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At first I was very hesitant to take this class, for the sole reason that I had never taken a class through Younkin or online. I had no clue that I was getting myself into what would end up being a very lively and enjoyable learning experience. I actually learned a lot about both online tools and resources available to me and about myself as a learner. I will take this with me into the future as another great Ohio State experience, and one that is very applicable to my future employment.

First and foremost, this class was about online learning strategies and resources. The class did its job as I learned about a lot of resources I was previously unaware of or unfamiliar with. I found that searching the internet, and in particular for library resources, doesn’t have to be difficult. It was always something that I used to dread doing, but now I know that the library has so many resources and by filtering your search you can find greater success. This class also exposed me to some really cool tools, notable websites with resources for organizing notes, making flashcards, and helping with citations. Yet the resource that was most influential was our early work with the Google Drive and accounts. I really liked working with those programs and I do want to begin to implement that into my work habits.

This leads right in to what I learned about myself. I learned that I like organization and structure and that is something that drew me to the GoogleDrive. Additionally, my suspicion was reaffirmed that I am a procrastinator. I learned that staying organized via the tools that I was exposed to during the past seven weeks will help to curtail my procrastination. Therefore, I will continue to use online tools to get organized and stay out of trouble.

Looking back on the totality of the experience, I would say the most meaningful experience was tracking my activities for a week. It allowed me to look back on my time management and look for possible areas of improvement. This was great because I could make quick changes to my time management based on the tracking that benefitted my productivity and sleeping habits in particular. I learned that I had far too much leisure time that could be used for sleep late at night and that I was most productive in the mornings. Both of which were great insights.

Lastly, I hope to take a lot from this class into my future endeavors. In the short-run, I hope to continue to get more organized so that I can prevent procrastination and do well in my classes. In the long-run I hope to use the skills I learned in this class in my future employment. My entire blog was from the perspective of an employer and I can honestly say that all the skills we learned in this class will be completely applicable in the future. Therefore, I hope to use the skills I learned in this class in my future employment opportunities.

Sometimes as an employer it is easy to assume that employees who grew up in the information age and have been familiar with technology their whole lives are great at using those technologies. This may not always be the case. Where this is most abundantly evident is when it comes to doing research. While almost everyone is familiar with a Google search, they may not have the presence of mind or education to think about their sources’ reliability, quality, and utility. Therefore a topic that must be discussed and ingratiated into employees is the difference between a search and research.

While a search is simple and mindless, research involves cross checking information, consulting multiple sources, and citing reliable documents and sources. This process of research allows someone to filter out the noise that is online these days. Luckily you don’t have to engage in research alone, there are a multitude of ways to ease the burden of research. These methods of advanced search include filtering your results (by date of publishing, author, and more), employing Boolean logic (inserting words like “AND” and “OR” into your keyword search), and using scholarly search engines like Google Scholar that will only return results in research databases. Having a solid grasp of the concept of research and the tools available to employees will help them tremendously. Therefore, it is the responsibility of employers to make their employees aware of the difference between search and research, when each is appropriate, and the tools at their disposal to aid in research.

Many college students believe that task of note taking is something they will only have to deal with while in college. This of course is not the case though. Once those students reach graduation and enter the workforce, they will likely have to continue to take notes in their professional positions. This is because in almost all positions, employees are required to receive a certain amount of information and then be able to make sense of, use, and later retain that information. The best approach to this is almost certainly note taking. Therefore effective note taking is an important skill for employees to know and employers to harness within their workforce.

In order for employers to help their employees become effective note takers, it must first be determined what effective note taking looks like. The first step in effective note taking is determining the source of the information and if you have access to that source. For example many times in the professional world, information providers (superiors, co-workers, etc.) will utilize PowerPoint to accentuate the material they are trying to convey through spoken word. If the note taker is given access to those PowerPoint slides in advance, they should print those slides out or type directly into the PowerPoint document. Notes taken should clarify or elaborate on the slides. If the note taker does not have access to the slides or any other medium other than the information provider’s word of mouth, they should divide their note sheet into sections that correspond to the slides and then attempt to take notes that grasp what the information provider’s message is and not write what they say word for word. Notes should also outline key points for future reference and have space for thoughts and reflections. Following these general guidelines, will provide for great notes that hopefully will enhance employee performance.

As technology progresses, we have seen a swift transition from information being contained in mostly traditional paper and ink settings to web based information systems. This allows larger amounts of data to be stored without the clutter, and in most cases saving time and money. This can be a great thing for both employers and employees, but the key is to understand the differences between the two and make sure that employees are set up for success using such systems in the workplace. Web based systems differ greatly from previous information systems in that they are much more individualized, interactive, and at times non-sequential. To the untrained eye this can be catastrophic, so it is important for employers to train their employees on the proper ways to read and implement web based information systems.

First, in order to be a good reader of online text and information the reader must be an active reader and present in the moment. The reader should rid themselves and the environment of distractions. Then, the active reader should methodically work through the text while always keeping a close eye on key points and determining what is the purpose of the information. The engaged reader can then look to summarize, reflect, and therefore hopefully retain the information as it is communicated through the online portal. This is the general method for effective consumption of online text and information. Using this outline, employees and employers should then work to make their online information and tools effective to the user. Online tools should demonstrate relation between/among concepts, use only as much text as truly necessary, and organize and structure ideas while utilizing creative thinking. Through cooperation and instruction all of these goals and techniques can be achieved and web based information systems can be used to their most effectiveness in the workplace.

When looking to hire graduates of the 21^st century, you are hiring individuals who have been exposed to technology all their life. Despite this fact it is also important to keep in mind that this is one of the first generations that has been exposed to technology all their life and therefore may not always be well phrased in online etiquette, or netiquette. This situation presents both a challenge and benefit to perspective employers. On the one hand, recent graduates have vast potential to accelerate a firm’s operations and enhance efficiency through a variety of technological means. Most students are very well versed in how to use GoogleDocs for spreadsheets, presentations, and word processing. Additionally they are at least familiar with the concept of a wiki, a doodle, and a blog. All of these are great tools for collaboration, which are almost a necessity to be successful in today’s college environment.

While these tools are great, sometimes our online culture teaches students habits that are less desirable. This often manifests itself in an aversion towards face to face contact, poor grammar in online communication, and ineffective writing strategies. These are all issues that have to be addressed through training and professional development. Not necessarily a lot of training is needed, but this is a definite burden on the perspective employer. For this reason, employers should be aware and weigh the consequences, both positive and negative, of hiring recent graduates to their firm.