Module 7

Dear Fellow Students,
In this final week of the course, we focused on building and sustaining motivation. This is something I have always struggled with myself, so I was very excited to learn about this topic, and honestly, I picked up some very valuable information. I like many others believed that Inspiration leads to motivation which leads to actions; however, this week we learned that actions lead to inspiration which leads to motivation. This has already changed how I approach different aspects of my life. One thing I have wanted to work on this summer is exercising more often but had been trying to get the motivation to do it rather than doing it and getting motivation from starting. This week I have started lifting and am going to continue this going forward to pick up ore motivation. Another thing I plan on trying to implement in the future is the use of tools to help eliminate online distractions. I looked into the freedom app from this week’s slides and I think that this app could help me stay focused. The main piece of advice I have for other students after this week’s module is how important action is for building and maintaining motivation. Once it becomes a habit and a part of who you are it is much easier to keep motivation.
Best regards,
Jacob

Module 6

Dear Fellow Students,
One of the main things I learned from this week’s module is the difference between searching and researching. I have always found it hard and time-consuming to find usable research for my research papers. I, like many of you, have always gone straight to google when researching topics for papers. I can find basic information on the topic easily but cannot find anything in-depth that I can actually cite in my paper. What I have learned from this module is that using google to help myself understand the topic is a great use of the tools available but using scholarly databases for finding expert knowledge that backs up the information I’m finding and may help me explain the point better to my audience. One thing I have already put into practice is using the databases that are available through the OSU library to find study’s and articles that help better explain what I’m reading on Wikipedia. One strategy I will use going forward is pre-searching. This is something I already did in a very informal way; however, making this a step I use when writing for every research paper would help me write much more efficiently and effectively. Finally, one tip I have for other students is to not be afraid of google when pre-searching a topic or searching for a quick answer. That being said it is important to know its limitations and that while it is a useful resource in combination with other sources, it is not good to use by itself.
Best regards,
Jacob Eckert

Module 5

Dear Fellow Students,

This week we went over how to take better notes for school. I did not learn many useful new tools for how I take notes during class because that is actually a strength of mine which was reassuring to hear this. That being said I still had lots of room for improvement. The two things I noticed I can improve on are actually focusing on the lecture, so I hear everything being said for my notes, and secondly, that I need to review my notes after class. Reviewing my notes after class and creating a concept map was a very applicable skill that I learned and have since implemented into my note taking strategies. This helps make sure I can digest and relate what I am learning in class. Drawing out this map has made it easy for me to relate different concepts and easily draw out details. One other skill I will start using for the future is recording my lectures. This way if I lose focus and don’t hear some of the lectures it will be easy for me to go back and still get useful notes from lectures even though I may have been distracted at the time. I recommend other students use these same two skills of recording lectures and drawing out concept maps because recordings will help ensure fewer material slips past you if you are tired and distracted. I also recommend drawing out concept maps because drawing out concept maps forces you to learn how topics relate to one another.

Module 4

Dear Fellow Students,

On this glorious Fourth of July, I write to you in the middle of the celebration. On a day of belonging, brisket, and brews I would like to remind you that the American dream was built with work ethic in mind. Like many of you, I multitask pretty regularly; however, I recently learned how harmful multitasking can actually be to my production. Currently, I myself am multitasking between talking to friends and doing my work for school however this is something I am working to keep out of my daily schedule. Before I would routinely do my easiest assignment when talking to friends as I could do it while practically brain dead. In fact, I got good enough to multitasking that I could do it during semi-important assignments. That being said I always got lower grades on those assignments. One thing I am has already implemented so that I can stop this behavior is no longer having the tv on while doing homework. While I am not currently doing this, one goal I have to be even more practical is to not do homework with friends around so that I don’t talk with them and give half the energy to school that I need to. As I said just before I am working on separating my school and personal life completely so that I don’t lose my efficiency, either. By this I mean I don’t work on homework while talking to friends and I can also give my full attention to the people closest to me. I recommend other students turn off the tv while doing homework because when you do both at the same time you are either sacrificing quality or efficiency and there is no need to compromise on either.

Best regards,
Jacob Eckert

Module 3

Dear Fellow Students,

This week in class we learned about time management, a skill that I definitely have room for improvement in. I think the most useful thing I personally learned from this module is to track how I spend my time and reflect on it. While tracking my time this week and during this summer isn’t too important from a productivity standpoint as I easily have enough time to manage my responsibilities, I think this will be a very good tool to implement in the fall with a full course load. Because of this, I have already started implementing this, so I know how to use it properly later on. So far it hasn’t really done much for me other than showing me that I am pretty lazy. This gave me the idea to fill a schedule with good hobbies I have always wanted to do and practice time tracking to see if I can stick with my time schedule or not. I figure if I can’t stick to a schedule with fun hobbies than I probably wouldn’t stick to it with boring schoolwork and therefore I should avoid scheduling things for that time of the day. Going forward I will always advise people to reflect on how they spend their time and even try tracking it. Time tracking really holds your time management skills up to yourself in the mirror and lets you know just how much you can improve as a person.
(LESSON: Module 3. Slide 12)

Best Regards,
Jacob Eckert

Module 2

Dear fellow students,

This week in class we focused on time management skills and how they relate to online learning strategies. From completing the online quiz accessing my time management skills I discovered I have good time management skills yet still have a lot to improve on. I realized that while I have great time management skills in the planning sense what I am poor at is the follow-through. Doing this quiz gave me a lot of insight into how I can fix my behaviors to bring my time management skills up a level and help me be more successful in the classroom and in other facets of my life and would be helpful for you too. One thing that has already helped me change my behaviors so that I can execute better is the time tracking assignment. While originally, I thought it might be interesting to see how I actually spend my time differs from the schedules I set for myself, it turns out that logging my activities has had a positive effect on my behaviors. Already, I can sense myself sticking to my schedule more often as I found it easier to just do what my plan for the day is for the sake of the assignment than to reflect on how much I differed from the goals I set forth. Maybe it is the additional accountability from someone checking my activities for the week or maybe it is me setting a more laid out plan for the week but I have noticed that since I have planned the vast majority of my day that I have been able to stick to my schedule and be more productive. I suggest all my fellow students to take this quiz assessing your time management skills so you can reflect on your own online learning strategies and then keep track of how you actually spend your time whether it is in a time chart or simply reflecting before you go to bed.

Best regards,
Jacob