Digital Natives

With the arrival of Covid-19 in our lives, we have had to learn to adapt quickly to changes and continue with our daily lives. Although distance learning or online education has existed for years, it is at this moment that EdTechcompanies—that is, Educational Technology—have experienced great development and growth, paving the way and helping to digitize education for the benefit of all.

Considering this openness to a new way of learning, it is important to know how we can get the most out of it. Below, we show 16 tips that will help you improve your performance when studying remotely.

1. Get in the right mindset regarding time distribution: It is important to remember that, although you do not attend in-person lessons, this does not imply that you shouldn't perform study tasks every day. On the contrary, if you think that you will now have more free time, you are wrong; you must know that you will have to do homework, participate in forums, complete assignments, and organize projects. Therefore, you must be mentally prepared to distribute your time across various tasks.
2. Short-term tasks: Because you are not attending face-to-face classes, the number of lessons taught in the classroom must be compensated with the amount of assigned homework, so sometimes you will have a large number of tasks to complete. Therefore, try to set goals for yourself so you notice progress and do not try to do everything at the same time. Also, remember that by completing tasks, you will motivate yourself to keep going.
3. Maintain contact with your classmates: When receiving lessons remotely, we do not have contact with our classmates, with whom we often consult doubts, make comparisons, and make the course more manageable. Therefore, we recommend contacting your classmates to support each other and improve learning.
4. Contact your teachers: Do not hesitate to ask all the questions necessary for you to fully understand the concepts taught. Teachers in distance education modes are aware that you must learn everything by yourself and that sometimes it is a bit difficult.
5. Consult all the material provided to you: In distance education, in most cases, you will have readings and tasks that are mandatory and a large amount of complementary material provided by teachers so you can expand your knowledge. Always review all the material provided; this will make it easier to complete and pass the following lessons, as you will have broader knowledge. Organize your time so you can include the complementary material in your studies.
6. Take notes and make summaries: Read the provided educational materials before class and make summaries so you can get the most out of the lessons and thus clarify any doubts that have arisen as the course progresses. Take notes on everything said in class, especially examples, possible exam questions, and topics the teacher emphasizes.
7. Optional assignments: You must understand that distance education will be as useful and beneficial as you want it to be. Generally, teachers give the option of performing additional tasks, forums, and projects to delve deeper into the syllabus. It is recommended to perform both mandatory and optional tasks to make the most of the lessons. Organize yourself and find a space to carry out additional projects; it will help you achieve better progress.
8. Keep the syllabus up to date: Make a list of the topics you need to know, as well as the work you must submit each day, to prevent pending items from piling up. It is important that you create time management strategies so you can organize your academic activity. Do not leave your tasks for the last minute, since by doing them quickly, you will not achieve the learning objectives.
9. Set your study schedules: Create a study schedule and plan your routine. Despite the flexibility offered by distance education, not having an established schedule to attend lessons may end up causing you to lose sight of your objective. Lessons and tasks will accumulate, and it will be more difficult for you to stay up to date and progressively acquire knowledge. Create a schedule that includes all your daily activities as well as study time; preferably, the latter should always be at the same time of day so you take it as a routine and find it easier to get used to it.
10. Select a suitable place: Find a suitable place to study in the best way. If you have a defined area to study and complete tasks, it will help make them easier to do, eliminating distractions and reinforcing your planning. Look for a space that provides good lighting and no noise so it becomes your workspace.
11. Set a calendar: Define the goal you want to achieve by studying remotely and establish a calendar indicating the courses and tasks you have to perform. This way, you can distribute duties across different days so it is more dynamic and you can organize yourself.
12. Choose the right technological tools: There is a wide variety of study platforms and didactic resources that you can use in your learning. Choose the one that best suits your needs and the content you are going to receive, verifying that you can perform tasks in an accessible way. Verify that your headphones, webcam, and network connection work correctly; you wouldn't want the internet to go down or to freeze during a presentation at the most important part of the lesson.
13. Take breaks: It is important that the time you invest studying is as productive as possible, so your concentration needs to be at its maximum. For that, you must take pauses or breaks and respect them to achieve better learning, since tiredness and visual fatigue can cause you to get distracted and lose focus, negatively affecting your learning progress.
14. Work as a team: Sometimes you will be assigned team projects, which will help break the monotony of individualized and distance study. This approach allows receiving added value to learning, and as we mentioned earlier, it will allow you to contact your classmates and enrich your knowledge with their contributions.
15. Stay Healthy: Studying remotely should not be synonymous with not performing physical activities and not taking care of yourself. On the contrary, focus on balancing the time you assign to study with healthy activities; eat healthily and on defined schedules. Most of the time you will be sitting in front of a computer; stand up and stretch between one lesson and another. Your body and mind will thank you for this small break.
16. Motivation and consistency: Do not forget the objectives and interests that have led you to work this way. It is important to be clear about the ideas of what we want to achieve and how we can continue learning. You should not leave any course incomplete; try to finish them all, as this will motivate you to continuously look for new learning options.

We cannot deny that Distance Education has great advantages; among them, we can mention the flexibility of schedules, complementing other activities with study, and organizing our own routines, among others. But you must be very clear about the objectives you want to fulfill and work toward; in the end, everything will correspond to planning, organization of priorities, continuous work, and the effort you decide to invest.