Online classes can be quite boring to attend especially when you’re unable to focus at all. Whether it’s a lack of sleep or a drop in your interest level for the course, when learning alone at home, it sometimes can become hard to stay motivated and feel energetic every day. And since humans are social animals who love to interact and engage with peers, transforming that environment and pulling yourself to a room by yourself can get too much at times.
If you’ve also been feeling demotivated and lazy with your online classes, you’ve stumbled upon just the right place. In this article, we will be discussing a few points on how to make your online learning experience more fun and engaging so you don’t feel lost at the end of the day. So bring your hopes up, get your notes out, and read on to find out how you can feel more pumped for digital learning!
1. Join Class on Time so you don’t miss out
Often times we lose interest in class because we are lost about what has been discussed. This might happen either because you weren’t paying attention at the beginning of the class and you don’t know the context, or you just find it hard to tag along to whatever is being discussed. To avoid being lost throughout the class, you should always try to join the class on time or at least before the discussion begins. If you have a clear idea of what the class will be about, you can easily catch up throughout and even do your own research side by side.
2. Make sure your internet is working fine
Secondly, having a bad internet connection may also be one reason why you can’t catch up with whatever is happening in class. You may be disconnecting quite often, or your audio may be lagging which is why you can’t understand what is being talked about. In order to make sure you clearly get whatever is being communicated, and you’re available to answer if called to, you need a stable and reliable internet connection like Kinetic by Windstream. After all, you don’t want to embarrass yourself during a very important presentation, right?
3. Record your lecture or take notes
Thirdly, you should either record your lecture if you have a lack of focus or take hand-written notes so you actively focus on what is being said in class. Many online tools allow you to record the entire class, including the audio and video of whatever is being presented on your screen. You can do that and make notes later on so you don’t waste your time later by being completely lost in your exam.
We personally recommend you take notes in a notebook so your mind gets active and you know what is being discussed in case the instructor decides to ask you a question candidly!
4. Research on your own at the side
Next, you should do some research on your end as well so you get a complete idea about the topic that is being discussed. Sometimes, you may not be able to grasp the idea from one person’s perspective, but when you do some research and study a number of angles, you start getting the idea. This is also one reason why self-study is a very good idea and people who practice it are often way ahead of those who resort to class discussions alone.
Thanks to the internet, you now have access to an unlimited amount of resources available online that you can access from the comfort of your home. Although some websites ask you to buy their resources or create a user account, there are still a lot of free options to do research from. You just need to master the art of online research.
5. Arrange for group discussions with your peers
Lastly, we recommend you arrange for peer review or group discussion sessions with your classmates apart from class times when you can get an idea of what perspective they have on the topic. Just like research will bring forth a new angle on the subject, so will your peers. How people at your level explain an idea is a lot easier to grasp than someone who knows too much.
This way, you will also save the time that you would otherwise spend researching and filtering websites, and get first-hand and more direct access to ideas that may help you build your own.
Group discussions are also a great idea a day before your exam when everyone is prepared. You can revise together and recall ideas for each other so everything is fresh in your mind. This can also be a great way for you to bond with your classmates who you rarely see in person due to online classes!
Closing Remarks
All in all, online classes can be quite distracting since you’re at home and your family may not provide you with the privacy or peace that you require to focus on an online class. In order to make sure you don’t lose out on anything, our tips will surely help. If you have any more online study tips, do let us know in the comments below!
