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Something specific that I have already done in real life from this module relates to shutting out distractions. While at home in Pennsylvania during the pandemic, I use the office room that we have in our house so that I can be in a secure space that provides the least opportunity for distraction; in addition, I keep the door closed most of the time when I am in there so that my parents or my sister know that I’m working on something or in a class, call, or meeting. This has proven helpful not only during the SP20, AU20, and SP21 semesters (done virtually), but during my professional internship last summer (also done virtually).

Ideas that I could put into practice in the future relate to soundtracks and white noise. Thanks to this module, I intend to find Spotify soundtracks that are curated and designed to aid in concentration and focus during studying; I choose Spotify for this because I won’t get interrupted by advertisements. In addition, I’m now very curious about trying the White Noise App that was mentioned in Module 7 and I’m very likely to try it out to see what it’s like and how it impacts my studying time.

The most useful thing that I learned within this module is the difference between search and research. Before this lesson, I would often describe the two interchangeably in conversation and in schoolwork. However, from this lesson, I have now learned to describe the two as two separate things. Research refers to critically analyzing multiple sources of information for various purposes, whereas searching just refers only to gathering information for a particular reason. Furthermore, research is often conducted to attempt to answer one research question or multiple research questions even when there might not be a specific answer. In contrast, searching often results in a direct and concrete answer.

A specific example of something that I have put into practice from this module relates to the three measures of source credibility: reliability, quality, and utility. For every class I’ve taken in college (and a few classes in high school) where I’ve had to conduct research for papers and other assignments, I have used these three criteria to assess whether or not a source is credible enough to use. The most recent example of me doing this was for a research paper that I had to write for my Auditing course (AMIS 4500). I had to assess sources’ reliability, quality, and utility to determine if they were able to be used.

A specific example of something from this module that I have already put into practice is replaying parts of videos and online lectures to capture essential information. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, my lectures for Business Finance, Labor Economics, and a few other classes are delivered through multi-video lectures, I often need to replay parts of the lecture to make sure that I capture relevant information. In addition to this, I mentally link what I glean from my video lectures to what I read in my textbook to help connect what I learn during class and what I learned before class even started.

If I could give students any advice from this module, it would be to carefully consider the positives and negatives of both handwritten and typed notes before picking a particular notetaking style to use. One thing that I would point out to them is the research of Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer which shows that students have stronger memory retention in the short term and long term when they write out their notes. As someone who does this often (particularly with classes involving formulas and highly complex ideas), I have certainly found that writing out notes increases my memory retention for the short AND long term.

The most useful thing that I learned in this module was related to the drawbacks that come with multitasking. This is still a problem that I’m trying to deal with; sometimes, when I’m watching a recorded lecture or when I’m reading to prepare for class, I’ll have other tabs open on my laptop or have other external stimuli that can cause me to get distracted. As a result, while I’ll finish the objectives at hand, I cannot remember it as well as I should. It was good to see the excerpt of the Watkins and Corry (2014) study and I’ll look to work harder on NOT multitasking while doing schoolwork; that way, I can do better at parsing through information and determining what is relevant and what is irrelevant.

Something that I’ve already put into practice from this module is the practice of using the margin of online readings to summarize key ideas. Since freshman year, I’ve used the Cornell Notes system. When taking notes for online readings (and for readings from a textbook IRL), I’ll use the right hand side of my Microsoft Word/Google Doc page to take notes and then I’ll use the left hand margin to summarize key ideas and concepts from those notes. 

The most useful thing that I learned in this module is the strategy of listing out the costs of procrastination from the Harvard Business Review (HBR) article. It’s an amazing strategy that I have never considered before; it forces people to confront the potential consequences of their procrastination which then incentivizes them to not procrastinate. As a result, people are better off, far less likely to procrastinate, and more productive because they have a tangible measurement of how things can go wrong or be costly if they procrastinate.

Something that I have already put into practice from this module is breaking down large tasks. For example, when it comes to studying for midterm and final exams, my strategy has always been to break up my study time and schedule it based on a) current understanding of the content, b) size of the chapter(s), and c) point value of the exam. Above, I have provided an example of a schedule that I made for my political science class in the Autumn 2020 semester. When I’m able to stick to this type of scheduling, the results have often been quite positive (meaning that I get a high grade on the exam). However, to make this strategy even more effective, I need to get better at not procrastinating and handling any and all digital distractions properly.

Long before taking this course, I put the details of academic email writing (slide 8) into practice; now, I follow the academic email advice from this Module as though it’s second nature. I started writing academic emails when I was a freshman at Ohio State; for Math 1151 (Calculus I), I frequently emailed my professor and my teaching assistant (TA) to ask questions about course content whenever office hours or visits to the MSLC were not feasible. The syllabus and Carmen page would be consulted before any emails were sent out. From there, I would review the subject line and greeting in the email and ensure that it had both context, a closing, and my full name before it was submitted (slide 8). In addition, I would proofread my writing, compose full and complete sentences, and mention that I couldn’t find what I was looking for on Carmen or on the syllabus (slide 8). All in all, this worked out very well and proved useful when I could not go to office hours or the MSLC.

Since that course, I have sent countless academic emails employing the same techniques that were mentioned in the Module. Academic emails are very important and I would advise students to take them seriously and to also follow Dr. Fus’s advice on emails (slide 10) for ensuring that they make good first impressions with anyone and everyone that they meet.