My Experience with EDUPL

This semester in my Online Learning Strategies class, I have been introduced to a number of great tools and strategies to help me in my both my academic and real world endeavors. Throughout this course, we have learned about a number of ways to improve our online learning as well as relationships through the digital age.

Although there are many things that I have taken from this class throughout this semester, I would like to touch on a few of the topics that I believe have improved my online skills. Firstly, online communication has become a bigger and bigger skill needed not only in college with professors and peers, but definitely in the work place. Being able to communicate with employees, co-workers, and bosses is an important skill to have to be able to relay information in concise and useful ways while also building relationships among co-workers.

Some of the following things can go along way in online communication in the workplace:

1. Take the extra time to check your spelling and grammar in your emails and posts to show professionalism and that you are trying to present yourself in a professional manner.
2. Try to avoid miscommunications; since the communication is all text based, it is important that your a re clear with your requests, information, or questions, yet also brief and to the point. It easy for emails to be unclear and confusing if there are not clearly stated.

Furthermore, I learned quite a bit about myself throughout the semester. This mostly occurred through our time management activity where we were asked to track our time spent through a one week period. I found that I am very consistent with how I spend my time which is a good thing. However, I do have a lot of free time where I could put in extra work towards my studying for the CPA exam to help me progress at a quicker rate. It was interesting to see as a picture how I actually spend my time comparing color space and amount to others. 

As for my most meaningful experience during this course, I would have to say that took place right here on my blog. I didn't think I would like writing a blog each week for this class, yet it has turned out to be the best part of the class for me. It has allowed me to review what I have learned, and share it in my own words. You become much more familiar and comfortable with topics an tools when you go through the material again and get it down on paper, or in this case, on a soft copy document. 

This class has been a great experience and I have taken a lot of great strategies and knowledge of tools from it. This is my last semester as a college student, so academically I won't see much use for these tools, but when I start my new job in January, I will be carrying these communication and comprehension skills with me. Also, I will be continuing my studying for the CPA exam and retaining that information for long periods of time. The skills that I have learned here will certainly better my preparation for this four part exam, and will hopefully help me excel in my career in the years to come.

Searching and Researching

In this week's lesson, we discussed various strategies and approaches to searching and researching for credible sources, articles, books, etc.. When researching for sources to use for something such as an academic paper, it is important to always evaluate your sources and make sure that they have reliability, quality, and utility. When assessing the credibility of a resource, checking to see for the following information may help in deeming a source credible:

• Availability of contact info
• Credentials of the author
• Reputation of the publisher/ organization
• Is the source peer reviewed

Additionally, to asses the quality and utility of the source, some things to look out for may be:

• Broad generalizations?
• Consistency?
• Up to date?
• Biased?
• Citations?
• Related to topic?
• Appropriate audience?
• Too little or too much detail?

When actually searching for a source, you may find that you are generating an overwhelming amount of results to the topic that you are researching. Using the right search engine and searching in creative ways can help you find exactly what you're looking for. Using Boolean logic is a great tool to narrowing search terms. Some Boolean logic terms that are helpful in researching can be:

• search term AND search term
• search term OR search term
• search term NOT term

These little tools can prove to be very helpful in your academic endeavors.

In this week's lesson in EDUPL 1159, we discuss web enhanced listening and viewing strategies. In academics these days, there is a lot more content available via online courses, e-books, and other online resources. While having these resources available to you right on desktop, laptop, or even a mobile device is convenient, it is important to know how to effectively retain the information that is presented to you. The following are some good note taking tips and other tips for online academic resources:

1. If you have a powerpoint available to you before class, or while listening to a podcast:

• Print out PPT lecture to take notes on individual slides
• Bring laptop to class to record notes electronically in the speaker notes section
• If you don't have slides in front of you, jot down main points for each slide that is shown in class

     2.  For online video or audio resources:

• Take notes outlining key points for future reference
• Create separat documents for different classes with topic and date labels
• Jot down the URL of the source so that you can go back to it for reference

     3.  Filling in the gaps of online information:

• Using podcasts can be a great supplement to lectures and class time
• If you find that content is difficult, look online for resources from experts
• Using credible resources provided to you either by your school or found online can help supplement areas you may not understand

These few tips should be a good guide as you venture into an online world of academics. There is so much to take in from the online world, but it is important to know how to use and retain that information for your benefit!

Educational Videos

 


 The video above talks about managing your personal assets and liabilities. When you first start off your career, it is important that you start off on the right foot, and manage your net assets properly to carefully monitor your net worth and ability to pay off unwanted debt. The video shows you how to setup a personal balance sheet to compile all of your assets with their corresponding values and websites, along with all of your liabilities on a monthly basis. Keeping track of your net worth can help you budget for investments you plan to make in the future, such as a house, a car, or sending your child to college. This is a very informative video that can help your financial life significantly. Taking these easy and simple steps to account for yourself, can prove to be very beneficial.

This video enhances my knowledge on this academic topic in many ways. Firstly, in my college classes I have learned about personal assets and liabilities, but I have never put the knowledge to use for my own benefit. This video is a step by step guide on how to actually create your own personal balance sheet to account for all of your assets and liabilities. The video is a great tool to ensure you have all the correct pieces of the puzzle in place to value your net worth and keep track of your financial health. This tutorial goes through many tips to help keeping you organized and up to date on your fiscal assets and liabilities, which is very important when stepping into the new world. 

In this week's module, we have discussed online reading strategies and online study tools that will help students comprehend information better, as well as prepare them for tests and quizzes in a new and unique way.

Firstly, lets look at some great tips for online reading that may help avoid distraction, and allow for better comprehension:

• Before reading online
• Review syllabus for explanation of goals in reading
• Remove potential distractions
• During reading online
• Determine purpose for reading
• Scan text to get a brief overview
• Highlight important info
• Write down key words/ phrases
• Ask yourself questions
• After reading online
• Create key points from the text
• Summarize your readings in sections
• Keep important information organized

As for online study tools, there are numerous websites that can aid in preparing for quizzes and tests for any type of subject. Here are some key facts and points as to why online study tools can be helpful:

• Organization
• With online tools, you can keep all of your work organized in a location safe to you
• Online tools are created to help keep you organized
• Sort subject to subject, date to date, test to test
• Uniqueness
• You just may find ways of studying that you've never tried before
• New ways are available to help you learn and memorize important information
• Goal Setting
• Plenty of websites allow you to give yourself a standard that is worthy of being success
• Test and prepare yourself to the extent that you feel will sufficient

In this week's lesson for EDUPL 1159, there are many valuable tips on online communication that can benefit a student in their college career and moving forward with their real world careers. Building healthy relationships online is important for communication online when composing emails, discussion posts, blogs, etc., so here are some good tips:

1. When developing new online relationships, be sure to personalize your emails or chats to create a good first impression and work atmosphere among peers. 
2. Take the extra time to check your spelling and grammar in your emails and posts to show professionalism and that you are trying to present yourself in a professional manner.
3. Try to avoid miscommunications; since the communication is all text based, it is important that your a re clear with your requests, information, or questions, yet also brief and to the point. It easy for emails to be unclear and confusing if there are not clearly stated.
4. Finally, make sure to try to get know your instructor throughout your course. This can go a long way in receiving feedback, advice, and even possible networking. Make sure to be professional, but adding a person touch is important as well.

I believe that these brief tips will be very helpful in your online communications with other students and your instructors. Practice and careful composure of emails and posts is pertinent when developing new relationships online, so take your time and you can always review these tips and others for help!