Changing Your Approach to Studying in the Digital Age

It goes without saying that technology has completely revolutionized the way we go about our daily lives. How we shop, travel, communicate, entertain, do business and just about everything in between has changed beyond what anyone could imagine just a few decades ago. How we educate ourselves is no exception.

Technology and Education

Students at all levels have the opportunity to leverage technology and access a plethora of online resources at any moment. This has made studying easier, faster and perhaps, most importantly, more enjoyable. If you’re looking to advance your career or simply expand your knowledge on a certain topic, there’s never been a better time to do it.

It no longer takes years and thousands of dollars in tuition fees to become qualified in a certain field. Granted, traditional tertiary education is still required by many employers, but online universities are quickly growing in popularity, giving students an easier and more accessible way to get their hands on those valuable certificates.

There are many ways that you can use the resources available in the digital age to learn new skills, expand your knowledge and increase your employability. In this post, we’ll help you change your approach to studying for the better by listing some of these valuable resources.

Additionally, with more and more people working online (remotely) and students learning remotely it may be best to seek guidance from Catharsis Managed IT.

Online Universities

As we touched on above, there are a growing number of universities offering online courses across a variety of subjects. By studying online, you benefit from paying lower fees, having a more flexible schedule, being able to graduate in a shorter period of time, not having to commute to school, and studying in a more comfortable environment.

Many universities offer programs that allow you to obtain a broad range of skills that you can transfer to a wide range of career paths or even start your own business. These MBA programs in Michigan are a fitting example. You’ll also notice that the enrollment requirements are less stringent than most traditional universities.

Cloud Technology

How exactly does the cloud benefit students? Well, taking advantage of cloud storage solutions in basically the same way everyone else does is your answer. It’s not only a great way to store and access your files, assignments, and presentations across any device in any location, cloud storage also makes group projects and collaboration easier.

Gone are the days of having to schedule group sessions and get everyone together in the same place at the same time. There are also a number of different cloud-based applications that you can use to make studying easier. We’ve included a few of them in our list of useful study tools and resources below.

Just Press Record

Just Press Record is a cloud-based audio recorder and transcription tool that you can use to save some valuable brainpower. Their iOS and Apple Watch app automatically turns your voice recordings into text. This can come in handy during lessons as you won’t have to type notes, allowing you to increase your multitasking capabilities.

EasyBib

Writing assignments is often a time-consuming and stressful task, especially when you have stringent rules to follow when it comes to how you include citations. EasyBib aims to simplify the writing and citation process by offering a wealth of resources on the topics.

Their EasyBib Plus service offers a citation generator that allows you to create new citations and manage existing projects, with access to 7,000 different citation styles. They also offer a powerful grammar and plagiarism checker, helping you ensure that your assignments are written to perfection.

Evernote

In case you don’t already know, Evernote is a great note-taking app with a variety of useful features. It’s cloud-based and there’s a version for just about every device, which means you have immediate access to your notes whether you’re on-the-go with your smartphone or at home with your laptop.

Evernote isn’t only limited to text notes. You can attach photos, voice memos, PDF files, hand-written notes, and web pages, too. The app is ideal for everything from to-do lists to projects to assignments to shopping lists and more. There is a premium version that gives you access to more features, but the basic free offering is sufficient for most students.

StudyStack

The premise of StudyStack is simple – it aims to make memorizing notes easier by using a flashcard-style system to create a variety of games. You can use their flashcards or create your own. The app will then automatically create games based on those flashcards. This includes hangman, crossword, scramble and word search among others.

Duolingo

Did you know that only 20 percent of Americans study a foreign language in school? In Europe, that number is 92 percent. Despite this, there’s a great deal of value in learning another language. Doing so has been proven to improve your problem solving and analytical skills, as well as your listening skills.

Learning a foreign language can also help you gain a more profound understanding of another culture and even assist you in your career, not to mention that it opens the opportunity for you to travel to another country and be more comfortable with exploring it and interacting with the locals.

Online resources, such as Duolingo, aim to make learning a new language easy and fun. The learning method is similar to a game, with a points system that allows you to level up and race against the clock. Lessons are adapted to your learning style and you can choose from a wide variety of languages, including fictional languages from your favorite movies.

Online Courses

Finally, don’t forget that there are a plethora of websites that offer online courses spanning just about every topic. If you want to learn to programme, Codeacademy, Udacity and Khan Academy are popular options. Udemy and Alison allow you to learn anything from technology to business to science to health and more.

While they don’t offer the same prestige as online university qualifications, having a few certificates from these websites on your CV is a great way to impress employers and show them that you’re enthusiastic about learning.

Conclusion

Whatever it is that you’re interested in learning, these resources will help you master your subject in no time at all. Be sure to take advantage of them and all they can offer.