HOW TO STUDY ALONE: THE ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGES OF STUDYING AT HOME
In recent years, more and more people have chosen to study for ENEM, entrance exams, and public tenders, on their own, alone at home, without enrolling in face-to-face courses. The growth of this modality was possible thanks to the internet, which offers a wide variety of resources, both paid and free.
Online study is a reality that is here to stay. Every year, more and more students are joining YouTube to study for college exams and prepare for ENEM and college entrance exams. People who study for public contests, distance undergraduate courses, specializations, company employee training, language courses, and many other examples show us that teaching and learning online is a practice that has already become common in our society.
A survey published by NZN Intelligence, research, and intelligence company that manages the websites Baixaki, Click Jogos, and Mega Curioso, found that 90% of Brazilians would be willing to take an online course. The same survey showed that the most popular course modality on the internet is languages, with 59% of preference. Our universe of pre-university entrance exams and ENEM occupies the fifth position, with 19% of user preference.
Regardless of the modality, the advantages of studying online are the same for students and the challenges to be overcome are directly related to these advantages. In other words, if you're not careful, what was supposed to be an advantage can become a reason you never complete your online course. We will analyze these aspects as the focus on online preparatory courses for ENEM and vestibular.
Nowadays there is a lot of material available on the internet, and that comes for better and for worse. The good part is that you will have many resources to diversify your preparation and find the materials that are best for you. You can choose the teachers you like the most, and the preferred handouts, and subscribe to the platform that you find most suitable for your objective. But to get the best out of it, you're going to have to do a lot of research, and do several tests to see how you adapt to each chosen feature.
Be very careful when making your choices. Filter well everything you find in front of you and keep only the best. Just as there's a lot of good stuff available on the net, there's a lot of crap. The internet accepts everything, but you cannot accept it.
Be careful not to get into the habit of downloading something thinking that one day it might come in handy. Choose your favorite fonts and stick with them to ensure consistency in your preparation without always having to adapt to new material. Look for other sources when the one you are using is not enough to answer your questions, but don't make your study an endless search for new material.
Face-to-face courses are expensive. Very expensive. Many students cannot afford the costs and, in this case, studying online ends up being the only financially viable alternative. You can even study for free if you want and are willing to mine the content on various YouTube channels. You can also subscribe to a paid platform that offers all the disciplines or subscribe to the platform of some disciplines that you have more difficulty with and choose your favorite teachers. Even so, you will spend absurdly less compared to a face-to-face course.
And paying nothing or very little can be a disadvantage? He can! It's easier to give up what cost nothing. You don't feel that guilt about abandoning online study because you didn't make a big financial sacrifice. When you make a bigger investment, you automatically feel more obligated to make that investment pay off, especially if you value the money you or your family spent betting on the project of getting into university.
This does not mean that those who choose to study with free materials will give up because of it. It is a factor that can make the decision to drop out of school easier. It doesn't make you give up, but it can help when you start thinking about giving up.
When it comes to getting around, the online economy is twofold. You don't have to travel to the cram school, saving time and money. The problem is that many students are unable to focus on studying at home. The place where we live can be a great well of distraction, which sucks you in, making the study not yield as it should. I'll get back to talking about your home study environment and the posture you should have in it.
As a teacher and education professional, who has studied and read a lot about this topic, I can say that the biggest advantage of online study is flexibility. And it is precisely in this greatest advantage that the greatest dangers reside. If you don't know how to adapt to studying online, flexibility is no longer an advantage but an obstacle.
Absolutely Free Psychic Reading
Several studies in the area of technology-aided education show that when students have the opportunity to study at the time and in the space they find most appropriate, respecting their learning pace, their use is much better. In the high schools where I teach, and in my face-to-face Pura Physics classes, whenever I combine face-to-face teaching with online teaching, my students' learning results improve significantly.
With online classes, you can watch whenever and wherever you want and, most importantly, you can go at your own pace. If a concept is too difficult to understand, you can rewind the video, watch it again, look for another video with a different explanation, give your head some time and continue on another day and insist until you move forward.
Learning online modifies the student's relationship with the study. He becomes a much more active subject in the construction of his learning. The organization and management of activities, as well as decision-making, become the responsibility of the student, who will no longer follow the guidance of a teacher when he chooses to study on his own at home. And this ability to manage your studies and organize yourself is essential to make the most of the advantages and avoid the pitfalls.
