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I have learned very much in this class. I will first talk talk about what I have learned about technology, online tools and online resources. I think that learning about and being able to take advantage of technology and online tools is extremely critical to being successful not just academically, but in the real world as well. Nowadays, there are more and more online tools and resources that can be taken advantage of to further your knowledge of basically any topic, it seems extremely disadvantageous to overlook these value resources. My dad used to always tell me that before search engines like google, the only way to settle a debate or argument about factual information was to go to the library. Now it is as simple as pulling out your smart phone and getting valuable information in a matter of seconds. Through this class I have learned that you can make searches more specific and relevant if necessary. This comes in especially handy when writing an academic paper and making sure you have reliable, credible sources for it.

I will now talk about what I have learned about myself in this class. Through this class I have realized that I do have the ability to get ahead and become a more proactive student, rather than reactive. It is much more relaxing and less stressful to know that your work is done ahead of schedule and you now have free time rather than constantly be worrying about how much I need to do or being concerned about deadlines. I have heard all my life “work hard then play hard”, but I until I took this class I never truly understood what that meant. I won’t go so far to say the difference is night and day, but I do feel now that I get my work done earlier rather than waiting for the deadline, I have less stress in my life overall.

I thought the most meaningful experience in this class as I have expressed earlier was creating the weekly schedule on google. This really opened my eyes as to where I was wasting time and how I could use my time to be more productive and efficient. I always knew I was wasting time and need to use my time better, but for some reason writing it down and pointing out the exact moments in time during the week where I was wasting the most time allowed me to alter my weekly schedule and try my best to stick to it. While I was far from perfect in sticking to and maintaining the schedule, I thought it was definitely much more productive than before I make my weekly schedule.

As the previous paragraph mentioned, I think the single one thing that I will take from this class to apply to the future is that I need to make a schedule and a plan of action and stick to it as best as possible to best get my work done in a timely and efficient manner in life. This to me is very important, as it allows me to get ahead of the game and be proactive rather than reactive, something very critical to success in life.

Google is obviously the most popular search tool used on the web worldwide, I think few would argue with that. However, do people actually know how to use google effectively? Are they actually getting the results they want? I think the answer is no. I think many people use google, maybe even use it well, however they do not know the little tricks and nuances of google to get the absolute maximum out of it. Let’s start with the basics. First of all, Google can be limited to categories; such as maps, images, videos, articles, news, shopping, and much more. Knew all of that? I bet you didn’t know this; Google has an advanced search function. Using this function you can limit your search to pages with certain words, specific word combinations, page numbers, languages, location, domains, types of file, and even limited to certain dates and times. Ok, maybe you even knew how to do that, but I bet you haven’t heard of Google Scholar. Google Scholar limits your results even more so that it only searches for scholarly journals. How cool is that? Could you imagine how helpful that would be when writing a paper that needs to be well-sourced? I know I’ll use it all the time, hope you do too!

This TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson speaks about how today’s education system is killing creativity in children. He argues that children are all born artists, but we get educated out of our creativity through the school system. He argues that general public schooling forces children into topics they may not be interested in as well as forcing them to learn in a certain way.

I think the goal of the video was to open the minds of the people who watched it and it did just that. It made me think about how I always felt like I was one of the smarter kids growing up, but my grades didn’t always reflect that. I agree with the speaker that the general 4.0 grading system is more about how people conform to the school system rather than measuring their true intelligence and creativity.

I feel like the best way to learn online is to play the sound of the video while writing the title of every subsection used. This way it is very easy to go back and look at when what information was conveyed. Some people prefer print outs of the powerpoint or lecture, and this can also be effective. Me personally though, I prefer to deal with technology only if I can help it. I have never been good at keeping paper organized and in order, therefore it is much easier for me to store notes on my computer where I know I will not lose them. In high school I remember my freshman biology teacher taught us to take C-Notes or Cornell notes. While I’m sure this is effective for some, for me it bores me and makes me totally disinterested in what I am taking notes on. I feel that I learn best kinesthetically, however this is obviously not an option online or in most cases. Option 4 seems most relevant to me as nowadays more and more classes are online and have online videos and lectures. It seems most important to me that I can effectively use the tools highlighted in option 4 to best improve my note taking ability.

Technology is always evolving and becoming more and more functional, so why wouldn’t it be prudent to learn how to use it more efficiently and effectively? Lets first speak about group projects. Technology is most critical for these types of projects because of the logistical issues presented by having to meet in person. The most effective form of technology for these types of projects in my opinion is email.

Lets talk about email, everyone knows it, but does everyone know how to use it properly and take full advantage of it? I think not. I cannot tell you how many emails I have received from a group member that have issues. These issues include, but are not limited to improper grammar, spelling errors, poor clarity, and not getting the message across at all. Some of these emails are from very intelligent people who have great thoughts and ideas, but cannot effectively communicate these thoughts through email. It is very important to think twice, proofread, and even have a friend read it over. All these factors should be considered before you press send!