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ESEPSY 1159 Refelction

Throughout the semester I learned about a ton of useful strategies that I am confident has made me a better student going forward.  Some of the things I learned throughout the seven modules in ESEPSY 1159 are study strategies for online classes, time management skills, communicating with students in an online class, web enhanced reading and study strategies, web enhanced listening and viewing strategies, and strategies for properly searching for information online.  With each module I completed, I learned something new and attempted to use that newly gained knowledge in my other courses I have been taking this summer.  For example in my economics class I used a new way to take notes called the Cornell note taking system.  Previously to using this method my notes were scrambled and unorganized, essentially there was no method to the madness when I took notes.  Using this new method my notes greatly improved, they were more organized, had better quality of information, and I felt like I was doing less overall work.  This strategy also made it much easier to use them on the homework assignments and study for my exams.

Something I learned about myself this semester is that I am a pretty good student overall but not a very efficient student.  I never had a strategy for when I would study, do homework, or work on assignments.  This system affected my grades somewhat because I was doing things at the last minute and did not have time to ensure I did my very best work.  ESSEPSY 1159 taught me some very important time management skills that once I put into use helped me greatly.  One particular time management skill I used was to create a calendar that had all my class times on it and then select daily times to either study or work on homework for a particular class.  The times varied between one hour and three hours, with most blocks of time falling around two hours.  I used the same calendar every week, only making slight changes to it to account for a change in my work schedule or if I decided I would need more time for a particular class that week.  This strategy helped me be much more organized with my school work and actually helped me have more time for a social life.  This is because I could actually make plans in advance instead of assuming I would wait till the night before something was due to do it.

The most meaningful thing I learned in ESEPSY 1159 is my new time management skills.  This is because as I stated above it not only improved my academic life but also my social life.  This is a strategy I will continue to use not only while I am in school but also use in my future job.

I will continue to use what I have learned from ESEPSY 1159 in my future by continuing to use the Cornell note taking system and my time management skills.  I also plan to use the skills I learned in the proper searching module when I work on papers for future classes.  Overall every skill I learned in ESEPSY 1159 will be used at some point in my future classes and I believe they will help me to become a better student.

 

Searching and Researching-Source Credibility

Using a reliable source is important when writing college level papers.  Making sure you know how discern a credible source from an incredible source is an important tool that will save you from the embarrassment of using bad data.  Checking to make sure a source is credible is a simple task if you remember three simple words, reliability, quality, utility.

Reliability is in regards to just how reliable the source you are using might be.  There are a few questions you can ask yourself to make sure the source is reliable.  Is the author credible?  Is there contact information for the author?  Is the article peer reviewed?  Is the article published by a reputable publisher?

Quality is how good the overall information provided by the article is.  There are a few ways to ensure an article has quality information.  When was it published, how old is the data?  Does it make broad generalizations or is it specific?  Is it consistent, free of grammatical errors?  Is the article biased?  Does it have citations for the information, are those sites credible?

Utility is essentially how much the article will help you.  Is the article related to your topic?  Does the article have enough detail or in some cases to much detail?  Is the target audience of the article what you are looking for?

Remembering reliability, quality, and utility will help you to know the difference between a good source and a bad one.

Web-Enhanced Listening and Studying Strategies

Web enhanced viewing and listening skills are very important in college especially as technology becomes more and more prevalent in the classroom.  These strategies may be new to students coming from high school where online courses do not exist.  One concern about web enhanced studying that I have is that you can easily become distracted.  One way to minimize distractions is to listen to the online lectures in an academic such as a library.  A strategy I have learned through experience when it comes to online based learning is to always carry headphones in your book bag.  You may never know when you might have a minute to listen to lectures.  A second concern of mine when listening to online-based lectures understands them.  If you have a question you have to take time to reach out to the professor to clarify it.  This is why I suggest you always keep the times when your professors have office hours available.  This will ensure you can ask questions if you have them and hopefully get a proper answer.  The third and finial idea I have for online note taking strategies is to always put aside double the amount of overall time the lecture is.  This will give you the ability to stop the video and re-watch it.  This gives you the ability to take better notes and also understand the material better.

Educational Video

The video 60 Seconds in Adventure of Economics-The Phillips Curve gives a brief overview of the affects of unemployment on inflation.  The Phillips curve states that when employment is high so is inflation and when unemployment is high inflation is low.  The video also talks about how unemployment can be high and inflation is high also, breaking the Phillips curve.  This video is great for anyone who wants a better understanding of the economy in a short amount of time.

This video has helped me to better understand the video in a couple of ways.  The first is that it gives you the basic idea of the concept, trying to just give you an understanding.  It also presents the material in an entertaining way that keeps your attention.  The best part of the video in my opinion is that it is only 81 seconds.  This allows you to have a brief overview of the topic and decide if you want to research it more to understand it even more.

Web Readings and Study Strategies

The first piece of advice that I have for students who are taking online classes or traditional classes is to simply not limit your self to only a couple sources of material such as the textbook and notes.  The Internet provides easy access to many different types of materials that can aid you in studying for classes.  Some of these are online databases, e-books, podcasts, YouTube videos, and scholarly videos.  However, students must be careful to not substitute the original material the instructor has assigned with these aids.  These materials are to help reinforce what has been taught in the class and are not meant to be substitutions.

The second piece of advice that I can offer to students is to manage your multitasking.  While most people believe that they are great at multitasking, it is simply not true.  Most people cannot multitask and perform as well as if they were focusing on only one thing.  Some ways to prevent multitasking is to close your browser when using a computer in class, turn off your cell phone and put it in your book bag before class begins or when you begin studying, study for only one task at any given time.  These are only a few suggestions that can make you a better student.

Tips for being successful in an online class

For many new college students the transition from high school to college can be very stressful.  Adding an online class to their schedule can easily add to the stress that new students may already feel.  However there are many ways to minimize some of the stresses that come from taking a class online.

The first step to a successful, stress free online class is to begin by building online relationships early in the class.  These relationships will help you succeed by giving you the ability to communicate with other students if you are confused or do not understand an assignment.  Going through classes alone can be challenging in itself and the feeling of isolation that an online class can create will only add to that.  Some ways to build an online relationship with the class you are in is to email your instructor and other students asking questions, comment on other student’s posts, and set up group chats or message boards.

A second tip to having a positive online course experience is communication.  Most communication done in online courses will be text bases.  This means it is essential that you spell check all your posts and emails.  This also includes making sure that the reader will understand what you are trying to say to them.  There is nothing worse than getting a response to an email that says, “I’m not sure I entirely understand what you are trying to ask.”  These simple steps will help to build online relationships and stay ahead in your course.

Another way to ensure that you receive a good grade with the least amount of stress in an online class is to stay organized.  Staying organized is essential to success in online courses since you are not attending lecture during the week.  Some ways to stay organized are to set up reminders in Carmen, use a Google calendar, or a standard calendar.  Taking an hour or two at the beginning of the semester to load everything into a calendar will save you a lot of time and headaches in the future.