Introduction
Remote learning presents many challenges. If you are young and learning from home there are always going to be distractions. If you are in a virtual classroom, and someone knocks on the front door, you are certainly going to answer it, even when it means leaving what you are doing.
So when learning remotely it is also necessary to learn some self-discipline and set a few limits around the behaviour of family and friends.
Avoid Distractions
- Tell your friends that you are studying and not available from 9-4 x 4 days a week.
- If you have children, study during the hours they are at school or in care.
- Discuss with your partner that your program is a formal accredited training program and that it shouldn’t be interrupted.
- Make sure that you have a dedicated workspace, preferably an office or room where you can close the door.
- Explain to your workplace that you are studying from home and that you can only work for say 3 days a week, name the days so they are clear about your availability. If they value you, they will work around you.
- Turn off your smartphone while you are working, friends can leave a message for you.
- Allow yourself half an hour’s lunch break, and try to go outside to clear your head.
Planning Your Training Schedule
When you are not in a classroom, surrounded by other students, for many, it becomes harder to solve problems. It is important to stay in touch via Zoom or Skype so that you don’t lose motivation. Often you could find yourself needing support and there is support available online. There will be various forums and content discussions that you can join. Many students struggle when gathering content for their 2000-5000 word assignments, and this is where rapidessay can help, as they are a professional writing service that will put your thoughts and ideas into the right format for the best presentation of your assignment. Prices are affordable, and content is reliable, and they will be merely restructuring your content to submit it in the best essay form for marking.
When you are a remote student you need all the help that you can get, and LMS or learning management systems are useful in scheduling along with other apps. Since the lockdown, there has been a revolution in apps and software for remote learning. Last year the whole of year 12 in Australia did most of their final year of schooling remotely, but also in a structured way. That may be the secret, for younger students to have greater structure around remote learning.
For example:
- school hours adhered to the same as in class.
- students had to be dressed, no pyjamas.
- no eating in class
- no devices allowed to distract them.
- formal discussions were held
- assignments had to be completed on time.
- during school, recess, and lunch breaks were scheduled into the program
- extra help from teachers was booked via Zoom for out-of-school hours.
Minimize Technical Problems
Technical problems will arise, and it is difficult for the remote student to be across everything that can go wrong. Unstable network connections are common, especially in rural areas. Some remote learning courses build technical support into the content and offer what to do if? Help when something goes wrong. When studying remotely, have your own local tech support available to answer questions and problem-solve.
What to do if You Feel or are Left Behind
There is no point in completing a course if you have learned nothing. If you feel that you are not progressing contact your tutor and discuss the problem. Sometimes we just need certain remedial exercises in areas of difficulty, and as you are paying for the course you want to get the most out of it.
Often your tutor will have some tools available to help you to progress, and this is where the LMS system is so very good as it has modules in almost everything. In areas like health, you end up doing one or two LMS modules every week to keep up with registration requirements. In many professions, you can’t re-register unless you do about 40 hours of training content a year, to show you are keeping up with trends and changes.
Also, your future depends on training and completion of coursework, as it is impossible to get a good job commercially without a degree.
Not everyone is suited to academic work, and if you fall behind too much you may want to retrain in a more suitable area, and this is fine as some of us make two or three different career choices before we find the one that suits us and our skillset.
Benefits of Remote Learning
There are many benefits to remote learning are:
- Flexibility, allows you to still attain a degree even when you live miles from anywhere.
- Often allows you to work at your own pace.
- It is often more affordable.
- It enables personal growth
- If you are an older student you may feel more comfortable working from home.
Disadvantages of Remote Learning
- Hard to sustain motivation
- Lack of interaction with others. Not always a good way for children to learn as they need to be with others to learn social skills.
- Humans are social beings, and some will struggle with learning from home, while others will thrive.
- Difficulty having enough contact with instructors.
- Unless you have good computer skills it can be difficult.
If you are a more mature person and not a school child you will mostly be fine with remote learning. If you live alone it is important to seek some social contact, as the week can go by without seeing anyone, and that is not good for us. Also Read – Learning more about the Skew Lines: 2021 Update
Conclusion
When you are a highly motivated student you will know where to seek help. For those who are struggling help is needed, and some won’t know how to best access the help that they need. No one likes to be isolated and isolation is an issue, as you don’t get immediate feedback and may not be sure that what you are doing is right. This is where a professional service will be able to help you.
