This assignment was directly tied to unit 3 assignment 1, where we had to read all about challenges faced by college students and write about which challenges have impacted us most. For this assignment, first, we had to read through everyone’s discussion board posts about the challenges they face. Next, we had to review the section of the course syllabus about how to respond to the discussion board posts of others. Finally, we had to respond to the posts of all of the members of our chat group.

I only have one other member besides myself in my chat group, a girl named Weiyan, so I responded to her post. The five challenges she discussed were large class sizes, low teacher to student ratio, lack of flexibility for students juggling work and studies, high college expenditure, and expensive textbooks. The challenge that impacted Weiyan most was lack of flexibility because the fixed schedule style of learning can lower the learning outcomes of students, and it makes it stressful to try to fit in work around classes.

In my response to the post, I discussed how I really liked how she made references back to previous units to reinforce what we are learning now. I mentioned that I relate to this challenge too since I work a part-time job and take classes every semester too. I also talked about how I think her ideas that online education can minimize this risk is very accurate since it allows you to work more on your own schedule. Overall, I think she did a great job with her post.

Reflecting on this assignment, once again, it was not structured in a way for me to learn new information about the course. The information was learned two assignments prior, in unit 3 assignment 1. However, reading through all of the challenges again allowed me to review the material I had learned before. As I have talked about before, this will lead me to have better retention of the material, which is a great thing.

Additionally, since I was required to read the posts of everyone else, I learned more about how certain issues affect different students differently. It is super interesting that some challenges that may be the biggest for one person may not even be considered a challenge for someone else! Reading through the assignment opened my eyes to other issues, even ones I may not usually face. It also allowed me to learn about my classmates once again!

Also, these posts and responses continue to allow me to work on my writing skills. As we learned in a previous assignment, that is something that employers look for, so it is very valuable to get practice with it every week! The combination of learning new information while strengthening important skills is awesome and I look forward to continuing with it throughout the semester.

The first part of this assignment involved watching a video and reading 13 articles. They all revolved around the topic of challenges that college students frequently face. After watching and reading, we had to identify 5 of these challenges. Finally, we had to post on the discussion board about the challenges, including which article or video referenced each challenge, and then explain which challenge has affected me the most as a student and why.

It would take an absolutely egregious amount of time to explain every article and every challenge they listed so I will just focus on the 5 challenges I identified. The 5 I chose also seemed to be challenges that were more common to all students, rather than ones that were more peculiar or specific.

The first challenge I listed was unaffordable tuition costs. Next, I listed increasing textbook costs. Thirdly, I identified the problem of using lecturing instead of active learning. Next, I wrote about the lack of sleep. Finally, I touched on having classes too early for optimal cognitive functioning.

The challenge that I said affects me most is absolutely unaffordable tuition costs. I talked about how I have to pay a large chunk of tuition money each year myself so I will be exiting college with a lot of debt I have to pay back later on. This is a very stressful problem, and puts a lot of concerning thoughts into my head when I think about the future.

Reflecting on this assignment, I think it was a really great idea to read through so many different articles that touched on challenges related to college. First, it was good to read about since it is so relevant to myself as a college student. Reading through different articles, I definitely recognize and identify with a ton of the things that were discussed in the article, which brings an emotional connection to the assignment.

Second, it allows me to realize that some of these problems truly are problems, and not just something I saw wrong with the college system. For example, there have been many times where a lecturer rambles on for 75 minutes and I think about how I would learn better through a different style of teaching. Additionally, I have thought about how I often have early classes but don’t function as well cognitively that early, which has lead to worse performance sometimes. Hearing other people identify these things as problems lead me to realize that my thoughts were warranted!

Additionally, reading so many articles lead me to learn about some of the other problems in modern college that I had not even thought about. For example, one problem is accessibility to courses for all students, including making sure buildings are wheelchair accessible. However, since I am very lucky to have no major physical impairments, I don’t think about this issue often. So, this assignment allowed me to learn about issues that are prevalent to others, and remind myself of issues I do not tend to think about.

Overall, the assignment was a solid one and allowed me to really think about all of the different problems with our current college systems. Not only was it interesting to read about, but maybe a student in this course can use this information to go out and try to make a change going forward!

The combination of relatable information with not so relatable information really made me think deeply about the articles, and about how different issues affect different people. I hope that as time passes, these issues can be addressed and college can be an even better place for people to thrive and prepare for their lives ahead!

This assignment was a culmination of all of unit 2. It started by completing the unit 2 review sheet, which included the sheet from unit 1, plus unit 2. As a reminder, the unit 1 review asked to list technologies that were previously feared but are not currently feared, in which I listed the written word, chess, the phonograph, novels, newspapers, pencil erasers, bicycles, umbrellas, and pocket calculators.

The unit 2 portion of the review sheet was centered around the article written by professor Gernsbacher from unit 2 assignment 1. It asked me to list the 5 fundamental principles of learning in which internet-based higher education capitalizes. I cited the 5 from the article including how it can lead to better mastery, can optimize performance, can deepen memory, can promote critical thinking, and can enhance writing skills.