A great danger is that the student confuses flexible schedules with procrastination, always leaving the study for later, for when he is less tired or more “inspired” to learn that difficult subject. The face-to-face class has a date and time to take place and the student does not have the power to postpone and attend the class when he feels like it. When you don't have a set time to do the tasks, it's easier to fall into the temptation of putting off studying and making the content accumulate, compromising preparation. To avoid this problem, the organization of the routine and discipline to fulfill this routine are fundamental.
You need to have a well-defined study schedule. Schedule flexibility doesn't mean you have time to do nothing and only study when you want. The study schedule will tell you when each activity should start and end, and you need to discipline yourself to get into the habit of sticking to the schedule.
If you don't know how to set up a study schedule and how important it is to comply with this schedule, in this video I teach you how to set up your schedule.
Another challenge of online study is the organization of content. You are not tied to a schedule proposed by a course and you have the freedom to organize the contents in a way that is more adapted to you. A great advantage, but how to do this organization? What to study? In what order to study? What content to prioritize? What content to ignore? How far to go each week? Never make these decisions when studying. Plan ahead. Those who don't have a defined path don't know where they're going and then it's easier to leave the road or stay locked up somewhere.
When you don't have the guidance of a course or teacher, this becomes one of the most difficult tasks in the administration of your studies, so I also made a video explaining how to make your study plan, that is, how to decide what you will study every week. And there on my Instagram, I'm publishing a suggestion of content for you to study in the week. If you want to follow along, just follow me on @rafaelfisica.
It's great not having to leave the house to go to class, but a lot of things inside your house can play against you. Having an appropriate place, free of distractions is essential. Studying in front of the computer is not the same thing as watching Netflix. Have an organized space that encourages your concentration and involvement with the study. Have a table, and take notes as if you were in class. If you need to, go back to the video and review the part you don't understand. If the doubt persists, run after other sources. You need to have an active posture. Your income depends on your attitudes and your involvement with the activity. Lying on the bed or couch to attend classes can be comfortable, but it makes you a passive spectator and disconnects you from the activity.
Forget your social media. Studying online you are inside an infinite universe of temptations that is the internet. The same YouTube where you are watching that physics class is full of videos of kittens and your crushes are crazy for that little chat, that xaveco, or that trova, as they say here in the south. Keep your cell phone out of reach if you can't resist a notification on your social media.
There will be many moments of difficulty, be sure of that. Many doubts will come, whether to understand the content, be able to solve questions, or even about your success. Do you know that almost constant fear of not passing? Sometimes it will be quieter, but other times it will be huge, especially when you are finding it difficult to understand the content or resolve issues. But you won't be able to count on anyone but yourself. You will not be able to complain that the teacher does not explain properly. If you think you're too stupid to learn something, it won't do you any good, on the contrary, it just gets in the way. You won't have face-to-face teachers to solve your doubts and no colleagues to live with on a daily basis. Getting out of these moments and evolving will depend only on you and the way you manage the difficulties and the impacts they have on your motivation and confidence. If it's hard to understand that subject or you're stuck on the questions, search the internet, and set up a study group with people you know. Ask for help in the subjects you are not good at and help others in the subjects you are good at. Find alternatives, but don't accumulate doubts.
You are freer, and more independent, but you are also more alone. The weight of having everything in your hands is great, but remember that your biggest support is yourself. You are your own foundation, if it gives way, you crumble, burying your dream of passing away. Taking care of emotional health is more difficult when you don't have colleagues to share your anguish, share your fears and discover that other people go through the same merengues as you. Which is normal and doesn't just happen to you. You will need to know yourself, adapt, learn to fall, and get up. It won't be easy, but you will make it.
You are not doing everything wrong. When things start not going as you would like, don't think that you made the wrong choice, that you should have taken a face-to-face course, and that you will never spend studying at home. Allow time for you to adapt. Suddenly, yielding less is even normal, since you are on your own. If so, accept it and try to get the best of you within that reality. Think about what you can improve and apply the changes, but don't abandon everything because you don't need to. You are doing good things, yes! Stop overestimating what is going wrong and try to value more what is going right.
If you study alone at home with online resources or are thinking about starting to study on your own, I hope this post will help you on that journey. From now on, the debate is open and it would be very good if the community that follows Pura Física could contribute and enrich the content with their experiences.
