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Optimizing Online Learning: Supporting Upper School Students

March 21, 2020 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Any new activity requires a little more time and attention, and the same is true for optimizing online learning. One advantage for students today is that most schools already use a virtual course platform for homework. When schools need to switch from in-person classrooms to online learning, however, new platforms may be necessary. All the change is disruptive, but it is possible to succeed with some extra time and patience.

The most confusing thing that many students face is the plethora of new small assignments posted online that compensate for the in-class tutorial. Every teacher is doing something slightly different to ensure that students still gain important knowledge while optimizing online learning environments. The nature of the course topic requires these slight variations in style and assignment. This is true in person as well, but online learning highlights these differences. So many differences all at once, seemingly on the same platform is why that sense of disorientation arises.

The following are some learning tips for optimizing online learning.

Start from the growth mindset that you can do this. You’ve learned things that seemed difficult before and online learning systems are no different. When you encounter a new online platform believe that by clicking around, looking for tips online, and using the help section, you will eventually be able to use it. If you need to set up a new system or connect a program with a computer tool, like a camera or microphone, no matter how disorienting it seems at first, remember that you can do this. Others have and you will too.

Anything new requires extra time. In the beginning, plan a set-up period to minimize stress about completing an assignment. This is especially true as you face new kinds of online learning activities. If a live presentation starts at 10 am on a platform you have not used before, log in fifteen minutes early to see how it works and troubleshoot any problems.

Keep a notebook near the computer (or a document in your files) to keep your log-in information and the specific steps necessary for each new system. Or better yet, make use of a secure password vault, such as LastPass. As your instructors introduce different online learning platforms and systems, remembering all the particular features to engage with the online learning will get overwhelming. Dedicate a page to each system so that you can add additional notes about the system’s features and utility as you learn how to use it.

Computers are filled with distractions that make focused time difficult. This is even more true for anyone who has ADD or ADHD. Pop-ups, updates, and notifications may be useful sometimes, but when trying to concentrate on something new, those reminders interrupt your thinking. Consider turning off automatic notifications when you engage with any online learning, including texting notifications.

For those unaccustomed to online learning, your mind is challenged to learn two new things at once. You are both learning the new course content and the new delivery system. This is tiring and remote education therefore often requires additional short breaks to let the mind relax. To optimize your success with online learning, the Pomodoro method can be useful. Set a timer for 25 minutes of work with a 5-minute break period at the end. Repeat this 3-4 times and then take a longer break. Try to avoid using breaks to search online or play games, both of which still make the brain work to solve problems. Stretch, knit, draw, make tea, do push-ups…find whatever amuses you that won’t tax your mind.

(TIP: a boxing timer app can be useful for Pomodoro method. It lets you set the time for work and breaks in your desired number of cycles. This eliminates the additional work of tracking a timer.)

The advantage and challenge of online learning is that it makes the student more responsible for acknowledging any difficulties they face. When something doesn’t work or you don’t understand, there is no instructor there to notice the look of confusion on your face. Recognizing your own confusion and learning to ask for assistance are the most important personal development skills that students gain in online learning environments. Instructors expect students to communicate more often in these situations. Don’t hesitate to ask questions, sign up for chat study sessions, and communicate what isn’t working so that you get the assistance you need.

Finally, a hovering parent can be just as disabling as an inattentive one, depending on the needs of the student in online learning circumstances. Some students thrive at the opportunity to be independently responsible. Other students need and want oversight and encouragement to produce. Also, different classes using an assortment of online learning techniques may require different kinds of support. To optimize online learning within the home, communication is key. Parents have an opportunity to show faith in their students’ abilities, but children also need to recognize when they aren’t succeeding on the terms they established. When a student is struggling with online learning, the student has a chance to self-reflect and consider what would help. Learning to communicate those needs are a part of the executive function skills that make young adults into successful citizens of the world.

The struggles we face optimizing online learning are opportunities to become more effective tomorrow. The challenges are real and require our time to learn and adapt to these new systems. Everyone needs to be patient with each other as we face this unexpected thrust into a completely online realm with online learning and remote work the new norm.

