Online educational platforms are on the rise and it will only keep rising from now on. More and more learners across the world is now getting into different online platforms and study online. Most of the learners are still new to online educational environment and therefore, struggles much to continue and finish their study from online platforms. This is not because the platforms are not resourceful rather because studying online is very different from studying in a traditional educational setup like school, colleges or universities. Online platforms normally are very precise in organizing their contents and are also very resourceful as they often directs to additional contents through links and includes many online assessments to go through to ensure your learning. So, to learn better, learners need to prepare themselves to study online differently. This blog post will discuss specifically how you as a learner can prepare yourself for studying online.

Fix Your Mind

Fixing your mind to study online is the very first thing that you need as a preparation as a virtual learner. Just realize that the environment is different here from what you normally used to face and so are the expectations. As a learner, you need to remain focused on overcoming all the challenges you may face during your study online no matter what. Do not worry, it is not that hard as online courses often offer you the required supports and guidelines. You just need to retain your cool and go through them or seek help from your instructor or peers. Apart from that, to remain focused while studying online, you need to motivate yourself constantly. To do it, just keep a motivational note for yourself which will include your primary reason why you joined the online course and what would you gain as benefit from that particular course. When you are struggling with your study online, read that motivational notes to reignite your motivation to complete the course.

Select the Right Course

Do not go and enroll into a course that does not suit you. That way you will lose motivation to continue that course very easily and would gain nothing from it. It is important that you connect your personal goals with the course that you are getting into. Make sure learning from that course will help you in your life and you have some idea about what you will go through from that course. However, what if you wish to learn a completely new subject/topic? In that case, start with an introductory course on that subject/topic so that you get the basic idea and know how to get started with it before you move into more advanced courses. Online platforms often categorize the courses based on skill levels. So, when you are browsing and online course platform, make sure you look for the level of that course. Online courses also include prerequisites that you need to comply before enrolling into the course. Carefully go through those prerequisites too and see if you are ready for the course or not. Course descriptions often give you an idea on what topics will be covered, what learning duration is required from you, what type of assessment and involvement you may go through during the course and so on. All these descriptions are important for you to select the right course for you.

Decide the Course Authenticity

When going through the course description, also look for the course description to see if it has any institutional affiliation or accreditation or not. Courses with institutional affiliation or accreditation have more acceptability and normally are more organized and effective. They will serve your cause better and ensure that you are gaining full return of investment from the course. Also, look for the instructor biography and reviews of the courses to see who is offering the course and how popular the course is. It will help you remain more motivated to finish the course if you understand that you are achieving something good in return to your efforts.

Fix Your Schedule

Now that you know how much time you need to invest in your study for the course you are getting into from the course description, fixing your schedule accordingly is the next important step. Like traditional education system, you also need to invest some amount of time for learning online. The difference here is, in traditional education system, your teachers and your institute will constantly remind you in various ways that you need to invest more time learning and in online courses, especially if the course is self-paced, no one will tell you directly that you need to spend more time. It is completely up to you to decide how much time you are spending to learn online. It may sound bad but it is actually useful that online courses offer flexibility in terms of time management so that learners can learn conveniently and balance their life and other works. Professionals who work full time can also find this helpful and can learn online while satisfying their job. So, in online course, you need to commit a time that is convenient to yourself but would still help you complete the course within your intended duration. While deciding the time, look for the course description to see how much time the course requires from you and accordingly make a schedule to study.

Go Through the Instructions

Remember, online courses may seem overwhelming as they will direct you to a lot of contents and resources. You may feel that you are flooding with information and get confused on what to go through and what not. Without a proper classroom setup, you may often feel a pressure and ultimately drop out from the course. It is important to know that, you need not to go through all the resources and materials from the course. Read the instructions thoroughly and see what recourses are mandatory and what resources are additional. Prioritize on the mandatory requirements and when you can manage some more time, go through the additional materials to further extend your learning. Complete the assessments and assignments in time and then browse additional contents. Online courses normally will highlight on what to cover and when. Going through the course curriculum will also be a help here. So, look for that information. If you are confused, it is best to discuss it out with your instructor or your peers. Courses have Q/A sections or forum to discuss relevant problems. So, it is also a good idea to seek help there if you are confused.

Prepare to Take Notes

While going through the course, you will need to take a lot of notes. These notes will help you with the course assessments and also help you remember the most useful information from the course better. It is also a good idea to take notes of some of the materials even if they are already available in the course for you to access very easily. As a new virtual learner, you may find it difficult to invest a lot of screen time and learn digitally. So, download and print out some of the materials that are useful and important so that you can go through them without sitting in front of a PC or other device. It is also a healthy option for you as a virtual student and will definitely help you in completing your courses successfully.

Prepare a Study Environment

It is especially important for you to arrange a study environment which will keep you focused during your study time. An environment with a lot of distraction will make your online learning journey very hard and unsatisfactory. So, arrange a study environment so that you can study with all your attention towards it. Keep all the relevant books, materials and notes available in your study environment so that you have assess to them during your study very easily. A bit of personal touch to the environment will make it more motivating for you to study there but be aware not to make it too much populated with things that are not relevant to your study. The environment should also be well lit and noise free so that you can put your attention and study conveniently without any possible distraction.

Participate Thoughtfully

Online courses will have a lot of engagement and most of your learning happens there. Some examples are online Q/A sections, Discussion Forums, Assignments, Assessment Quizzes etc. Remember that these engagements are planned specifically to help you assess your learning and give you better insight on your progress. So, participating in those engagement activities are very important. So, take your time to thoughtfully engage yourself in those activities and also keep a portion of your schedule for these activities. Sometimes, going through these activities will further enrich your learning as you get instant feedback on your performance. There may be comment and feedback section after each lesson from the course. Try to put your reflections there as your feedback. It will help yourself and as well as other peers who are learning from the same course. Also, your instructor may review those reflections and guide you further if they find the need. Be mindful of writing your feedback in a formal tone rather than in short forms that you use in social media platforms. It is a learning environment and your instructors as well as your peers will find it more convenient to communicate with you if you write formally. Some courses may offer additional engagement through live classes and offer you special opportunities to participate in special programs. Make sure to participate in those too as they are meant to enhance your learning and are within the course price that you have already spent. So, utilize the course offerings to the fullest.

There you go! You now have all the insight that you need to prepare yourself for Studying Online. If you want to more, we recommend that you go through this article which describes how to succeed in online courses. Also, recommending to view this article on what to do and what not to do in online discussion forums so that you have a good time studying online. Now that you are prepared, we request you to browse some of our courses to get started as an online learner. All the best!