Gipsy Medini
Beyond a computer and internet connection, students can enhance their online learning experience with essential items like pens, paper, and three-ring binders for organized note-taking. Electronic tools such as printers, scanners, and HDMI cables offer convenience and versatility, while wireless headphones provide mobility. Creating a clean, comfortable workspace is vital for effective learning.
An online learning system, such as that with Sterling Academy, demands that students have a computer and a stable internet connection, but there are many more items students can use to create an efficient learning environment.
Although the Edgenuity learning system uses electronic notes and its guided notes can be stored electronically, there are times that students will need to use old-fashioned paper, notebooks, and pen or ink. Among those items, a reliable pen and a mechanical pencil are most serviceable, and they should be kept in a convenient place near your online workstation and guarded from family interlopers.
Keeping the various papers and forms students need for their classes is essential, and three-ring binders are very helpful to this end. Dividers in those binders will keep the notes precisely organized. Additional tools for the proper use of binders are three-ring hole punches and staplers so guided notes from Edgenuity can be placed in the binders.
An option for storing notes for courses that students plan to pursue past high school is composition notebooks, as the pages are permanently bound, so those records can be stored and transported to whatever learning/academic or professional setting students need to take them.
Students who are physically storing guided notes need a printer with two-sided print capabilities (to control paper costs), and a self-contained scanner with their printer that will help with uploading various assignments throughout their courses.
Scanning and uploading files to flash drives not only allows for convenient uploading for assignments but protects those files from potential damage due to computer mishaps.
Another electronic tool for the online student is an HDMI cable that can connect to a flat-screen TV. Laptop computers, which are popular for online learners, have small screens that are limited in their perspective. If students have the opportunity to view their courses on a larger screen, they will be able to see entire displays of lessons with a minimum of scrolling.
Among other important electronic supplement to your online classroom are wireless headphones. Although they are not essential, eliminating the “umbilical cord” to the computer allows for maximum mobility to access various materials necessary for studying.
In addition, for students there are many alternative choices of studying one of them is standing up, they may find it accommodating using a clipboard to store their notes. In conjunction with, it’s essential for all students to keep their workspace clean, using a waste can. Additionally comfortable and stable seating is essential in an online learning environment. An effective work chair needs to have adjustable height, and provide posture support to relieve pressure from the lower spine.
The stigma that online learning is all “online” is false. Online learning calls for the use of many different tools and technology, and the sooner that students can get a grasp on the entire necessities of online learning, the sooner that they will succeed in all of their coursework.