Posts

Module 7: Maintaining Motivation

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Welcome back to my blog!! We are close to the end of this semester and we have come so far. I hope all my blogs have been helpful with your journey, now it is time to talk about the most important thing for school and life and that is making sure you are mentally healthy. 

It is important to have control of your body and allow breaks in between classes, study time and work because you do not want to overwhelm yourself. I have struggled with controlling my emotions and stress because I used to get overwhelmed with all my assignments. I am in a competitive major so I have to make sure everything is good in all my classes; hard classes and work can affect your mental health due to exams, grades and just life in college.

One resource I use now to help managing stress and emotions is going to counseling, it has helped me be more calm and relax this semester. Having someone to vent to is helpful because you should not keep all your emotions and thoughts in. Things can seem to just build up and overwhelm you to the point where a small think just be the icing on top of the cake. You can even talk to close friends and family if you are not comfortable with talking to a counselor. Another way to relax you is to do some deep breathing and/or exercise; working out helps you release stress. Also make sure you are getting enough sleep, it is great to get 8 hours of sleep maybe 9 but no more. Oversleeping will still make your body feel tired. Make sure to rest your brain and body to be ready to perform well the next day and process any new information. When I go to sleep, I listen to relax/sleepy music to help relax my mind. The music helps distract my brain from any negative thoughts and worries. 

I will provide more information to help you manage your stress and emotions. Wish you the best of luck in life! You got this ! #CollegeLife 🙂

Links: 

Module 6: Searching and Researching

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Welcome back to my blog! I hope all of my posts have been helpful and that you are achieving your goals. Let’s finish this semester strong!! If you are struggling with doing research papers then you have come to the right place.

It is important to know how to write an academic paper, how to search and research information, brainstorming as well as the source credibility in order to have a successful paper. For an academic paper, you will need to find sources to help support your argument or answer your question. It’s best if the website’s url ends with .org or .gov. If you need additional help with your writing skills, feel free to visit the writing center on campus ! To find good sources, you can use google or scholarly searches. Before doing your paper it is important to know the difference between search and research. Search is just a regular question and has a right or wrong answer. Research is more like a critical look at the topic and there is no right or wrong answer. The best way to write an academic paper is by writing in a formal way. Formal writing is the usage of 3rd person writing. There are few times when a professor will want your essay written in 1st person or 2nd person.  Examples may include a blog assignment, a persuasive essay, or when the writing is required to be in 1st or 2nd person perspective. 

 

Steps I would take for doing a college level paper: 

  1. Find a topic to do research on.
  2. Brainstorm about what I already know and come up with an argument.
  3. Find articles to support my argument.
  4. Write a rough draft to organize my arguments and support.
  5. It is best to write when you are not looking at the source to better insure you are not copying the work.
  6. Revise the rough draft. 
  7. Have someone you trust to be able to criticize your work and help correct any errors like grammer or even facts.
  8. Revise the revised version of the paper to insure you have not overlooked any minor mistakes. Its best to do this part on a different day so you have had the chance to forget about it and are looking at the paper through new eyes. 

 

Helpful links: 

Module 5: Web-Enhanced Listening and Viewing Strategies

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Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog and I hope I can continue to help you guys in the future. In the video “How to Take Notes in Class: The 5 Best Methods- College Info Geek”, Thomas pinpoints a total of five methods of note taking. These methods include the outline method, the cornell method, the mind map method, the flow method, and writing on the slides method.

I personally have tried the mind map method, the flow method, the outline method, and the writing on the slides method. And I find it most beneficial to do all of them. But the outline method shares the most information needed to Ace that test!

The outline method consists of bullet points of the main topic and sub bullet points of the sub topics. After this there is a summary of the rest of the notes. The next method is the cornell method, which I find the least helpful to me. This method consists of dividing a blank piece of paper into three sections labeled “cue”, “note taking”, and lastly “summary”. In this method you are to take notes during class in the note taking section. And in the cue sections you are to write down any questions you have and revisit them later. And the summary is the sum of the total notes.

The next method is the mind map. This method is like web charts, where you draw a circle in the middle of the page titled the main topic of the lesson and then branch off of it with subtopics. The next method is the flow method, similar to the mind map method. It takes the main topics and what your understanding of that topic and summarizes it. However in this method there are no diffanitons. You are to later go back and add any details you missed.

The last method we will talk about is the writing on the slides method. In this method, you simply just write on the note slides any extra detail to fully grasp the information. It is basically taking notes of key words or extra questions on notes. I hope you found this topic helpful, come back next week for more! #Collegelife

Helpful links and websites

 

Module 4: Web-Enhanced Reading and Study Strategies

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Welcome back to my blog! I hope the last couple posts have been helpful and that you are achieving your goals. 

