IS ONLINE LEARNING RIGHT FOR ME?

You may be up to your neck in facts about how it’s now the 21st century and everything is moving online, along with education but may still be apprehensive about the effectiveness and practicality of taking accent reduction classes online. For example, one of our current students was so against taking her classes online, she insisted on meeting up and having them face to face. But when she had to travel and wanted to carry on with her lessons whilst away, she thought she’d give the online lessons a try. When she was back she started taking her regular accent reduction lessons online because of how great her experience was!
The phrase ‘don’t knock it before you try it’ comes to mind, so here’s a few common doubts people have about online classes and some answers to go with them:

• How will I interact effectively with my teacher if it is online?
  Firstly, you’re going to need to check that you have high speed internet. Once that is sorted, online platforms like Zoom will ensure that your online learning experience feels like you are in the same room as your teacher. With features like screen sharing and live annotation, the only difference you’ll feel from being in a classroom is the sudden sense of comfort.

• Do I need to be computer savvy to take online classes?
  Well, the fact that you’ve found your way to this blog post means that you already have the skills to take an online class – general computer proficiency. But if you do need any further assistance with the software you are using, it will come with online setup help and instructions, along with a list of previously answered questions from other puzzled first timers. By learning how to setup and use the software you’ve already acquired a new skill before your classes even started!

• Is the software expensive?
  Depending on what software you are using, the price may vary. With Pronunciation First we already have a pro-account with Zoom, which means the client does not have to pay anything and the use of the software is completely free. Yes, that’s right FREE! So not only will you save money by not having to travel, you also needn’t pay a penny for the software.

• How can I be sure that online learning is effective?
  If nothing else has convinced you that learning online is effective, maybe the knowledge of the establishments that use it will. For example, the University of Iowa, Stanford Continuing Studies and over 1,000 other universities use Zoom. So I’m sure if they trust the effectiveness of using Zoom for online learning, you will do too.

• How do I get started?
  If you think that our online accent reduction classes may be right for you, find out more on our online accent reduction classes page!