A13.5: Week 13 Reflection

Aims and Objectives: This week was pretty busy but I wanted to continue revising my MRP and complete all the assignments correctly and on time.  I wanted to make all the correct additional pages for the MRP and correctly site the references.

Declarative Knowledge: This week I learned what we had to include in our Table of Contents page.  I learned that I had to list links to my MRP and all of the different genres.  I also learned how to revise my work with the SCAR method.  I learned that S stands for substituting, where you substitute other words which helps with improving the clarity of the work.  I also learned that C stands for cut, where you remove something to make the idea more clear.  A stands for add, where you add something, and R stands for rearrange, where you rearrange the information. 

Procedural Knowledge:   In order to make theTable of Contents page I used the page feature on my weblog.  I provided links first in order of Preface, Acknowledgements, About the Author, Unifying Genre, References, and last the Reflection.  Then I provided links to each different genre.  I did this by highlighting the word I wanted the audience to click on to go to the link, clicked the link icon and typed in the pages URL.  I then hit insert and this made the link active.  After finishing each link, I saved and publish the page.  I then sent an e-mail to the class list with the link to my Table of Contents page.  Next, I reviewed Abby and Alyssa’s 7th genres.  I went to each of their pages, examined their genres and then made comments using the comment feature on their weblogs.  I commented on the voice the work was in, the audience it was intended for, what I thought the author was saying, something I liked, and something i thought the author should address. I then saved the comments to complete the assignment.  Next using the page feature on my weblog I cited all of my references and titled the page References.  I did this by using the APA manual and the sources I have previously cited.  I then saved and published the References page.  I also sent a link to this page to the class list.  To revise my poem I went to my 2nd genre page and clicked Edit.  I then made the correct revisions using the SCAR method.  I substituted words, removed words/phrases, and added a few ideas and sources to help make the work more clear.  I then saved these changes and wrote a reflection about them in a post on my weblog.  Last I sent a note to the class including the link to my revision.

Conditional Knowledge: Knowing what and in what order to include in the Table of Contents page is very important for both the MRP and for future academic work.  It is important to remember that the way you organize your work should/will ultimately help your audience have a better understanding of the information.  I think this is important when doing any type of project.  More practice citing sources for the References page is very useful.  We have had some practice throughout the semester, and I feel like it is slowly getting easier the more practice I have.  I understand citing more now and I think I will continue to cite sources throughout my education and career.  Revising work is a long and ongoing process for everyone.  I found the SCAR method to be very helpful and practical.  Using this method made my work more clear and I hope more reliable to my audience.  I think this method would prove to be effective for my MRP and for any other type of work no matter what subject area is addressed.  I have never had anyone really explain how to revise work so having a method like this is very enlightening.

A11.4: Week 11 Reflection

Aims and objectives: This week I wanted to choose and complete my 6th genre, edit my other genres, and learn about socio-emotional literacy.  I wanted to pace myself with the assignments, completing them thoroughly and on time.

Declarative Knowledge: This week I learned that socio-emotional literacy deals with a persons experiences on the Internet.  Basically it is being able to distinguish good and bad, right and wrong, and being precautious when dealing with different people and things on the Internet.  I learned that this type of literacy is very important for both adults and children.  I also found that being socio-emotionally literate is extremely important when taking part in chat rooms, instant messenging, or any type of forum.  People can often provide ficitious information about themselves, in turn possibly being harmful to someone they talk with on the Internet. 

Procedural Knowledge: In order to complete my 6th genre I had to chose from the ones I had not yet done and then create it as a page.  I chose to do my podcast.  I wrote the text of my podcast and then went to gcast.com to record it.  I called the number, recorded it and then pasted the link on my page.  After completing it I saved and published the page, then sent the link to the class list for everyone to view.  After this, I completed the peer review on Abby and Alyssa’s 5th genre.  I did this by using the comment feature on each of their weblogs.  For this I discussed the voice each piece was in, the intended audience, what I thought the author was trying to say, something specific I liked/”blessed”, and something they may want to consider addressing. Next, I saved the comment.  After this, I continued to find information on socio-emotional literacy.  I conducted a search and found the site Creativity at Work: Articles and Tips, which provided information on what socio-emotional literacy was.  After this I discussed what I found out about this type of literacy, how I felt that certain skills were required to be socio-emotionally literate, and how I thought it had/will change schooling/education.  I then saved and published the reflection to my weblog.  I also commented on my group mates reflections about socio-emotional literacy using their comment features. 