By Charlotte Kent, Ph.D. and Private Tutor, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Learning Specialist

Online Learning: Supporting College Students

March 21, 2020 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Some college students may rejoice to hear their classes have shifted to online learning, but the social context for that change remains stressful and it is a mistake to think that classes will be easier online. For students still in dorms, the distractions are endless. For students living back home, distractions and adjustments to family life contribute to the disruption. With the radical switch that most face as their instructors turn to remote learning, college students need to accept a greater level of responsibility for their education, all while being more patient with others and themselves.

The health crisis that is leading to self-selected quarantines and university closures is a massive change for everybody. Accept some disruptions as your instructors overhaul courses for online learning. Some may struggle with platforms they have largely avoided. Others may need to reimagine their course content. All are facing a barrage of updates on policies and practices and having to adjust accordingly. Some students are comfortable with online learning, while others aren’t. Some have impairments that complicate their access and use of virtual platforms. Patience with professors and classmates will help during the transition period into online learning for the rest of the semester.

Switching to online learning means being entirely self-regulated and governed. Plan study sessions for each subject. Dedicate a few hours throughout the week. Letting work accumulate becomes overwhelming and that stress leads to abandoning projects. Marathon sessions are not effective. Short but regular engagement works best. Put your study time into a calendar and stick with it because falling behind is very easy. In higher ed, professors don’t provide the same level of support that high schools do. College students need to be responsible for managing their time, their work, and their success.

Even if you are comfortable researching and working online, even if most of your assignments and tests required online posts, switching to exclusive online learning introduces new management expectations. Each week, instructors may use their educational platform (like Canvas or Blackboard) to assign a plethora of small assignments: videos with internal quizzes, discussion boards, textbook reading as well as articles posted to the site, automated quizzes, conference meetings, and much more. Keeping track is hard. Set aside a weekly period to look through your online course site and identify what you need to do. Some work may not have due dates, but your professor will expect you to complete it in advance of tackling other work. List all the work expectations, and track what needs to be done in a notebook or calendar.

Doing all the work for one class on one day typically fails. Some classes will require multiple posts a week. Cramming information makes it easier to forget. With online learning, there is less repetition of content so focus on any activity and extracting necessary details becomes even more important. The instructor won’t be there in class to revisit core ideas and answer questions, or simply respond to those heavy silences when students are unsure. If you know you don’t understand something, request a virtual meeting with the professor or TA. If the content appears in the subsequent week and you still don’t understand it, then you must address the situation immediately or face the likelihood of falling too many steps behind the material.

Recognize that the new types of work may require learning new platforms. Schedule extra time to complete assignments in case the system is not what you thought it would be. Watch tutorials and ask classmates for tips. Connect with other students through a video platform to work together. It can help as long as the work stays the focus.

The other side of the quarantine is feeling severed from friends. The isolation isn’t simply about being alone but about losing the kind of heartfelt contact that ‘hanging out’ provides. Video chats help a lot but everyone is on different schedules and connecting doesn’t always work. Just like scheduling study time, schedule chats with close friends or make group dates. Decide to have coffee together in the morning or to all eat the same thing. That small gesture can feel bonding.

For those at home again, after becoming accustomed to managing your own life, daily interactions with parents can create stress and discord within the family. Everyone is trying to adjust. The best way to show your parents that you have the maturity to study, eat, and sleep when you want is to listen patiently to their concerns and stay on top of your work. Recognize that they are likely adjusting to your lifestyle, too, and trying to make room for it in their own. If everyone finds a little more patience with each other, especially when we feel it the least, then as adults in these trying times we will get through.

By Charlotte Kent, Ph.D. and Private Tutor, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Learning Specialist

Online Learning: Supporting Teachers

March 21, 2020 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

e-Tutoring and Online Learning:

With the Covid-19 crisis gripping the country, there have been major changes to everyday life: social distancing, cancelled schools, closed businesses and deep economic uncertainty. These changes are having profound impacts on education as teachers, schools, and students are forced to adjust to e-Tutoring and online learning. This shift can be challenging, thus we’ve organized a number of suggestions to help smooth the transition and aid educators in providing a positive learning environment for students in these difficult times.

