Infographic provided by Online Education Blog of Touro College.
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Category Archives: study skills
Memory Retention and the Forgetting Curve Infographic
The importance of reviewing what you learn…
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6 Ways to Stay Motivated With Online Learning
By Tess Pajaron
During the last few years, online learning has become a viable alternative to traditional learning environments. This modality of studying helps students to save both time and money on commuting, but prospective learners should remember that its specific nature radically differs from regular classroom learning styles. In order to make the most from their online courses, students must boast excellent time management skills, have clear study goals and stay organized throughout their period of study.
Since online learners bear much more responsibility over their learning process, they require a high level of motivation for completing their coursework. Here are 6 practical tips on how to stay motivated and enthusiastic when attending an online course.
1. Choose your field well
There is nothing more important for staying motivated than following your passion, which you also consider significant to your life and career. When choosing an online course, consider your options carefully and go for those learning opportunities that will help you achieve the career you want. This awareness will help keep you on track – you will see your activities as a meaningful part of a larger whole.
2. Establish realistic goals
This is another important point that can significantly affect your attitude towards your studies. If you’ve always struggled with writing, don’t expect to create a great essay in a couple of hours. This way you’re just setting yourself up for failure, and it’s safe to assume that every failure will also negatively affect your motivation.
Be realistic, set reasonable goals for yourself in appropriate time frames. Once you accomplish them, you’ll immediately feel a sense of achievement. This feeling will keep you going, helping you realize your full potential over time.
3. Track your progress
Keep a journal or a calendar filled with small weekly and monthly goals. Make sure to closely track your progress by ticking off every accomplished task – seeing so many little goals achieved will boost your self-esteem and help you stay motivated, even when the amount of work starts to stress you out.
4. Talk about your learning materials
Don’t shy away from commenting on your study process. If this is a challenge, make sure to keep in touch with your instructor through a designated e-learning platform or simply by e-mail – you can share your insights and ask for additional resources.
It’s important to stay connected with your trainers and assessors as well as other students who are studying your course, or within your course area. Many online education providers now have specialized learning platforms that are designed to connect students with each other. Often, there are dedicated social media groups such as Facebook groups, Pinterest share boards and even blogs that are included as part of your online course. Make sure to keep in touch with your trainers through a designated e-learning platform or simply by e-mail – you can share your insights and ask for additional resources.
5. Think positively
Positive thinking is an important part of the whole motivational process. Feeling fatigue or stress can affect your perception of the class and the subject itself, making you miserable and unproductive. Try to think positively and talk with your instructor or other students. Their advice might help you through hard times. Remember to reserve some time for yourself once in a while – no one can be expected to manage all their daily tasks and education without a break.
6. Reward yourself
Consider all the work you’re doing – objectively speaking, you absolutely deserve to have your success acknowledged. When you accomplish one of your goals, be it a minor or major one, make sure to reward yourself with something that will make you happy. Each and every one of these rewards will help you stay motivated in the long run.
It’s safe to say that online education demands just as much self-discipline on the part of learners as traditional education settings. It does, however, bring immense benefits to both your personal and professional life – so choose your path, believe in yourself and stay on track. With enough self-conviction and motivation you’ll be able to reach your goals.
Tess Pajaron is a Community Manager at Open Colleges, an online learning provider based in Sydney, Australia. She has a background in Business Administration and Management.
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Tips for Reducing Academic Anxiety
By Anne Davies
Study and exam-related stress is a problem for many students, whether or not they’re focused on achieving academic excellence, and it’s something that can affect students of any age. Nobody is immune to academic stress, but there are plenty of things you can do to reduce anxiety that centers on studying and exams.
Meditation can help you do better on exams. (Photo courtesy of Grand Velas Puerto Vallarta via Flickr.)
Preparation and Organization
There are several key skills that go a long way towards reducing anxiety, just because they form a solid base of preparation and organization that help you stay focused and stay on top of your workload. Having a comprehensive study system is crucial, and it’s also important that whatever system you develop is one that works for you.
For example, having a good note-taking system is essential for college lectures, but the same system won’t necessarily work for everyone. Some people prefer to write notes by hand, others prefer to use a laptop, and some like to take audio recordings of lectures and write up notes at their leisure. It’s just a matter of trying different methods to find out what works best for you. It’s also useful to determine what your learning style is; some people learn best by listening, some by doing, some by reading or writing, and if you’re trying to force yourself into a style that isn’t optimal, studying instantly becomes less effective and more stressful.
One of the most important skills to have is that of time management: being able to organize your time and use it effectively, prioritizing tasks based on how urgent they are, and sticking to whatever schedule you create for yourself. Without good time management, you’re likely to end up completing assignments at the last minute, losing sleep studying the night before exams, putting yourself through a considerable amount of unnecessary stress, and impairing your academic performance. Study and exam anxiety is often related to lack of preparation, so the key way to reduce that anxiety is simply to create a study schedule and stick with it.
And finally, take advantage of the wealth of apps and programs that have been created for time management and study organization. There are some incredibly useful tools available—many of which are free—that can help you improve your study habits and manage your time more effectively.
Of course, for some people, no amount of preparation can help reduce academic anxiety to a manageable level, so it’s also useful to consider other methods of coping with study-related stress.
