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William Copes Final Blog Post

I believe that I have learned a great deal in this course. I have learned about myself and how I study, and where my strengths and weaknesses are. I have also learned about some fantastic online tools and resources that I can use to improve my study habits and efficiency. I believe that I can apply a lot of this information directly into my life.

My favorite part about this course is learning about all of the different online tools and resources that are available for me to use for free. Google calendar is a great tool that I have been using since we learned about it in class. I also enjoyed learning about how to be more effective when searching for resources. I plan on using Google Scholar and Boolean operators to help me on all upcoming research papers. I also enjoyed learning about all of the cool websites available to help you study. I particularly liked the website that allows you to create interactive timelines. I am a very visual learner, so I believe this will help me understand material better.

The most useful thing I learned about myself is how I utilize my time. Before we did the exercise where we analyzed exactly how much time we spent doing stuff on a given week, I had never really given any thought into where all my time went. I would complain about being stressed and how I never had enough time. After performing this exercise, I knew exactly how much time I was spending on each activity each week. I was then able to specifically target certain areas of my life to better allocate my time.

The most meaningful activity in this course was learning how to use Google Calendars. I have long been looking for a way to organize my schedule that works for me. I tried to do a paper calendar but quickly stopped entering new stuff into it, or even brining it out with me at all. After working on our assignment on Google Calendars, it has become my favorite way to record my schedule. I no longer feel stressed wondering if I forgot about an assignment coming up. I now have a singular place to place all of the events that I have coming up. This has cut down on my procrastination because I feel less overwhelmed and has overall reduced my stress level.

I don’t need to worry about how I will apply what I learned in this class in the future because I am already doing it right now. I use Google Calendars to organize me week, I also have been able to cut back on inefficient time I was wasting thanks to the time management assignment. I have a final paper for my economics course due in two weeks. I will definitely use the information we just learned on how to conduct more effective searches and how to evaluate those sources once I have found them. Overall, I believe that this was a very beneficial course to take. Although my college career is almost over, I have learned skills in this class that I can easily take with me into a professional working environment.

William Copes Week 6 Blog Post

Although you may have had some experience writing research papers in high school, you will be asked to do it more often than you ever have in college. One of the first things you need to do when working on a research paper is to find out if the sources you are going to use in your article are reliable. I would recommend that you evaluate them based on three criteria: reliability, quality and utility. One website which often doesn’t meet these criteria is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is user submitted, and should only ever be used to find the most basic information at the beginning of writing a research paper.

After you know how you will evaluate the resources you find, it is time to go and find them. One of the most useful things I have learned in college is how to use Boolean logic to help search more effectively. Using Boolean operators such as AND, and OR in your search can help you find better results to use in your research paper. Additionally, you can use resources like Google Scholar to find peer reviewed articles to put into your paper. After you finish your paper, there are also a number of great resources to help you cite your sources in the proper way.

William Copes Week 5 Blog Post

College requires much more involved note taking than high school if you want to be successful. Most professors will provide class notes before lecture each day. If they do, I would highly recommend printing them and then taking notes on them during class. The professor will include additional information that isn’t on the slides that will likely be on the test. If they don’t provide a PowerPoint, make sure that you are taking notes using one of the various note taking approaches, such as the Cornell Method.

A relatively new way of teaching involves the use on online lectures to support in class material. If you have a class like this, you will need to treat it like going to a live lecture. I would recommend blocking out time each week to watch the online lecture. However, if that can’t fit into your schedule, one perk of online videos is that you can watch them at any time and stop and start as much as you want. It also can be tempting to put off watching videos until right before the exam. I would recommend making sure that you are proactive with watching them and taking notes. This way if you have questions, you can take them in to the professor or TA right after watching the video to get any clarification you may need.

US Debt Crisis

US Debt Crisis Video:

The video that I selected is about the US Debt Crisis. It first explains that the US is spending more money than it is bringing in. Two primary ways to bridge this gap is to either raise taxes or cut spending. However, this would be unpopular to various segments of the American public. To deal with this gap, the US government prints money, which results in inflation and devaluation of the dollar.

I think this video helps me learn by breaking down a very complicated subject and using imagery to support the explanation. The producers of this video did a good job in taking a very complicated subject and presenting it in a way that anybody could understand. I also liked the various graphics they used to support the topics they were discussing. It was a fun and interesting way to keep me engaged while watching the video.

 

William Copes Week 4 Blog Post

Technology is enabling more and more information to move into an online format. One of the earliest adopters of this has been Colleges and Universities. As an incoming freshman you must make sure that you are able to read and interpret information that is presented to you online. One of the most important things you can do is minimize distractions. It is very tempting to have Facebook or YouTube up while reading, but you must pay attention. Make sure that you are taking notes either by writing them down or typing so you can review your notes later.

Also, this new technology enables you the opportunity to study in new and different ways. One example of this is if you are a visual learner, you could perhaps make a timeline or graphic to help you understand information.  Or to quiz yourself, you could utilize Google docs to make flashcards. The most important thing to note is that technology has dramatically changed how you can study. Try different tools until you are able to find one or more that work for you. These new tools offer you the opportunity to study more effective, use both sides of your brain and hopefully perform better in your courses, please use them.

William Copes Week 3 Post

Two of the major trends in education that are affecting college students today is the rise of online learning resources and a new emphasis in group work. Because much more resources are being used online, there is a constant need to understand “netiquette.” Whenever you are communicating with a professor, potential employer or anybody online you must always make sure that you are representing yourself well. One key is that you should always ensure that you are using a professional sounding email address, and that you need to avoid using slang that has become popular in texting. A professional email should be formatted much more like a letter than the things you typically post online.

Another major trend is the emphasis on group projects. College students are extremely busy, between work, school and extracurricular activities; it can be difficult to schedule time to meet. Using scheduling tools such as www.doodle.com can take some stress out of arranging meeting times. Also, clearly establishing roles and expectations early on can help set the group up for success. If meeting in person is not an option, an easy way to collaborate with your teammates is to use Google docs. Here you can save and share information online from remote locations, allowing your group to minimize the need for in person meeting times.