Logistics and Tech:

For e-Tutoring and online learning, there are a few technological essentials. First, you need a mode of clear audio and visual communication with your student and luckily there are plenty of options! Services such as Skype, Facetime, Google Hangouts, or Zoom all provide free video conferencing. Additionally, it’s important to make sure that both you and your student have reliable internet access and a quiet location to work. Communicating digitally inherently presents a barrier and it is crucial to remove any additional distractions; lagging calls, freezing screens or a barking dog can all damage the effectiveness of your session.

Also, it is important to have some manner of a shared workspace with your student for online learning. We recommend a shared white board program such as Groupboard, or the screen sharing available in Zoom. For math subjects, it is essential to be able to work through problems visually together; a Wacom writing tablet (or similar type) will also speed up your ability to draw diagrams and write out equations. For English and grammar exercises, however, it may be preferable to work in a shared Google Doc. Your choice of shared workspace may change with your student’s needs, so it is prudent to become comfortable with a few different options. Simply put, writing out diagrams on paper and holding them up to the camera is not the most efficient or effective way to communicate with your student.

Finally, regardless of how you plan to communicate with your student, it is important to make these decisions before you start your online learning. This will give you time to ensure that both you and your student have access to and familiarity with whatever technology is required. You want to avoid spending ten minutes of your session trying to guide your student through the functioning of a Google Doc, unless the purpose is digital coaching a tutorial of this platform or tool.

Reducing Friction from Online Learning:

When e-Tutoring and delivering online instruction, it is essential that you and your student both have copies of the material. We recommend having a dedicated channel for file sharing. Whether it is an email thread, text chain or the chat option in your video conferencing program, you both need to know how information and documents will be sent. Then, if you need to add a worksheet to your lesson plan or send over another round of practice problems, you won’t waste valuable time logging into emails or sending links to the wrong place.

Additionally, if you are not using software that includes screen sharing, you should vocalize every time you change tabs. While it may seem obvious to you that you’ve moved from the digital white board back to the worksheet, if you do not explicitly tell your student, they may not change tabs with you and get lost. Each time you and your student are not aligned, you risk disrupting the flow of the lesson.

Finally, if a student is completing any homework offline, you need to ensure that you have a way to view it. This can be achieved with a document camera during the session, or by having the student scan their work and email it to you before the session. If students don’t have a typical scanner, they can take a photo and email, text, or upload it to a designated spot.

Maintaining Student Interest:

Because you will lack many of the non-verbal cues that indicate if a student is engaged with online learning, it is harder to know that your student is paying attention during a remote session. In order to keep them interested, it is key to have the student actively participating in the session. You should constantly ask questions and have the student rephrase any information you provide in their own words. Remember, the moment you are talking and your student is not, they may have opened another tab or drifted into a dream world.

Additionally, because you are no longer in the room with your student, you should aim to ratchet up your enthusiasm. Learning from a screen can feel stiff compared to learning in person, so it is up to you to compensate for that gap with fun and purposeful activities, a positive attitude and consistent energy.

Flexibility of Session Length and Schedule:

Because online learning doesn’t require travel, it allows you to be more flexible with your schedule. Breaking up a full-length session into two smaller sessions or scheduling short follow ups are now options that you can offer your students. Be creative! You can now schedule a session to outline an essay and another one to edit the final draft, or three thirty-minute sessions to do math drills and review content consistently throughout the week.

Providing Normalcy and Minimizing Disruption:

Given the current disruption to your students’ school life, you should check in on how they are handling the transition in their schools. Your students may have issues with their new remote classrooms and you can help them develop strategies to learn more effectively. This can be an ideal opportunity to model problem solving behavior; rather than prescribing solutions, use targeted questions to help guide your students to strategies on their own.

Additionally, be open to feedback. Ask your students about how your remote sessions are going and try to incorporate their suggestions. Check in about what they like and don’t like about online learning and be willing to adapt your approach to their needs.