Conditional Knowledge: Before this week I did not really know what a podcast was.  I’m very surprised that it is so easy to record an audio file on the Internet.  These could be used to enhance any type of project or just for your own personal amusement.  I actually let my roommate listen to mine and she was impressed also.  Knowing about socio-emotional literacy is important for everyone.  I think people have recently become more aware of this type of literacy and will continue to use it accordingly.  The Internet poses very many opportunities for people to get themselves in danger so we must all remember this when utilizing the technology.  I think educating people about this type of literacy will be a primary concern now and in the future. 

A10.5: Week 10 Reflection

Aims and objectives: This week I wanted to learn how to do a podcast and figure out what my 5th genre would be.  I also wanted to revise my first few genres, adding sources to each.  Then I wanted to learn what reproduction literacy was, and discuss my mailing list that I joined.  I wanted to get all of my assignments done thoroughly and on time.

Declarative Knowledge: This week I learned what a podcast is and how to make a podcast using gcast.com.  I also learned what reproduction literacy is.  I learned that reproduction literacy involves finding and using information, and then recreating it to express your own thoughts and ideas.  This week I learned more about my mailing list/online community I have been observing since the beginning of the semester.  I had not really thought of it as a community until this assignment.

Procedural Knowledge: I first had to decide what my 5th genre for my MRP would be.  I looked at the list of genres I made and saw which ones remained that I have not yet completed.  I decided to do the Interview Transcript so I referred to our Resource Manual for CD 424 to see the outline of an interview.  Next I saved and published the genre as a page on my weblog and then sent the link to the class list.  After this I conducted my peer reviews on Alyssa and Abby’s 4th genres.  I used the comment feature on both of their pages, and remarked on the voice of the piece, the intended audience of the piece, what I thought the author was saying in the piece, something specific to “bless,” and something specific that they may want to address.  I did this on both of their weblogs and then saved the comment.  In order to find out about reproduction literacy I first conducted a search.  Next I reflected about my online community I have been observing.  I used the post feature and commented on the people in the community, its purpose, whether it fulfills its purpose, and additional thoughts of mine about the community.  I then saved it and published it to my weblog.

Conditional Knowledge:  Doing an interview transcript will help give me practice for what types of questions to intially ask clients/caregivers.  Knowing how to do a peer response is both beneficial to me and my groupmates.  Having someone else’s perspective on your work helps you look at it from a different point of view.  It also helps me keep in mind these things when I am creating my genres.  Learning about reproduction literacy continues our education about becoming literate in a digital society.  We have learned about many different types of literacies this semester.  The mailing list has been a lot more beneficial than I orginally thought it would be.  I had never had any experience with any type of mailing list so I was not sure what it entailed.  After observing one for a while, I have learned many different things and will continue to look for different mailing lists concerning different interests/subjects.  I can use the mailing list both for educational and personal interests in the future.

A9.5: Week 9 Reflection

Aims and objectives:  This week I wanted to do further research for my MRP.  I also wanted to decide which genre to do next, and how to revise my project prospectus.  Additionally, I wanted to pace myself with each assingment to spread them out throughout the week and get them done on time.

Declarative Knowledge: This week I first learned what genre I was going to do next.  I also learned about branching literacy.  I learned that branching literacy deals with spatial orientation in cyberspace.  I also learned that there are certain skills a person must possess in orer to be branching literate.  If someone does not have these skills, then it would be easy for them to “get lost” when using things such as the Internet and searching for information.

Procedural Knowledge: In order to choose which genre would be my forth, I had to look at the remaining genres for the MRP that I have not yet completed.  To make the Observation report I referred to the Observation Reports that we use in our lab.  Next, I had to create the genre as a page, save it, and then publish it.  I then had to send the link to the class list for them to preview it.  To peer review Abby and Alyssa’s third genres I had to separately go to their weblogs, review the third genre, and then using the comment feature post a comment concerning the voice, audience, say back, bless, and audience of their work; I then saved the comment on about their third genres.  To find out more about branching literacy, I conducted a search on the Internet.  Unlike, the other forms of literacy we have been studying, I found this to be the one with the least amount of information.  However, once learning about branching literacy I posted my reflection about it concerning what I found out, what my reaction was to certain skills with the literacy, and how it will change schooling/education.  I then saved and published the post.  In order to revise my project prospectus I first met with Mrs. McComas and discussed how to revise my essential and foundation questions.  After the meeting I created a new page and made the changes that we discussed. 

