The Coronavirus pandemic has brought a lot of changes in the education sector. The most significant one has been switching the mode of presentation.

The traditional face-to-face interaction has been replaced with online studies.

While there are many advantages of studying online, it can be a bit demanding to both the lecturers and the students.

It is easier to lose motivation to study as there are a lot of external distractions, technological distractions, and plenty of other things that can reduce the quality of your study.

For those of us who have no other option but to study online, we need to find other means to circumvent this position.

Here, I shall share some of my tips to help you study efficiently online.

Attend and listen during class

No doubt, the fastest way to learn and grasp information is by listening. Students who listen in class get a better understanding of the content put forward by the teachers.

In a conventional learning setup, students have no choice but to listen or at least pretend to listen or else get detention. This option is not available when taking online classes.

Students have an option to mute their microphones and turnoff video. This for sure can promote bad listening during classes.

A good student should know the importance of attending class, the value of listening, and paying attention during class.

Be up to date with timetables and class schedules given to you by the school. It will help you prioritize the valuable time you get to engage with your teachers.

Do prior research and after studies

Part of being a top-performer student is taking time outside classes to do research.

At the beginning of an academic term or a semester, teachers issue out a course outline and schedule of how the course is going to be offered.

This should be a guiding line to use before class. Take some time and roughly go through what the teacher will be teaching in the following class.

It will help you master the course content and during class, you will be in a better position to answer questions/participate in class.

After class, you can plan your study sessions to flesh out the information given to you by your supervisor.

Expound on the notes handed over to you from trustable and reliable online sources and libraries.

All these are major contributions to effective online learning.

Have fast and reliable gadgets

The basis of virtual learning is the use of technology to educate.

Devices that you may need for efficient online learning include; a computer, wifi or rather a reliable source of internet, a phone, a printer, a webcam (if your computer has no camera), and a headset or a mic.

You can do without the latter, just ensure that all your devices are of good quality. You do not want to spend a lot of money on frequent replacements.

However, do not mistake a good quality gadget to mean something expensive and overpriced. The tech-market has something for everyone regardless of your price point.

Even so, be cautious before making any purchase from a random store. The market has been manipulated by dishonest traders and dealers.

Make a stop and read computer store brands’ online reviews at US-reviews.com. Look at the feedback given by other shoppers to determine whether it is worth buying from the stores listed.

Having fast, reliable gadgets and a good internet will ensure that you get the best learning experience.

Use a study technique

One of the smartest ways to learn efficiently is through study techniques.

Studying online goes beyond what is taught by your teachers in class, it encompasses what you learn outside of class, and altogether what you can remember after.

There are many study techniques to use. To help you pick the best, you need to know your area of weakness.

From my interactions with students, I can tell that most have a problem with memorization. One can be a good listener, and yet he or she has trouble remembering.

For instance, using the Feynman study technique can help anyone learn faster. It is where one reduces complex information and ideas into an understandable language.

On the other hand, spaced practice or spaced repetition is where a student reviews the information already learned, and over time, he or she can remember without doing further reviews.

Spaced repetition will take a couple of reviews before the information is fully retrievable. It substantially helps students who have short-term memory.

Finally, it is equally important to understand that using whichever technique does not guarantee that you will be immune to failure.

Learning is a process, and failure is part of the process. Be willing to learn from the mistakes made.