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In this section, we’ll discuss a few strategies that can help you study from online course materials successfully. Most learners have spent at least part of their student careers learning from printed materials or in physical classrooms. That means you’ve probably developed (or learned) strategies for remembering materials when they’re presented in those formats.
Online courses will likely make use of a variety of media to present content. Here’s a list of some popular types:
- Websites with readings, videos, and interactive content
- Videos (for lectures, for examples or lab content, for demonstrations)
- Audio or podcasts (for lectures, for instructions, for examples)
- Multimedia content (this is any content that uses more than one type of material, like an online reading that has a video in the middle, or a slideshow that uses both images and words or has an audio track).
- Infographics or detailed images (to explain a concept, for demonstrations, as summaries)
- Interactive content (this is any content where you’re asked to do something as it goes along, like a video that pauses to ask a quiz question, or a reading where you have to choose which section to visit based on your answers or interests)
- Wikis or collaborative documents (to build a class glossary, to create a group project)
If you developed a method for note-taking or remembering course materials for your in-person courses, you may only need some small adjustments to make it work for online. If you’re new to the world of keeping track of what you’re learning, you have a chance to develop a system that works for you (and saves you time and energy).
This book encourages you to use the KARR method to remember what you read: Know your purpose, Attack with a strategy, Reflect immediately, and Return at least once.
Know your purpose:
Before you begin any reading or viewing of class materials, understand what you’re supposed to get from it. To put it in other words, “Is this going to be on the test?” While that question reduces the point of what we’re trying to accomplish in most classes, it’s not always a bad place to start. When you plan time to read or view course materials, get a clear picture of what the point is:
- Are you reading to learn a new concept that you’ll have to apply immediately?
- Are you getting background information that will help you understand another presentation that’s coming up?
- Is this a review reading, meant to remind you of past knowledge from this course or one before?
- Will the materials ask you to take a side or form an opinion on an issue?
- How long will I need to remember what I’m reading/watching here?
There are plenty of reasons an instructor might ask you to complete a reading or watch a video. Make sure you know, and can write down or say out loud, why you’re doing the work before you get started. If you’re not sure, ask! Your instructor, your classmates, or even your course documents (like the syllabus) may hold the answers to “why.”
Attack with a strategy
Sitting down to read for three hours straight likely won’t get you three hours’ worth of knowledge. However, reading for an hour with a strategy to get the most from your reading and your time may put you ahead. Strategies for reading or watching videos vary depending on what you want to get from what you’re consuming. The most important part is to have a plan about how you’ll do the work ahead of you. Questions to consider:
- Will I take notes or record what I’ve learned in a different way?
- Do I need to/can I read, watch, or listen to this more than one time?
- How will I remember what I learn right away? How will I remember by next week?
Many strategies have been developed for effective reading. Fewer exist for getting the most from learning through videos and audio or interactive content, but we can apply many popular active learning strategies to all types of materials. (The next section lists several popular, adapted methods for recording what you’ve learned).
Reflect Immediately
Reflection is an important part of the learning process. It gives us a chance to figure out what we’ve really learned and what didn’t sink in. Studies continue to show that reflecting on what we’ve just read, watched, or listened to not only offers a better chance to remember things but also helps us make connections between what we’re reading and what’s happening in the rest of our lives.
Reflection should happen in a way you can record, such as through writing a few sentences. No matter what kind of materials you’re using, there are three questions that you can use to help what you’ve learned sink into your memory:
- What was the main point of what I just read/saw/listened to?
- Did it achieve the purpose set forth? If so, how? If not, what do I need to do to get there?
- How is this relevant to my own life?
The third question here is likely the most important. Studies have theorized that people remember concepts best when they can connect them to their own lives. For example, the formula for finding an average is going to be hard for me to remember unless I can think of a way I might use it in real life: to figure my GPA, for instance, or to track a favorite athlete’s season. Similarly, we’re more likely to remember articles or book chapters if we can find a way to relate them to our own experience. Maybe nothing jumps out immediately to connect part of Shakespeare to your daily life, but if you spend just a few minutes trying to find a connection, you’re more likely to remember and understand what you’ve read.
Return at least once
Notes are useless unless you use them. Even perfect, word-for-word lecture notes won’t help you learn what was said unless you return to read them or transform them into something you can use. For example, if you take written notes, you can turn them into flashcards to review terms or formulas. You can also take headings from videos (think: anywhere there’s a title card or writing on the video) and turn them into a mindmap or flowchart for what you’ve read.
What’s important is that you plan time to come back to your notes or recorded material. That way, you’re giving your brain a second chance to understand and remember what you’ve been learning.
What to avoid: Returning to redo your reading or work. If you find you have to watch videos multiple times, or read chapters more than once, to get the main point, work on your active reading and learning strategies. Find a way to make sense of what you’re looking at as you go through. Pause more frequently to take notes, or develop a system of questions and answers that actually works for you.