How to Improve Cognitive Learning

Learning new things and demonstrating your abilities is what makes you stand out among others. However, when it comes to understanding more complex information, it’s not always easy. Even if you know the basics, more advanced topics can lead to a lot of stress and worry. When you struggle, it may feel like you’re not even cut out to do what you’re trying to achieve. If that feeling is all too familiar, there are things you can do to sharpen your cognitive skills. Below are the most important cognitive skills you need to enhance learning and help you reach your goals, and one tried and true strategy to help cover all your bases.

Attention Span

Where you direct your attention is sometimes more important than how long you can maintain it. There are two distinct attention types: focused and selective. Focused attention, both visual auditory, is how you learn new skills, complete difficult tasks and retain information. Selective attention is different. Even though you’re present, you’re not really paying close attention to what you’re doing. 

Now, you don’t want to confuse this with not caring. It’s not uncommon to shift into selective attention mode when tasks seem too difficult or when the way in which you are attempting to focus on something is particularly distracting. In today’s virtual world, it is not uncommon for people’s attention spans to be out of whack. In spite of all the virtual learning tips that have come to light, developing the ability to focus on the task at hand when you have so many distractions at your fingertips takes time and practice. 

Never Stop Learning

Adopting the strategy of making learning ongoing instead of incremental can no doubt improve cognitive learning. Even if you have taken your education to the highest possible level, when you dedicate yourself to being a lifetime student, you are feeding your brain non-stop. This strategy is effective, but it is also a commitment of your time, patience, and finances. A strong personal discipline can help you with the first two, and scholarships can help you with the latter. 

You can utilize a free scholarship search and application platform with personalized matching and thousands of scholarships and grants where you can build your profile, get matched to eligible scholarships, and apply for these opportunities. This is great for lifetime students because of the sheer volume of opportunities as well as varied types of scholarships and grants available. Using a platform that does the matching for you also frees you up to hone your cognitive skills while you wait to see how your qualifications align with the terms of each opportunity. 

Visual Processing

Visual processing is one skill you need to improve, as it is a great method for improving memory, especially if you’re having trouble understanding visual data. Even people who work in a tech-heavy field can struggle to truly understand visual information. They might feel overwhelmed and everything they look at starts to blur together. The thing is, the faster you can process information, the easier it’ll be to understand and retain in memory.

Long-Term Memory Function

You might think information you learned in the distant past isn’t important. Unfortunately, that’s incorrect. Information you learned years ago but can recall like it was yesterday demonstrates how long you can retain new information. If you have trouble remembering things that happened in the past, you can try using flash cards to build muscle memory. Any activity that involves repetition can boost your long-term memory function and cognitive ability.

Types of Intelligence

In terms of intelligence, you need to gauge your levels of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence sounds like a fancy term, however, it’s just your reasoning ability and how you use it to solve problems. Crystallized intelligence works differently. It takes information you learned in the past and applies it to the present. It’s based more on concrete facts as opposed to learning in real-time. To improve both types, you need to increase the quantity of true learning and do activities that enhance retention.

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How to Help Your Child with Virtual Learning

 

Typically a new school year can be stressful, and there are potential risks that parents have to think about.

For example, bus safety and pedestrian safety are big issues parents think about when it comes to the logistic of their child going to school. Now, heading into the 2020-21 year, many parents have a different concern—COVID-19.

States and school districts around the country have opted to take different approaches to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

For example, some states are having kids mostly go in-person. Other districts are doing a hybrid model to keep the number of kids in the building low at any given time. Then, some districts are for at least the first semester, going entirely virtual.

You may also be in a district where there’s a choice parents can make between in-person or virtual learning.

It’s leaving parents wondering how to make it work, not only with their job demands but also how to ensure their child gets a good education when they’re learning from home.

If you’re not an educator, the idea of facilitating your child’s learning can be scary and overwhelming, but the following are tips for parents to help their kids right now.

Get Familiar with the Content and the Technology

Your child’s teacher should be the one leading during remote learning, and you should allow them to do that freely in the way they see fit.

With that being said, it’s likely that your child is going to be doing some of their work independently throughout the day, and they aren’t going to have guided instructional time nonstop.

That’s where you might be needed.

To best help your child in these situations, before school starts, get familiar with the technology your child will be using.

You should also try and familiarize yourself at least a bit with the curriculum. You don’t have to be an expert, but it helps if you have some idea of what your child is learning or studying at any given time.

Knowing what’s happening with their education will also help you hold them accountable.

With all that being said, while you should be available if your child needs you, you shouldn’t be sitting in on their classes. You wouldn’t pop into their regular classes and sit and watch in most cases, so don’t do it with virtual learning. Instead, keep a hands-off approach during instructional time, and only step in when your child is asking for help.

If you want to communicate with the teacher or school staff, do so through email or a phone call and outside of class time.