Conditional Knowledge: Doing the Observation Report as my 4th genre will help me for completing my project, and give me addtional practice with writing goals, objectives, behaviors, and impressions.  Completing the peer reviews will help with analyzing my own work.  Learning about branching literacy was very interesting, and will help me develop searching skills along with learning how to better navigate in digital space.  Revising my prospectus will help me think about the question in a different way.  I now understand that essential questions should not contain any type of bias.  This will help me in the future when coming up with research questions.

A8.5: Week 8 Reflection

Aims and objectives: One of my goals this week was to decide what my 3rd genre for the MRP would be.  I also wanted to get all my assignments done on time.

 Declarative Knowledge: This week I learned what I needed to know in order to conduct a peer review on two of my groupmates 2nd genre that we made last week.  I learned that I had to consider the voice, audience, say back, bless and address of the genre.  I also learned that I would review Abby and Alyssa’s work.  I also learned more about information literacy, and information litearcy in a digital world.  I learned that information literacy is key to higher education. 

Procedural Knowledge: In order to make my 3rd genre, I had to look at my Project Prospectus and decide which genre I wanted to do next.  I chose the journal entries.  I then went to my weblog, created a new page and made two fictional journal entries from the perspective of the father of a child with a cochlear implant.  After doing this I saved and published the page as genre 3.  Next I had to peer review Abby and Alyssa’s 2nd genre.  I separately went to both of their weblogs, and read over their 2nd genres.  I assessed both of them on the voice the piece is in, the audience it was written for, what I thought the author was trying to say, something specific that I liked about the piece, and something the author may want to address.  I did this using the comment feature on their weblogs.  In order to research and reflect on my knowledge about information literacy I first thought back to our previous assignment in the semester about information literacy and what I learned then.  Next, I found a few different websites about information literacy and then wrote a 400-500 word reflection on the subject.  I included the links in my reflection and then saved and published the post.  I did not do the next assignment, revise my project prospectus, because I have not yet met with Mrs. McComas; I will more than likely do this next week after my meeting.

Conditional Knowledge: I think learning about information literacy is very important.  I feel like we have both been learning and practicing information literacy throughout the course of this class. I also feel like we will continue to focus and learn more about information literacy in this class, our education, and professional careers.  Learning how to peer review our groupmates 2nd genre will be beneficial to know what to expect with the remaining genres.  This also gives us things to think about while creating our next genre, like another way to evaluate our work before we publish it. 

Week 7 Reflection

Aims and Objectives: This week I wanted to come up with a good draft for my poem for the MRP. I am not very artistic or creative so I knew that it would take me a while to come up with a good poem.  I also knew that I was going out of town over the weekend so I wanted to get at least one or two assignments done before I left so I would have a few left and could get all of the assignments done in time.

Declarative Knowledge: This week I learned some different forms of poetry.  I have not had a lot of experience with poetry so I was introduced to a few different kinds of poems.  One of the new forms was a found poem.  The poem I chose and had some previous experience with was an acrostic poem.  I also reflected on what we learned and discussed about copyrights.  This was enlightening to me because I think copyrights are confusing.  The newest thing I learned about this week was photo-visual literacy.  I did not have any previous knowledge of the concept and researched the topic to discover that it is basically the ability to use and understand images or photos.  Photo-visual literacy requires certain skills in order to be considered visually literate.

Procedural Knowledge: In order to create my poem for my 3rd genre, I had to creat it as a page in my weblog.  I then had to choose the word/words that I wanted to use and creatively think from the perspective of a mother with a child who will receive a cochlear implant.  I chose the words “cochlear implants” to be the starting letters of each line of my poem.  I then thought carefully and went back and completed each line to add meaning to my poem.  After completing my poem I then saved and published it as a page to my weblog.  Next, I reflected on our group discussion from 9/27/06. I went to the transcript of our discussion and read over it carefully.  I identified what my main contribution was, what questions our group came up with, how and if we answered the questions, and how I related what we learned to my own work. After reflecting on these areas, I posted my reflection to my weblog.  I then stopped by Mrs. McComas’s office and made an appointment with her to discuss my project.  Next, to find information on photo-visual litearcy since I did not know what it was, I conducted a search on the Internet.  After finding what it was, I also provided the links to where I found the information.  I then saved and published my reflection to my weblog and responded to my groupmates refections.