After this, we had to read through the term project instructions and write on the discussion board about some initial thoughts or ideas we had about the project. I wrote about how I thought the project was a great idea because it allows people to master the course content better and not procrastinate. I also wrote about wanting to do the whole course option, and considered maybe doing a daily journal through the medium of a blog, but I wasn’t sure at the moment.

Reflecting on this assignment, I think the review sheet is always a great idea. And since it is cumulative, not only was I able to better master some important information from this unit, but also from unit 1! This is an example of distributed learning again, and by the end of the course, I am sure I will remember a lot of the information we reviewed!

Additionally, it was valuable to take a look at the term project instructions this early in the course. Even if I didn’t have a firm idea of what I wanted to do, reading some of the expectations a well as potential ideas allowed me to start thinking along the lines of what I want to do. This is important so I won’t end up procrastinating and having my project end up lazily put together.

The combination of the review and the term project is very cool because it allows me to think simultaneously about the past in the course and the future in the course. It is interesting because I can think about what I already know, but also get excited about what I have yet to learn.

Even though this assignment didn’t include a lot of learning of new content, reviewing is just as important, and outlining future assignments is great too. I am getting used to the format of having 5 assignments where I learn and then one where I review, and I think it really sets me up to succeed and master the content!

This assignment introduced the topic of text-based group chats that we will use throughout the rest of the semester. The first step was to look at the group chat list, to find out which group we were in. I am in “The Bookmarks Group X”, with Weiyan Huang.

Next, we were supposed to arrange a time when my group can meet for one hour for a text-based chat for the next unit. Weiyan and I communicated over email and decided that Sundays at noon work best for us.

After this, the person in the group whose last name comes last alphabetically was required to set up the chat room that we will use in future units. In my group, Weiyan had to set it up.

Next, group members had to read 4 sections from the “Course How To”, including how to participate in a small group text chat, and how to make the chat window larger, to name a couple.

Finally, we had to make a discussion board post stating which chat group we are in, who is responsible for setting up the chat room, and when we will meet for out unit 3 assignment 5 chat.

Reflecting on this assignment, it was focused on preparing for future assignments, rather than discussing course material. Figuring out our group, planning times to meet, and learning how to use the group chat were valuable pieces of information that this assignment resulted in.

Clearly, this assignment wasn’t meant to teach us very much, but it allowed me to look forward to participating in the chat in the future! As I mentioned previously, this course challenges me by using so many different types of assignments, and this is an example of another type of assignment that I will get to participate in!

Hour-long chats with a small group will allow me to get to know my fellow group member better, as well as discuss the course material more deeply. I believe this will lead me to master the material, so I am looking forward to it!

This assignment was connected to unit 2 assignment 1, in which we read professor Gernsbacher’s article and then posted on the discussion board about the principle of online education that we resonated with most. For this assignment, we were required to read all the posts written by students in our section, and then review the course syllabus section about how to best respond to others’ posts. Following this, we had to respond to 2 other students’ posts, including one person who resonated with the same principle as myself, and one who picked a different principle.

As a reminder, the principle I chose was that internet-based education can optimize performance. A fellow classmate named Weiyan also chose the same principle, so I decided to respond to her. She talked about not being an early bird, so she is not able to do well in early lectures, and does not want to waste her time. She talked about how online courses can fix this because she can work when she is feeling good, and so her performance will improve.

In response to Weiyan, I essentially agreed with everything she said. I am also not a morning person, so early morning in-person lectures are settings I do not thrive in. I thought she brought up some great points about how online courses can fix this problem!

I also responded to a classmate with a different principle, a girl named Subin, who chose that internet-based education can lead to better mastery. She wrote about how the material online is always available and that more frequent encounters with it will facilitate distributed learning. Following this point, distributed learning leads to mastery and better long term retention.

In response to Subin, I agreed that online learning certainly fosters distributed learning, and that distributed learning is definitely more successful than massed learning. I did bring up the fact that massed learning can still occur, if people do a bunch of assignments way in advance or way last minute. However, overall, I agreed with all of her points, and this principle would have been my second choice.

Reflecting on this assignment, I enjoyed getting the chance to read about the opinions about all of the other students in my section. This is another example of getting to know my classmates better through their posts on the discussion board, as people have very different opinions from one another and it is interesting to read about.

Not only did the assignment allow me to get to know the students better, but it actually allows me to practice one of the principles from the article, internet-based education improves writing skills. Reading and writing posts and comments in assignments such as this has given me a lot of practice with my writing, more than I usually get to experience in an in-person lecture. For example, in lectures, I write down information, but it is all just transcribed from the professor. In this assignment, it allowed me to think and formulate my own writing, which always helps improve my skills.

Additionally, reading all of the posts essentially allowed me to review all of the information from the article without having to go back and read it again. This is an example of distributed learning, as having frequent interactions with that material has allowed me to have better retention of it, rather than just studying it once!

These principles are all intertwined, and completing this assignment allowed me to learn more about each one through reading and responding to the posts of others!

Hello everyone! This blog is being utilized for my term project for an online course I am taking at the University of Wisconsin Madison. The course is called Psychology 532: Psychological Effects of the Internet. For this project, we were given many options to choose from, and I decided on keeping a daily journal on a blog. This journal will include an itemization of the content I am learning each day, as well as detailed reflections on the class material. I hope anyone who reads this blog enjoys it and learns some new, interesting information!