Preparing For Success When Working And Learning Online

The COVID-19 Pandemic has made many aspects of our lives more difficult in 2020, seriously disrupting almost all aspects of day-to-day life, business operations, transportation, tourism, and even education. With much of the workforce required to work from home under a “new normal”, many questioned the ability to remain productive and achieve both business and personal goals. However, using the right tools, many businesses can not only maintain reasonable levels of productivity in their workforce, they can also come out on the other side of this crisis stronger and better equipped thanks to online education.

For years, there have been numerous free and paid online education services offered by numerous companies, institutes, and universities. While there has been adequate use of these offerings to keep them going and improving over the years, they have primarily been used by those who are more comfortable with technology. Thanks to the rapid adaptation required due to COVID-19 restrictions, increasing numbers of people are moving to online educational offerings to hone existing skills or develop new ones. The growth in online education has been explosive over the past 6 months.

Benefits of Online Education

Although there are challenges in online education, such as issues with insufficient internet bandwidth, the need for adequate computer hardware, and a minimum level of technological know-how, there are many benefits to learning online.

Online education is a fantastic way to enhance your knowledge and skills in a unique and flexible environment with its own distinctive strengths and opportunities. Online education works by communicating and delivering course material via the internet and helping students learn new skills through digital materials. Online education usually consists of a mixture of pre-recorded audio & video lessons, texts and live lectures and Q&A sessions. Even traditional group work is possible with collaborative tools and online communication systems.

Many people have found the benefits of online education, such as:

• Both students and instructors are able to gain knowledge, experience and expertise through the shared experience of online learning, thanks to the diversity of backgrounds, culture and experience an online class can provide versus more traditional classroom-based learning where students and teachers are frequently from similar social & cultural backgrounds.
• Online education can still be enjoyed, even if your work schedule is particularly hectic. Many activities, such as pre-recorded lessons, can be accessed and absorbed during the commute to or from work, or from the comfort of your own home. You do not need to try and balance a schedule of time off work to attend classes.
• With many online courses, you can join any time you want and choose from a wide variety of topics without possessing prior background in the subjects which may be required in traditional classroom learning.
• Teachers and students can communicate efficiently and effectively through the use of email, chat groups, video meetings & document sharing services.
• Students often find it easier to absorb materials when they can learn at their own pace and not be forced to adhere to strict timelines which are present in most traditional classes.

Tips to Increase Your Productivity

The great thing about productivity is that it is a skill that can be developed over time. We have some tips to share with you that will increase your productivity and help you focus on using your time efficiently. Staying focused and working more efficiently will give you the ability to finish your work quicker which can free up more personal time to spend with family and friends and let you take on new activities and hobbies or more time to further your education and improve your career.  As many of us continue to work from home, some of these tips will also help you avoid distractions and maintain some peace of mind, leading to a healthier life.

While the following tips are aimed at improving your success in online learning, they can be applied equally to the current work-from-home environment we are all currently facing.

