Tips para que tus clases en línea sean lo más dinámicas y eficientes

Si eres un profesor dentro de una universidad, lo más probable es que las clases en línea hayan tomado bastante relevancia en los últimos 2 años. Para muchos maestros esto ha sido un gran desafío, ya que deben mantener la atención de los estudiantes y conocer las nuevas plataformas tecnológicas implementadas por su universidad.


Con el fin de aportar a este tema, te decimos algunas técnicas dinámicas y entretenidas para tus clases en línea.

  • Selección de las plataformas y herramientas más adecuadas dirigidas a las edades de los estudiantes y en dispositivos que ya estén familiarizados y fácil de utilizar en su computadora, smartphone y tablet.
  • Rediseñar el curso, generar secuencias de trabajo claras, con una duración definida para que los estudiantes perciban el acompañamiento docente. Agregar plataformas de comunicación para aclaración de dudas.
  • Elaborar actividades con diferentes recursos didácticos, el uso de esquemas y mapas. Procura que las actividades se dividan en sub-actividades cortas de periodos de 10 a 15 min.
  • Generar presencia social con la finalidad de que los estudiantes no se sientan solos y de una forma u otra hacerlos sentir parte de una comunidad.
  • Desarrollar espíritu crítico respecto a la tecnología, dar a conocer los beneficios y la importancia de las tecnologías adoptadas, así como también los riesgos de su funcionamiento y datos de privacidad.
  • Aprovechar el tiempo de forma colaborativa con docentes, intercambiar prácticas entre docentes en línea, o crear un espacio compartido para que los maestros compartan diferentes técnicas para la mejora continua en las clases en línea.

Con estas técnicas, tendrás más participación e interacción con tus estudiantes, fomentando más el compañerismo en esta nueva modalidad, y sacarle el mayor provecho a las clases virtuales.

How to prevent students from dropping out of college?

Now, that is one heck of a question!

Even though Bill Gates himself is a college dropout, he has mentioned that this matter must be addressed. He stated, “The U.S. has one of the highest rates of college dropouts. We’re number one in terms of the number of people who start college but we’re number 20 in terms of the people who finish college”.

Gates wrote in his blog “Based on the latest college completion trends, only about half of all those students that start college (meaning 50%) will leave college with a diploma or degree. The rest —most of them low-income, first-generation, and minority students— will not finish a degree. They’ll drop out and leave without a diploma”. FYI: Trio Student Support Services (TRIO SSS) are of huge help by sticking around for the most vulnerable students in their college completion.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has as one of their objectives to help and invest big time in education, but even with all the power of Microsoft, the percentage of college dropouts has not been able to decrease in the past years.

College is supposed to be a fun, once in a lifetime opportunity where students get to acquire knowledge, experience and specialize in what most probably end up being their profession for most of their working life, but most importantly, is a privilege.

Every time a college student drops out from college and does not earn a degree or diploma, the chances for them to earn a substantial salary becomes harder, and in consequence to have a steady income.

College students drop out for a variety of reasons. Some students believe that they are too far behind academically, others because of problems at home, financial problems, unprepared for academic disciplines. Whatever the reason may be, there are departments at colleges and universities whose only objective is to bring support to students and increase the retention rate, such as; Student Success Centers, TRIO SSS Departments, Student Support Services, tutoring centers (just to name a few).

The solution does not only reside in colleges/universities but there are also financial institutions, their parents moreover students should be able to help themselves. But if we are just going to focus on what colleges can do, for instance:

  • Lower costs (as much as possible)
  • Teach students how to study and prepare for evaluations
  • Provide efficient tutoring and advisement
  • Support their mental health
  • Provide family support mechanisms
  • Helped students make informed decisions

And overall, the objective is to make an enjoyable experience for the student and to feel fortunate to be able to attend college.

The Best Tips to Study at Home

A year from now into the COVID-19 pandemic, according to UNESCO, there were 570,000 schools partially open, and hybrid classes became the new normality. 

It’s difficult for most students to stay laser-sharp focused during online classes. There are social media, TV, streaming platforms, and overall distractions that keep us from being productive, and in the end, not learning well enough.

Here are some tips to make the most out of your online classes:

Stick to your routine: Wake up at the same time as you did for normal classes. Before the class starts, make sure to have breakfast and change into your everyday clothes, that will make your mind prepare to focus and be fully awake.

Plan your schedule: Once you know your classes scheduled during the day and your tutoring sessions through Linc’s virtual classroom, make sure to take 10-minute breaks between each activity, that will keep your mind fresh and ready for the next assignment. 

Prioritize: Keep track of your projects, exams, and assignments to deliver, so you don’t miss anything and keep up to date. With Linc, scheduling tutoring sessions with tutors from your own college is easy, make sure to take advantage of the technology provided by your institution. 

