You may feel that your experience as an online high school student sets you apart from your peers, yet millions of high school students are increasingly leveraging technology to score top grades. Even traditional schools are not so traditional anymore thanks to the digital tools that are available to students.
You can use apps to your advantage to stay organized, manage your schedule and, as a result, get great grades. Take a look at some of the tools that can equip you for success in your online high school courses.
Try apps to get organized. An endless supply of apps are available to help you get organized and keep on top of your schedule. Evernote, for example, enables you to keep track of your classroom notes — from whatever you’re using, including a smartphone, laptop or tablet. With inClass, you can easily organize your schedule, keep up with assignment due dates, and share notes with classmates. DropBox allows you to store any of your papers, assignments and other documents in the cloud, allowing you, just as you do with Evernote, to access them wherever you are.
Expand your options. No matter where you are, you can do your research just by grabbing your mobile device — whether it’s a smartphone or tablet. A study by Speak Up Survey from Project Tomorrow showed that students not only are using mobile devices for texting friends, they use them to research (60 percent); play educational games (43 percent); to set reminders for turning assignments (33 percent); and to collaborate with their peers (40 percent). Surprisingly, 12 percent of the students surveyed said they used them to text questions to their teachers — while in the classroom. Most online classrooms are set up so you can skip the texts; simply post a question on the online portal while class is in session.
Supplement your education with video instruction. Heard of Khan Academy? More than 10 million students have taken advantage of the online classes offered on this site. While you should always talk to your online instructor if you have questions, you also can gain additional instruction from online learning courses. Consider it today’s version of picking up a book for additional study. Need some extra motivation?
Check out Ted Talks for motivational speeches that are sure to inspire you. According to the Speak Up Survey, 46 percent of teachers use video as part of their classroom instruction while 33 percent of students use online videos to help them with their studies and homework.
With technology continuing to change the way we live, there are countless ways you can use it to keep you on track with your studies — equipping you for success every day of the week.
