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This week one of the most important things I learned was, ”  You are in charge of your own motivation”

One thing that I would recommend to college students is to try to always make a connection between what is learned during class and their future. This can help with concentration during the present. Finding a link between what you’re learning and your future career may help spark interest and motivation. Another thing to keep in mind is that motivation should not only come from an extrinsic source. Finding motivation intrinsically will help you in the long run.

It’s important to try to cut out all forms of distraction before beginning to study. There are tools online that can help with this. Interruptions affect us a lot more than we realize. One interesting fact I learned this week is that on average, it takes 23 minutes and 15 seconds to recover from interruptions. That’s why it is very important to avoid them as much as possible. Taking breaks is also another thing to add to an effective study period. However, it’s important to make sure you don’t fall off track during breaks. Don’t go over your time limit. Brain scape suggests using study breaks to do short exercises. This stimulates your brain and helps you concentrate better during the study sessions.

Source: https://www.brainscape.com/blog/2011/06/how-to-take-a-study-break/

This week, I learned about writing in college. Most writing done is research-based and requires you to find good sources to answer research questions.  Good writing requires time and effort. A lot of reading and researching goes into this process. Writing in college is different from high school ones. One example is that high school teachers may have limited and specific ways of writing.  In college, it is much broader and there are usually fewer limits. The tips given in nancywhooo’s video is helpful when it comes to how to organize and prepare to write a research paper. One interesting tip she talked about is having to try to be interested in your topic. Writing should not be approached as a chore. By following this tip, I can improve my how my writing turns out.

The second part of this week’s lesson teaches ways on how not to search to find sources. Students should not simply google their questions and expect to find quality answers. Doing this is only considered searching. Researching requires a lot more effort. When researching, the quality of the source is being evaluated. While searching only provides short answers, researching will help answer questions in detail and will provide full, evidence-based answers. When looking at a source, it is recommended to analyze if it’s a good one for the research done. Credibility, quality, and utility are all important to have for each.

Sources: https://open.lib.umn.edu/collegesuccess/chapter/8-1-whats-different-about-college-writing/

This week I learned about ways to use online resources to help support my learning. Learning is more than just attending class and taking notes. In order to successfully understand what you’re learning during class, regularly reviewing and learning on your own is important. The most important step is to structure your study time outside of class. If you don’t do this, it’s easy to fall off track. The next thing is to get better at note-taking.  Thomas Mann said, ” Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject”.  How well you take notes can have a great impact on if you’re actually learning the material. If you’re not ordering and simplifying the concepts being taught, it is hard to fully understand it.

For me, the best way to take notes is by hand. I get easily distracted when taking notes on my laptop. During class, I try to keep my phone and laptop away. One of the best ways to learn outside of class is by watching videos over the topic. There are countless amounts of videos on almost every topic you can think of.  One of my favorite resources for videos is Khan Academy. It has helped me throughout high school and now in college.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=218&v=Yc5quMTjO3k&feature=emb_title

This week, I learned about some ways to be better organized with my readings for class. Online reading should be approached the same way as textbook or paper reading. It’s important to learn ways to successfully read online since textbooks are not used as much today. One technique I would recommend to students is to use the 4 steps of active reading. The first one is preparing. This gets you ready to start reading by understanding the reason behind the assigned reading. Think about the title of the reading and how it applies to what you’re learning in class. Next is actively reading the material. It’s important to not highlight or take notes at first. Your goal is to read while trying to answer the questions you had before starting. After reading the section, you can now begin to take notes and write down the key information. You should also reread the section and highlight any key ideas. Lastly, you should review what you have read. Ask yourself, ” what did I learn?” Answer your questions one more time without looking at your notes. Following these steps can improve the way you read and understand the lesson.

The second part of this week’s lesson is about how memory can improve your learning. There are different types of memory that we have. One is sensory memory which is short term. This can hold an unlimited amount of information but can be retained for only 2-3 seconds. After that, that information is either forgotten or stored if you paid attention. Then it’s stored in your working memory which is kept for 5-20 seconds. Working memory can only hold 5-9 items. You have the ability to keep information in this loop which can be stored in long term memory. This kind of memory can hold information from 1 day up to a lifetime. Learning this helped me understand why it’s important to review lecture notes and go over information enough times. If I only look at it once, it may not be enough to store it my long term memory which I will need for quizzes and exams. It’s important to make good choices to improve memory. Some examples are getting enough sleep and taking breaks.

Lastly, the tools used to help you study can greatly improve your learning. There are many resources online that can help you organize what you have learned. Study blue, quizlet, and memorize.com are some I use to help me quiz myself. One great part about these resources is that you have access to other student’s past materials which can help you compare your learning with others’.

Source: https://open.lib.umn.edu/collegesuccess/chapter/5-3-dealing-with-special-texts/

This week I learned about how finding out what my root cause of procrastinating can help me overcome it. After watching the video, “Why students procrastinate: 3 hidden reasons” I was able to find my reason for procrastinating. I was a part of category 1 which is avoiding criticism. It’s discouraging to get a bad grade when I put in a lot of hard work into it. I should change how I feel about this because I could improve my work by actually trying.

After reading “How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To”, I gained very good tips on how to stop procrastinating. In the article, it mentions that you don’t have to feel like doing something in order to do it. This really changed the way I think about getting things done. One advice I would give to students is to remember that there is no “right time” to start. Tracking my time for the past week was eye-opening. I was able to see how much time I was wasting and realized that leisure time was taking up a large portion of my day. I would recommend all students to try this because knowing exactly how much time you’re spending on certain tasks can help you use your time better.

Sources : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_90AKJPLnk&feature=youtu.be

https://hbr.org/2014/02/how-to-make-yourself-work-when-you-just-dont-want-to

One of the most useful things I learned in this week’s assignment was that improving the way you communicate online can make it more similar to physical communication. Adam Neumann explains that most people may feel like the two are different. Having that mentality can decrease the quality of our online interactions. However, the more we try to imagine we are communicating directly with the person, the better the interaction online is. He says, ” Take the physical and digital and bring it together”. This is very helpful and it is something I will be using when communicating online in the future

One way I can improve my online communication is by improving my emailing technique. This module helped me realize that my emails can have a lasting impression so it is important to be conscious of the emails I send out. I have always been nervous and unsure about what to or not to include in my emails. After learning about the tips on how to send better emails, I feel more confident about sending professional emails.

Lastly, some of the things mentioned in the section on discussion posts were informing. I learned that discussion threads are not only used in class but will also most likely be used after graduation. I now understand the importance of doing assigned discussions and how it can serve as a practice for the future.

Source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=VwjrkDBUeEQ

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