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Online Learning Strategies and Skills is an online course that teaches you the online tools you can use in order to promote success in all of college courses, either in person or online. The course is used to teach time management, effective online navigation, and different learning strategies.

At the beginning of the course, I was not managing my time properly. I had a narrow understanding of how to research properly and what type of learner I am. This course has shown reasonable and effective ways to time manage. Though the assignments, it showed where my time was spent and how I wasn’t using my free time effectively. It then showed multiple different ways I could change and to manage my time more properly. I now know how to research. I know where to go online to get credible sources and how to cite those properly. It has also opened my eyes on which ways I learn most effectively.

“Strategies for getting motivated and staying motivated will require your attention throughout any college course, especially courses that use online technologies” (p 156). The biggest concept I will take with me after is course is how to manage my time properly. How I can make sure I stay motivated throughout a whole semester. I’ve found ways to stay motivated, by using strategies where I can feel cathartic at the end of the week and not exhausted and overwhelmed.

One aspect that I have learned about myself in this course is that I can time manage. I don’t have to be stressed throughout the whole semester with deadlines and dates. I can organize much better now and balance my priorities better. I never thought I could make school more tolerable and feel good at the end of a long school week. The course has given me tools and knowledge to make me more inspired about conquering classes instead of feeling defeated.

In the beginning of the semester, we made a google doc where we laid out what we did throughout a whole week. We highlighted main points of our activities (i.e. school, work, and leisure) and it was in black and white where my time was being spent. Once I had learned where exactly all my time was going, I knew a change was needed. That is when I started reading tips from other students in the discussion posts. What they do to time manage and how it works for them. I had a planner that I used just to put due dates on, but now I use the hour by hour schedule that is provided in my planner. I don’t always follow it hour by hour, but it helps with a guideline though my day. It gives me goals I need to accomplish that day. Whether it be, finishing laundry or starting a homework assignment. I would usually save all of that for my days off. But since I am just setting little goals throughout my week, my weekends are not so stressful and cramped to do everything at once. The stress of school is bad enough and finding just this small way to make it better, my stress levels have decreased dramatically.

I am always going to use my planner from now on. It has helped me dramatically. I also have a white board in my room where I put my goals for the week down. I will put appointments and due dates for bills on there too so I can stay organized. Since doing these things, I feel more accomplished at the end of the week and not so stressed because I am helping myself get small things off of my plate in order to feel more motivated. Since I feel more motivated, I am driven to continue with my time management and to make the stress of life just that much easier to deal with.

This module has shown how to search and destroy essentially. When you have the knowledge on how to research properly it makes your life so much simpler. Searching and researching on academic projects are two different aspects and that is what this module is explaining.

I always knew about advanced search in google and the OSU database. But I have never taken the time to learn how to use both of then efficiently. The short tutorials show how simple it is to utilize your resources and make sure those resources are credible and reliable to use.

The OSU database gives you thousands of articles to rummage through for each subject you need. Obviously, you can always narrow your search and that helps you feel not so overwhelmed with your studies. “Online databases are generally excellent resources for finding quality information, although each individual database should be evaluated using standards similar to those that you would use to access the quality of information in an academic journal or other resource” (p 70). When you are writing an academic paper or research paper, I would recommend using your school’s database site.

If you need a refresher on how to research efficiently, this module will always lead you the right way.

The importance of taking notes is the main objective I’ve learned from this module. There are multiple different ways people take notes in class. By just learning about these different methods, it gives you options when taking notes. In the lecture powerpoint it states, “grasp on what the instructor says and not just by copying notes”. With any of the options shown, you have to do that no matter what. If you are just typing and you don’t know what you are putting on your computer, you will not make the lecture relevant to yourself. If you don’t make each lecture relevant to yourself, you won’t understand completely. When I do come back to my notes to study they are easy to read and to the point. I keep my key points simple so I can focus on the overall objective that the lecturer is trying to hit on.

A new method that I learned in this module is using Key Points. This is a great method for taking notes because everything is separated into columns. The columns are used for keywords, further details and the last one is supporting material. The supporting material can help you be relevant in the lecture and keep connected with the main points the instructor is hitting on. It is a little bit more effort but when it comes to study time, it will be effortless.

The video demonstrates how to trim a sheep’s hooves. It first shows how to handle your sheep properly. You have to make sure you have your thumb behind their incisors and pull her hips towards you. you take a step back and have room for them to go down. Then, you pull them up between your legs and let them rest on their side and not their tail bone. The next step is of course trimming. You cannot trim hooves often. Averaging 12 months but some farmers do it twice a year, but no more. When you trim, you want to keep in mind you want to have her hooves flush with the ground and no excessively long toe nails. If you happen to kwik the nail, you can use kwik-stop powder or just let it naturally stop bleeding. In the process, you want your sheep to be relaxed and stress-free. Afterward, you can let them run free.

The video is very simple and to the point. It emphasizes the proper way to handle sheep and to make them comfortable. The video shows how to properly cut the hooves and not to be greedy when doing it. It is overall a to-the-point and informative video to watch.

The most useful things I learned in this module is the variety of websites I can utilize in order to study more efficiently. “In the past, most college students would spend hours in the library each week searching for resources for their coursework” (195). This is true for most of us. We are usually in the library or coffee shops studying for our multiple courses and trying to juggle our coursework effectively.

I use Quizlet and Study Stack, my personal favorites, for memorization purposes. You can search different categories/subjects to study or even create your own. You do not have to flip through each card like you would have to if you created them by hand. These websites have different types of games you can play in order to enhance your learning but have some fun at the same time.

Wolfram Alpha is another study website that can help you in your math and engineering classes. You can check your answers to your math problems and even see step by step how to solve it. This will help you find out where you are making your mistakes and how to correct them for an upcoming exam.

These are just a couple of known websites that have really helped me through the years get through my coursework and help make sure my study time is always used effectively.

In Module 3 – Communication and Collaboration, the overall discussion is about developing positive online relationships and presenting yourself online in a positive way. It demonstrates netiquette, online communication tips, emailing tips, and effective discussion posts and replies. It seems simple and self explanatory, but it is definitely enlightening and educational.

There are multiple tips and advice that is explained in this module. A quote in module 3 powerpoint had a quote “We teach people how to treat us”, and I believe this sums up the whole module completely. I believe it means the way you present yourself online and to other people is the way they will treat you. If you are vulgar, disrespectful or unpleasant, other people will respond to you in that way. But if you are friendly and respectful, other people will respond that way to you online and in person. This may seem logical and common sense, but I believe we do not think about these things when we are online on social media or sending emails. We have to keep reminding ourselves and insure we are presenting ourselves online in a positive way.

A section in this module that I would like to start practicing is staying organized online. Simple tasks like making folder for each of the courses in file directory. I extended this idea and made a folders for every week. This makes it even faster to access files and to keep everything organized. Also, putting dates on files with a small discretion for the title helps keep everything neat and easily accessible. I currently have over 400 Microsoft word documents just in the documents section of my computer. This is accumulation of past assignments and projects that I upload. I do not advise to delete any word documents even if you think you will not need them. I am currently organizing this section on my computer to where even past documents are organized correctly and easily accessed if I would even need to look them over again.

Overall, this module has to be informative in some way to everyone. This module sheds light on proper emailing techniques, netiquette, discussion posts, organization and even how to survive online classes without feeling alone. This module helps you think twice the next time you send an email.