Focusing on a particular thing for a certain period is a tough job. Because our mind doesn't always work the way we want, it always tends to think of something else, and we don't know until we're distracted from our work. How to focus on online classes is a popular topic among students due to the trend in e-learning.
Having online classes is one of the worst things that happened to me. During online sessions, we get so much bored, and as the teacher can't see us, we tend to pay attention to something or try to chat with our friends, scroll through social media, and other issues.
At the beginning of online sessions, I fell asleep and sometimes couldn't understand what they were saying. Also, when connection errors came, I always missed some parts of the lesson, and sometimes they were the most influential theories of the lesson. Likewise, I had so many problems during online classes. But with time, I managed to overcome those challenges and was able to take the maximum advantage through online learning.
While most of my classmates gave up online learning and having fun, I smartly used the following tips and continued my learning process. Finally, I became the first in every class, and my friends also realized my secrets of learning during this challenging time. So I think these top secret tips might help you to continue your learning process successfully and end up with the best results like me. So, keep reading.
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Benefits of online learning
Also, countries with inadequate facilities related to technology started using the concept of e-learning due to the lockdown of their countries. So now, online education is very familiar for all of us. There are many benefits of attending online classes. One of the best advantages of them is less time wasting. When we have tasks online, we don't need to waste our time on the road going to the school or institution. We only have to sit in front of the computer and connect to the online lesson through the internet. So this can save our money and time.
Home is where we mostly spend our time, nothing new. That environment is so comfortable for us; we have everything whenever we want something. For example, if you want to eat something while attending online classes, you can go to the kitchen and have whatever you want. Also, if you want some extra information about a theory, you can refer to the textbooks, your short notes, and Google.
Why you can't focus on online classes
Being in an online class is not like a physical class. The reason is we don't have the feeling of a class. The brain tends to feel it like watching a boring video. And also, staring at the screen for a long time makes you sleepy. The other thing is sitting in the same position for a long time can become painful for you. So these things mainly cause your distraction from your online class.
One of the main issues of having online classes is the teacher cannot see the student. So it mainly causes to lose the student discipline in the class and to focus on something else. So due to these reasons, students may be unable to take the maximum advantage of online learning.
But if you try these tips, you'll be able to have the best results from e-learning.
Tips to stay focused in online classes.
Okay, now let's talk about the tips and hacks for working productively with the proper focus during an online class.
1. Talk with the teacher.
In a physical class, we have friends with us. Also, we can see the teacher before us physically. But when it comes to online education, we have to stare at a screen, locking ourselves lonely in a room. But if we use an app like zoom or Google Meet, we can easily talk to our teacher or send a message asking questions. It is an excellent way to keep our focus on the lesson and overcome our laziness. We need to stay active during class; otherwise, sleep can easily overtake us.
And using this technique can also solve our subject-related problems easily. Just think, in a physical class, we may feel shy to ask questions from our teacher directly as the other students can see us. I'm not interested in asking questions in a physical class. When the attention of a bunch of students came to me, I felt like shivering and almost forgot my question. Embarrassing right?
But in an online class, we don't have that problem. Only we have to unmute our mic or send a message privately and ask whatever we want as there's nothing to be afraid of or shy about because the others can't see us. So don't be afraid to talk with your teacher when you have a question or can't understand something and try to participate more in class discussions. You can also share this article with your teacher so he will understand the importance of communicating with the students during an online class.
2. Block email/social media notifications
As you're alone with your studies, you have complete freedom to do anything during the online class. For example, your mind tends to scroll through social media, play a small game or have a chat with friends. So we should be aware of our thoughts by not letting to focus on other things.
Likewise, social media and all this stuff could be pretty distractions, and that's why we need to get away from these distractions. We can set our phone on do not disturb mode and turn off all apps' notifications.
Some apps and browser extensions can limit your social media usage. Suppose you can use one like that you can focus on your lessons without difficulties. However, it's up to you to have control and be aware of yourself to get away from these distractions by keeping your discipline.
3. Wear the school uniform.
The specialty of the school uniform is that when you dress like for school, you feel like you are going to study. But think when you're in your night dress or workout clothes, you don't feel like studying. It may feel weird to wear school clothes, but this tends to think your brain that you're in school or you're going to study right now by making a difference between your home and school life.
4. Wear headphones
One of the worst things about studying at home is the distractions from the family. When studying at home, it's somewhat hard to focus on the lessons if the whole family is there. The reason is though the school background is made for studying, home is not. We always hear noises and all that could distract us, which is pretty annoying. In the early days of attending an online class, I had to silence the whole family once or twice an hour. Have you faced that type of situation? Please comment about it.
