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Throughout this course I have learned skills and tools that I had never applied to this point of my academic career. Some of the tools that I have learned has helped me improve in certain areas and showed me how I can become more productive by using different web based options. This course has been very interesting and has allowed me to be more engaged and motivated to get the course work done on time more than ever. I really appreciated the structure of the course and how it linked me to the material in regards to the content of the course as well as the different resources that were given to me to take advantage of.

One of the advantages of taking this web based course is the fact that I could go at my own pace in a sense. I appreciated the fact that if I wanted to work ahead I could. I like having the deadlines, but I was still able to meet the deadline at my own pace. It was interesting to see how using different tools like video’s could help in the learning process. The active experience that I had through the different discussions enhanced the learning process as well because I was able to give my own personal responses and also give a constructive response to classmates. Being able to see what my classmates thoughts about different subjects allowed me to build my own understanding and share it. Using the blog and responding to classmates views and thoughts was another positive experience in the learning process for this course. I feel like providing this arena for students to converse gives the students a chance to enjoy the experience together and share ideas that may be helpful for either side. This course has allowed me to analyze, and critically evaluate information. I feel like this has certainly helped with developing skills that will help me in real life situations.

The most meaningful experience that I had in this course was actually setting up the Google calendar and task. This was huge for me because I had never really used this tool to help remind me of what I needed to accomplish on a daily and weekly basis. This assignment forced me to input my weekly schedule and ball park what time I would give to my studies outside of work, extracurricular activities, and family. By having the Google calendar  attached to my phone, it gave me a constant reminder on a daily basis of when I needed to get things accomplished. At times it became irritating in regards to the alerts that I received through my phone and email, but overall I got on a routine and it was very helpful.

I plan on using tools like Google calendar going forward. This tool was something that I got to experience first hand and made my time management more efficient. I will also use the different search strategies going forward because some of the advanced search options are something that I feel can make finding something specific much easier. Overall, I enjoyed the course and would take it again.

I really enjoyed the information that was given to help complete this week’s assignment. The information given focused on the tools that are available to help with writing academic or research papers. It also talked about different search engines that could be utilized to help with finding information on a topic of interest. It was interesting to find out that there was a specific criteria in regards to whether a source is considered a reliable source or not. For example, when looking at different sources for topics there are 3 essential aspects to look for: reliability, quality, and utility. I found that it is important to have a reliable source where you can clearly identify who wrote the article as well as what organization that they are associated with. I also found that the information provided in the article should have quality by being up to date, well written, and unbiased in any way. Lastly, I found that the information needed to be properly utilized by being related to the topic and have enough relevant detail. I would highly recommend using search engines such as Google (Keywords), Yahoo (Categories), or search.com (Compiling Searches) to help with finding the topics of interest for you. It gave me a different perspective in regards to the sources that I may choose on my paper topics going forward.

I really enjoyed the information that was given in the module this week. The focus was on strategies for listening and note taking skills. A few of those strategies included active listening which involved listening, thinking, taking notes, and remembering what was presented in a lecture. It was also very educational to get information regarding Identifying parts of a presentation by recognizing different transitional clues which were given to me to look at. I had the opportunity to be interactive and listen to a mini lecture and take notes to see what note taking style best fit me. Out of the several styles that were given, my note taking style fit closely with a combination of the skeletal and keyword note taking styles. It was interesting to learn that there were more note taking styles and that If I wanted to become more efficient with listening and note taking, I could explore the other styles mentioned. An example of one of  the other styles mentioned was the Cornell system which was structured to allow you to record the important parts of a lecture, and help with listening and thinking skills, organize ideas that can be used for future study. That is just an example of one of the different note taking styles that I could benefit from if I wanted to. I believe that it is beneficial to figure out what your note taking style is and see which style is the most productive and efficient style for you to have success.

Online tools for learning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjveBJIvL58

I feel like this video is a good example for giving people the tools to be able to be successful online. These clips specifically focused on E-Learning and web based learning tools and how those tools are used in the classroom. Considering that some schooling is becoming online based, this is good information to have and know.

I particularly felt like this week’s information was very helpful in regards to making our online learning experience more efficient. I feel like it is very helpful to be able to find sites like www.mindtools.com, www.how-to-study.com, and www.learningstreak.com to help us achieve our goals academically. The information regarding these sites is invaluable. If you get a chance please explore them and see how they might be an advantage to you during your academic career. After exploring a few sites myself, I found that It was very helpful to go to these sites and get learning strategies and tips on how to become stronger at whatever category that interest me. I also found it very interesting that you can find sites online for your specific expertise. It is great to have the search engine feature to lead you to exactly where you need to go. After going to college for four years I have found that it is best to use all of the academic resources available to me in order to be the best student that I can be and maximize my potential grade outcome. I would recommend using this tools through your academic career because I feel like it provides excellent information on molding ourselves into better people and students.

It is clear to me that blog creation and sharing is definitely an important part in learning. I find it very interesting that the term netiquette is something that we should all  honor during online activity. I like the idea of presentation and treating others like you would want to be treated. I really like the idea of protecting my digital reputation as we would want to do in our real life environment.

I also liked the information given in regards to communicating with Instructors. Two of the pros that I liked is the fact that by communicating with the instructor online, it is essentially a written record of communication. It is also very much unintimadating in my opinion. Some of the cons that stood out were the fact that misunderstanding could increase or one might feel like it is very impersonal. Some other aspects of communicating with the instructors included making it easier on everyone by using the official university email. Other email sources may not get a response because instructors aren’t familiar. It also is a great tool for communicating when unexpected events arise. At least it gives you a venue to inform the instructor of what is going on.

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