Reflection of ESEPSY 1159

This course has taught me a lot about online resources and ways to stay motivated while taking an online course. I never knew that there were so many resources students could use online to aid them in there studies. There are podcasts, blogs about certain topics, different websites where you can search for reliable, educational sources, and so much more. There are also apps that you can download on your phone to help with your studies. So basically, this course has taught me that all of the things that I use in the most unproductive ways, my computer and phone, can actually be used to help me in school, and life.

Throughout this course I have learned that I procrastinate way too much. I have learned this not only through the quizzes that we have taken to evaluate our study habits, but also through all of the Wednesday  nights that I have been up til midnight, turning in assignments at 11:50 when they are due at 11:59. However, I have also learned that I, myself can turn this habit around (which I am doing right now by finishing these assignments today, Tuesday, that are due on Sunday) with a little motivation. The course has helped me with this by providing me with online tools that can help me stay on task like calendars and task lists.

I think my most meaningful experience in this class was really just realizing that this course will not only help me with any online classes that I take in the future, but also it provides me with study tips for all of the courses that I will take in the future. Furthermore, it has provided me with useful insight on myself that will help me throughout my life with my career. It has helped me to realize what my downfalls are in motivation and school work, and not even just what they are, but tips on how to improve these things about myself. So, overall I will walk away from this course (hopefully) a more productive person, who procrastinates a lot less than I did before.

Like I stated, I will use a lot of what I learned in this course in the future. First of all, I will remember to break up my projects into small pieces to work on which will help me remember that the assignment is not that hard and there is really no need for me to put it off until later. Second, I will always remember that I can use the internet and my phone to my educational benefit. I will remember to look for new apps that can help with my studies and maybe even in my job in the future. I will also remember to use the internet to help me to understand topics that may be particularly difficult for me. For these subjects I will remember to look at online podcast and blog posts written by people who understand the subject well and can help me to understand it better. Finally, what I will take from my class is simply that I can motivate myself to get all of my school work done on time, since that is often a problem for me.

Online Students

I have never actually thought to use apps for use in school. Obviously in high school you are not allowed to use your phones in school or class so you don’t really ever think about them being useful for education. However in the book it talks about using apps for use in school. For example it is useful to look for new apps that can help you make flash cards and such. I think this would be really helpful if you wanted to study between classes but you don’t really want to carry around a bunch of materials, you just have it all on your phone. It also then talks about using phone apps to keep yourself organized. This could be using the calendar on your phone to write important due dates and maybe reminders. You can also use dictionary apps to look up words quickly or on the go. Also you can use note pad to write down things that are important for you not to forget. The book also mentions that their are apps for sites like sparknotes, cliffnotes, and audiobooks which can also be very helpful and convenient to just have on your phone. You always have your phone on you so if you have some downtime you can just listen to the audiobook of a book you need to read for class.

Web-enhanced Listening and Viewing Strategies

I found this module to be very helpful and obviously relate-able since I am taking and online course right now. For the most part in high school I did not have to do work online. We could sometimes look up sources for papers online or working on learning websites that the teacher directed us to, but never really just me, the student, looking for information on my own. So, for this assignment first we explored the websites and of those I found that the Academic Earth site, http://academicearth.org/online-college-courses/education/,  look like it could be very helpful for me. It is organized well with different categories you can click on and then search through the videos that are focused on that subject. The UTubersity site, http://utubersity.com/lectures/business-2-6/ ,  did not look very useful for me personally because it did not have many videos under the heading education which is what I am studying but it may be helpful for other subjects and it seems to be organized well also. Then finally, youtube did not seem very helpful to me because it was just not organized as well as the other two sites were. They had clear headings of different topics while youtube you just kind of need to know exactly what you are looking for and then search for that.

I also thought the portion on note taking was helpful because I have never really paid much attention to how I take notes. I have always just taken notes in the skeleton format but I think the Cornell method seems like it could be very helpful and efficient, not just in note taking but also in the fact that it encourages you to review your notes later on also.

Educational Video- Psychological Disorders

This video gives you a very brief overview of multiple psychological disorders, but mainly focuses on schizophrenia. It starts of with a brief history of mental disorders and how they used to be “treated.” Then it goes on to focus on schizophrenia and what they finally found to help medicate it. Then the video tries to help the viewer to understand what it would be like to be a schizophrenic.

I don’t really know much about mental disorders in general so just about any video on them would help me to understand them better. I just really enjoy learning about them and find it very interesting. However, what I found most helpful about this video was at the end when they were trying to show you how it would feel to be a schizophrenic. I think kind of simulating how it would feel makes it much easier to remember and understand the characteristics of the disorder.

Get Engaged in your Learning

I found this chapter to be very useful and relevant to me. It first mentioned how it is important for students now to take learning into their own hands rather than just showing up to class and expecting their professor to tell them everything they need to know. I really struggle with this because in high school I never really had to do any extra work to get good grades I would just show up to class and do the work they told me to do and that was enough for me to get good grades on all my tests and therefore in the classes. In college it is very important for us to access all of the information we can whether it is from out professors or online sources. It is no longer enough to just go to class and show up for the tests, in college you need to study more and find the ways that work for you because most professors don’t give you homework or worksheets and if they do it is usually not graded so it is your choice to do them or not. So now this chapter talks about how we need to use all of the online sources available to us to find new information.

This chapter also mentions how when we specify what are goals are it is much more likely for us to be successful. Beyond that it is also very helpful to write down your goals. I know for me personally I always make lists and write down the assignments that I need to get done because I like the feeling of being able to cross something off my list. I like being able to see all of the things I have accomplished so having a goal written down for myself would make it seem more real to me. Then once I accomplished that goal I could either cross it off or maybe put a check mark next to it.