Conditional Knowledge: I am not very confident with writing poetry, but I tried very hard to come up with a good poem this week.  I hope I portrayed the feelings of a parent with a child who is deaf and must undergo major surgery.  I think poetry is a good way to express emotions and can be used effectively to display those feelings.  Reflecting on our discussion concerning copyrights helped me review what we learned and how we should apply it to our own research.  Copyrights are very important and should be taken very seriously.  This will be helpful when doing future research to be aware of the copyright policies.  Learning about photo-visual literacy was interesting because I already knew it existed, but I was not aware the process actually had a name.  Knowing that practice helps people become visually literate will help me as a student trying to understand concepts.  I also feel it will be important when working with and trying to teach people things in therapy.  Photos and images are commonly used so we should try and help people become more visually literate.

A6.5: Week 6 Reflection

Aims and Objectives: One of my goals this week was to complete the assignments by Sunday. Although I did not complete all the assignments early, I did start working on the assignments earlier this week.  I also wanted  to become more familiar with the different parts of the Multigenre Research Project (MRP) this week. Having some basic research sources, we now have more of an understanding what we will be doing for the overall project.

Declarative Knowledge:  This week I first learned what a project prospectus is, why it’s useful, and how to make one.  The project prospectus is the plan describing how I will complete my MRP.  Although this will undergo many changes as the semester progresses, it will give me a good place to start with the MRP.  I also conducted a search for five more sources in relation to my research question using MEDLINE, PychINFO, and Academic Search Premier.  I was able to find several scholarly articles using these databases.  Along with the project prospectus and the search, I internalized the web evaluations about my own site.  Keeping in mind the evaluations we used in a previous assingment helped me evaluate the credibility and validity of my site.  I had to be aware of what credibility and validity meant and also what the evaluation consisted of. Last, I had to reflect on our group discussion from September 13th. 

Procedural Knowledge: In order to do the project prospectus I had to first create it as a page in my web log.  I then had to follow a specific outline.  I had to identify my essential question and foundation questions, list my tentative point I plan to make with my project, the genres I will include, how I will integrate my genres, and a list of tentative resources I will use.  Four of the genres I included were already assigned, however I picked three additional genres.  I then had to tell what voice they would be written in such as clinician voice, parent/caregiver voice, or client voice.  Along with the voice of each I had to identify a potential audience for each genre and a discussion of why I chose that particular genre.  After completing the outline I saved and published the page. Next, to complete the library search assignment I chose some keywords and phrases that I would search for.  I then chose to search Academic Search Premier which gave me several useful results using the keywords “cochlear implant and language.” I then follwed the same process with MEDLINE and received numerous amounts of information. When using PyshINFO to see what I could find I changed my keywords to “cochlear implant and language development.” I received several different articles from the other two datatbases using these keywords. I then posted the resource where I got the articles, the keywords I used to search, and the bibliographical information for each article.  To site each source I referred to my APA manual fifth addition.  I then saved and publised my five sources on my weblog.  I then had to view my site and evaluate it thinking about its validity and credibility.  I kept in mind the evaluation outlines that we followed from a prevous assignment.  I also had to consider how other people would view my site and how I want to develop it.  This made me realize that I need to work really hard for people to think my site is valid and credible.  I saved and posted my thoughts from this assignment on my weblog.  Next, I reflected on our group discussion from September 13th.  In order to do this, I had to go to my e-mail and read the transcript from our discussion.  I specifically had to identify my essential question I started with, the essentail question I came up with during/after the discussion, how my groupmates helped me clear my thinking, how I helped my groupmates clear their thinking, and a list of recommendations for anyone who may participate in a similar activity in the future. I then saved and posted my results to my weblog.

Conditional Knowledge: My project prospectus will guide me throughout the class and my project.  Knowing it will be revised as we move on in our projects, it will still help me achieve the final product.  This is a good activity for any type of project because it makes you think about the final draft, even though we are still in the beginning stages.  The library search will continually help me in finding resources concerning my research question.  Searching for articles and citing sources is very good practice for students like myself.  Internalizing web evaluations is a good way for me to look at my own site and evaluate its validity and credibility.  I want people who look at my site to rely on the provided information and see that it is in fact valid and credible.   Reflecting on our previous group discussion allows me to look at, and still consider the suggestions that my group members made to me.  It also makes me see how my own thinking process evolved in our discussion.  The list of what others should do made me realize that we are all there for the same purpose, whatever that particular purpose may be, and we can really help each other throughout the process.

