5 tips from a student for successful remote learning

Image of Aurelija Simonyte

Hello! My name is Aurelija and I am the Content and Communications Coordinator here at Present Pal. I’m also a final year student at the University of Glasgow where I study Portuguese language and Business & Management. I’m here today to share my top student tips for distance learning. I hope these tips for studying will help you feel more prepared, motivated, and ready to take on Spring Semester with confidence!

Let’s start from the beginning. Some of you might be wondering ‘What does remote learning mean?’ or ‘What is the difference between remote learning and distance learning?’. 

A quick Google search gives us the following definition for Remote Learning:

“Remote Learning occurs when the learner and instructor, or source of information, are separated by time and distance and therefore cannot meet in a traditional classroom setting”

Whereas Distance Learning is defined as follows:

“Distance learning is a way of learning remotely without being in regular face-to-face contact with a teacher in the classroom”

It appears that the main difference between Remote and Distance Learning is the presence of a teacher. Remote learning still involves contact with a tutor through on-line lessons, chats or email discussions, giving the teacher an element of control on the direction of the learning taking place. Whilst Distance learning does not require student interaction with a teacher. Automated slides could guide the students through the material and an online test could be used to assess their knowledge. 

Remote Learning taking place. A girl is listening to her teacher through a laptop

Now that we covered the definitions we can move on to the study tips for students. And don’t worry - these are applicable to both distance and remote learning!

1. Get some rest from the Remote Learning Tools

   Zoom fatigue is real. Hours spent learning remotely, attending live lectures or watching pre-recorded ones, working in groups and studying can feel draining.

   It’s hard to watch anyone give a two-hour-long Zoom lecture, even if the professor is brilliant. The teaching staff know this and try to make the remote learning process more interactive. These new online classes are designed to have a lot more engagement, such as breakout rooms, voting, or communicating via the chat box function. It’s great if the students can show up and take advantage of these opportunities to actually engage in discussions, and actively participate. And if you’re still learning the intricacies of Zoom here’s a very helpful video to get you started with all of the basics.

   
   Some professors may give you the option to turn off your camera during an online lecture on Zoom. That way, you can listen and take notes without constantly being under a microscope and let your eyes rest for a bit. 

   
   And if you have 20 seconds to spare while your tutor is desperately trying to set up breakout rooms here’s a top student tip for quickly resting your eyes.

Take a 20 second break every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away

Everyone has to look out for their own well-being right now. So if you feel like actively participating - awesome! But if you need to take a break, don’t feel guilty for turning your camera off and just listening in! Do what works best for you in this new remote learning environment to manage screen fatigue.

2. Technology is here to help!

Remote learning is both a convenience and a challenge. It gives you a great deal of flexibility…but with that freedom comes great responsibility. When most if not all of your classes are online, you need dedication, self-discipline, and likely many cups of coffee. Thankfully, there is a lot that technology can do to facilitate learning, and keep you organized!

Online courses are notorious for sneaking in multiple due dates throughout the semester. A mini-quiz this week, an essay submission by the end of the month, and perhaps even a group project meeting that needs to be organised as soon as possible? The list can go on and on and you might get overwhelmed and frustrated. With the help of MyHomework, all of your classes and assignments can be organized in one convenient location. 

I definitely lack self-control. No matter how much I want to study and finish my work, Facebook or Instagram will always sound better. If you’re like me and could also use additional motivation, there are many different apps for that. I use a free software called SelfControl. It lets you add certain sites to a “blacklist” for a designated period, during which time you won’t be able to access them. It is a very strict app which won’t let you regain access to your blacklist even if you completed the tasks early, and there’s no way around it. Not even uninstalling the app. Not even restarting your computer. You’ll just have to control yourself. 

I also use Present Pal to help me in my Remote Learning journey. Probably the most difficult part of learning a language is vocabulary (and grammar of course). Learning remotely has made it more difficult to organise study groups and learn new words with my coursemates. So every day I input new words or phrases into my Present Pal app and look at them multiple times throughout the day. 

I write up the words in Portuguese as my bullet points and add the English translation into the Safety Net feature. This has made the long and frustrating learning process much faster and easier. I get to save paper and the environment by not buying packs of flashcards and as a result my notes are no longer messy and are all in one place. 

Present Pal app open on a phone in landscape mode. The flashcard is titled ‘Phrases of the week’ and the bullet points represent various idioms in Portuguese

Present Pal app is open on a phone in landscape mode with Safety Net feature on display. In the safety net a translation of the Portuguese phrase is visible and reads ‘Burn the eyelashes/ read a lot’

3. Set up a Remote Learning Schedule

Never underestimate the value of a routine, especially when it comes to school work and study time. It can be challenging to motivate yourself while learning remotely, especially when your room turns into a library, a lecture hall, a cafe, and a relaxation zone all at the same time. Try to create a daily schedule that enables you to focus on your learning while leaving some time for relaxation.

Practice your routine every day (even if you don't have much on - use the time to get ahead) and your workload will feel manageable. To give you some inspiration, here’s how my usual Monday schedule looks like.