Schedule and Encourage Intervals

If you’re working from home or you’re staying home from work during this time, you have the opportunity to help your child structure their day.

If you think about what it’s like for children at school, they aren’t engaged in instruction all day. They’re also doing other things, like socializing and going outside to play.

Breaking up learning into intervals and encouraging other activities throughout the day can help your child stay more focused when they are in learning time.

It can help reduce boredom and distractions.

Encouraging physical activity is really important for kids who are learning virtually. There are dedicated chunks of time at school for kids to be active, and they need something similar when learning at home.

Staying physically active is good for not only your child’s physical health but their mental health as well.

Enlist Help

If you’re working full-time, whether at home or not, that could be your biggest stress as far as your kids learning virtually.

Enlist help wherever you can.

Some parents are opting to create their own “pods.” The idea is basically that a group of kids come together for virtual learning, but the circle is still kept small and contained. It would be helpful for all the parents whose kids are in the pod to be likeminded as far as their thoughts on social distancing.

Then, the pod pools its resources to hire a tutor or someone to help guide the kids through their virtual learning.

Depending on the work schedules of parents, you could also have the parents swap off helping the kids throughout the week.

Another option is to turn to a family member to at least be with your child while they’re learning virtually and making sure everything is going smoothly.

Communicate with Your Child’s Teachers

While school may look different for many this year, teachers are still teachers. Your child may be interacting with them over a computer screen, but they are there for guidance and as a resource.

If you feel like your child is having difficulties, whether it’s with the virtual format or with the material itself, don’t be afraid to talk to their teacher.

They may have ideas and ways to help that you wouldn’t otherwise think about.

Create a Dedicated Learning Space

If at all possible, create a dedicated learning space for your child. If you have multiple kids at home doing virtual learning, try to keep them separate.

Choose areas out of the way of the main traffic flow in your house. While natural light can be good, don’t have your child facing a window because it can be distracting.

Make sure the learning space is only for school work, and at the end of the learning day when it’s time to sign off, have your child leave the space so they continue to see it as only for that.

If you can avoid having it where your child sleeps, that’s helpful.

You want an area that’s clean, quiet, and free of clutter.

Finally, don’t forget to take care of yourself during this time. You have a lot on your plate, too so you can help foster a better learning environment for your child by relaxing and reducing your own stress as much as you can as we navigate a new school year.

 

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Five Benefits of Creating a Virtual Learning Environment

Which one do you prefer? A virtual classroom or a traditional classroom? If you have many life commitments, a virtual learning experience is the best choice to further your studies. If you are yet to make this decision, too, here are five benefits you can expect from virtual learning.

  1. Convenient

A classroom setup operates within limitations of its location and time. That is, if you are not in class at a particular time and place, you cannot take part in the lesson. Yet, a virtual learning environment breaks such barriers. Learning can happen anywhere. Then, with various digital tools, you can record and replay the lesson at any time you want. For example, a virtual classroom at Roehampton University is possible on a desktop, laptop, or smartphone as long as one has access to the internet. Hence, this convenience means that a virtual classroom will have more participants, from all walks of life.

  1. Flexible Schedules

A virtual learning environment is flexible. You can take the lesson during a tea break or lunch break. Better still, participate in an education conference in your working hours. That way, your colleagues can take part in the class. This flexibility works best for students who also juggle work, family, and studies. In contrast, you can only attend a classroom set up at the stated lesson time.  

  1. Better Knowledge Retention

Most virtual lessons are in the form of short study packs with measurable goals. Plus, they are quite interactive. Meaning, you can switch back and forth to an area you have any learning difficulties. That is, you can bookmark the lessons you need to focus on some more. Then, the software uses your experience to sets up more practice exercises. In turn, it assists you to grasp the concepts faster. In the end, you understand and keep knowledge in a virtual learning setup better than in a classroom setup.

  1. Instant Feedback

Have you submitted your test online? You get your final score instantly. Plus, the evaluation comes with links to further resources. The same applies once you complete a topic. You can grade the issue depending on how well you understood it. That way, the learning platform will set for your reminders and goals on what you need to emphasize on. In a physical classroom, one tutor may struggle to give feedback to more student queries. For he has a packed course to deliver in a limited time to deliver his lesson.

  1. Better Engagement and Participation

Physical lessons allow for interactions through class groups and presentations. But a virtual learning platform raises the stakes even further. You get to chat with colleagues as you work on your assignment or project. Then, liaise with your supervisor to get clarification on any instructions that seem unclear. You get to do this at any time and place that is convenient for you. In the end, you will share, connect, and learn from your classmates in ways that are not possible in a physical class setup.

Conclusion

A switch from a physical classroom to a virtual learning environment can seem daunting at first. For you have to be tech-savvy to keep up with the digital tools. Yet, once you master the ropes, nothing can stop you from excelling in your studies. Try virtual learning today.

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