Study Tips for Effective Online Learning

Online Learning has so many advantages over physical classrooms that are hard to ignore. In current times, it increases the chance of keeping social distance these days due to the COVID pandemic. Other benefits you can adopt while attending online classes are:

• Reduced costs
• Networking opportunities
• Flexibility
• Access to the latest content
• Quick assessment and feedback

When remote training tools become available, suddenly it no longer matters what your location is, as long as you have the Internet. Everything is more accessible and you could still benefit from live training sessions, watching educational videos, and asking questions. 

Online learning is as effective as if you were sitting in the classroom at some traditional college. Yes, studying online may be psychologically tough for some. But if you follow certain practices that help to succeed in online learning, you’ll see that making the best out of online learning doesn’t have to be hard. 

Read some hacks that should help you work effectively towards completing online training.

Tip #1. Do intelligent browsing. Online technologies let you find anything on the Internet including highly rated online courses. So, be smart and utilize your time and resources wisely. Don’t waste your time with mindless browsing and pick a course online. Start learning new skills or master those you already have with new information.

Tip #2. Define your goals.  Pick up a pen, paper, and write down any goals you have in regard to taking up the online training. Writing your goals down by hand forces you to think hard about them and then go through an evaluation.

Tip #3. Do double–checking just to be certain that the online course that you’ve picked is a legitimate one. Some courses offered online are short and free. But once signed up to take them, you can end up with nothing more than just an advertisement billboard for a more comprehensive, as well as an expensive billboard.

Tip #4. Check whether the online course offers exercises along with suggested solutions. Since best learning comes with constant practice, quizzes are not enough. Exercises and tests are more important and contribute to the learning process. By doing exercises and tests you can check whether you’ve understood the course material or not. Also, that way you can find your weak points and anything that needs to be improved.

Tip #5. Double check just to make sure that the instructor’s background is appropriate. Don’t take a brain surgery course from a bartender and a bar-tending course from a brain surgeon.

Tip #6. Check on the instructor’s availability. Whenever you make a post or ask a question online, you need to be sure that the instructor should be able to respond at least within a couple of days.

Tip #7. Maintain research organized and neat. Use flashcards that you can create digitally online. Try to organize everything keeping it in folders set up for every online class. This is also a good way to have digital resources organized.

Tip #8. Don’t be (overly) ambitious. Signing up for a whole bunch of online courses can be tempting, especially if they’re free and look nice and helpful. But don’t go too crazy about an effort to pursue them! Take it easy, don’t shoot yourself in the foot by “biting off more than you can chew”. Doing one or two at a time should be plenty. If others interest you, note them down. Doing in series is often better than doing in parallel.

Tip #9. Make an offline checklist. It can be as simple as a huge post-it note saying “Course”, or a sheet of paper to track your progress. Make it easy to see, easy to remember, and easy to go back to (desktop shortcut should help). “Out of sight, out of mind” – you already need to switch on your computer, navigate to the online platform, then to that particular course. Help yourself by putting a paper reminder.

Tip #10. Psychological hack: develop a routine. Transfer-appropriate processing theory states that memory is best when the “processes engaged in during encoding match those engaged in during retrieval”. If you have a standard routine for learning online, keeping track of what you did before will be easier. Starting right where you’ve been left off is great. No need to randomly click through all the videos again!

Tip #11. Avoid distraction. Does your phone show you countless notifications? Just switch it off during an online session. Concentration usually goes down the line if you get constantly distracted during an online session. Realize that you are the only one who is responsible for paying attention and focusing on one thing at a time.

Tip #12. Stay positive. Have your good vibes with you throughout the process. This makes online learning go by a little faster and enjoyable. If it helps, try to turn on some mellow music. Just make sure that it won’t distract from concentrating on online lessons.

Tip #13. Keep hydrated. Water is the one thing that our brain needs whenever we feel distracted. Have water whenever you feel bored.

Tip #14. Make notes. Writing while learning actually sends a signal to our brain that we are deeply engaged in an activity. So, take handwritten notes as you go along with your online learning.

Tip #15. Express doubts. When you’re expressing doubts, you can get involved in learning at a much deeper level than your companion. Ask questions whenever you get stuck with an online course.

Tip #16. Maintain self–discipline. Since each week’s study material is posted online, students will choose a time ideal for them to do their studies, at their own home or office with a reliable Internet facility. Clearly, students must be self-disciplined to ensure all studies are done on time. Do not procrastinate and check up on your syllabus to make sure that you’re not running behind the scheduler.

Tip #17. Develop a liking. Until you don’t actually like something that you would be eager to learn, it’s immensely difficult to progress. Consequently, this would also increase your levels of curiosity.