Online study is a reality that is here to stay. Every year, more and more students are joining YouTube to study for college exams and prepare for ENEM and college entrance exams. People who study for public contests, distance undergraduate courses, specializations, company employee training, language courses, and many other examples show us that teaching and learning online is a practice that has already become common in our society.
A survey published by NZN Intelligence, research, and intelligence company that manages the websites Baixaki, Click Jogos, and Mega Curioso, found that 90% of Brazilians would be willing to take an online course. The same survey showed that the most popular course modality on the internet is languages, with 59% of preference. Our universe of pre-university entrance exams and ENEM occupies the fifth position, with 19% of user preference.
Regardless of the modality, the advantages of studying online are the same for students and the challenges to be overcome are directly related to these advantages. In other words, if you're not careful, what was supposed to be an advantage can become a reason you never complete your online course. We will analyze these aspects as the focus on online preparatory courses for ENEM and vestibular.
1. Material
Nowadays there is a lot of material available on the internet, and that comes for better and for worse. The good part is that you will have many resources to diversify your preparation and find the materials that are best for you. You can choose the teachers you like the most, and the preferred handouts, and subscribe to the platform that you find most suitable for your objective. But to get the best out of it, you're going to have to do a lot of research, and do several tests to see how you adapt to each chosen feature.
Be very careful when making your choices. Filter well everything you find in front of you and keep only the best. Just as there's a lot of good stuff available on the net, there's a lot of crap. The internet accepts everything, but you cannot accept it.
Be careful not to get into the habit of downloading something thinking that one day it might come in handy. Choose your favorite fonts and stick with them to ensure consistency in your preparation without always having to adapt to new material. Look for other sources when the one you are using is not enough to answer your questions, but don't make your study an endless search for new material.
2. Price
Face-to-face courses are expensive. Very expensive. Many students cannot afford the costs and, in this case, studying online ends up being the only financially viable alternative. You can even study for free if you want and are willing to mine the content on various YouTube channels. You can also subscribe to a paid platform that offers all the disciplines or subscribe to the platform of some disciplines that you have more difficulty with and choose your favorite teachers. Even so, you will spend absurdly less compared to a face-to-face course.
And paying nothing or very little can be a disadvantage? He can! It's easier to give up what cost nothing. You don't feel that guilt about abandoning online study because you didn't make a big financial sacrifice. When you make a bigger investment, you automatically feel more obligated to make that investment pay off, especially if you value the money you or your family spent betting on the project of getting into university.
This does not mean that those who choose to study with free materials will give up because of it. It is a factor that can make the decision to drop out of school easier. It doesn't make you give up, but it can help when you start thinking about giving up.
3. Locomotion
When it comes to getting around, the online economy is twofold. You don't have to travel to the cram school, saving time and money. The problem is that many students are unable to focus on studying at home. The place where we live can be a great well of distraction, which sucks you in, making the study not yield as it should. I'll get back to talking about your home study environment and the posture you should have in it.
4. Flexibility
As a teacher and education professional, who has studied and read a lot about this topic, I can say that the biggest advantage of online study is flexibility. And it is precisely in this greatest advantage that the greatest dangers reside. If you don't know how to adapt to studying online, flexibility is no longer an advantage but an obstacle.
Absolutely Free Psychic Reading
Several studies in the area of technology-aided education show that when students have the opportunity to study at the time and in the space they find most appropriate, respecting their learning pace, their use is much better. In the high schools where I teach, and in my face-to-face Pura Physics classes, whenever I combine face-to-face teaching with online teaching, my students' learning results improve significantly.
With online classes, you can watch whenever and wherever you want and, most importantly, you can go at your own pace. If a concept is too difficult to understand, you can rewind the video, watch it again, look for another video with a different explanation, give your head some time and continue on another day and insist until you move forward.
Learning online modifies the student's relationship with the study. He becomes a much more active subject in the construction of his learning. The organization and management of activities, as well as decision-making, become the responsibility of the student, who will no longer follow the guidance of a teacher when he chooses to study on his own at home. And this ability to manage your studies and organize yourself is essential to make the most of the advantages and avoid the pitfalls.