So I'm recommending noise-canceling headphones if you can buy them. Wearing headphones is very beneficial in having online tests and also in the class. When you're in an online class, you can use good headphones. So you can hear the lesson instead of the noise of the family. If your study space matters, you can read this article on creating a study space at home.
5. Speed connection and a good computer or phone
If the internet connection is not as good or fast, you can lose some parts of the lesson more easily. As if you have a phone or computer with low specifications, you won't be able to focus on our lesson productively when your device gets stuck during the session. Whenever my internet connection becomes slow, I feel like it to throw away. Think about a subject like math or science; if you miss a small part of the session, it might affect the understanding of the whole lesson. So the internet connection speed also directly affects the focus of your online class. If you can use a Wi-Fi extender or booster like the one below, it will help speed up your internet connection.
6. Take down notes in the book.
7. Drink water
Hydration is one of the most important aspects that we should consider in our daily routine. So my advice is to drink water and keep a glass of water or a bottle of water near your studying place. But don't have too many because it can always make you use the washroom, which can be a distraction too, so you have to think of both sides.
8. Exercise regularly
We're usually not much active in online classes than physical classes. As we're mostly in our room, we don't get much exercise for our bodies either. So regular exercise should be a habit for us otherwise we can get many health problems too.
9. Have a neat and comfortable study space
Some students' studying place looks like a mess of books, pens, notes, and other stuff. So sometimes they spend hours and hours finding something. When you need a specific note, you have to turn your whole room upside down to find it. Even I had such experiences, and I always felt like losing my mind when I got there to study. Somehow I finally made my studying place look better and more structured. Now it's easy for me to handle my work because at least it made me stay there more than the previous one.
That's why you need a neat workspace for studying. The other important thing is to make sure to keep your studying area comfortable for you. For example, you can have a comfortable lamp that helps you study even at night. Also, have a desk or table with a chair that makes you comfortable working for hours. Making your study space way more comfortable is up to you because you have to decide how you should succeed in your process.
10. Record if you can
Sometimes we may not be able to understand some theories on the first try, or else we may feel shy to ask about that part again from our teacher. So one of the other benefits of this online learning is we can record lessons. We can save the online session as a video file to watch in our free time. In this way, we can cover the lesson with a complete understanding. Also, if we have two classes at the same time, we can set one session on recording while attending to the other one.
But there is a disadvantage to recording classes, and I've heard this from many of my friends. Many students postponed the watching class and started gathering videos to watch later. But they never watched them. Some of my friends played games or had fun during the session by setting it to record. Now they say, "it's so hard to watch them. I have hundreds of videos and don't know how to manage to go through them."
So please carefully understand what I am saying. You have to watch the live session; the saved video is for later memorization or taking notes. If you don't watch the class and collect videos, you will be ended up like some of my friends.
11. Don't try to eat during the lesson.
One of the biggest mistakes many make during online classes is eating. That's genuinely not a good idea. Because whenever we eat during our class, we may distract from our lesson and focus on our food instead of the lesson. For example, think about a person having food while reading a book. Some may think that person is spending time more productively by not letting that short time to waste. But the truth is that person won't be able to taste his food perfectly and read that book well either. Multitasking doesn't let you continue any of the work properly. So try to focus on one work at a time so you can succeed in that work productively. If you want to have your complete focus on your learning process, try to pay attention only to it.
12. Stay motivated
Our teachers always motivate us through their motivational speeches and others when we're in school and classes. Also, we naturally get motivated whenever we see our friends studying hard, and we get the idea that we should also work. But when we are locked up in our room, there is no one to motivate us, so it's more likely to lose focus on our studies.
But that's not an excuse. As you know, the internet can give you anything you like. We can easily YouTube for motivational videos, and there are thousands of them. So when you feel like giving up on your studies and you're nothing, go through a motivational speech, and you'll be back on your studies in a few seconds. Motivational quotes and videos worked for me during my bad times. Just try out those things.
13. Have a good sleep
The most common thing that happens to students is sleeping at their desks during the online sessions. But if we get the proper sleep before our class, we don't need to sleep in the class. And don't pull all-nighters when you have a class in the daytime. The other thing is we almost have time at home because there's no waste of time on the road. So we can use some time to sleep properly and stay awake during class.
Conclusion
These are my recommended tips for you to focus on online classes. You maybe have your ways of keeping your concentration on your work, and that's even better if they would help you because you have your unique way. Also, don't forget to share them in the comment section.
Truly focusing on a particular work can be challenging. But giving up on learning is not the answer for it. We have to try. The most important thing is we have to be passionate about our work. If you are not interested in it, then make yourself passionate about that stuff. As I mentioned, engaging more in the class can make you interested in the lesson. Think about yourself and ask yourself every question you're having, as your mind will probably hold an answer.
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