Use FutureLearn to Master Online Learning

Education is moving online, much like everything else, and this change brings with it both opportunities and pitfalls.

For instance, we become self-directed, autonomous, in control of what we learn and when we learn it. We get to follow our curiosities and avoid anything mundane or boring.

However, we must be able to find our direction, motivate ourselves, to know what we need to know and what we don’t. We don’t often get the help and advice of people that are more in the know. We also rely on outdated learning methods with little in the way of instruction—to remedy this, check out Connecting the Dots.

Thankfully, in true online-learning fashion, there are now online courses built to educate us in online learning.

There are four courses that have just started (June 5th)—if you can’t make this session, there are repeats each month until December.

They are a collection of courses from the University of Leeds which are available through FutureLearn. While developed with college kids in mind (they are part of a longer Going to University collection), they are open to anyone interested in improving their online learning skills.

Here’s a quick rundown:

Learning Online: Learning and Collaborating

“Become an effective online learner and develop your online communication skills when working with others.”

You are probably used to learning online on a daily basis, including turning to your phone for information rather than referring to books. More formal online learning is likely to be important for you in the future, either at university or in the workplace. Learning online is different to learning in the classroom, it needs different skills. This course will help you to develop those skills, showing you how to learn and communicate effectively in an online environment.

Learning Online: Managing Your Identity

“Reflect on how you want to present yourself online and take positive steps towards these goals.”

Many of us now have an online identity running alongside our everyday lives. In this course you’ll consider your online presence; you’ll discover how what we say and do online can have major implications for our real lives, and those of others. You’ll also spend time looking at how to assess and enhance our online identities to ensure that you can get the most out of being yourself online.

Learning Online: Reflecting and Sharing

“Get the most out of online learning by reflecting and sharing your learning with others.”

This course introduces some tools you can use to help to reflect on your learning; such as short tests and quizzes or by using tools such as online logs or journals. You will then move on to focus on sharing your learning with others; by producing and sharing video, using blogs, pin-boards, collaborative platforms or social media you can enrich the learning experience.

Learning Online: Searching and Researching

“Improve your online research skills and your ability to critically analyse sources of information.”

In this course, you’ll explore the rich and diverse range of information available to you online, how to use search tools effectively, and the ways in which you can begin to assess information that you might want to use in your studies. Using a wide range of learning activities, you will be challenged to dig deeper and think critically about the information that you find online.

Want to get even better? Don’t forget to check out Connecting the Dots, which you can also get for free by signing up before June 10th.