Finally, in the midst of this crisis, online learning will act as an emotional support to your students. This is bound to be a trying time for your students; their daily routines, education and social life are all in upheaval. By continuing to provide the same warm, reassuring presence that you bring to your in-person sessions, you can be an important anchor of normalcy in their life. The very fact that you are taking additional steps to meet with them in the midst of a crisis signals your commitment to their education and general well-being — it will not be overlooked.

By Jacob Backer, Private Tutor, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Learning Specialist

Keys to Selective Attention and Goal Attainment

November 3, 2019 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Activation, intention, and inhibition are essential cognitive functions for selective attention. Regardless of the task, the level of access to and employment of these cognitive functions will affect the level of effectiveness and efficiency in achieving a goal. Selective attention depends on alertness toward a task, the intention toward that purpose, and filtering out of unintended and irrelevant distractors.

From the moment that we awaken in the morning to the moment that we fall asleep at night, we are continuously processing information with varying degrees of awareness and action. Our sensory systems are bombarded by external sensory stimuli while our ongoing ‘internal tapes’ are running, rapidly shifting at a dizzying pace as we walk through our day. As we mature from childhood into young adulthood, our neurobiology assists us in developing functional capacities for self-regulation for effective cognitive and adaptive functioning. For students at varying levels of development, the process of meeting expectations over the course of a day requires balancing and managing the processes associated with activation, intention, attention, and inhibition relative to one’s age expectations.

We first need to be neurobiologically ready, alerting and activating our internal system toward an intention (e.g. “I am alert and ready to go!”). Intention is a cognitive construct that is associated with a plan of action toward a goal (e.g. “I have 30 minutes to complete this task.”). Intention needs to be specific and targeted in order to achieve a goal so as not to diffuse the available resources for selective attention (e.g. “During the next 30 minutes, I need to read 10 pages of text and answer questions 1 – 5). Intention is essentially partnered with selective attention and inhibition, passing along a continuum that proceeds from the passive process of intention to the active process of selective attention and simultaneous inhibition. Attention is a central, intentional, and controlled process for managing our perceptions and integrating a process into memory as well as a peripheral, automatic process that is derived from already learned and internalized functions that do not require resources for selective attention. We engage in both central and peripheral attentional processes all throughout the day, likely unaware of the more peripheral attentional processes that help us simply get through the day (e.g. engaging in behavioral routines; employing skills that have become automatized [keyboarding]). It is the central, controlled process of selective attention that needs to be preceded by activation and intention, and needs to be coupled with inhibition. As such, the flip side of active focused attention is active suppression of irrelevant stimuli. Selectively directing our attention to a particular stimulus is associated with exciting particular neural networks associated with the process, sparing the need for excitation of neural networks in those regions of the brain that are not associated with the targeted stimuli. Thus, each process along the noted continuum requires effort and rehearsal in order to selectively focus and sustain attention effectively and consistently.

The greater the intention toward selective attention to the task at hand (rather than divided attention [i.e. multi-tasking]), the greater the need for inhibiting and filtering out the competing distractors. If you think about how a camera lens may zoom in and out of visual focus or how varying levels of volume and clarity of sound impact auditory focus, you can imagine how the need for greater specificity of intention and selective attention requires greater suppression of the diffusion and distribution of the ‘noise’ or distracting background. The broader the area of focus, the greater the loss of clarity.

Thus, suppressing distractors, both external distractors (e.g. sounds and sights in a classroom) and internal distractors (e.g. happy thoughts [“Can’t wait until I can play xxxxx”]; intrusive and anxious thoughts [“I don’t remember anything that I studied last night!”; “I hope that the teacher does not call on me.”]) is critical in order to achieve selective attention and to sustain attention. The ever-increasing need to use electronics to perform academic tasks are unfortunately accompanied by ever-increasing externalized distractors that can also precipitate internalized distractors, and together, can sabotage one’s intention, attention, and inhibitory control necessary for task completion. One’s ability to inhibit these distractors requires awareness of the potential for the negative impact, the intent to suppress the distractors, and modification of one’s environment to minimize the impact (e.g. turning off electronics; class seating placement; use of cognitive inserts [“Focus! Get started! Don’t stop!”; “I’ll try my best.”; “I can do this!”.).

