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I loved this course. I learned a lot about technology and online tools in this class. Among these lessons, there are two primary academic weapons that I took away from ESEPY 1159. First, is the plethora of possibilities that Google possesses, that I simply had no idea about. The searching techniques that extend further than just typing words into the search box are incredible. These tools range from narrowing your search to only “news” information, to the advanced search option. These brilliant time savers were right under my nose the whole time, and now I finally know about them. Secondly, I really got a lot of the online note taking skills and the exploration of campus online resources. Being a freshman student-athlete, it is hard to just explore the campus with such a regimented schedule. This course taught me about how to use the library and online texts that Ohio State possesses and forced me to take the time to visit a number of different campus resource webpages. I also outlined a paper for English using a mind-map and it made my ideas so much clearer. This is a technique that I will use again.

I thought that I knew about myself as a student, but this first semester along with this course really surprised me. I learned a lot of things that I wish I had known in high school, and received a confidence boost about my future as a college student. Some things that I specifically learned about myself are that I am not as skilled at time management as I thought I was. Having a full schedule with a social life, school, and football, I needed some training in time management and this course helped me with that. I also learned about myself in the Time Management Assessments. I realized what type of learner I am and what I need to utilize most to be successful.

My most meaningful experience in this course was not completing an assignment in one of the earlier modules. I emailed my instructor and asked for late credit and I was given none. I think this was really a wake up call for me and loosing those points did so much for my mindset this coming year. I know realize that college is no joke, and that if I am going to succeed, things must be done right, and they must be done on time. Thankfully it was only three points that I lost, but the lesson went a lot further than just those three points.

I am taking two online courses in the fall semester this year. If I had not had this class to give me a wake up call and teach me that things must be submitted on time and no later, I am not sure if I would be successful in these upcoming classes. Now that I have ESEPY 1159 under my belt, I have great confidence in the courses ahead.  I believe that I will also be able to manage my time and studying to be an incredibly effective student using the Google calendar that this course went step by step to teach me how to set up.

This module was particularly important to me, and I am sure that other students feel the same way. The reason for this is that everything that comes with learning here in college involves being taught how to search and research properly. In order to obtain information, you have to know how to look for it to find it. With our new technological capabilities in this generation, we literally have the world at our fingertips. It is just a matter of learning how to find and sort through it all.

I use Google as my primary search engine.  I thought that I had mastered the use of this tool after so many years of utilizing. Little did I know, there was so much that I still had to learn about it. This module opened my eyes to the true potential of Google and how to use it properly. The quiz involving Google explored so many different ways to make searching most effective and it benefitted me greatly.

I also found the discussion post we were required to post very beneficial to me. I now know how to evaluate a source and make sure it is what I am looking for. Looking back, I used to be so ignorant to the researching process. Now I am an educated researcher that will be able to be successful here at The Ohio State University.

I have always been one to prefer hard copies of texts and/or materials, rather than learning online. Online learning always seemed hard to follow, easy to loose your place, or hard to come back to without restarting the whole process over again. I went to a high school that utilized personal computers and focused on online materials. I am sure that many of you fellow students feel the same way, but after this course I have learned a great deal on the subject. This process is easy to utilize and can be much more affective than the traditional method if you are taught the correct way to do so.

There are a few things that must be kept in mind when utilizing web-enhanced listening and viewing.  Firstly, you must practice and become an active listener. You must eliminate all other distractions from the equation such as your phone, TV, social media, or noisy roommates and focus on the task at hand. Secondly, you must learn how to become a skilled notetaker. One thing is for sure, online note taking is a learned skill that takes practice. Here is the best place that you can learn how to do so from Module 5 of ESPY 1159…

http://learninghub.une.edu.au/tlc/aso/aso-online/learning-strategies/listening-notetaking.php

Lastly, you must learn about yourself. You have to work with how your mind operates and follow strategies in the link above that work best for you to be successful learning online!

Check out this video on interesting learning techniques!

This video takes a rather boring topic of studying and makes learning these practices humorous.  It tells of  study habits in three different categories, and they are weak, good, and strong study habits. Weak study habits include highlighting, re-reading, key mnemonics, and cramming. Good study habits include elaborative interrogation, self explanation, and summarization. Strong study habits include practice testing and distributive practice. This video describes how to perform all of three of these learning techniques.

I have always struggled with how to study a specific topic. After seeing this video and having all of these options in front of me, it makes it so easy to look at my resources and decide which learning technique I can utilize to successfully learn the information. Some tests or assignments only require highlighting or re-reading. Other professors even provide practice tests for their students. Because of this video, I will always utilize this strong study technique. I had no idea it could be so affective. The use of alcohol in this video is rather unnecessary, but makes the video funny at the same time it is being educational. I think that having this video as a guide for future assignments will greatly benefit me.

Utilizing online resources, such as textual sources, to enhance learning and motivate yourself has its ups and its downs.  While the advantages greatly out-weight the disadvantages, there are still some drawbacks that come with these online tools. My hope is to educate you about the positives and negatives of online resources used for learning.

Plagiarism has become easier and more convenient than ever before. Before we had the web, everything had to be written down by hand while reading from a hard copy of a text. Now it is as easy as “copy” and “paste”. We must be careful to avoid this very serious misconduct.  Also, nearly everybody’s information can be found on the interent in one way or another. It is essential that you protect your privacy when surfing the web for information. Many websites ask for information that you should not provide.

Online Reading and Studying also sometimes prevents us from thinking critically because it is so easy. Critical thinking requires activity on your part, other than typing some words into google and looking for the wikipedia page. Adopting a few additional study skills with your online sources can make all the differences.

The positives unanimously overtake the negatives on this topic of online learning. The web allows us to join blogs, wikis, podcast, etc. to discuss the topics we have read or are confused about without ever having to leave your room.  We are now able to access every different type of information online such as entire books, books on tape, or videos. The possibilities for enhancing your learning are endless.

We live in a very interesting time period. This is because we have two worlds that we must attend to and be present in.  The first is obviously the real world, and the second is the digital world that is open to us all.  It is up to us how we aware we are and how present we are in the digital world. The activities in Module 3 all provide crucial information to improve your “people skills” in the digital worlds.  You will learn about online real-time chats, online discussion boards, e-mail discussion boards, and blog posts in e-Learning Companion.

Having gone to a high school that utilizes personal computers for each student, I have become very familiar with email as the primary form of communication.  We used it to communicate with each other and also with our teachers.  On the other hand, i did not know anything about the other forms of online communication.  After learning about them, i am excited to try them out because they are all easily accessible and efficient.  I am thankful for this class because it requires you to get familiar with things such as creating a blog. Take this class if you are new to OSU!

Sam Hubbard

OSU 18′