If you are just starting your journey with online learning, or you are returning to it after a long break, practical advice on how to learn online will certainly be useful for you. In this article, you will find some valuable tips that will help you improve your work efficiency and make the most of distance learning opportunities.
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Remote learning
Remote learning is a popular and well-known phenomenon. The first online trainings appeared in the 90s of the last century. Various types of courses, trainings or tutorials, commonly known as e-learning, were available many years ago.
Recent circumstances in the world related to the pandemic have contributed to the huge increase in the popularity of distance learning. New platforms for online learning emerged, and many training companies moved completely to the virtual network.
What is distance learning and how to learn online
E-learning, learning on the Internet, is a set of instructions delivered to the recipient on a computer, tablet or smartphone in order to expand or acquire new knowledge and raise qualifications. Remote learning can include many formats. In e-learning, content in the form of audio and video is most often used.
Online learning has many advantages, although you can also find disadvantages of distance education. The best results of using e-learning are achieved by adults who thus develop their current passion and interests. Children and adolescents achieve not very good results in distance learning compared to traditional education. The lack of discipline in the classroom adversely affects children and their commitment to work.
Advantages of online learning
The benefits of e-learning include:
- Individual work pace. Each student has control over how quickly the material is delivered to him. In the classroom, the student must work at the pace of the lecturer or instructor. In the case of processing the material, you decide how quickly or at what pace you absorb the content. Additionally, you can undo, stop or play the whole lesson again at any time.
- Diverse formats. Regardless of whether you prefer video, text or voice content, e-learning will meet your needs. By adjusting the content to the individual sensory modality of the student, knowledge is absorbed in a very natural way, which improves the effectiveness of learning.
- Availability 24 hours a day. Training materials are available at any time, upon student’s request. The student’s work mode is not limited by lesson hours or the instructor’s working time. The ability to present content on mobile devices allows you to learn anywhere and anytime, e.g. while travelling to work.
- Joining to a community. Most of the online training courses also ensure joining the community of current and former students. Thanks to this, we can share our experiences or get answers to the question that bothers us.
- Possibility to obtain further certificates. Getting a badge or a special certificate after completing each module of the course is very motivating. We can boast of our achievements on social networks or in closed groups of course participants.
How to learn online, available formats
The multimedia nature of the Internet allows content to be delivered in many formats. Below you will find a list of some basic types of training available.
- Mini courses. Short films, 2 to 3 minutes long, or multimedia presentations on one narrow topic.
- Full courses. Complete trainings, consisting of several lessons of 15 to 30 minutes each. Presented in the correct order, containing additional exercises.
- Gamification, learning with the use of competitions, games and quizzes. Mainly used in teaching children. May contain leaderboards and student grades.
- Mobile learning. Courses and trainings prepared mainly for mobile devices. Most often used in language courses.
- Webinars. Live virtual group meeting, usually led by a moderator or instructor to share insights and answer trainee questions. The perfect complement to “self-service” courses and training.
Getting the best results, how to learn online effectively
Learning on the Internet is a very individual matter and requires an appropriate approach. The most important thing is to define the goal you want to achieve, and then choose the optimal tool that will bring you closer to this goal.
The preferred sensory modality mentioned above, the optimal way of perceiving things and phenomena, is also very important. People with the visual modality should focus on the video content, while the owners of the auditory modality will achieve the best results by focusing on the audio courses.
However, it is not worth getting too attached to this issue. Most of the online courses and trainings are currently created taking into account all dominant sensory modalities.
The last element that I want to draw your attention to is regularity of work. Regular learning will be very important here. Everyone works at their own pace and according to their capabilities. However, it is worth establishing an individual work plan and adhere to it scrupulously.
If you have additional questions or suggestions on how to learn online, write in the comments below. We also strongly encourage you to share our entries. You will find social media sharing buttons at the end of each article.
You can also read this article in Polish at: Jak uczyć się online
