Final Reflection Blog Post

My overall experience in this course was really awesome. I have learned a lot of useful tools and resources that I will use for my future semesters in college.  I have learned a lot about myself, I’ve learned how to expand my strengths and limit my weaknesses. This was just a great course to take and I would recommend it to anyone I know who needs help within their academics in college or to those who just want to improve their academic lifestyles.

I have learned a great amount about technology, online tools, and online resources. All of which I can retain and use in a lot of my other classes. I’ve learned that there are lists of tools and resources that can be used with everyday technology. There are so many websites and links to help you with your academic lives. For example, I personally struggled with physics during my time in college. I didn’t learn enough from the lectures to complete any of the homework’s or do well on any of the quizzes. The book was the same; I couldn’t comprehend a lot of it. So, as I lost hope for this class I stumbled across Khan Academy. It was a website that intuitively taught viewers topics from a wide variety of topics. From this online tool and resource I was able to learn, do practice problems, and discuss physics material that lead to success in my actual class. All of this came from my interaction with an online website that gave me tools and resources, highlighting how important technology with academics can be.

I have learned that I can benefit from a lot of tools and resources that technology has to offer to improve my own academic setting. From this class I saw how I was spending my time and what improvements could be made. From simply following a detail plan of action, or continuously looking at a calendar for updates regarding school work, I was able to improve my daily schedule with respect to my academics. I’ve always had the right intentions when it comes to school but I never effectively carried out my plans. With the help of a list of resources presented from this class I know I will effectively study, complete task, and learn material better than ever.

The most meaningful experiences from this course were creating the google spreadsheet and the comments we had to make on fellow classmate’s discussion posts. The google spreadsheet of our week in 30 minute increments made me realize how much work I was putting in to my classes. I wasn’t super pleased with my classes at the time and was spending a lot of time studying. From that, I realized that I wasn’t effectively studying. That made me more determined to study better with different methods and online tools. Similar to the comments we had to make on other students post. It made me realize that I wasn’t the only one struggling with balancing my academic and social lives. It made me feel more relieved and gave me better ideas to balance the two.

I will apply what I learned in this class for the future in multiple ways. I will continuously create calendars and list of tasks to prepare myself for any unexpected assignments, quizzes, or tests. I will continuously use online tools to help me with certain classes. Whether I need to memorize definitions using the flashcard website or understand a difficult topic using Khan Academy. I know I will have many classes in the future requiring me to do some research and I now have a better understanding on to do so even more effectively than others who have not taken this class. Lastly, I will learn to always look into new methods of learning because you never know if one will benefit you unless you try it.

 

 

Searching and Researching Blog Post

Hello current and future students!

I am here to tell you how important it is to search and research effectively. Coming to college, you may or may not have had to do a paper conducting some research. I personally did, but it was nothing compared to what is expected in college. Back in high school if I ever had to do research for a topic I would just quickly skim through Wikipedia and call it a day. However, in college you are required to do a lot more. First of all you must learn how to cite you sources. This is really important because if you fail to cite something properly you can be accused of plagiarism. Also, you must learn how to search for different kinds of information. You can’t just simply read a summary of something and talk about it. You must do a good amount of research so you know what you are talking about. That is why learning to search and research effectively is so important. There are so many ways to do it effectively. There are advanced searching tools on websites you use everyday such as Google and Yahoo. They have things like “Google Scholar” and advanced search bars. Even universities have great options and similar websites for research that also help you properly cite your sources. This all was new to me and made searching for what I want so much easier and better. Instead of having generic information on a topic, I could find research and new innovative ideas on a topic that would make me more interested in what the topic is about and make me more of an expert on communicating with an audience about the topic. Hope this helps!

Best,

Estifanos (Steve) Mewael

Web-Enhanced Listening and Viewing Strategies Blog Post

Hello future and current college students!

