You should always keep learning, even when you’re not being taught.
Either you’re nearing the midpoint of your semester, or you’re at a complete stop until your next round of classes begins again. Being productive during this downtime is important to your success as an online learner.
It gets hard constantly having to recall information from a previous course or lesson and apply it to what you’re currently working on. “Use it or lose it” as they say. Some people are able to remember important facts, dates, and formulas without a spreadsheet or a stack of notes, but a majority of us need a refresher before we dive back in. In studies conducted by various universities learning styles and strategies have been studied in depth for years. According to professors at North Carolina University there are two types of learners, active and reflective.
“Active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it, by discussing or applying it or explaining it to others.””Reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly first.” They go onto specify ways to enhance the learning experience for these varying learners. “If you are an active learner, you will always retain information better if you find ways to do something about it. As for reflective learners, stop periodically to review what you read and to think of possible questions or applications. Making short summaries of the readings may help in retaining the information more effectively.”
This lesson shows that there are different ways of learning and retaining the information taught in class. Being that students in the online environment are self reliant to attend class by themselves, create their own notes, schedule any kind of group meetings, and keep track of their next set of classes all online means that having a plan of action for retaining and consistently applying what was learned is so important.
If you’re not currently engaged in a class, or are waiting for your next assignment, be proactive and try using what you’ve learned already. Research articles on upcoming class topics, or write a couple hundred words on what you learned in your last class. These notes and study materials are great to keep on file, and will be easily accessed for refreshers later on.
– By J. Mason
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