A5.3: Week 5 Reflection

Aims and Objectives: My goals for this class this week were to continue my research, specifically through our library’s available databases. I wanted to find several different useful articles for me research.  I also set out to learn how to create a webliography. Since I have never created anything like this before, I first had to learn what it was and then how to make it.  I set the goals to try and get ahead in the research process and also to complete this weeks assignments.

Declarative Knowledge: In order to complete the weekly assignments I had to know several different facts.  First, I had to be aware of the available databases that our library offers to find information for my topic.  I also had to know that each database has subject specific articles.  Since my subject is cochlear implants, I knew I would possibly find more articles in the medical based databases.  Therefore, I used MEDLINE and then used ERIC.  After finding the articles I needed, I then cited the articles using the APA format. I learned that this is the format we had to use for this particular assignment as well as most of our other assignments in this field.  Next, I learned about what an annotated webliography is and the steps that allow me to create one.   

Procedural Knowledge:  In order to conduct a search for scholarly articles, I had to go to the library web page and click on the “articles” link.  From there, I had to decide which databases I thought I would get the most accurate and a larger variety of information related to my topic.  I then chose MEDLINE.  Knowing that different keywords/keyword/phrases would give me different results, I first tried the phrase “benefits of cochlear implant.” This only gave me one article, which luckily was useful for my research.  Then, I rephrased my key words and searched for “cochlear implant and language,” I received significantly more articles; several that were useful/interesting and some that were not.  The articles I found to be useful I had to either click on the link to the full text of the article, or I had to  request thearticles through the interlibrary loan.  I found more than the limited 5 sources we were required to find, but I had to use a different database to complete the assignment so I then went to ERIC and searched for “benefits of cochlear implant.” Once again, there were limited amounts of articles but I found one useful article to use and site for the assignment.  Then I changed my keywords to “cochlear implant and language.” Again this gave me more results and I found another article that was very useful.  After finding the articles I needed, I then went to Knight Cite on the library web page in order to know how to cite my articles. I also referred to the APA Publication Manual to ensure the correct citing.  Next, I created an annotated webliography.  To do this, I went to wordpress, logged in, and went to my dashboard. Then, I had to click on write, and write page. I had to give my page a title and then insert the text of my webliography.  I then came up with 3 different links for each category which were: fun/weird/zany/outrageous,sites for SLP’s/Audiologists, Research Resources for cochlear implants, Personal Interests, and Anything else we want. I then had to write 3-5 sentences (annotation) about each website and insert the links. In order to insert the links I had to highlight the words/phrases where I wanted the link and then choose the chain link in the formatting toolbar. Then, insert the URL and then click on insert.  Once they are all finished then save the page and publish it. 

Conditional Knowledge:  Further using the databases from our library web page will ultimately assist me for finding important information for this particular class/project topic, other classes, and other projects I may have in the future on different subjects.  It is good to know what resources are available to us as students, and what the resources can help us with.  Citing our sources is something that I personally can use all the practice I can get.  I’m sure I will never really memorize all the APA citation formats, but I am sure that I will forever need to cite different sources that I utilize.  The webliography was very interesting to me because I have never created anything like it.  Along with being part of our MRP, I think it will be a good way to learn about our classmates interests and will be interesting to look at a few years from now. 

A4.7: Week 4 Reflection

Aims and Objectives: This week I set out to revise and create a better research question by analyzing my previous question on cochlear implants in order to learn more about my topic.  I also set goals to use the search strategies that we have discussed the past few weeks to help me with my research question, and to learn how to accurately evaluate a website and information.  I did these things to prepare myself for future research that we will do for our class projects.

Declarative Knowledge:I learned that revising the essential research question and analyzing the support questions will give you a better understanding of what kind of question is needed for this project.  I also learned that developing a well planned search strategy will ultimately give me the most accurate results when doing my research.  Along with these things, I learned that it is important to analyze the key words in the essential question in order to revise the question in a more researchable way.  Having a question that is either too broad or to narrow will not yield the best search results. Additionally, evaluation of different websites and information is very important when doing research.  Looking at aspects such as accuracy and objectivity is vital when deciding if the information is from a reliable source and useful for projects like the one we will conduct.

