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This course has proved much more valuable than I had imagined in the beginning. Although I was looking to improve my study skills and habits, I was mainly just looking for an easy A from this course. However,  I received much more from the past couple of weeks. First was using online resources for note taking. I found this especially helpful. The mind map was a great way for me to organize my thoughts and still capture the concepts in a small amount of words. Another helpful lesson was on how to take meaningful notes. I found that taking notes helped me to be more of an active listener and really understand the concepts that were being presented to me. Technology also helped with printing off power points and allowing me to take more effective notes during lecture and also pay attention.

I also learned a lot about myself this semester in terms of study habits in procrastination. My procrastination self assessment score jumped up 20 points by the end of this course. I had gotten much better at using my time which is probably the most important thing you can learn as a college student. Often times we find ourselves short of time (even more so than money) which leads to poor health and academic performance. I learned not to put off for tomorrow what I could do today, in order to keep myself from accomplishing assignments at the last minute before the deadline. Organizing my time was easier to do after completing the Time Assessment via Spreadsheet. This gave me a visual representation of how I spent my time and the areas where I could improve in.

The most meaningful experience I had in this course was the original discussion post that we had made. It helped me to realize my weaknesses and clearly describe my goals and what I expected to gain from taking the course. At first I was unsure why I was taking the course, but the original discussion post definitely gave me a clear direction in which to head. Also it was interesting to find a way to describe our goals in one picture. The knowledge that I obtained in this course will be extremely helpful for the future. As I said earlier, being a full time college student definitely leaves one short on time, especially if that student is not careful how he/she spends their time. Learning to organize my time effectively was definitely an important lesson to learn. Another concept that will be useful in life, is how to take meaningful notes. As a nutrition sciences major, there is a lot of material to be learned in my hard science courses. Note taking methods such as a mind map will be very helpful when organizing complex information in order to make it easier to understand.  Finally, learning to take effective notes made me more of an active listener which makes all the difference in understanding difficult concepts. I no longer feel as if I leave class with no understanding of what the lecture discussed in class. I am very happy that I took this course and all of the positive changes it helped me make.

Source credibility has been a battle between instructors and students since the beginning of the modern Internet age. “Can I use wikipedia as a source for my research paper?” has to be one of the most common questions in the high school and college classrooms. Three factors should be considered when looking at considering a source for a paper. Quality, Reliability, and Utility of the source should be questioned before attempting to incorporate the source into the paper. The ‘Quality’ of the source refers to the information inside the source and whether or not the information found inside is actually correct. One problem with wikipedia is that anyone can edit the the page, so its can sometimes be hard to determine if the information is correct. “Reliability” is simple whether or not the source is a reliable source. Does the author have solid credentials? Is the site known for having correct information? These are basic questions that can be asked to determine the reliability of the source being used. Lastly, is utility. Can the source be used in an effective manner within the research paper?

Printing off the Power Point files before class has proven to be one of the most useful techniques in note taking that I’ve learned in college. I print off the Power Point slides and fill in additional information while listening to the lecturer in class. This allows me to stay focused and involved in the lecture but also not overwhelmed with all of the material to copy down. Paying attention while trying to copy down a slide of notes is no longer a problem, as I have the majority of notes already in front of me. Another version of this method is downloading the Power Point files onto a laptop and following along in class while filling in additional information. Either way is very helpful in taking effective notes and staying engaged in class. Using a template is another way for effective note taking. It keeps your notes organized both visually and content wise. As mentioned in an earlier post, my favorite form of note-taking templates is using a mind map. With a mind map, you never feel as if you need to erase and go back to fill in something. You simply add another branch to the idea that it corresponds to keeping the organization needed for effective notes.

This video details the naming of alkane molecules in organic chemistry. Often times students get confused with naming and make it far more complex than it actually is. The video talks about how a three carbon alkane has the name propane, four carbon alkane is named butane, and a five carbon molecule is named pentane. As the carbon count increases the name simply changes along with it. If a substituent is added onto the alkane then it is added into the name of the molecule. For example, say there is a Bromide on the 3rd Carbon in the molecule made up of 6 carbons, its name would be 3-Bromohexane.

This video definitely helps to break down the topic and allow the viewer to better understand the nomenclature of alkanes. Kahn’s Academy is well known for their online learning and for good reason. The instructor speaks slow and clearly allowing the student to process the information and also take good notes. Another benefit of these online videos is how examples are worked out. Problems are written in different colors in order to better separate and organize the information, once again helping with taking notes and enhancing learning.

There is definitely much to take from this week’s lesson concerning Online Reading and then learning to utilize the information correctly. A great tip during Online Reading, is to take notes/highlight/ copy and paste/ etc. in order to make sure your mind is actively registering what you are reading. Often times we will get through an entire page or article and then realize that we have no idea what we actually just read and how we can apply that information effectively. By taking notes while reading, it allows us to be more conscious of what we are actually reading and helps us process the information in a way that is more simple to understand. This is called being an Active Reader .Also later when we look back on the material, the notes are there to help remind us of what we learned and the key points contained in the reading. My favorite form of taking notes is creating a mind map. It allows for you to start at a central point and then branch off with ideas creating a landscape of information. It allows complex ideas, such as Organic Chemistry reactions, to be organized in such a way that it can be more easily understood and readily applied in the classroom.

Online communication and collaboration is a very useful skill set that is often needed to become a successful student. One of the key parts of this skill set is “Netiquette”, or online etiquette. This is a set of standards that should be followed in order to create productive online communication. Examples include: avoiding slang and emoticons, keeping sarcasm to a minimum, and being polite and professional. Another useful tool is emailing professors. This will keep you informed and answer your questions, without having to endure the hassle of scheduling office hours or waiting in line. However, sometimes it is necessary to visit the professor for better clarification with a problem and to avoid misunderstanding. Once again professional tone should always be used when emailing a professor, following along with the rules of “Netiquette”. Another useful tool is discussion posts. This allows for a student to take part in a environment similar to the classroom. Students are able to discuss topics with one another without having to actually meet in person. This is very useful for collaboration on projects or even when studying. The final tool discussed this week is blogging. Blogging is extremely useful for connecting ideas learned in the classroom to real life examples. This allows for a deeper sense of  learning and understanding for the student.

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