Murray Morrison's top tips for making the most of remote learning
As students across the country begin to get fatigued with remote learning, students and parents alike need to make sure their home working environments are as effective as possible. Tassomai founder, online learning and revision expert, Murray Morrison, is here to share some of his top tips on making the most of studying from home and remaining focused for the next few months. Sometimes we all just need a little reminder to get us back into some good habits, especially at the start of a new year...
Utilise Resources
We have never been more prepared for online working and learning than we are right now, but it is important to keep up momentum as we wait to hear when schools will reopen. This is a time to make the most of the plethora of online resources available, whether that’s through Tassomai quizzes, YouTube videos, podcasts, worksheets, interactive games, virtual flashcards, or FaceTime study sessions with friends. I recommend identifying a number of different practices that work for your child and then encouraging them to rotate different techniques to stop them getting fatigued with any one method. Each student responds to things differently, but using this time to experiment and find out what works will prove invaluable in future exams, study and work.
Colour Coding
After so long away from school, students are finding it hard to know what areas to work on and are struggling to gain confidence outside of the classroom. Not knowing what you don’t know is a great cause of unacknowledged stress, but it’s easy to fix. Parents whose children use Tasssomai can help them to identify the gaps in their knowledge by using the Tassomai Tree feature on their student dashboard. Either work from the Tree itself or apply its colour coding system to the rest of their work. All you need to do is to find the exam specification document, and grab a few coloured pens or post-it notes. Print it out and colour it in line by line as follows (or use a decent pdf-reader to reduce paper waste):
Material they know confidently - or have consistently answered correctly - should be coloured green;
Material they need to practise - or have occasionally answered incorrectly - should be orange;
Material they need help with - or have consistently answered incorrectly - should be red.
This takes them 99% of the way to having a learning plan. If you help your child with this process then they will know the areas they need to work on and can build on their knowledge accordingly in a simple, organised way.
Sustainable Practices
Thinking about what your child is doing, what they’ve done and how they’re feeling day to day is vital if they’re to become aware of what behaviours result in which feelings or performance. Use this extra time at home to encourage them to track this progress, even using a journal to each day to simply write out:
What they did today
What went well
What they think they should do more of/next
How they’re feeling (with regard to energy and stress)
What reward they can give themselves at the end of tomorrow’s session
It only takes 3 minutes and will help your child to build healthy, sustainable, productive work habits.
If students work to identify the gaps in their knowledge and then practise the areas they struggle with most, then I think that is where they can make real progress. Acknowledging the improvement that has been made then becomes a constructive habit. It becomes sustainable. Unlike the student who is being spoon-fed by a tutor, if they study this way with the support of their family, they build lasting knowledge of their subjects, as well as a knowledge of themselves and how they learn. These are the skills, which if honed this year in lockdown, could help carry them through into their further work and education after this disrupted year.
Parents! Don’t Panic!
While we all recognise that parents are under increased stress at the moment and obviously want to be supportive to their children, it is also important to try not to worry too much. The majority of parents across the world are all in the same boat. It’s important not to panic and to remind yourself that this will all work itself out in the end - these crucial learning years have been altered, but they have certainly not been lost.
Remember, if the aim is that your child performs at their best, think about what you can do to get them at peak performance. Might a little R&R have a greater net benefit than an extra hour of geography?
Lockdown and remote learning are, of course, stressful for students but teachers, school leaders and parents will be feeling the stress too. By thinking a little bit about how to keep things in perspective, how to communicate clearly and regularly about how their studying is going, and by all working together towards the same goals, this time spent in lockdown can become an opportunity for students to grow their confidence and improve their independent learning skills.
Finding Balance
If remote learning is a source of stress, it’s doing more harm than good. It’s a perennial worry, and one that is not limited to children: are we as good as we ought to be at examining our feelings, stress levels and productivity, and articulating them or seeking help? If either you or your child think this area of your working life could be improved, then focus on physical health - rest, sleep, balanced diet, fresh air and exercise - all as a means of making the work you do as productive and valuable as possible.
If you think of athletes, they set their goals and plans with the requirement that they are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. Think about these ideas in planning daily or weekly learning targets to keep their time and work, as well as your own, in healthy balance.
I hope these top tips help to shake your lockdown fatigue when it comes to home working habits. This is a time to build a sustainable, stress-free learning environment that will see you through to the end of this period of isolation and beyond.
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For more tips on learning at home, read Tassomai teacher and revision-focused YouTuber Kit Betts-Masters’ advice of the best way to learn.