Module 7-Final Blog Post

Taking ESEPSY 1159 – Online Learning Strategies during this 2014 Summer class session has taught me a countless amount of things regarding topics such as researching online, citing information, and online tools useful for all sorts of academic-related things. As my blog has been directed towards helping students through their first year of college, I was also enhancing my own skills at the same time that I was looking to help guide students through their academics.

As the majority of the course content was directed towards publishing posts on a blog in which each student was expected to create, it gave us students the perfect opportunity to apply what we have learned during the course to help enhance the knowledge of our chosen blog audience. By taking ESEPSY 1159 – Online Learning Strategies, I have learned a lot of information about technology, online tools and resources. I also learned that properly navigating and searching the web and communicating with those you are working with along with those who are going to be your audience are very important skills to know and maintain. Knowing how to properly navigate the web is very crucial, as it will allow you to find the best resources for whatever it may be that you are researching. Along with this, taking Online Learning Strategies has helped me find that I am truly a much better learner when I am able to use visual aids as a learning style. However, the most important lesson I was given was that I can be quite the procrastinator at times. This course helped me to fix this with the lesson on Google Calender. Inputting both my work schedule and classwork into a calender helped advise me to be a much more efficient time manager. I believe that I took this course at a very good point in my college academic career. As I will be entering my senior year at Ohio State, I will be able to apply the tools and strategies that I have become knowledgeable about during this course to finish out my time at Ohio State as best as I can. Not only does this course serve as a great guide to properly using the internet as a resource for studying purposes and more, but it also teaches students how to be an efficient time manager and how to avoid the distractions that most students unfortunately experience while studying.

“Information technology has already had a significant impact on higher education, and will continue to
reshape the educational landscape in years to come.” I believe this quote is perfect to describe the structure of this course. This course is the best preparation you can get to keep up with the advances that technology continues to make alongside education. What you sit down and allow yourself to learn today will only leave room for more success in the future. I highly recommend that this class be taken by all students at all colleges and universities in the country,because the knowledge that I have personally gained from this course will truly aid my future success as I continue to apply the tools and resources to my everyday life.

Thank You!

Searching and Researching-Module 6

I know I’m not alone when I say that searching for information that will be useful when writing a research paper or working on a project can be quite time consuming. It can be so time consuming because in order to write a good paper, you must have credible sources from which you retrieve your information. Why does it take so much time you may ask? It takes so much time because many college students remain unaware of the tips and strategies available to cut that search time down immensely. One of these strategies that I use myself is called “advanced search”. Many students go straight to Google to do their research, but they don’t understand how easily their search results can be narrowed down. Google has this “advanced search” option available right next to the actual search bar. This “advanced search” option allows you to apply different things such as keywords to your search to really narrow the results down to credible sources that will be useful to you. Reliability, quality, and utility are the three elements that you should think of when searching for sources. Make sure to ask yourself questions such as, “Where has this information come from?”, “Can I trust this information?”, “How recent is this information?”, and “Is this information going to help me get my point across in my paper?”. There is no doubt that if you see the source as reliable with high quality information that will be useful in your paper or project, it is a credible source.

Steven Vaughn’s Blog-Module 5 Listening Strategies

When it comes to web-enhanced listening and viewing strategies, I personally do not utilize any online resources to guide me in capturing information being taught to me. When it comes to sitting in a class listening to a lecture, the ability to capture all of the information that the professor is lecturing about lies directly in the hands of the student in that class. With that being said, I do not thing that resources found on the web or anywhere else for that matter are quite necessary. However, I am an avid note-taker when it comes to sitting in o lecture and I do believe that there are proper ways of going about taking notes. During this lesson, a decent amount of time was spent on ways to take good notes. Splitting the paper into two sides is a great strategy. This allows for you to use one side to list main points being discussed, while using the other side as an area for questions, comments and concerns regarding the learning material. Using this strategy allows you to go back to review and summarize all information from lecture while being able to answer all of the questions you may have had during the process. Another topic is that of using online articles rather than going to class to learn the material. This may be more convenient for the student, but the author of that article online isn’t the one who will be writing the tests you will be taking. This should be kept in mind when you think online articles are a safe alternative to attending class. In conclusion, I do not believe web-based strategies are necessary for students to comprehend information being taught to them.

