Watching is not learning
Online lectures are convenient because you can rewatch them any time and adjust the speed, but that convenience brings its own trap. While you follow the instructor, everything seems to make sense, and as the completion percentage climbs it feels like you have done a lot of studying. But nodding along to an explanation is different from being able to explain it and solve problems yourself. A lecture is only raw material; what actually stays is however much you recall and write down yourself afterwards.
Set a goal before you start
Before pressing play, spend a minute or two skimming the lecture's outline or slides. Knowing what the lecture teaches and how it connects to the previous one lets you tell which parts of the explanation matter. Then write a one-line goal for when it ends, such as "I can explain this concept in my own words". With a goal, you focus harder on that part during the lecture, and afterwards you can check whether you met it.
When to change speed
Speeding up playback saves time, but faster is not always better. Review of things you already know, or a slow-speaking instructor, can be fine at a higher speed, while new concepts and worked solutions you need to follow are better at normal speed. If you keep rewinding at high speed, you are actually spending more time. The most efficient approach is to change speed within a single lecture, faster for the easy parts and slower for the hard ones.
- Review and familiar material: faster
- New concepts and definitions: normal speed
- Worked solutions: pause and write them out yourself
- Rewinding often? Slow down
Pause and try first
The biggest advantage of an online lecture is that you can stop it whenever you like. When the instructor sets a problem, pause before the solution starts and try it yourself. Predicting what the instructor will say next is also useful. Comparing your attempt with theirs shows exactly where your thinking diverged, and that point stays with you. If you just listen straight through without pausing, the lecture ends comfortably but far less stays in your head.
Leave questions, not transcripts
Writing down everything the instructor says keeps your hands so busy that there is no room to think. Keep notes short and focused on explanations not in the slides, points the instructor stresses, and parts you did not understand. If you leave a column for key words or questions on one side of the page, as in the Cornell note-taking method associated with Cornell University, you can later use those questions alone to recall the content. The note-taking guide covers organising notes in more detail.
Recall it on your own afterwards
When a lecture ends, do not jump to the next one. Turn the screen off and write down what you just heard. Put down the key concepts and how they relate from memory alone, then check only the parts where you got stuck. If possible, do a few problems on the topic the same day. Planning gets easier if you assume this summary and practice will take about as long as the lecture itself. Without it, stacking lecture after lecture makes the earlier material fade quickly.
- Turn off the screen and write key concepts from memory
- Check only where you got stuck
- Do a few related problems the same day
Set up where you watch
Online lectures share a screen with countless distractions, and that is their weak spot. Close other tabs and messaging notifications while you watch, and use full screen if you can. When watching on a phone, silence notifications other than the lecture for a while. Watching lying down or with the lecture running in the background while doing something else may work for review, but not for learning something new. If a lecture is long, take a short break partway through so your focus does not snap.
Common mistakes
The most common mistake is treating completion percentage as the amount you studied. A record that you played a lecture to the end does not tell you what you can now do. Another is hopping between instructors and rewatching the same chapter from the start each time. Looking up a different explanation for the part you do not understand is fine, but switching lectures cannot replace time spent working problems yourself. Pick one course, finish it, and spend the rest of your time practising.
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