Thus, one’s ability to carry out these essential self-modulation functions depends on one’s level of maturation and development, individual differences in one’s neurobiological makeup, nature of the task, underlying skill development (i.e. content skills and executive functions) necessary for task completion, activation to the task, level of interest, investment, and confidence, specificity and selectivity of attention, duration of time needed, and the level, number, and intensity of the distractors.

As can be seen, the continuum associated with activation, intention, selective attention, and inhibition is a complicated sequence that requires intact neurobiology as well as a balance and integration of the factors noted above in order to set and achieve a goal with ease, efficiency, and consistency. Throughout the course of a day, students are confronted with demands for engaging in these self-modulation processes in order to process information, learn, retrieve information, and meet expectations toward achieving their goals.

Signs that reflect problems of activation, intention, attention, and inhibitory control vary from individual to individual. They may include but are not limited to:

Having difficulty waking up, efficiently getting through morning routines, and getting out the door;
Appearing sluggish in class even after a good night’s sleep;
Having difficulty following instructions and needing repetition;
Having difficulty initially attending to and initiating task according to the task demand;
Having difficulty waiting and sitting still, quietly, and in one’s seat;
Having difficulty listening to, sustaining attention, understanding, and retaining information presented;
Having difficulty focusing when reading and needing to reread;
Making the same mistakes over and over again;
Having difficulty completing tasks and doing so in a timely manner.

Watching out for these signs and determining the breadth and level of severity of the signs that may inhibit or interfere with a student’s academic and adaptive functioning will help dictate the need for support to enhance those functions. It is important to determine whether or not the nature and level of concern regarding selective attention and related cognitive functions warrant a formal assessment conducted by a psychologist or psychiatrist to guide specific supplemental support services and/or treatments, eligibility for academic accommodations, or a change in academic placement. It is also important to keep in mind that regardless of a student’s intellectual capacities, significant self-modulation difficulties can exist and can be accompanied by learning difficulties, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Thus, it is also critical to monitor for accompanying vulnerabilities that may further complicate a student’s profile and capacity for self-modulation relative to developmental expectations. As always, early identification and support provide a student with increased opportunities to develop those cognitive capacities and habits that correspond to their neurobiological development, and together, provide greater access toward meeting goals for academic success while enhancing adaptive functioning throughout development.

Concetta M. DeCaria, Ph.D. is a clinical neuropsychologist in a child and adolescent private practice that focuses on conducting psychoeducational and neuropsychological evaluations. She is also a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Reference Sources:

Bakker, S; Niemantsverdriet, K: The Interaction-Attention Continuum: Considering Various Levels of Human Attention in Interaction Design; International Journal of Design, 10(2), 2016, S. 1-14.

Bratman, M. (1987). Intention, Plans, and Practical Reason. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Daitch, A.L., et al. (2013). Frequency-Specific Mechanism Links Human Brain Networks for Spatial Attention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110 (48), 19585. DOI: 10.1073/pnas. 1307947110.

Gaspar, JM & McDonald J.J. (2014). Suppression of Salient Objects Prevents Distraction in Visual Search. Journal of Neuroscience, 34(16),5658-5666. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4161-13.2014.

Herrero, J.L., et al. (2013). Attention-Induced Variance and Noise Correlation Reduction in Macaque v1 Is Mediated by Nmda Receptors. Neuron, 78(4), 729. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.03.029.

Mueller A, et al. Linking ADHD to the Neural Circuitry of Attention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2017;21(6):474-488. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.03.009.

Revlin R. Cognition: Theory and Practice. New York: Worth Publishers; 2013.

