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What is the most useful thing I learned in this module?

As reflected upon in the module, stress management is a much-underrated part of productivity. It is subject to a number of variables including emotional and physical health that may be factors contributing to higher levels of stress in general. It is therefore advisable that a person is able to handle stress in a manner that not only improves their productivity but also contributes to their overall health requirements.  It may become a challenging issue to some people especially if they do not have access to help in managing these stress levels. It is recommended that a person undertake the right steps in stress management. In situations where a person is unable to adequately handle stress on their own, seeding help from others is the best option.

What ideas from this module could I put into practice in the future? How?

With the above analysis in mind, stress management can be perceived to be a central part of the development of a person holistically. Since stress is a part of everyday life and can come from all avenues in a person’s life, it is imperative that a person learns how to manage stress. This can be achieves by using a variety of methods including taking regular physical exercises, sleeping and relaxation. Keeping emotional aspects of health in check also improve the handling of stress in general. Some of the most viable stress management techniques that I would like to use in the future include proper exercise and sleeping. These are simple yet highly efficient ways of reducing stress on a personal level and do not require heavy investment in finances and time. Furthermore, the use of exercise as a stress relief option also helps in the promotion of physical health as well.

The most important thing I learned in this module is the skills for writing in college and how to undertake research in academic writing. Particularly, learning that the essence of undertaking research is to grow the understanding of a set of topics and their relationship became an eye opener for me. It is imperative for students to learn how to search for information on the general internet and in dedicated library databases such as JSTOR or other dedicated digital online libraries. Mastering the requisite research skills allows a learner to identify the most important and reliable information pertaining a specific topic quickly. Writing in college is usually inquiry-driven where a scholar finds reliable information to support a given position or thesis. Different types of academic writing in college – such as a short argumentative essay or a long research paper –, however, require different approaches. It is imperative to master the different skills for the different papers to make one’s paper as strong as possible.

Something specific from the module that I have already put into practice is how to find reliable academic sources for a given topic and how to reference the sources accordingly. Source credibility is important because basing one’s research on incredible information renders their conclusions equally unreliable. Specifically, a credible source has to provide sufficient depth on a topic, be current, objective, be authored by a relevant authority, and be published for a relevant purpose. It is imperative to use high-quality sources to make the research thesis and conclusions valid and reliable. Using sources that can be authored by anyone, such as Wikipedia, is highly discouraged in academic writing. The source evaluation skills I have gained in this module have enabled me to base my essays on credible sources, making my conclusions in those write-ups equally reliable.

The most useful thing I have learned in this module was how to be a better online reader. Today it is most relevant because of the pandemics that forced libraries to close, and most of the students had to switch to online reading as a part of distance learning. It was interesting for me to know that when we read online resources our brain tries to keep up with all the alternatives to the article or book, and we start to read faster. On screen people tend to skim the text rather than go deep into the meaning. What I implemented in practice was adjusting styles and layouts of the text so that it was easier for me to read slower and concentrate better on the meaning of each text segment, rather than the general meaning.

What I can bring into practice in the future is to start exercising. According to the information from this module, one of the ways to study better is to perform exercises. During physical activity, body cells secrete neurohormones, such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, which alter the activity of the brain. As a result, the delivery of vital nutrients enhances performance increases, and the brain processes information more smoothly. Another way to study better is to test yourself after each block of new information. I have been doing it recently, and have to say that it significantly improved my performance, and it is what I would recommend to students. Instead of reading the material over again, it is much more productive to test the knowledge. Finally, I think it would be helpful to include exercises for development using reading comprehension.

All students experience different levels of procrastination. While this module’s explanation of procrastination was comprehensive information, in my opinion, it did not cover or mention one key alternative explanation for procrastination, namely that doing the work is mentally exhausting. Indeed, I would argue that for some students, none of the “root causes” of procrastination mentioned in the module is applicable. That is, for some students procrastination is not a result of lack of understanding, being overwhelmed, or a distracting environment. Neither is it the result of fear of success, fear of failure, or resistance to authority. Instead, for some students, procrastination is due to the fact that doing the work is mentally or physically exhausting. In this manner, doing schoolwork is similar to exercising. That is, the pain associated with completing the assignment is enough to convince the student to avoid it until the pain in failing or doing poorly in the assignment is greater than the pain of sitting or lying down to think through the assignment and “do the work” necessary to complete it to the standard necessary to achieve a high grade.

Fortunately, this module taught me that regardless of the source of one’s procrastination, there are viable means and methods a person can take to reduce or eliminate the tendency to procrastinate. For instance, the module’s explanation that “commitments” are a part of life helps demonstrate that avoidance of some level of “pain” is not possible for anyone. Indeed, to realize that everyone has commitments and that they cannot avoid these commitments is helpful in the realization that it is better to confront the “pain” of an assignment earlier rather than later. By confronting it earlier, you give yourself more flexibility in addressing any exigent circumstances that might arise before a deadline. Indeed, waiting to the last moment, the pain one experiences will be more acute as a result of the multiple pressure points one must confront.

Fortunately, the issue of student procrastination is well-known. Accordingly, there is an abundance of resources available to the procrastinator, regardless of the sources of the procrastination, that can help if the student deems it necessary.

Learning this module has been of so much importance to me since it has helped me better understand online communication. Communication is the process of sending and receiving information from various parties to pass a message. The most useful thing learned in this module is that the way we communicate online helps create an impression depending on how the communication went down. For this reason, it is important to make sure that we create a good first impression.

The specific example of this week’s module that I have tried to put in place is using netiquette in my communication. Like the way face-to-face communication has etiquette, online communication has netiquette, ensuring good communication (slide 2). It worked out for me well since I maintained respect in the process of communicating with other people online.

The most important thing that I have learned from this module that I will put into practice in the future is the use of communication collaborator tools. The tools are effective as they help in making communication easy and effective. For instance, there the use of doodle, which makes meeting online easy (slide 7). The communication collaborators make online communication easy and effective, so I will like to use them in the future. I also learned how to write academic emails, and I will like to apply this information in the future.

From what I have learned and experienced from this module, here are some advices. You need to learn the importance of good online communication. It is also worth noting that you should make sure you and your peers work together as groups since group work makes everything easy. I will also advise about using plain English in your communication.

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