Final blog

I learned that online classes are not easier than traditional classroom. Before taking this class, I thought this was indeed the case, but I was wrong. Don’t assume because the course is entirely online you will to spend less time working on it. In fact you might have to spend more time than you’d usually spend in a traditional class. Things are not always going to go as smooth as you’d expect. You always have to work ahead in case if any you might encounter any inconvenience along the way. For example, if you’re working from home, there could be a problem with your internet connection or some internet virus is messing up your computer. In addition, you might also stumble on some things that you don’t quite understand and you might need some clarification. Reaching out to other classmates or your professor is the obvious thing to do, but it’s not guaranteed someone is going to answer right away. This is why building online relationships with a few of your classmates and especially your professor are important. Getting to know some your classmates and finding the best way to communicate with them is one of the key to success. Make sure your professor know who you are and don’t expect him/ her to respond to your questions on the same day. I found responsibility and commitment are very important in order to be successful in taking online classes. If you’re not a responsible person it’ll be hard for you to find success and you’ll struggle with getting things done .To be successful in online class you have to treat it like a traditional class. Instead of going to lecture at a specific time every week, it’s your responsibility to make up your own schedule as to when to go over each module every week. However, it’s easy to get distracted and get off track. You have to be focused .When working online, closing all other tabs that are not related to the course, putting your cellphone on silent and turning off the TV are the best ways to stay focused. Listening your music playlist is another way to stay focused. Because this was brand new to me, I tried to approach it the same way as a traditional class, it didn’t work. I had to find a place where I can stay focused and not be distracted. You don’t have to stay at home, find a place where you’re best comfortable learning. Procrastination is a killer. Avoid procrastinating as much as you can by working ahead. It’s always hard to stay focused at the end of the semester, thankfully I used my phone and google calendar to remind me what I needed to do.  As a procrastinator I learned that working and planning ahead are very helpful. I really enjoyed writing weekly blogs. By writing these blogs I was able to apply what I learned from the modules and express myself. They also tested my knowledge and how I understood the topics. I’ve used Google calendar before and I didn’t know it was this awesome. In the future I plan to use it more along with the other websites to study.

searching and researching strategies

There are many websites where you can find Academic information. However, you must be aware of what websites you are using. You cannot just pull information from any website for your research papers.  Avoid using blogs and wikis, because they’re not reliable or peer reviewed. Anyone can make up a blog and anyone can get online and edit a wiki page. If you want to use an online source, it’s really important to look for reliability, quality, and utility. To me reliability is the most important, because if the author is not reliable, both the quality and the utility of the piece are questionable. A reliable author is one whom contact information, biography, affiliation, previous work, and reputation can be found easily. Quality is important, you should always analyze the source to figure out if it’s something that you can use on your paper. You must look for consistency, references, and dates. The more recent the source is, the better. Lastly, you must determine how useful the source is. Find out if the source provides sufficient details for your paper. Based on my experience, I recommend anyone who’s conducting research for a paper, you must look for more than article, magazines, journals etc. then evaluate all of them and pick the right one that corresponds better to your paper.

listening and viewing strategies

Listening to an audio lecture online can be as difficult as sitting in a classroom trying to take notes and understanding the topic. You can easily get distracted. Before you begin listening the lecture, make sure you put away your cellphones, close other web browsers, turn off the TV, etc. You have to be patient because it might take you a longtime to grasp what is being said. It’s hard to listen and take notes at the same time. When you’re listening to a lecture you have to focus on what the lecturer is saying. It is your responsibility to write down relevant information. In order to do this you must be fully engaged in and not just listening with your ears. No matter how proficient and skilled you are, you’re not going to catch everything by listening to the tape once. It might seems tedious, it’s always good to listen to the tape more than once. You might catch something important you didn’t catch the first time. However, watching a video is little bit easier for most people, especially if the video is being displayed in PowerPoint. Usually PowerPoint presentations show animations; which can help you understand the materials faster.  At last to be successful at listening and viewing online lectures, you should get rid of anything that can be a distraction.

educational video

This video is informative and provides a lot of details and explanations regarding what alcohol can do to our brains and our lives. This video also shows how the brain is affected when we consume alcohol. The purpose of the video is to show us, the damage that alcohol can do to our brains. Alcohol is a legal drug but it still affects our bodies. The video describes how every part of brain such as the cerebral cortex, frontal lobes, cerebellum and hypothalamus are affected when we are under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol has a rapid onset action, it travels to the brain really fast. This is the reason why we may feel light headed after drinking just one beer.

Alcohol is a legal drug. Although it is legal, we still need to be responsible and think before we drink it. We have to limit the amount that we consume. Young adults should specially pay attention to their alcohol consumption because our brains are still developing. Our BAC is why we are affected by alcohol. Drinking a lot of water is important when we consume alcohol. The message in the video is that we must drink responsibly. Alcohol changes everything. Frontal lobes may cause us to act without thinking, violently or out of character. The Hippocampus which is responsible for memory. That’s why we have trouble to remember things we did while under the influence. Cerebellum which is responsible for coordination, cause us not being able to walk properly. I learned that, it’s not how many drinks you have, but it’s how much you consume.

study strategies

Motivation is always a concern for us college students. It’s hard at times to stay focused and motivated throughout the semester. Getting involved in study groups is one of the best ways to stay on track. To succeed in college, it requires a lot of effort and a huge factor is also the amount of time spent outside of class studying. The internet is a great resource to use, it has a variety of free website that allow us to study at no cost. One of my favorite website to study is studystack.com. It has every subject and almost every topic you want to learn about. It’s a good tool to use to test your knowledge and assure yourself that you have mastered the topic. If you’re a chemistry major just like me I recommend trying Khan Academy. This website helped me succeed in organic chemistry.  I used it after every class even if understood what we did in class. Due to the complexity of organic chemistry, it’s always good to have someone else other than your professor explain it to you. It will help you master the materials. There are lecture videos for each topic. They’re free and you can watch them as many times as you want. This is my favorite website to study with thus far.

Heder’s learning blog

Online social life is no different than the traditional classroom social life. However ,for some students it might be uncomfortable at first. If you are one of those students, imagine yourself being in a traditional classroom. However an online class requires a lot of self-discipline and organization. Participate in online discussions and get know other students. Developing strong online relationships with one or more students is one of way for you to insure your success in the class.  Getting other students’ email is a vital part of communicating online. Make sure you save every email account under its corresponding account owner. Avoid sending emails to the wrong person.  Beware of how you write your emails and how you address other students. Just like the way you present yourself in a traditional classroom says a lot about you; it’s no different in an online class.   Get to know your professor and make sure he or she know who you are as well. You must understand that she or he is probably teaching other classes. If he or he doesn’t answer right away to an email,  don’t get mad or frustrated . Therefore it’s important to start working on an assignment ahead of time in case any question or inconvenience might present itself.