Steven Vaughn’s Blog-Module 5

I highly recommend that you view this video regarding five low-cost marketing strategies for small businesses:

This video provides a phenomenal representation of how a small business can be very successful in their marketing efforts. The great thing about this video is that it does not only refer to small businesses as a whole, but it breaks small businesses down into those that are business to business and those that are business to consumer. The five low-cost marketing strategies that this video lists are as follows: (1) Industry-Trade Publications and Magazines (2) Chamber of Commerce (3) Social Media (Facebook & LinkedIn) (4) “SMS” Marketing (Texting) (5) Email Marketing. The gentleman in this video put a lot of emphasis on social media marketing. He broke this strategy down for B2B small businesses recommending that LinkedIn would be the best fit for them, and when in comes to B2C small businesses, Facebook is the best fit as it is free of cost for them. “SMS” Marketing is just marketing through texting. This can be very successful as long as businesses using this strategy are providing up-to-date and important information when doing so. The same goes for Email Marketing. If businesses provide information that the business or person receiving the email or message will find important, it will help them be successful.

Viewing this video myself provided me with a much better understanding of this topic in several ways. First off, I know I am not alone when saying that when somebody mentions small businesses, I never think to break it down into the two categories of business to business as well as business to consumer businesses. It is quite evident that doing so allows for a much better understanding of what strategies to use and where. Along with this, depending on the audience that a small business is intending to market towards, there are only certain strategies that will work. The gentleman in this video describes different types of businesses and what strategy would be the best fit for them. The most beneficial piece of information that I learned from this video is that when marketing, you must provide information that your audience wants to know and learn, because providing that information will lead to success.

Steven Vaughn’s Blog-Module 4

I would have to say that I agree with the entirety of the information given about web-enhanced reading and study strategies in this module. However, although technology has continued to enhance very rapidly, it still seems to me that the majority of students don’t take full advantage of all resources available to them to fully grasp the meaning behind online lessons as well as using online tools for studying. When it comes to reading online, I personally copy, past and highlight all important information into a Microsoft Word document. Doing this allows me to easily summarize the info that I am reading about, as well as giving me the chance to go back and review the information whenever I please. Along with this, I was not aware that flashcards could be made on a Google doc. This study strategy is most definitely something I can see myself beginning to utilize to aid in my studies. Google doc flashcards are a great example of how technology has progressed, leaving students with a better tool for studying. All it takes is for students to spend a little time searching the web for online-based study strategies to help themselves to begin to use them. I can honestly say that after working my way through this lesson, I will undoubtedly begin utilizing more online tools when studying.

Steven Vaughn’s Blog-Module 3

If their is one major takeaway from this module, it is the emphasis placed on the proper ways of communicating via the web.  With our generation relying so heavily on technology, it has, in my opinion, had just as many negative effects as it has positive ones.  Building online relationships requires much more focus and discipline when compared to relationships built in person.  For example, with an online class, students must keep themselves very disciplined as the majority of their communication with classmates and professors is nonverbal.  The texts mentions and explains the word “Netiquette.”  The book defines this as, “a set of standards related to how individuals communicate and engage with one another in online settings.”  For example, if you are emailing a professor or anyone of higher authority for that matter, be professional.  Along with being professional, pay close attention to your spelling and punctuation, as well as using a school email address rather than a personal one for a matter such as this.  If it is going to be vital to make online relationships with fellow classmates or random partners to complete an assignment or project, don’t wait around until the last minute to do so.  Reach out to your peers immediately showing them that you care, and give them the respect that you expect to be given in return.  Building these online relationships should be a positive experience for everyone involved.  While working as a group and coordinating as a whole, individual interaction is recommended as well.