Tip #18. Take short but frequent breaks. Usually, the whole body, eyes, and mind become tired or even numb after about one hour or so of seating and staring at the glowing computer screen. Once you start feeling sore and numb, stand up and step away. 

Have some time to ventilate and clear your head. Regular breaks allow to rejuvenate the brain and get in the right frame of mind. After that, you can go back to your studies and learn more effectively.

Tip #19. Team up with like–minded people and get in the healthy competition. Humans are social animals. We thrive in scenarios where we are motivated through social incentives. It’s a bliss to have like-minded friends with whom we bond in a learning team and share the same set of goals/purposes. 

Collective efforts have always proved to magnify the outcome. Attending online classes all alone can throw you out of the right path if you don’t apply certain mechanisms to tap these social incentives. Join some groups on Telegram or WhatsApp to connect with like-minded people. Keep talking to those peers who motivate or inspire you. Fair and healthy competition is always required for keeping that fire within your burning.

Tip #20. Come an inch closer to your goals bit by bit. Whatever you spend time on, make sure it brings you an inch closer to your own goals. For instance, if you’ve been learning English online in order to improve your communication in a foreign language, make sure you practice speaking every time you have a chance. 

Apart from reading, incorporate habits like watching English news/ movies in your leisure time. This will add some heterogeneity towards learning and will bring you a step closer to the successful completion of a course you take online.

Tip #21. Beat those deadlines. Set up strict guidelines for completing assignments. Yes, it’s a common thing when students start to work hard on the due day when they need to turn the paper in.  

Have some extra time and arrange your personal deadline to get everything done. This should be at least a couple of days in advance. Give yourself two days for revision and editing. Then take a day to clear your head. Then use another day revisiting your assignment and checking everything with clear eyes to catch any errors that you might have missed.

Tip #22. Channel your freedom. Personal freedom is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it makes you feel the owner of your life, but, on the other hand, it can transcend into procrastination in no time. Online classes do give you a sense of freedom where you are not bound by a rigid schedule but you will have to keep yourself disciplined and motivated enough to stay on track.

Tip #23. Avoid getting trapped in the comfort zone of your own mind. While attending the online classes, you might be completely oblivious to the lurking competition and may get completely trapped in the comfort zone of your own mind. To avoid this, you should always join a good online test series.

Tip #24. Avoid the “studying in bed” concept. Online classes bring the best mode of education to the comforts of homes. However, this same comfort can cause a serious hindrance to your growth. This happens whenever you let it take over your motivational zeal. 

Try setting up a desk for taking these online classes and don’t fall for the “studying in bed” concept. Prepare early for the classes and dress up for it. This will give you a feel of participating in something important. Don’t take any calls or respond to any messages while attending the online classes.

Tip #25. Revise. Always revise things you have learned online on a timely basis. It helps concretize your base and sets a platform to build upon further.

Tip #26. Stay proactive and save yourself from getting bad grades. Whenever you feel confused or frustrated, shout for help and start asking questions because otherwise you can get swamped. Whenever you have any questions, don’t struggle all by yourself trying to figure things out. Online instructors should be able to provide assistance. Just clarify what would be the best ways for reaching them online. 

Don’t try to fool yourself by thinking that all issues you’ve been dealing with will be resolved at some point. Most likely you’ll realize later that you still don’t have a clue what is a deal with it and how to get it right. So, get enough help on time for keeping up with studies and filling all the blanks in your learning.

Tip #27. Sleep on it. There’s research that suggests that REM (rapid eye movement) sleep can help improve memory and problem-solving. Actually, the best time to study online can be before bed. Sometimes people would dream about whatever they read before they went to sleep. It works well for remembering everything that they just read.

Conclusion

Online learning is highly adaptive and customizable in nature. It moves at a pace suitable to the learner’s needs, thus enabling a personalized learning experience. It is highly engaging, interactive, and impactful. E-learning offers good opportunities to build a strong academic network for quality interaction. It provides a good range of multimedia tools for engaging and impactful learning. 

Online learning is extremely cost-effective and saves on time as it virtually brings the classroom home. This has several cost and time benefits like cutting down on study material expenses, travel time, cost, and other related expenditures.

Online learning facilitates 24/7 online support to students. Students can consult teachers, educational experts around the world, and their peers whenever needed for problem-solving and seek answers to their queries.

E-learning has no limitations on access to data for in-depth learning. Information can be sourced from multiple locations and stored digitally and made available on demand. One of the key benefits of E-learning is that students get easy access to the latest content. This keeps students well informed and updated about any developments and latest trends in their field.

Online learning facilitates online assessments and quick feedback. The data generated from this feedback provides students with inputs on their strengths and weaknesses thus providing them with an opportunity to improve their overall performance. If you haven’t tried online learning yet, visit Grinfer and start your online learning journey at your own convenience today!

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