Procedural Knowledge: In order to revise my essential question, I had to take each of the content words and think of how they could be more specific.  Some examples are “implantation-pacemaker, cochlear, embryo” and “development-language, growth, physical, maturity.”  After making a list of these, I had to choose which words to use in order to make my question much more specific; thus, giving me my revised question.  Next, I took my revised question and made a list of the foundation questions, or questions that lead me to answering my essential question.  Some of these included “what is a cochlear implant?,” and “who can be implanted?”  After revising and coming up with the foundation questions I then had to think about search strategies. It is important to consider key terms/phrases and where I can search for these terms.  I then had to conduct a search on my topic, and then on collaborative software.  Next, I learned how to evaluate a website using the Purdue Worksheet and then an evaluation guide on the internet for evaluating information.   

Conditional Knowledge:Learning and knowing how to revise questions is a very important skill to have in order to be successful both in school and the real world.  Until now, I did not know the correct questions to ask myself in order to narrow a topic down.  Again, search strategies are important for everyday life, and evaluating information is very important since it is so easy to publish things on the internet.  I ultimately need to know how to do all of these tasks in order to accurately conduct my research, not only for this class but for my future classes and profession.  I feel like I will use these search strategies and evaluation techniques for my career because we will be obligated to use evidence based practice as speech-language pathologists. 

A3.8: Week 3 Reflection

Aims and Objectives:
My personal goals this week were to explore the websites we were provided for preparation and then complete the assignments over the course of a few days.  I also tried to do some extra research while completing the required assignments so I would have a better understanding of the subject I was searching for.  I originally intended to try and do some of my work before the weekend because I went out of town and did not have access to a computer. However, I did not have very good luck.

Declarative Knowledge:  This week I learned that there are several websites that can aide me in finding information on certain subjects that I might be interested in.  I also learned that it is important to be specific on these websites to acquire the accurate information that I need, and I should use multiple websites to see what each one offers.  Along with the different websites, I learned that I can join a mailing list that is based around a specific subject area, and I can learn about the subject through receiving e-mails from different members of thisparticular group.  I also learned that there are mailing lists for almost everything you can possibly think of.  Through taking the VARK inventory I learned that I am an aural, read/write, and kinesthetic learner.  Additionally, I learned that in order for a question to be a good research question itmust have a few different elements like being specific, researchable, and lead to a better understanding.

Procedural Knowledge:  To start out this week, I read about the web and then visited other websites that may help in researching later on.  I then went to my weblog and created a category of Week3 following the same directions as last weeks assignments.  In order to find a mailing list to join I then visited catalist, tile.net, and then searched on google to finally find a mailing list for cochlear implants.  After sending an e-mail to join the list I shortly got a reply back that said that list no longer existed, therefore I went back to google and tried another mailing list.  This time, I got a confirmation e-mail which I had to reply to in order to confirm, and in turn they sent me an e-mail saying I am now on the mailing list,which is extremely busy by the way.  Next, I chose three websites to search to find my last name “kester” and did the same for my topic “cochlear implants.” I went to these websites typed in either my name or search topic and then began to explore the results I received.  Some were helpful, and some were not so helpful.  In order to answer the probe I had to reflect on my learning experiences and when I have been successful vs. when I have experienced trouble learning.  To complete the VARK inventory I had to go to the website, click on the questionnaire link and fill out the inventory.  It then gave me the results of the inventory to tell me what kind of learner I am and different studying strategies that might be helpful.  I then posted my results on my weblog and what I learned from the inventory.  To come up with a question, I had to list areas that I am interested in, choose one area and then turn it into a good research question. 

Conditional Knowledge: Learning how to use websites to conduct accurate searches is very important and will not only help for educational purposes like conducting research, but also for everyday life when trying to find anything you can possibly think of.  Along with searching different websites, another good way to recieve information about certain topics is joining a mailing list.  I would have, and never had, thought about joining a mailing list before this assignment but I now see how it can provide you with a lot of information.  I have recieved a lot of e-mails so far of other recommended websites I can visit that have information on cochlear implants that I may be able to use for future research.  The mailing list serves as another good resource for information for school related topics but also for things like daily quotes, personal interests, etc.  Knowing what kind of learner you are can help you in maximizing your performance.  The results gave me some interesting and useful studying tips I will try with my upcoming tests.  Knowing how to write a good research question will help me in doing my actual research not only for this class, but for others I will soon have.  Knowing how to write the question will help me in searching and finding an answer. 

Questions: My mailing list is very very active. I received an e-mail from it actually saying that if the mail load was too much that I could instead of recieving e-mails just join the group. Should I just join the group or stay on the mailing list? I actually like the e-mails, they’re intersting, but the amount of e-mail is a bit overwhelming along with all of the e-mails from this class, family, etc.