Success Strategies for Online Learning Notes

What Does It Mean? What Do I Know? Evaluation is a crucial step in reading. You need to be able to answer the seemingly simple question: “What does all this mean?” But there’s another aspect to evaluation. You need to evaluate, truthfully and honestly, your own level of understanding. What do you know as a result of your reading? Evaluation, then, consists of the following steps: ▸ Identify the main ideas and themes and their value to you personally. Try to determine the take-home message of the material you’ve read. For example, the take-home message of a chapter on accounting ethics might be, “In the long run, honest accounting practices benefit the longterm health of any business.” Sometimes the main ideas and themes are spelled out, and at other times you will have to deduce them for yourself. Evaluating the main ideas and themes in terms of how they relate to you personally will help you understand and remember them more easily. ▸ Prioritize the ideas. Of all the information that is presented, which is the most crucial to the main message and which is the least crucial? Make a list of the main topics covered and try to rank them in order of importance. ▸ Think critically about the arguments presented in the reading. Do they seem to make sense? Are the author’s assertions reasonable? Are there any flaws in the arguments? Would authors with a different point of view dispute what is being said? How would they build their own arguments? ▸ Pretend you are explaining the material (talking—out loud!—about the material). This is one time when talking out loud when no one is around is not only normal, but beneficial. Summarize the material aloud, as if you were talking to another person. Talking out loud does two things. First, it helps you identify weak spots in your understanding and recall. Talking to yourself will help you nail down concepts that are still not clear in your own mind. Second, and equally important, because you are transforming the written word into the spoken word, you are thinking about the information in another way, which will help you remember it better. ▸ Use in-text review questions and tests. Many textbook chapters end with a quiz or a set of review questions about the material. Some have questions scattered throughout the chapter. Don’t ignore them! Not only do such questions indicate what the writer of the book thought was important for you to learn, but they can also provide an excellent opportunity for evaluating your memory. page 126▸ Use a virtual study group. When it comes to evaluating your understanding of a reading, two heads (or more!) are often better than one. Working with a virtual study group can help you test the limits of your understanding and memory of material and assess areas in which you need work. ▸ Be honest with yourself. Most of us are able to read with our minds on cruise control. But the net result is not much different from not reading the passage at all. If you have drifted off while you’ve been reading, go back and reread the passage. From the perspective of . . . AN EDITORIAL ASSISTANT The ability to discern what is important within what you read is a key job function for editors. How might you apply your reading evaluation skills to an author’s first draft? Dealing with Learning Disabilities If you, like millions of people in the United States, have a learning disability of one sort or another, reading and remembering may prove to be particularly challenging. Learning disabilities are defined as difficulties in processing information when listening, speaking, reading, or writing; in most cases, learning disabilities are diagnosed when there is a discrepancy between learning potential and actual academic achievement. learning disabilities Difficulties in processing information when listening, speaking, reading, or writing, characterized by a discrepancy between learning potential and actual academic achievement. One of the most common kinds of learning disabilities is dyslexia, a reading disability that produces the misperception of letters during reading and writing, unusual difficulty in sounding out letters, spelling difficulties, and confusion between right and left. Although its causes are not yet completely understood, one likely explanation is a problem in the part of the brain responsible for breaking words into the sound elements that make up language. Another common disability is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (or ADHD), which is marked by an inability to concentrate, inattention, and a low tolerance for frustration. For the 1 to 3 percent of adults who have ADHD, planning, staying on task, and maintaining interest present unusual challenges. These challenges not only are present in college, but also affect job performance. People with learning disabilities are sometimes viewed as unintelligent. Nothing could be farther from the truth: There is no relationship between learning disabilities and IQ. For instance, dozens of well-known and highly accomplished individuals suffered from dyslexia, including physicist Albert Einstein (pictured), U.S. general George Patton, poet William Butler Yeats, and writer John Irving. A disability in no way dictates what sort of accomplishments you are capable of. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division By the time they reach college, most people with learning disabilities have already been diagnosed. If you do have a diagnosed learning disability and you need special services, it is important to disclose your situation to your online instructors and other college officials. In some cases, students with learning disabilities have not been appropriately evaluated prior to college. If you have difficulties such as mixing up and reversing letters frequently and suspect that you have a learning disability, your college may provide online resources that can page 127provide you with guidance. If your college has a physical campus, one place to start is their counseling or health center. Career Connections The Job of Reading Memos. Annual reports. Instructions. Continuing education assignments. Professional journals. Each of these items illustrates the importance of developing critical reading skills for on-the-job success. Virtually every job requires good reading expertise, and for some professions, reading is a central component. Polishing your reading skills now will pay big dividends when you enter the world of work. The better you are at absorbing and remembering written information, the better you’ll be at carrying out your job. For instance, in many corporations, vital information is transmitted through the written word, via e-mails, hardcopy memos, technical reports, or web-based material. The job of repairing broken appliances or automobiles requires reading numerous service manuals to master the complex computer diagnostic systems that are now standard equipment. Nurses and others in the healthcare field must read journals and reports to keep up with the newest medical technologies. Furthermore, because not all supervisors are effective writers, you’ll sometimes need to read between the lines and draw inferences and conclusions about what you need to do. You should also keep in mind that there are significant cultural differences in the ways in which people write and the type of language they use. Being sensitive to the cultural background of colleagues will permit you to more accurately interpret and understand what you are reading.