6 Preparations Before You Choose Online Learning

Online education gained popularity several years ago, but its effectiveness has been questioned all this time. The COVID-19 pandemic made it clear that it is possible to adopt online-learning curricula and make the education system keep functioning. However, there are many aspects one should consider before choosing online education over traditional one.

Tasks will probably differ from those in the offline mode

The lack of in-person interaction makes some teachers (or institutions in general) less assured of students' skills. As a result, they modify the tasks they used to have for offline studies. The courses that have been held online since the very foundation have rather specific assignments too.

It means that addressing qualified essay writers for help will not be enough to get a pass. You will need to prove your knowledge in custom projects, oral reports, and so on. So, in case you are used to handling written assignments and getting good grades mostly due to them, be prepared for surprises.

Communication issues

Online communication is not that easy when it comes to interpreting one's actions and words. In real life, one can get many prompts from the gestures, facial expressions, and the voice tone of the person they are speaking with. Meanwhile, the best one can get from an online conversation is a cropped picture of a speaker in Zoom (provided that they turn on the camera at all).

More often, it's a chat, and not everyone is able to express their thoughts and emotions clearly, as well as understand what the other person means. It may result in miscommunication, especially when people are not well acquainted with each other. And since there is no need for the physical environment, the number of students may exceed the norms and make it harder to get to know everyone.

Also, introverts can be barely bothered by the number of students in a group. In this case, online learning is heaven for them - they won't have to get acquainted with each and every student. For extroverts, this might feel like a punishment. So, if you belong to the latter group, you might need to organize offline meetups if that is possible. Otherwise, you would better consider hybrid learning.

Online learning is easier to give up on

People are social creatures, and there are more chances to get motivated when you personally see those who make an effort and succeed.

For some, motivation comes from the spirit of competition. In online learning, where grades, successes, failures, and feedback are rarely made public, such individuals are not really willing to do their best. They are more isolated and not aware of the whole picture, so they don't see any reason to try harder.

Also, e-learning is self-directed. It shows promising results among trainees for a particular position which is proven by IBM reports and studies.

The results can be easily explained: motivation comes from the prospect of getting a specific job after developing only the necessary skills. The same goes for extra courses students choose with a particular goal in mind.

However, opting for online education when it comes to high school or higher education may have totally different results. The majority of studies starting from the 2000s show failed retention rates in comparison to the traditional way of learning. That is why the more motivated you are and the more specific goal you have, the higher the chances that e-learning is for you.

There are two types of online learning

Online learning rarely gets distinguished into asynchronous and synchronous modes. However, it is important to clarify what type of course, you're going to be enrolled in.

Asynchronous learning is the most flexible option and is suitable for people with unpredictable schedules. It doesn't take place in real-time - one can watch all the videos and process new information when they are able to.

The synchronous type requires the group of students to participate in online workshops and discussions. There, adhering to the course schedule is necessary.

You might need the second monitor

This might be relevant or not, depending on your major. For instance, if you have to watch webinars on some purely technical topics like coding, it is recommendable to follow the teacher and repeat the code they are writing. For that, you need a full screen to open the code editor on your computer and another one - to see the screencast from your teacher clearly.

Also, if you have a lot of e-books that are convenient to view only on a computer and listen to the comments of the speaker on a particular quote or text, it is much easier to split the information into two screens. In this case, it is much easier to arrange the tabs on one screen, yet, this is only an example. The real case may be a bit more complicated, so getting the second monitor will save you time and effort.

Discipline is a must

Most online students do not leave their houses to study since that is the most comfortable place. Yet, this comfort may disrupt your concentration, thus leading to procrastination and low productivity. There should be some rules.

For instance, following a schedule may help to set the pace at which you will study. Also, you're going to need a workplace. Studying in your bed or on the same couch where you sleep, eat, and relax is a bad idea.

Takeaway

You may not have to deal with all the points above if you choose to attend online courses. That will depend on the field of studies and the institution. However, there are some core aspects to consider. So, before enrolling in an online-learning course, ask yourself whether you:

• have enough motivation and a set goal to go through all the modules;
• prefer asynchronous or synchronous learning;
• can be (or can learn to be) insisting on clarifying all the unclear questions with people online, which may be harder than in-person;
• are willing to master self-discipline.

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Recommended reading

If you enjoyed this post and have time to spare, why not check out these related posts and dive deeper down the rabbit hole that is education.

• How Can I Improve My Childs' Reading Fluency?
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Tags: Online Learning, Remote Learning, Guest Post