughts that you wish to add on to, do that as well and review your notes and what you didn’t know as times goes on to reinforce what the things that you did learn. The “scavenger hunt” style nature of this technique can actually make reading quite a bit more fun than you’re used to and can encourage you to keep going.

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In module 2 of my Online Learning Strategy class, I had a bit of an unexpected turn; rather than discussing strategies in depth for this week, it appears that we had taken a step back, and for good reason. One of the “tenets” so to speak, of online learning is communication and collaboration; an effective strategy of how you can learn in the classroom is by collaborating with your peers. As you can expect with online classes, this changes a bit. Module 2 covers different ways to communicate with other class members in ways that seem very obvious (email, for example) and ways I hadn’t considered in my academic career.

One of which that I find particularly interesting is the blog; a communication and collaboration tool with functions that allow many people to subscribe to multiple blogs to receive updates and provide feedback. Personally when I read the concept being discussed in the module notes, I was concerned as I was reminded of looking for recipes online, and finding someone’s cooking blog that contains a multiple paragraph story about something completely unrelated to cooking, before painstakingly getting to the real reason I was on the webpage. The way blogs were phrased in the lesson gives me hope that they may indeed be a very valueable learning tool, and one that I hope to master and enjoy.