I am here to tell you how important it is to have enhanced listening and viewing strategies! Once you’re in college you will see how important it is to understand what the instructor is saying. I’m not talking about the actual topic the professor is lecturing about (which is very important), I’m talking about how important it is to see how the actual instructor looks at a topic or how they solve a certain problem. The importance of this is that most of the time they will be creating your exams, quizzes, homework, etc. You will want to how they order things, how they rank their importance on a topic, and what they are looking for in a problem. The reason you will want to know this is so you can receive a good grade! This is why it is important to have great listening and viewing skills. You are going to want to listen to everything they have to say but also to write down what they state so you can go back and study the material for future references. However, it can be tricky to do this at the same time especially with a boat load of distractions that you will notice in a college lecture. You must find a balance of writing and listening at the same time so you can gather the information and have it handy to study later on in the semester. There are lists of note taking strategies from a Skeleton method which is the most generic and straightforward to the Mind Maps method which is very visual and involves shapes and lines. I’m just asking you to find one of these strategies so that you can effectively understand what your instructor is saying, writing down key information, and be able to go back and review it for future exams, tests, homework’s, and so on. Hope this helps!

Thanks for reading!

Estifanos (Steve) Mewael

 

Educational Videos

Check this out:

 

The link above is a video about Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE). The video describes what exactly an Industrial and Systems Engineer would do in a job setting. It shows all the different careers paths that an ISE can go towards. It shows the core implements of improvement required for each task, and shows the similarities with each path. It enlists the responsibilities of an ISE and just how great of a field it is that can lead to so many opportunities.

This video enhances your learning on the topic with the setup of the video. The video starts with the Industrial and System Engineers briefly describing where they work and what they do. This gives you an outline, showing you that you can do so much with ISE, working for places that you might not have imagined. Then the video goes into the specifics of each of these career paths than touches on the similarities within all of these options. From there the video shows you the fundamentals of ISE such as having great technological and communication skills. The video ends with the workers stating the benefits of what they are doing in their careers all with the help of Industrial Engineering. The setup of this video outlines the different paths you could go to, how they are related, and the benefits all with Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Web-Enhanced Reading and Study Strategies Blog Post

Hello future and current college students!

I am here to tell you how important it is to use online resources to enhance your study and learning habits. It is crucial that you find a tool online to help you better in the classroom. In college there is so much going on from your academics, to extracurricular activities, to your social life, to maybe even your work schedule. So it is important to keep your priorities straight and make sure you are accomplishing your academic tasks as best you can. From that you may not have all the time in the world to do so. With the help of an online web-enhance site, you will better effectively write a paper, study, or even learn a subject more efficiently and in less time. There are so many tools online that will help you with almost all of your classes. From scheduling your study times to watching videos on chemistry, everything is on the internet!  I personally was struggling with my physics course and had no idea to learn the material. I couldn’t stay on the same page as the professor in lecture and the book was miles ahead of me. So I stumbled across a website called Khan Academy. It was so useful! I learned the same material on my own time; I went back and forth on topics and in time started to do better on the homework’s, quizzes, and exams.  However Khan Academy is not for everyone. I am here to tell you to look for a website to help you. I was never a fan of flashcards but my roommates always used them. I would know show him lists of website that have flashcards that just work more effectively and would save time on creating the flashcards. Hope this help!

Thanks for reading!

Estifanos (Steve) Mewael

Communicating and Collaborating Blog Post

Hello future and current college students!

I am here to tell you how the use of technology to communicate and collaborate effectively on academic projects is awesome! Everyone these days has a smart phone, tablet, or laptop that can do all sorts of entertaining things. However, all of these items can help you in your academics as well and make your life so much easier and less stressful. Throughout college whatever you’re major is you will be stuck on an assignment or be put in a group to accomplish a certain assignment. Both of these things can be really stressful especially if you do not know how you are going to finish a problem or if you feel trapped, hopeless, and quit on the task. With the help of your technology you can simply contact whomever you need to and ask for assistance wherever or whenever. You might be overlooking a math problem which is holding you back on other assignments but with the click of a button you can contact your instruct, TA, or just a friend in that class with an email, blog post, or another online communicating tool. Technology these days is making it easier for people to communicate and ask questions that they can’t or are afraid to ask on certain topics or assignments. With the help of technology it is going to be easier to collaborate with your classmates leading to a breakthrough in your schoolwork that may have been overlooked. Trust me when I say things get a lot easier when you can communicate with technology. I can’t tell you how many times I have emailed one of my group members with questions on a task and receiving instant input that leads me to finish the task earlier and even better. Rather than continuously staying up all night looking for things that I have overlooked. Communicating and collaborating saves you time and will lead to better and more efficient ideas.

Thanks for reading!

Estifanos (Steve) Mewael