Searching and Researching Blog Post

Writing has always been my weak point as a student even since grade school.  I believe that it has improved drastically over the years: however, that was due to both time and effort.  I have also struggled finding reliable sources because I am used to information being given to us.  In most of my classes everything I need to know is given to me in a textbook or through lecture notes.  I personally find it challenging when I am forced to find reputable academic sources on my own.  I found this module in particular to be very useful because it showed three ways to evaluate sources: reliability, quality, and utility.  I think that this module is very relevant for the college student because many of us are still using Wikipedia and other similar sources to write research papers.  In all reality this is a horrible source for us to be using because it can be edited so easily. 

The module also shows alternative sources that can be used for academic research such as Google Scholar and the University Libraries.  These are excellent free alternatives for scholarly research.  I have used both of these when writing research papers and find them easy to use because you can search a much narrower topic and know that they are coming from reputable sources.  Furthermore, the module breaks down how search engines work and explains Boolean logic.  This is very important because one can drastically alter their search with these formulas.  I am very familiar with Boolean Logic because I use it all the time in excel.  Lastly, the module shows different sources that we can use to cite sources which are always useful because there are plenty of websites that will create the citation for you.  This saves a lot of time because doing citations from scratch can be very timely.

Educational Video Blog Post

This video is discussing one of the key Economics concepts  of the law of supply in demand.  The law of demand states that when the price goes up the quantity demanded decreases.  This is why demand curves of downwards sloping.  Price and quantity have an inverse relationship.  

Why does this happen?  Why is it an inverse relationship?

Substitution Effect - he idea that as prices rise (or incomes decrease) consumers will replace more expensive items with less costly alternatives.

Income Effect-  the change in an individual's or economy's income and how that change will impact the quantity demanded of a good or service

Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility - while keeping consumption of other products constant - there is a decline in the marginal utility that person derives from consuming each additional unit of that product.


I think the the video was very effective at explaining the concept.  This is because he logically present the information in an order that most people will be able to understand.  At first he explained the big idea.  Then he got more specific and explained the drivers for this relationship.  To conclude he tied all of the concepts back together so that you could understand the big picture ( Supply and Demand)  I do think thought that it might have been helpful to have more graphics such as graphs to help explain the laws and effects.

Web-enhanced Listening & Viewing Strategies Blog Post

I found the various note taking approaches to be very useful   I know that I have personally used most oft hem in some shape or form throughout my college career.  I think that note taking with PowerPoint can be very useful in classes when the the professors give very detailed notes.  I also think that it is easier to take notes that are typed because it is easier to read them and I also know personally that I can type much faster than I can write by hand.  When I am not able to bring a copy of the power point to class that I usually try to take written notes that hit on all of the main points that were discussed.

I believe that the Cornell method is very useful because it is logical.  It focuses in on thing that will spark your memory, provide examples, quiz yourself, and summarizes.  I try to do this in all of my notes because it is the best way to make sure that I truly  understand a topic.  I also try to highlight all key terms and define any term that i do not understand at first.

I plan on incorporating some of the technological resources that this course has introduced me to into my note taking.  I think that a mind map could be very helpful in some of my economic classes because a lot of the tool used to understand some of the most complex concepts are graphics.  I also it would be a nice alternative to my traditional notes and perhaps enhance my study sessions.

I personally enjoy listening to podcast.  They are very useful in researching topics and getting a different type of source of information other than the traditional textbooks.  I personally enjoy Ted Talks because they are very inspirational and show how people can think out of the box.

I have taken many course with online lecture components.  I think these are a very effective way of teaching because you can repeat things as many times as you feel necessary which makes note taking easier.  However, I still do personally prefer in person learning.

Web Enhanced Reading

There are several different methods that can be used to help enhance one's experience when reading online.  I personally like copying webpages and converting to either a PDF or a Microsoft word Document.  I this is an easier way to view online documents because then it allows you to use other technology outside of your browser.  I like using Microsoft word to edit papers because the notes feature is a great way to go through and edit documents.  It is also extremely easy to follow and essentially leaves a paper trail of all of the revisions, questions or general comments you had to make about the online document.

Converting webpages to a PDF is also very useful because then you are able to edit the document in a variety of ways.  I personally have a tablet which is very useful when coupled with PDF.  I can pull up documents and write notes on them with my tablet stencil.  This was very useful for me when I was a TA for a class was grading documents that students would email me.  I was able to pull up there work on my tablet and write all of the comments digitally.  Not only was this more efficient but it was environmentally conscious!

I also enjoy using Google documents when I am working in a group because of the cloud capabilities.    It is a very easy way to mark up a document and share it with your group whether it is a reading or report.  You can easily highlight main points, bring up issues, and raise concern.  I also use Google flash cards frequently for my economics class to help me understand different concepts.  It is useful because I can use graphs as well.

Communication and Collaborating on the Web

The internet has becomes one of the worlds greatest tools for communication.  People are now able to access information almost instantly as well as communicate with people across the globe in a matter of seconds.  In order to communicate and collaborate on the web effectively one must know the proper ways to communicate.

The most important aspect of online communication is understand the concept of "netiquette."  Netiquette is the set of standards used for how to properly conducts oneself and communicate on the web.  It is extremely important to understand this because messages can easily be misunderstood when there is no physical interaction.  The main thing that I try to do when communicating via email is to be as specific and concise as possible.  For example,  if I am emailing a  teacher about a question I have in class I will let them know what class I am in, the section number and my full name before even asking the question.  After a proper introduction, I would then give a very detailed explanation about my question and what I am specifically confused on.  I also think that it is extremely important to keep all of my emails professional and tailor them to your specific audience.  I stick to the same format for most of my emails and always have a signature with my contact information at the bottom.

The internet is also a great source for collaboration.  Our generation now has the ability to edit documents, presentations, movies and a variety of other things over the internet by sharing them via air drives.  I personally use Google Docs for many of my classes that I work on group projects with because it is a easy way to post work in a neutral location.  I believe that the main thing one has to be careful with when using Google Docs or something similar is to be sensitive to other peoples work when making comments or revisions.  In the past groups I have worked with I have saw disputes because one group member felt that the other group member was being disrespectful with the tone of their comment.  It is very important to monitor your tone of writing because people can misinterpret things when just reading them rather than someone talking to you face to face.

Lastly, the internet is great for scheduling people.  We all now can create calendars that we can share with people to schedule appointments and can use doodle for large groups.  I think doodle is a great resource for college students because it is usually easier for us to list our availability for a time period then try figure out every ones individual schedule.