Whether you’re going back to school or want to brush up on new skills, online courses are a great and convenient way to do it. You can sit at home in your pajamas while learning essential new skills to run your business. From learning new email marketing techniques to copywriting to coding, there are thousands of online courses, both free and for sale, that you can take.
However, sometimes participants in an online course don’t feel like they’re getting as much out of it as if they were sitting in a classroom with other people. So, whether you’re taking training classes for your new job on hsi.com or taking online courses of your own free will, here are some tips to get the most out of them.
Take Notes
To get the most out of an online course, you must be an active listener and learner. The best way to do this is by taking notes either on your computer (which is convenient if you have a double-screen monitor) or by hand.
What’s great about a recorded online course is that you can pause and rewind certain parts if you need more time to understand or want to make sure you wrote it down correctly in your notes.
Limit Distractions
When you’re sitting at home in front of the computer watching a video for your online course, there is plenty of opportunity for distraction. From your family members walking in and asking you a question to your phone lighting up with a notification from social media or a new text message, these distractions can hinder your learning.
Put your phone on silent mode and tell your housemates that you’re taking an online course. Close your door and put on headphones to get the full experience of learning online.
Schedule Your Learning Time
Since many online courses are a go-at-you-own-pace style, you must have good self-discipline to ensure you actually watch the course and learn from it. A good way to do this is to schedule in your daily routine a time to sit and watch a lesson or chapter.
It’s important that you see this time as non-negotiable. Just like a doctor’s appointment or a work meeting, it’s something you must do at that time. Having this mindset will help you be more disciplined and actually get through your online course.
Set an Objective
It can be easy to forget why you’re taking this online course, especially if there are other things you would rather be doing. Simply remember that this is for your own career advancement and individual learning. At the end of this course, you can transform your current business or lifestyle with the things you’ve learned and make more money or better brand yourself and more.
Write your goal or objective on a piece of paper and keep it next to your computer. If you’re getting bored or feeling unmotivated while watching your course, read your goal and remind yourself why you’re taking it.
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