A great danger is that the student confuses flexible schedules with procrastination, always leaving the study for later, for when he is less tired or more “inspired” to learn that difficult subject. The face-to-face class has a date and time to take place and the student does not have the power to postpone and attend the class when he feels like it. When you don't have a set time to do the tasks, it's easier to fall into the temptation of putting off studying and making the content accumulate, compromising preparation. To avoid this problem, the organization of the routine and discipline to fulfill this routine are fundamental.
Have a study schedule
You need to have a well-defined study schedule. Schedule flexibility doesn't mean you have time to do nothing and only study when you want. The study schedule will tell you when each activity should start and end, and you need to discipline yourself to get into the habit of sticking to the schedule.
If you don't know how to set up a study schedule and how important it is to comply with this schedule, in this video I teach you how to set up your schedule.
Have a content schedule
Another challenge of online study is the organization of content. You are not tied to a schedule proposed by a course and you have the freedom to organize the contents in a way that is more adapted to you. A great advantage, but how to do this organization? What to study? In what order to study? What content to prioritize? What content to ignore? How far to go each week? Never make these decisions when studying. Plan ahead. Those who don't have a defined path don't know where they're going and then it's easier to leave the road or stay locked up somewhere.
When you don't have the guidance of a course or teacher, this becomes one of the most difficult tasks in the administration of your studies, so I also made a video explaining how to make your study plan, that is, how to decide what you will study every week. And there on my Instagram, I'm publishing a suggestion of content for you to study in the week. If you want to follow along, just follow me on @rafaelfisica.
Have a proper environment and posture
It's great not having to leave the house to go to class, but a lot of things inside your house can play against you. Having an appropriate place, free of distractions is essential. Studying in front of the computer is not the same thing as watching Netflix. Have an organized space that encourages your concentration and involvement with the study. Have a table, and take notes as if you were in class. If you need to, go back to the video and review the part you don't understand. If the doubt persists, run after other sources. You need to have an active posture. Your income depends on your attitudes and your involvement with the activity. Lying on the bed or couch to attend classes can be comfortable, but it makes you a passive spectator and disconnects you from the activity.
Forget your social media. Studying online you are inside an infinite universe of temptations that is the internet. The same YouTube where you are watching that physics class is full of videos of kittens and your crushes are crazy for that little chat, that xaveco, or that trova, as they say here in the south. Keep your cell phone out of reach if you can't resist a notification on your social media.
Manage difficulties and emotions
There will be many moments of difficulty, be sure of that. Many doubts will come, whether to understand the content, be able to solve questions, or even about your success. Do you know that almost constant fear of not passing? Sometimes it will be quieter, but other times it will be huge, especially when you are finding it difficult to understand the content or resolve issues. But you won't be able to count on anyone but yourself. You will not be able to complain that the teacher does not explain properly. If you think you're too stupid to learn something, it won't do you any good, on the contrary, it just gets in the way. You won't have face-to-face teachers to solve your doubts and no colleagues to live with on a daily basis. Getting out of these moments and evolving will depend only on you and the way you manage the difficulties and the impacts they have on your motivation and confidence. If it's hard to understand that subject or you're stuck on the questions, search the internet, and set up a study group with people you know. Ask for help in the subjects you are not good at and help others in the subjects you are good at. Find alternatives, but don't accumulate doubts.
You are freer, and more independent, but you are also more alone. The weight of having everything in your hands is great, but remember that your biggest support is yourself. You are your own foundation, if it gives way, you crumble, burying your dream of passing away. Taking care of emotional health is more difficult when you don't have colleagues to share your anguish, share your fears and discover that other people go through the same merengues as you. Which is normal and doesn't just happen to you. You will need to know yourself, adapt, learn to fall, and get up. It won't be easy, but you will make it.
You are not doing everything wrong. When things start not going as you would like, don't think that you made the wrong choice, that you should have taken a face-to-face course, and that you will never spend studying at home. Allow time for you to adapt. Suddenly, yielding less is even normal, since you are on your own. If so, accept it and try to get the best of you within that reality. Think about what you can improve and apply the changes, but don't abandon everything because you don't need to. You are doing good things, yes! Stop overestimating what is going wrong and try to value more what is going right.
If you study alone at home with online resources or are thinking about starting to study on your own, I hope this post will help you on that journey. From now on, the debate is open and it would be very good if the community that follows Pura Física could contribute and enrich the content with their experiences.
Comments
Post a Comment