• Be Motivated: It is important that you are interested in the topic you are learning; this will keep you motivated and improve the enjoyment of the learning process, helping to keep you focused on completing the course and not giving up before finishing.
• Plan Your Learning in Advance: While flexibility is one of the best features of online learning, it can also be one of its most dangerous pitfalls. After enrolling for an online course it is important to read the course literature to understand how much time they recommend you spend to successfully complete the course, then you should work out a comfortable schedule for your learning time and set goals and deadlines for yourself to achieve along the way. Entering this schedule into your calendar, either on your computer or your mobile device will help you stay focused and commit the time needed to successfully complete your learning. Your calendar system should send you reminders each day of what your schedule is so that you can focus on the work at hand.
• Take Care of Yourself: Our body needs to rest and revive itself every day, so we have the responsibility to take care of it too. It is important that you avoid working overtime or studying late into the night if it means losing sleep. Less sleep will have a negative impact on your mind and body, affecting your concentration and making it harder for you to do your work and absorb the information you are trying to learn. It is important to get proper sleep every night to give your body and mind sufficient rest, doing so will help you, improve your focus, concentration and information retention.
• Establish a Specific Working Area: When you are working or learning from home, you need to set aside a dedicated area for this purpose. The area should be quiet and away from the normal activities of your family and distracting noise. It is important that you inform those with whom you live that when you are in that space you should not be disturbed unless it is important. Remember that activities going on in your house can cause a lot of distraction and it is important that you have a quiet working and learning environment to ensure your concentration and focus.
• Establish a Specific Working Time: As already explained in “Plan Your Learning in Advance”, it is important to have a schedule for your learning. While flexibility is great, it is important not to lose focus and motivation, therefore it is important to set aside a specific time for study which is, where possible, routine and consistent. Find good ways to structure and make good use of the time you set aside for study. Try not to rush, take the time to do the work correctly, and focus on absorbing as much of the information as you can.
• Have a Comfortable and Healthy Desk and Chair: It is important to set up your desk and chair to be comfortable and ergonomically friendly. There are many guides available online to help you in setting up your workspace, but it is important that your monitor is at eye level, you can use books to raise the height of your monitor or a laptop stand and external keyboard to help. The more comfortable you are and the less strain on your body, the less distraction you will have due to discomfort. It is also important that your work and study area is clear from unnecessary clutter and distraction.
• Turn off Your Phone: Your smartphone can be a major distraction to work and study online. To stay focused on your online work and education, it is often necessary to either turn off your mobile phone or set it to “Do Not Disturb”. A constant barrage of notifications from email, social media, or games can greatly distract you and tempt you to check your phone, wasting important time.
• Use the Right Technology: You must make an effort to use the necessary technology that suits your needs and those of the online study you are engaging in. Ensure that the applications and tools required are installed in advance and are always up to date. Test these applications and become familiar with them before you start your course. If you don’t have WIFI or Ethernet-capable internet connections at home, you may be able to tether off of your mobile phone, but it is best to check with your mobile phone provider before doing this as sometimes this can be costly.
• Pay Attention: When joining an online class, meeting, or webinar, it is important to stay focused and pay attention. Just like in traditional classes, it often helps to take adequate notes or audio recordings for transcription, particularly if the video is not going to be available for review at a later date. Get involved in the conversation, ask questions that are on topic, and pay attention to questions or answers from others, this will help give you an opportunity to hear the perspective of others.
• Save Your Data: It is very important that you save all the data you can from online work and classes that you participate in on your computer or mobile device. It is important to keep backups of all your work, either on a secondary device or in the cloud, with many services offering free storage space online for this purpose. It can be devastating if you lose or overwrite an important file, particularly an assignment or major work project. Having a backup, you can quickly access can save you many days of work if the worst should happen.
• Be Prepared to Apply New Knowledge and Skills: The best way to reinforce any learning is to use it. Look for ways to apply new skills and knowledge learned in your day-to-day work, this will not only help you reinforce the knowledge and skills but will also help you raise important questions about what you are learning and how it can apply to your specific situation.
• Communicate and Share: Communication is very important in effective work and learning. For those that are used to more traditional methods of face-to-face communication, you may need to learn to effectively communicate online. It is important to be clear and concise in your communications, and to share your understanding, knowledge, and experience with others, in doing so they are more likely to share theirs with you helping you gain understanding and insight that may not otherwise be available to you. Be sure to prioritize communications with your work colleagues, instructors, and fellow students, if something is affecting your ability to participate, such as illness, internet issues, or heavy workload, be sure to inform others so that they know what is going on.
• Build Your Network: The activities you are doing online create new opportunities for you to build a far-reaching, often global, network that may not otherwise be available to you in traditional learning. Be confident and enthusiastic, discuss important topics and issues with your classmates and instructors, and engage as much as possible. By connecting with others in your course you can help to build a network that may lead to future business or learning opportunities in the future.

Information: https://www.samson-tiara.co.id/blog/2020/09/preparing-for-success-when-working-learning-online/