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December Reflection

Ashley M Knepler

Hahn School of Nursing University of San Diego

HCI 548: HCI Seminar

Professor Dorothy O'Hagan

Dec. 13, 2020

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Reflection

Throughout this semester, our class has had monthly seminars discussing various aspects

of the program and current events regarding health informatics. Topics have ranged from

telehealth to creating an ePortfolio. December's seminar was our last one before winter break; the

topics we covered involved our social justice assignment and how to prepare for the upcoming

semester. We also discussed various applications that were available to students to use for the

upcoming semester. Due to work, I was unable to attend the first half of the seminar; however,

when I accessed my zoom, our professors talked to us about useful tips on succeeding in the

program.

The biggest advice that I have tried to follow throughout my academic career is to stay on

top of my work and plan. For this semester, all three of my classes had small assignments

scattered throughout the semester and then a big paper due at the end. Due to the time between

each due date, it was easy for me to procrastinate and fall behind schedule. To continue to

succeed for the next semesters, it is important to stay on top of my work and utilize tools like

planners and reminders. Another topic that was talked about for our success for school was

different resources to improve our writing. One tool that Professor O'Hagan suggested to us that

I have been using throughout the first semester was Grammarly. I found this tool extremely

helpful, and it has made me more aware of how my writing style and what works well and what

does not. While my first semester comes to an end, I am excited about the upcoming year and the

classes I will be taking. Even due to the circumstances of COVID-19, all of the professors

accommodated well to the students and making sure that they were trying to give an experience

that was as close to in-person as possible.