Our favorite tips for online learning – and how those dental career skills are clutch for virtual schools like Polished Academy!

As a dental assistant, there’s nothing more important than being able to pair your technical skills with people skills. 

You need to be able to make your patients feel comfortable and respected, and reassure your doctor that you can help wherever needed to create a seamless patient experience. 

As I moved along in my own career as a dental assistant, I learned firsthand that…there’s always more to learn. This knowledge, coupled with the recent surge of online learning, led to the creation of Polished Academy.

With a range of courses about the dental industry, working with a doctor, providing excellent patient care, and establishing personal and professional goals, Polished Academy will empower you in your career ahead as a dental assistant.

However, many of us are new to – and sometimes overwhelmed by – online learning.  Even though Polished Academy is user-friendly, there are ways you can make sure you get the most out of our course – and any other online course you might take! 

Here are three tips to make the most of online learning so you can take advantage of everything courses like Polished Academy have to offer.

 

Practice time management 

 

The great thing about Polished Academy is that it’s self paced, meaning you can work whenever it fits into your schedule, and don’t have to change any of your commitments for the new course. 

 

But there’s a small drawback to self-paced courses; it can sometimes be difficult to stay motivated.

 

I recommend making yourself a schedule as you make your way through the course. Carve out a set block of time each day to dedicate to your course – whether it’s 15 minutes or 1 hour, depending on how fast you want to finish the course – and put that time on your calendar! If you aren’t able to do the full hour one day, maybe do a little more the next.

 

By staying on schedule and holding yourself accountable to these blocks of time, you’ll stay engaged in the course and feel accomplished when you complete it. 

 

After all, the sooner you finish, the sooner you are able to put your new skills into practice in the office.

 

Create a consistent study spot 

 

Since working from our living rooms or beds can sometimes be demotivating, try creating a makeshift ‘classroom corner’ in your home. 

 

Although self-paced courses can technically be taken anywhere, having one area – preferably an organized, quiet, and comfortable space – to dedicate to your course could help increase your productivity.

 

Don’t use this space for anything else. For example, when you’re ‘in class’ for Polished Academy, embody your inner-dental assistant student. But as soon as class is ‘over,’ physically leave your study space, and let yourself return to your ‘normal’ persona. This will help you find a balance and separation between your personal and professional lives, so that working from home can be motivating, rather than draining.

 

Treat it as important as a regular, in-person course (because it is!)

 

When taking a course behind a screen, it can be easy to skip through modules that may not seem directly applicable.

 

With a course like Polished Academy, each piece of information is as important as the next  in transforming you into a successful and fulfilled dental assistant. You don’t want to miss out on a single tip; whether it’s about how to get your patient to trust you, or how to look ahead at your long term career. 

 

As with in-person courses, staying engaged throughout lectures and seeking clarification or supplemental information where necessary is the key to truly making the most of virtual learning.

 

The adjustment to virtual learning hasn’t always been seamless, but at the same time, is an incredible way for thousands of people to access valuable, expert information all over the world. 

 

The growth of user-friendly online courses like Polished Academy is putting easy yet valuable information into the living room of so many aspiring professionals.

 

And hopefully these steps will make the adjustment just a little bit simpler.