Even for the brightest and most motivated of students,
self-directed eLearning can be hard work. Especially now that we live in a
post-COVID world, more students have to try it out for themselves, and perhaps it
is not something that’s going to go away any soon. Many believe this has
introduced the way many students will be learning in the future.
So, whether you’re a parent, a student, or a teacher, it’s
important to take some time to zero in on what makes a successful independent
eLearning practice, ensuring you’re able to get the work done, the information
learned, and overall creating the best experience for everyone involved.
Today, I’m going to show you how.
It doesn’t matter what kind of self-development journey you’re
embarking on, whether you’re losing weight, writing a book, or independently
learning at home. The best way to get focused and motivated is to set
manageable, tangible goals.
“In the case of eLearning, this means creating activities that
you can achieve hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly (although short-term goals
are better because achieving them brings far more motivation than trying to
reach a goal over the course of a month.) For example, you could set the goal
to read two chapters of a book and make notes on them today,” explains Sarah
Farrow, an education blogger at Draft Beyond.
Once you fulfil the goal, you’ll get a hit of dopamine because
you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve, and you’ll be able to use that
momentum to keep going to achieve the next goal. You can then find a learning
pace that suits you and your individual learning style.
Take a moment to answer these questions, as they will help you
get a greater understanding of your learning style.
·
Who is/was your favourite teacher in the school, and
why?
·
What kind of learning or lesson structure do you enjoy
the most?
·
What hours of the day are you most engaged with
learning?
By answering these kinds of questions, you can begin to figure
out what type of learning style best suits you. Do you like quietly reading
books and taking notes, or do you work better using an instructional video? Are
you more focused in the mornings or afternoons? What did your preferred
teachers do those other teachers didn’t?
You can then apply these answers to your own individual learning
efforts. If you love watching videos and work best in the mornings, then set
yourself some dedicated work hours in the morning to get the most important
work done (setting goals along the way), and then work on less important or
mentally taxing projects the afternoon.
Figure out what learning process works best for you and will
deliver you the best results.
“As a student, you don’t need to feel as though you’re going
through the learning process alone, and there’s no help out there. There always
is in one form or another; you just need to be open enough to accept what
people are saying and have a readiness to adopt new strategies,” shares Nikki
Turner, a tutor at Writinity.
One of the most invaluable tools you’ll have as a student is
getting feedback from other teachers and students who will give you new ideas
and approaches you can apply to your own learning processes, thus optimizing it
to be the best learning process it can be.
There are so many benefits from thinking about the future and
letting your aspirations give you the momentum now to apply yourself to the
learning journey. For example, let’s say you want to be a writer, and you
eventually want to write and publish books.
What you now need to think about is how you can take what you’re
working on learning and how it will help you achieve your future goals. This
may feel slightly abstract at times, maybe even difficult if you’re not sure
what you want to be doing, but even just having some idea or notion on how this
education can help you in the future and can be applied to your career can be a
great way motivate you to focus and keep going.
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Ashley Halsey is a teacher and professional writer at Glasgow Writing Service and Gum Essays. At the time of COVID,
she has been proactive in helping both teachers and students develop the most
effective learning practices possible.