Relaxation Techniques
The second aspect is learning how to relax and control your anxiety; and while to some this might seem like the easy part, it’s very difficult for many people. It’s especially difficult when study anxiety isn’t rooted in tangible problems like lack of organization, because when anxiety develops for no apparent reason, it’s harder to manage because there are no concrete ways to solve the root cause. Regardless of the cause of the anxiety, however, there are some techniques that can definitely help reduce anxiety and stress, and all of the problems and symptoms they cause. One of these is meditation—a technique that has become widely used all over the world by all kinds of people, is easy to start, and when practiced regularly, is very effective. There’s more than one kind of meditation, however; for example, there’s mindfulness meditation, guided meditation, Taoist Qi gong, and transcendental meditation. While none are specifically aimed at managing stress, the general consensus is that mindfulness meditation, or Vipassana, is the most effective in this regard. Recent studies show that this kind of meditation can improve cognitive function as well as reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, so it’s perfect for students.
Meditation isn’t going to be possible during a test situation, of course, but there are some related techniques that are perfect for reducing anxiety when it hits. Simply spending thirty seconds or a minute engaging in deep breathing—long, slow breaths in and out—can be very calming. Another useful technique is “mindfulness moments,” in which you take a few seconds to engage with your surroundings by taking note of what you can see, hear, smell, and feel. Engaging your senses helps you feel more grounded, and helps you link back to the calming sensations you feel during mindfulness meditation exercises.
For more tips on relaxation and other study skills, order your copy of The Secrets of Top Students today!
The Reality and Solution of College Plagiarism: Infographic
The Habits of Today’s College Students Infographic
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Update on The Secrets of Top Students: First Translation!
I’m excited to announce that my book, The Secrets of Top Students: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Acing High School and College, is now available in Chinese! It’s being sold in Taiwan and you can find it here. According to Google Translate, the title is “Gifted students do not stay up late! To get into elite precision Learning: time management, note and sit secret.” I’m sure in Chinese it sounds a little more elegant.
The Secrets of Top Students in Chinese!
In other news, my book is now available on the Staples website.
I’d also like to thank The Study Dude for highlighting my book in The Voice Magazine.
An Overview of the Common Core (Infographic)
What do you think about the Common Core?
Source: BestMastersinEducation.com
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How to Develop Good Reading Skills in the Internet Age
By Samantha Levine.
It’s no laughing matter how dependent our society is on the use of technology and the Internet. The great thing about it is that we are exposed to so much information, but this can also be very overwhelming. As we learn to read from screen to screen (laptop, cell phone, tablet), we have readjusted the way we receive information, which is causing our attention span to be much shorter.
When skimming through an article, you may not realize how much information you can actually miss. A great tip to increase retention is to read the headlines of a topic and ask questions about what you think it will be about. While reading, see if you are able to answer your own questions, and then make note of it. This helps you to read quickly, efficiently, and effectively.
Can you read on this tiny little screen?
I’ve noticed that the faster I receive information from the web, the faster I move on to read something else; and more often than not, I’m distracted by an ad to the right and left of the story I’m reading. However, thanks to my very awesome grade school teachers who taught me to love reading, I learned a few tips that can keep you on track:
Last Day to Get The Secrets of Top Students for $2.99
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This book includes tips and techniques that every student should know. For example:
- What is the first thing you should do when taking a math test?
- What is an often overlooked place for coming up with a thesis?
- What music should you listen to while studying?
- Why is it bad to be a perfectionist?
- What are the good and bad types of motivation?
- What foods should you eat to boost your brainpower?
- How much do top students really study?
- Should you bring your laptop to class?
- What are three game-changing learning techniques?
- And much, much more.
The Secrets of Top Students: Special Sale!
Here’s what people have been saying about the book:
Praise for The Secrets of Top Students
“An insightful guide for high achievers—and those aspiring to such status—from an authoritative source, Stefanie Weisman, a Columbia University graduate and former valedictorian of Stuyvesant High School, two of the best schools in America. Stefanie Weisman’s book about the secrets of academic success is all the more amazing, given the learning disabilities that she overcame to become the ultimate academic overachiever. As a graduate of Stuyvesant High School myself, as well as a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University, I believe students can find happiness and achieve great things at any number of schools, and Stefanie Weisman offers hard-fought wisdom about how to get there.”
—Alec Klein, Northwestern University professor, bestselling author and award-winning journalist“Although the target audience is high school and college students, the book is a must-read for students in middle school and up, teachers, parents, and guidance counselors as 21st-century students learn to excel in the new educational landscape in which they find themselves.”
—Tammy Turner, Centennial High School, Frisco, TX; School Library Journal, July 2013 issue“We wish we had Stefanie Weisman’s new book . . . when we were in school, but our loss is your child’s gain as this book goes beyond advising how to test better; it’s loaded with strategies on how to get the most out of school in a healthy, well-rounded way that will continue to serve your scholar well throughout their life.”
—Lisa J. Curtis, Brooklyn Family Magazine, August 2013 issue“A student who followed even half of the suggestions in this book could come away from college with both a greater understanding of the material and a significantly higher G.P.A.”
—Dr. Mindy Marks, Associate Professor of Economics at Washington University, St. Louis, and Co-Author of “Leisure College, USA: The Decline in Student Study Time”“This is perhaps the best and most pragmatic guide to academic success I have read that is relevant to today’s students. One thing that sets this book apart is that it provides special information for students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, aka STEM subjects.”
—Stuart Nachbar, President of Educated Quest, www.EducatedQuest.com“Undergraduates who want to excel in college will find a helpful resource in this book.”
—Joseph Adegboyega-Edun, Counselor/College Adviser, Walter Johnson High School, Bethesda (MD)
Stefanie Weisman 