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Can Online Study Tools Improve Understanding?

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Oldnproud Sat 04-Jul-26 12:24:46

I can only speak from my personal learning experience(s) as an adult, which admittedly is very different from learning in school, as one has to be self-motivated and proactive.

Firstly with learning foreign languages: if I was struggling with a particular concept, I would find as many relevant online resources as I could, and pick out the bits that either gave me extra practice to reinforce the concept, or that helped me to understand it better.

Currently, I have just started teaching myself to play the piano. I am using a book aimed at adult learners, and it is turning out to be a great book, but as with languages, if I am unsure of something, I am turning to the Internet. YouTube is great as there are so many videos that can quickly clarify things.
Even if I had a tutor, I am sure I would still use all these extra resources too.

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Kyrostella Sat 04-Jul-26 11:55:10

why?

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M0nica Fri 03-Jul-26 20:25:49

Reported

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Kyrostella Fri 03-Jul-26 19:01:02

I've been thinking about how much learning has changed over the last few years, especially for children and adults who study independently. There are so many online calculators, converters and educational tools available now that it's easy to find an answer, but I'm not sure whether they actually help people understand the topic better.

For those of you who teach, tutor, or help children with homework, do you encourage the use of online learning tools, or do you prefer students to work everything out by hand first? I've found that simple calculators can be useful for checking answers and reducing mistakes, but only if they're used as a learning aid rather than a shortcut.

I'd be interested to hear what has worked best for others. Are there any educational websites or tools that you've found genuinely improve understanding rather than just providing quick answers?

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