Annotate Digital Texts Successfully

June 19, 2019 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

The Future of Reading

Taking notes is important when reading academic material whether the text is digital or analog. There is a growing group of young minds, particularly generation Z (born between 1995 and 2012) who prefer consuming content exclusively on digital devices. Not all of these students annotate digital texts efficiently. This generation is the first born completely immersed in the internet and its associated channels and devices. The phone, tablet, and e-reader have become integrated with their lifestyles choices, almost like extensions of their bodies. Paper and pen is now often optional. For a student and parent, there are immense benefits in consuming content on digital devices. Textbooks are usually cheaper if downloaded and also extremely portable. I remember the days when I had to carry ten pounds worth of textbooks in my school bag. Now more and more academic institutions are even switching over to tablets and laptops for content consumption. When I see students consuming content digitally, for some students there are challenges with new information being easily retained and accessed. This becomes very important when writing research papers when items in the text may need to be annotated. Fortunately, with a little planning (and a piece of paper) it’s not too difficult to ensure students annotate digital texts efficiently and access the information they need.

Annotation Tips and Tricks on Kindle and other Tablet devices

E-readers such as the Kindle allow students to annotate digital texts through the highlighting feature and type in a note on the device. It’s later centrally stored and easy to access. However, this not always enough. When reading a print book, you can underline text, write some comments in the margin and even stick a small post-it note on the page. This ensures that the essence of the underline is remembered and immediately accessible. On a digital device, even though highlighting is possible, it can become time-consuming to type notes.

Kindle’s on-screen keyboard may be cumbersome to type notes for some students.

Recently I worked with two students reading the same book for class. One had the print version and the other had the Kindle. The first student was able to quickly use his pencil to underline text and write notes in the margin. The second student had to do a variety of swipes and presses and then carefully type in his notes in the rather clunky digital interface. However, there is a workaround to inputting text into the kindle device. Amazon has a digital notebook you can access on your computer with all the books downloaded and synced. All the student’s bookmarks and highlights are catalogued here and it’s very easy to copy and paste for quotations. Whenever you make a highlight in your Kindle device, it synchronizes the same text to your digital notebook. You can enter notes associated with every highlight in a corresponding text box online. This is usually faster than inputting on the kindle device with two thumbs. However, this means that you have to read with your Kindle and laptop, which might be off-putting and distracting for some students. Amazon does offer Kindle users the ability to read their books on their computers through a downloadable desktop application. The app has the same intuitive reading experience as on the Kindle device. But taking notes is still cumbersome in regards to accessibility. Once a student begins writing their assignment, it sometimes takes a while for them to find the information they are looking for in a very long text. Is there an alternative? Yes! There is. We recommend maintaining a master annotation sheet indexing all highlights in one location. A simple piece of paper is instantly accessible. For literary works with many chapters it can take much less time than accessing the corresponding highlights digitally. This is our little hack so students annotate digital texts more efficiently.

Using the Master Annotation Sheet

Digital annotation is very easy. We recommend the student split the paper in half longitudinally. In the first column, they write the chapter and letter pertaining to annotation. The number is for the corresponding chapter and the letter is for each idea. So three annotations in chapter 3 would look something like this:

3A Death of the queen

3B Riots in the streets

3C First kiss tension

Having this master sheet saves time for the student when they are writing their paper. They can quickly find the chapter and section highlighted, corresponding to the idea they would like to elaborate on.

Many students prefer to read on digital text and if it encourages students to read more, that’s a good thing. The Kindle is a powerful device with it’s built in dictionary and vocabulary builder. When you look up words definitions, they are automatically added to the vocabulary builder on the device. With vocabulary builder, you can use digital flashcards to later practice remembering these definitions. Most importantly, it is critical to make sure students can remember what they read and can easily access that information as effortlessly as possible. By having a little “old school” annotation sheet, they have a foolproof method to annotate digital texts and ensure their research writing is as efficient and effortless as possible.

By My Learning Springboard Editorial Team

Optimizing Online Learning: Supporting Upper School Students

Online Learning: Supporting College Students

Online Learning: Supporting Teachers

e-Tutoring and Online Learning:

Logistics and Tech:

Reducing Friction from Online Learning:

Maintaining Student Interest:

Flexibility of Session Length and Schedule:

Providing Normalcy and Minimizing Disruption:

Keys to Selective Attention and Goal Attainment

Annotate Digital Texts Successfully

The Future of Reading

Annotation Tips and Tricks on Kindle and other Tablet devices

Using the Master Annotation Sheet

Company Overview

School Planning

Private Tutoring

Test Preparation