Daily Planner. Academic to do list: 1. Find a podcast for next week’s Portuguese oral class. 2. Start working on unit 5 in Strategic Management course. 3. Complete the homework given in the Portuguese class. Priorities: Submit dissertation draft; Submit graded Portuguese homework. Appointments: 9-9:30 Start of the week drumbeat with Present Pal; 11-13 Portuguese Class; 15-17 Global Change Management class. Notes: Complete 10 minutes of meditation; Mondays are bathroom cleaning days; Rest your eyes in between classes.

Prioritising looking after yourself is very important, so factor relaxation time into your routine, whether it’s watching a film, reading, or trying out new relaxation or self-care techniques.

A girl sitting on a yoga mat in Lotus position with a dog sitting next to her and sniffing her hand.

My discovery this year was meditation. I started by creating a 5 to 10 minute time slot for meditation every other day. If you’re struggling to find good quality free resources for meditation practices here is a list of Top 10 Guided Meditations of 2020.

These are free and high-quality resources that I have tested and therefore can wholeheartedly recommend!

4. Set positive, realistic goals for the semester

Setting yourself goals and dedicating yourself to achieving them will help you stay motivated and help you get to the results you want. And the best time to set them is the start of a new term - when you’re feeling refreshed and re-energised.

Set realistic goals that state exactly what you want to achieve. Be specific and acknowledge the effort required to achieve that goal. For example, you might say your goal is to achieve better marks in English this term, and the way you're going to achieve this goal is by increasing your study time dedicated to English and not be shy to seek help from a teacher, tutor, or friend if needed.

Write your goals down and stick them above your desk, or somewhere you will see every day, as a reminder of what you’re aiming for. For some inspiration, you can see an image of my goals.

Reach the Goal! My biggest goal for the semester is to graduate with a first. Progress. January: Received good grades in winter exams. Submitted my dissertation draft. February, March, April (What I did this month to work on my goal). I reached my goal so I get a flight with a hot air baloon!

The best way to find motivation is to set goals that you are truly passionate about achieving; goals that you feel motivated to work towards each and every day. Often, this means breaking down that big, seemingly distant dream you have into a step by step plan with smaller goals along the way. How will this term push you towards that dream? What do you want to achieve this year?

5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Getting extra help when you need it is very important and can make your education journey easier. If you need extra support or accommodations from your university or a specific course, but don’t know how to ask, take a look at this blog post. It gives you 6 phrases to use when asking your professor for support!

You are not alone. So check to see if your university or government offer any grants or additional support to help you with your Higher Education experience. For example, The Disabled Students Allowance is a Government grant in the United Kingdom available to students in Higher Education, to cover the study-related costs you have because of a mental health problem, long term illness or any other disability.

Virtually Back to School: Parents and IEPs

Image: Remote Learning

This week, we’re here to support all parents with the transition to online/hybrid learning.

The uncharted territory of learning completely online can leave a lot of parents in the dark. Teachers are busy preparing for a fall semester that, in some cases, might be completely online and school districts are understandably preoccupied with the rapidly changing situation. For you as parents, there’s a lot to contend with, so our aim is to help you navigate the new school year with some helpful tips and resources to help your children get the most out of online learning.

There are, of course, benefits and drawbacks to learning remotely.

For example, children with anxiety may feel more comfortable learning in their home environment. However, interacting online can cause other anxieties to come to the surface too, particularly when presenting or reading social cues. We know that face-to-face learning is really important for developing recognition of social cues as well as engaging students in physical tasks.

With completely online curricula, some parents are still considering how to teach their children, particularly children with special needs. Even tutors who are well versed in teaching online have said helping students with additional needs online ‘is not easy, we’re seeing a big learning curve.’ There’s lots of uncertainty surrounding what’s happening with IEPs this year, whether there’s any legislation regarding their implementation, and what parents can do to help their child.

Image: Scales and IEP logo on laptop screen

Read on to find out what’s going on with IEPs, and how you can advocate for your child.

4.6% of all American children K-12 have IEPs, one of the big questions that has stemmed from the pandemic is how students’ accommodations will be provided remotely. The answer is, it varies from state to state, and even district to district.

It can be really difficult to know where to look for help or support on this, luckily there are loads of online groups such as the IEP/504 Parent Resource Platform which can help guide you in the right direction. It’s a space for parents to share as much or as little of their experience as they’d like. It also includes bespoke resources, such as data sheets, to track your child’s progress in online learning. To explore this space and access your own data sheet, join here.

Tips from the experts

Image: Selene Almazan quote

Selene Almazan from the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) said: ‘We are encouraging families to document where their child is as far as skill level, either through video or through data sheets, that kind of stuff so that when the pandemic closures are over they can see whether or not there's been any regression in skills for students.’

However, this still leaves a lot of the onus on families to figure out their child’s accommodations; something that would usually be handled by support tutors, Speech Language Pathologists or other special educators in a face to face learning environment.

