- What are two “things” that you would like to learn in this course? Please try to be specific, so that you can then track your progress towards this learning goal.
- I am excited and also a little worried about learning based on journals and review articles than textbook only since I am used to using the textbook as my main reference. I would like to learn how to efficiently find the relevant information I need and how to recognize that I am spending too much time on information that is not important in the big picture.
- I would like to learn and practice how to come up with effective questions. This includes questions that would help me learn the course material in gene regulation and scientific research questions. In order to come up with scientific research questions, I think I would have to develop having an inquisitive mindset and understand the course material.
- (I would also have to develop myself in effectively communicating my ideas and thoughts)
2. In class you were briefly introduced to the concept of self-regulated learning and its relevance in learning (broadly) and in research. We also stated that it involves four elements:
- attending to key features of the environment
- resisting distractions
- persisting when tasks are difficult
- responding strategically, flexibly adaptively.
Select one of the two “things” that you listed in Question 1, explain which of the four elements above you anticipate being the most challenging for you in this context, and describe what you will do to respond to the challenge
- Responding strategically, flexibly, and adaptively would be the most challenging element in the context of my first learning goal. I struggled in my bioinformatics project in BIOL 341 because I couldn’t find information related to the direction I was interested in going into. Instead of responding strategically, I spent more time trying to find information that did not exist or was not available. This resulted in an unsatisfactory level of time management for the project. In order to respond to this challenge, I would reflect on myself as I work on an assignment or project whether or not I am spending too much time on something without a positive result. Then, I would reflect on whether or not I am on the right track with my work and think if there is another way to approach the task. I should also ask for help when I am struggling rather than continue on working on the same thing hoping that I will get a positive result after I spend more time on it.
- Do you think that what you just did (answering Q1 and Q2) is part of self-regulated learning, or is it something else?
- I think it is part of self-regulated learning. The questions required me to reflect on myself and identify times when I had challenges and how those challenges relate to the elements of self-regulated learning. Also, all of these processes required resisting to distractions in order to complete.