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Module 7 Recap

For me, the most useful thing that I learned in this module was using music that should increase your concentration.  I had an issue with getting distracted by music because I would always get distracted by the lyrics. I’ve since found the “concentration music”. Personally I like the Spotify playlist called Lo-Fi Beats. It’s not quite the concentration playlists that include classical music and whatnot; I find those to be annoying and wanting to change the playlist relatively quickly. Something new that I started to use after reading the material from this module is taking intentional breaks. I always would just stay on my computer and keep reading or look at social media, but the module said to go on a walk to reset my brain. Since starting to do this, I come back from my breaks refreshed and motivated to do more work. Before I would go back and try to do more work and would be in a very bad place mentally and would take another “break” within 15 minutes or so. If i were to suggest anything from this module to other students it would be to take a real break from the work. Doing this will give you a proper refresh and you’ll be ready to go when you get back.

Module 6 Recap

I think that the most useful thing that I learned in this week’s module was how to utilize Google Scholar. This is incredibly helpful when doing research papers or other project that require a bit of research about the topic. Using Google Scholar makes sure that you are getting good quality resources that will benefit your work rather than using a site like Wikipedia where any user can edit anything that they please. I’ve used Google Scholar in the past for research papers and other projects and have gotten some really good, quality resources to use. Having quality info makes it much easier and less stressful to write a good paper with solid research backing it up. Something from this module that I have never used was the Boolean Logic. I noticed that using this gave the user much more precise search results without all the spam and other unhelpful results that pop up in typical search. Some advice I would give to new students would be to use the Google Scholar. When you’re doing assignments you want to have good resources that back up your paper, not resources that some conspiracy theorist wrote trying to get views. Having good sources will help in the long haul and make big assignments less stressful.

Module 5 Recap

For me personally, I think that the most useful thing i got from this module was the note taking methods. I have always used an outline to take notes, it was instilled in me from my sixth grade science teacher (thanks Mrs Armbruster) and have never really thought about using a different way to take notes. I’ve had a lot of success in my college career using this method. It makes taking notes easy and its very easy to keep them organized. This especially helps when you’re going back to review material for a test or quiz. Something that I kind of want to try in the future is using an electronic note organizer. I’ve never used one before and they look interesting. I think using one of these would only help with organizing notes that otherwise may be somewhat messy to read. Some advice I would give is that when you’re in a lecture taking notes, make sure that you aren’t transcribing it. Write down key points and not every single word that the lecturer is saying. Doing that will only overwhelm you and make you less likely to take good notes and you’ll be lost when it comes time to review your notes.

Module 3 Recap

The most useful thing that I feel that I got out of this week’s module was all the time management strategies and tools. I especially suffer from procrastination with any assignment, usually because I forgot that it was due or because I simply lacked the motivation to do it. Using these time management strategies, I learned how I can make the most out of my time and be the most productive throughout the week. This past week, we were supposed to track our time and what we did. Doing this made me realize how much time I waste being on social media or getting sucked into the black hole of Youtube and finding myself watching a vine compilation three hours later. Using that information, I can be more aware of when I get sucked into that rabbit hole. In the future, I’d like to implement a calendar and task list so that I can actually see on paper what I have going on throughout the month. This would help me plan things more accordingly and not have things conflict with each other because I forgot what I had going on. For new students, I would definitely recommend getting a calendar and putting major due dates along with other major events and such to actually see whats going on in your life. I’ve tried using my calendar up on my phone but personally that doesn’t work for me. Having it up on a wall or on a desk is great for me and hopefully it would help new students.

Module 2 Recap

I think the most effective thing that I learned in this module was how to deal with group members who aren’t pulling their own weight. Specifically the part where he said to assign each member a certain role to fulfill in the group and set in stone how the group will communicate with each other through the duration of the project. An example of something from this lesson that I’ve already been using is Google Docs. Google docs is super convenient when you’re working in a group and want to be able to see how everyone else is doing in their respective parts of the project. On most of the applications on Google Docs that serves a note pad that you can leave messages for other group members on which is extremely beneficial when members of the group have busy schedules between classes, work and other obligations. I know that when I’ve used these tools in the past, projects seem to go by much more smoothly than constantly messaging somebody about their part of the project and never getting any sort of response until right before the deadline. Dealing with that can be a pain so if that happens having a contingency plan in place is extremely beneficial.