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The skills that I have been working on in this six week course have been invaluable to say the least. They have allowed me to point out things that I need to work on in terms of how I study and what things I can do to be more efficient in how I get work done and take notes so that I will be a more successful student.

The things that I have learned about in terms of technology, online tools, and online resources were things that specifically helped us in realms of studying and just being good about time management. The first one that really stood out was the article in the first module called, 10 Tips for eLearners. It was helpful because it set the table for the rest of the course and gave nice tips to set the bar for how you would change the ways that you study. Some of the tips that stood out were: Establish reasonable goals and expectations, have patience, and manage your time. All of these things are things that among the other things on the list are nice bases to live by in terms of staying on your stuff and overall keeping your priorities in order.

Another thing I have learned about from this course is that it is important to at least attempt to be active in the class you are in since it gives you the chance to share your opinions on the subjects being talked about in class or in the discussion board if it is an online class. When you are active in a class, I believe that it gives you more of an incentive to do the work that needs to be done in it so that you can add your own opinion on things that are being discussed.

Another important skill we learned was how to properly conduct research for a paper. The tutorials on how to use the library’s database was very helpful and is a nice skill to know since it allows you to have better resources then getting a random article off of Google that is not from a reputable source.

I have learned a lot about myself in this class so far. I first figured out the obvious that I needed help in my study habits, which was one of my reasons for signing up for the class in the first place. But as the semester went on, I attempted to implement the ideas that were being given in the modules and noticed that they made a little bit of a difference . I feel like I have a little bit of a better idea of how to approach studying for things and how to make a plan to become a more successful student.

The most meaningful experience for me was the time tracking assignment we did in module two since it gave me a visual idea of how much time I was wasting and how I could become a lot better at managing my time. It gave me something to compare where I was at to where I wanted to be in the future where I wont allow little distractions to keep me from getting my stuff done.

I will apply what I have learned in this class to all of my classes since all of the skills learned here can work both in a school environment and in life. The tips and skills would come in handy in a job situation along with a school one since the same skills can be used in both. These skills will allow me to be better at planning ahead and will make it a smoother journey in terms of getting things done that need to be done whether it be a presentation for work or school or just getting chores done.

For this module, we focused on how to effectively conduct research on a subject that we would have to write a paper on. The module touched on what exactly counted for a reliable source and what the  correct way to cite a source was in either MLA or another citing method. We were instructed onto how to search in the library’ website and how to search for articles that may be of use to us in the research process in writing a paper. You could either start at a broad subject and keep narrowing it until it was something that was relevant to you and you could even check out and see if the article was available at the OSU library or not. The option to even view the article online could also be of use to someone who wanted immediate access to their article. To add to the search method, were were also introduced to Google Scholar and the search preferences part of the process. It kind of has the same vibe as searching in the library database but it is harder to find reliable information since there are so many more choices, at least in the case of regular Google. Google Scholar is Google’s answer to library databases since it gives you the opportunity to find journal articles and other reliable sources that are peer reviewed, it is just sometimes easier to use the library database since the pool is more accessible.

In module 5 we learned about some strategies to take when you are learning that use the web as a guide to help you. Basically what I got out of it was how to take notes in an effective manner and what to be looking for when it comes to listening in class. Sometimes you get caught up in trying to get everything down that is on a PowerPoint that you might forget something that is useful that the teacher was talking about. The one concern I would have is that it seems like it would be a little bit difficult to get a good recording of a class since even though it would be good to have that as a resource, it may be a little bit fuzzy depending on what you use to record with.

The slides that featured the likes of using pod casts to learn seem like they would be helpful since it would give you a chance to learn something that might be in a different format that may be able to help you understand something in class that you just didn’t “get”. Another useful tool that was talked about in the module was to use online lectures from prestigious schools with professors that are some of the best at their profession. Since these professors know how to connect with their students and put it into a manner that is relevant to them, it allows them to enjoy the class more, learn more, and hopefully do better. The benefit of that in the comfort of your home sounds like a great deal if I ever need help in a class.

Check this out:

The overview of this video is that of the basics of carry trade. The basic idea is that if you borrow money from one country at a low interest rate and invest it into another country that has a higher interest rate, then you will have a generally safe investment. The example given in the video is that if you borrow money at a 1% clip and invests it into another country that has a 5% interest rate; you will still get back a pretty good return on your investment. The factor that affects this are if the country that invests money appreciates, then it can keep compiling the interest that is owed even with the money being made from the other country. Basically this means that even if you think you are making a bunch of money from the investment overseas, it balances itself out a little bit and you only end up making a little bit of money as opposed to a lot. However, the opposite is possible with the example being when Japan was investing in other countries since their interest was so low until only a couple of years ago. This allowed them to keep getting good returns on the money that was invested overseas and since the money borrowed from Japan did not appreciate, the investments remained solid. It actually compounded the benefit since you have the nice initial low borrowing rate and since the demand for the other currency is there, that interest rate actually goes up and everyone ends up happy.

This video supplemented my knowledge of this since I did not have that huge of a background on this particular subject. The subject matter was put into a form that made it easy to understand and learn. Since trade is a huge part of the business world, it was nice to have a nice background on one of the types of ways that people invest into foreign markets and gave me some insight into the world.

In Module 3 Our goal was to learn about how to effectively talk to people in an online class in order to build relationships with our online classmates. We learned about proper online etiquette and how to talk to your teacher and your new classmates when you are sending them an email or other sort of message online.The way you talk to your classmates or teacher online determines the first impression you make of yourself to them. Once you build relationships with your classmates, you can change the tone to an extent to be more reflective of that but the tone with your professor should not change. You also learned what types of programs you can use to help with collaboration of projects with classmates even if they aren’t in an online class. The programs that were talked about included: Google Docs, Google Presentations, Wikis, Scheduling Polls, or Chat or Conference Calls. The things you can do to help with outside of these programs, were just common things like: encouraging good working relationships, review each other’s contributions, and resisting over-analyzing others’ comments.

Other things that were touched on for this were the roles that members of a group have in for a group project. The ones that were mentioned in this module were: Contributor, Information Seeker, Opinion Seeker, Opinion Giver, Elaborator, and Critic. All of these roles work together to help to create a solid formation for how a successful project would be completed.

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