Have you been struggling with studying for exams and getting a good grade? Well you have come to the right blog! Coming into college can be pretty hard due to the fact that it is completely different from High School. For example, I had amazing grades in High School and I did not feel a challenge, but when I came to college I was challenged in a couple of my classes. It was hard for me to find a good way to study for my exams, and it was not until my second year of college that I developed good studying skills. 

In this module, I learned how to make the most of memory, that is the key thing for understanding the material and doing well on the exam. In the video, “Information Processing Model”, Jered discussed three stages of memory. They are sensory memory, working, and long term memory. Another helpful video was “Scientifically Proven Ways to Study”, discusses key aspects to help you do well on the exam. Here is the list of things to do:

  1. Exercising- increase brain performance and also helps with dealing with stress 
  2. Give yourself a break while you are studying to avoid overwhelming yourself. 
  3. Try to test yourself and get a study partner to quiz yourself. If you can remember the topic without your notes then you will do great! For myself, I will try to explain the concepts to my study partner or tutor and have them correct me if I say something wrong. 
  4. Get enough hours of sleep- 8 hours is great, Avoid staying up late to do work because your brain needs time to reload for the next day. 

I provided another helpful video that talks about effective learning strategies. Also feel free to look up study tools such as Evernote and Quizlet. I use Quizlets for all of my classes, it is a good way to study because you can use flashcards, learning the material, spelling the words, matching and taking a test! I hope all of this information was helpful, and good luck with studying. #CollegeLife 🙂 

Helpful links: 

Module 3: Efficiency in the Digital Age

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Welcome back to my blog!

 

If you are struggling with time management then you have came to the right person! You need the following materials for time management: a schedule planner for your assignments and include due dates or use a calendar. Also include some rest time for your brain to reload. Here’s my schedule planner from Monday (10/21) to Sunday (10/27), I include office hours, review sessions, meetings, work and plans with my friends/family. The check marks indicate that I finished the assignment. 

I know most students suffer from procrastination and struggle with overcoming this challenge. It is important to say “NO” to people and do what is best for you. For example, go to a party with your friends or study for an exam that you have on Monday? It will be best for you to stay in and study so you can do amazing on your exam! In the video, “3 Powerful techniques to Beat Procrastination” it states the following tips:

  1. 10 minute rule- try to break down a big task into small tasks
  2. 3 magical questions- ask yourself 1. Where are you?, What do you want to do, 3. How will feel after doing it? This will help you set goals for yourself and not push the assignment back. 
  3. Ultimate goal vs. immediate desire

Beating procrastination also associates with having good time management. Both of these concepts are key for becoming a successful student and adult. You will face more challenges going more into your major and then your careers. Find what fits you better and conquer your dreams, you got this! Remember #CollegeLife 🙂 

I hope this information was helpful! Feel free to watch the following videos: 

Module 2: Communicating and Collaborating

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Hello everyone!

This is my first blog and I am grateful to have you guys read about my journey in Online Learning Strategies and Skills. 

 

Okay, Let’s begin on the topic.

 

The most useful thing I learned in this module, was how to deal with lazy people in group projects. In the video, “5 Tips for Dealing with Lazy Group Project Members,” Thomas stated these following tips: 

  1. Communication problems with sharing files, he mentioned to assign roles/work. The key thing is to be fair. 
  2. Use a tool that is helpful to share your work, for example I used google docs to share study guides with my classmates in other classes. 
  3. Pay close attention to deadlines and create mini deadlines. In this tip, we can utilize what we learned in Module 1 and work on our time management skills. 
  4. Emailing the professor if the problem is not resolved, and make sure to reach out before it is too late. Here is some advice for this tip, I know it might be hard to get the professor involved because you do not want to cause conflict, but it will be best for you and other group members. I will never let anyone come between my school work and my grades. 
  5. Push your emotions to the side and do the work for them. Personally for myself, I will do this one time but if it is becoming a habit it should be addressed. 

After reading the information provided in this module, I feel comfortable with doing group projects and communicating with other classmates. Learning how to handle a problem properly before it happens will help me grow as a student and as an adult. I plan on practicing all these tips in this class and also my other classes so I can be successful in the future. The reason I felt this video was very important for me to blog about is because I am a pre-nursing major hoping to work in the hospital. In the hospital, there are going to be times when I will have to do a group project and work with a few other nurses on patients. I hope you enjoyed my blog, come back every week for more! #CollegeLife 

Feel free to watch Thomas’ video, I highly recommended it! Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/NZRyDgDlvqA