Experts are advising that parents should pursue their child’s IEP arrangements as they normally would. This can put extra pressure on parents. However, in terms of the legality of this, Denise Marshall, also from COPAA, advises: “I think that’s where people get lost, they think that COVID changes things and under the law, it does not”.

If your child has an IEP, how can you help them progress their skills?

Many schools are setting remote tasks that’ll have to be handled slightly differently in an online setting. Like we mentioned earlier, online learning can bring up a whole host of other anxieties, and perhaps your child might be expected to submit quizzes assigned by the teacher or send in videos of themselves practicing their spelling or a speech.

If you’re at a loss for how to help your child with this, at Present Pal we’ve created a presentation support software that acts as a reasonable accommodation for students with IEPs. It can be used remotely, from any location, and we want to level the playing field for this new way of learning. If your child has an IEP for dyslexia or other specific learning differences, features of the app such as line-by-line magnification can help them master the art of breaking down information during these practice tasks before having to do the real thing! Take a look at our video below to find out more.

Video: What is Present Pal?

Have you thought about accommodations for presentations?

As you can see, with Present Pal as an accommodation on your child’s IEP, they can craft presentation notes in the form of interactive flashcards, creating bullet points using key trigger words instead of writing out lengthy scripts on paper! By adding a ‘safety net’ prompt to the bullet point your child can access images and additional text which helps them to elaborate on their point if they need to.

If presentations are on your child’s syllabus, Present Pal can help provide a solution at home.

We care about helping students deliver their best when presenting, and more importantly, feel confident about doing so. Students can also use Present Pal to present in smaller zoom rooms or Google Meets with their peers, giving them that personal connection that’s really important for mental health. A key part of successful remote learning is social contact and confidence too!

Image: GIF, using Present Pal remotely

We hope the rest of the semester goes smoothly and that this post has sparked some inspiration for learning online. Continuing to support each other during this time is essential; the world of IEPs/504s is complicated anyway, on top of experts’ advice, joining some of the Facebook and parent advocacy groups provides a fantastic source of informal support. Equity and wellbeing are really important to us, so if you want to find out how your child can get Present Pal, then feel free to drop us a line on info@presentpal.co.uk or contact us via our Facebook page.

Remote learning series

Image: Remote Learning

Welcome to the first blog of our remote learning blog series!

In this blog we are focusing on tackling presentations in a remote environment. This year, learning has been completely transformed. Both teachers and students have shown a huge amount of resilience in adapting to online teaching, and the choice of additional tools needed to level the playing field is huge. Looking towards the fall semester, US schools from K-12 are still considering how teaching and learning will take place in a virtual setting, and for many presentations are still on the curriculum.

So, how do we make sure we can use tech for good and level the playing field while teaching remotely? 

Now that educators are getting more familiar with remote teaching, we wanted to share some cool ideas for getting the most out of your online time with students, while making lessons accessible for everyone. At Present Pal, we want to show you how the app can be a fantastic tool for your students while encompassing UDL principles. 

UDL is the key to equity in education, both in the classroom and online.

#UDLIRN pic.twitter.com/4o2JrMtgwI

— UDL-IRN (@UDLIRN) June 3, 2020

83% of school superintendents said that providing special education services was difficult to provide equitably during remote learning

Adapting to technology has been a huge change for many educators since the beginning of the pandemic. One parent, whose son Joseph has ADHD and Aspergers, reported that he would not be able to complete the work on his own and he would never log back on to the remote service the school used as: “It required executive functioning skills that Joe doesn’t quite have.” 

Image: A teenager using a laptop sitting at a desk

Apps can support online learning

This is a situation familiar to many teachers and parents since remote learning became the norm, how do we ensure all students, including those with disabilities, can engage with online learning?

By being more flexible with the delivery of the material this can make life a lot easier for students with learning differences. Technology like Present Pal, gives students the ability to personalise the app and to create your flashcard notes and the ability to practice your presentation helps immensely with this. 

A major dilemma for some teachers is how to balance synchronous learning with asynchronous learning.

For students with information processing or reading difficulties, uploading class recordings online gives students the opportunity to revisit and fill in any gaps from previous lessons. Present Pal can help you support this equity too, through features like audio recording and note creation, the app can be used in real time to present as well as a way to personally review rehearsals of presentations. Using the app’s rehearsal audio recording feature, teachers can encourage students to practice presentations online without the anxiety of a face-to-face run through. You can see more of Present Pal’s features here.

There’s a lot to consider when picking the ideal video conferencing tool.

Curbing this new form of online anxiety can be done with the use of Present Pal in Zoom rooms, or smaller Google Meet, where students can present to each other using their accessible notes on Present Pal in small groups to nail their presentations. There’s a lot to consider when picking the ideal video conferencing tool, but for accessibility, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams proves popular due to the ability to turn on captions. For Present Pal too, our PowerPoint add-in can integrate seamlessly for schools that use MS365, making presentations online that bit easier and more accessible. 

Image: Question marks above Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet logos

We’d love to hear more about your experience moving to remote learning and teaching. If you want to learn more about how we can support you and your students with presentations then get in touch via email here.

Stay tuned for more remote learning content on the blog next week, see you soon!