Discover how your mind works: Identity which type of learning resonates more with your personality:

  • If you learn better through reading or writing (literacy), underline keywords, write your notes in a notebook, not on the computer or tablet, and make sure to read your notes multiple times.
  • If you retain more information through listening, then record your class, listen to audiobooks, videos on streaming platforms or podcasts, and review the material as many times as needed.
  • If you retain more information through images and visuals, do schemes, drawings, and use lots of colors.

With these tricks and the help provided by your Student Success Center through the digital platform of Linc, you will have more than enough resources to make the most out of your classes without being pressured by other responsibilities.

Ready to get an A+?

Entering a continuous learning environment

A person starts to learn and retain information from the very first day it was born, the first years doing it subconsciously, but absorbing everything like a sponge. In the beginning, we begin to learn out of curiosity, and then by experimenting.

It comes a time that our curiosity and sense for experimentation start to decrease, and it is up to us to expand our knowledge with other sources of learning that we have at our disposal, books being my personal favorite. 

Everything you read gets into your head and it is accessible for your own personal benefit whenever it may come in handy, of course, it´s impossible to retain everything we read, but if we just remember one idea per book, it´s time well spent. The more knowledge we acquire, the more equipped we are to face the challenges presented in our footsteps. 

The cool thing about today is that people who have a really hard time reading a physical/ digital book can have access to other sources of information, for instance: Audiobooks, podcasts, online courses, newsletters, social media (well applied), ed-tech gaming, etc. 

Reading and entering a continuous learning environment either for yourself, your team, coworkers or family is one of the best practices that a person could follow. 

Here are some quotes of what people have to say about it: 

“Reading is to mind what exercise is to the body” – Joseph Addison. 

“The content of a book holds the power of education and it is with this power that we can shape our future and change lives” – Malala Yousafzai.

“Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world” – Napoleon Bonaparte 

“My alma mater was books, a good library…. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity” – Malcolm X

“Books were my pass to personal freedom”– Oprah Winfrey

If we are lucky enough to have access to any of these sources of information, it is our duty and responsibility to ourselves, loved ones, and to people that are counting on us, to maximize our opportunities of being the best version of ourselves, and to contribute to our society in the best ways possible, entering a continuous learning cycle will help us do just that. 

The future is now

Last year COVID-19 came along as an unexpected visitor to the world. Higher education institutions had to close down their campuses and cancel classes due to the coronavirus outbreak. This pandemic made the system rethink its operations to sustain the safety and health of its students. In response, institutions had to switch classes to online learning and encourage abroad students to return to their homes to finish their studies.

One of the biggest concerns is the impact of the coronavirus in the international education sector, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE) before COVID-19 the U.S. had reached the highest number of international students with more than one million. Only taking into account Chinese international students, a Covid-19 Survey by the IIE stated that 37 percent of students were unable to return to the U.S. from China to complete their studies.

In addition, it has not been easy for the students since some have been forced to sacrifice their education due to the impact of the pandemic on their families’ finances, and consequently were not able to pay full tuition for online classes. Colleges and Universities are trying to avoid a decrease in enrollment while trying to keep everyone safe.

Biden’s administration is putting a lot of effort and resources into higher education by making it one of the most urgent matters to take forward during his mandate; it is expected to have as a result an increase in student opportunities and enrollment.

Nowadays, higher education institutions are emerging stronger than ever with hybrid learning. They have maximized online learning by adjusting their programs and integrating robust systems. Also have increased interaction with students through their centers of tutoring and advising. Linc is the most effective tool in maintaining and keeping student retention; it offers an automated connection between students and tutors/advisors from their own school, making the processes and reporting as easy as ever.

The Boom in the EdTech Sector

The education technology sector (EdTech) has noticeably taken off during the past year. This has helped a lot of entrepreneurs and startups to accelerate their development processes and commercial exposure to new markets, especially for B2B business models and SaaS (Software as a Service).

According to Holon IQ, in the first 12 weeks of 2021, there has been $4B of venture funding raised by EdTech companies around the world, over $300M each week on average. Keep in mind that venture capital investment in education technology startups increased by 50 percent, from $7 billion in 2019 to $16.1 billion in 2020. This means that this year could be the all-time high. 

Education technology has lots of definitions, but I would say that it is the merge between technological tools and educational practices that have the purpose of making learning more adaptable and of easier access for everybody, including the democratization of it. 

The global pandemic has revolutionized the education experience in all sectors, and change continues to strike as schools, teachers, students, and companies adapt to this new reality. The learning sector has demonstrated great persistence and imagination to adapt to this new era. Startups have pivoted their business models and some others have taken advantage of the market and created new ones. 

But the most important of all is that education technology has been able to help during this time as an indispensable way of adapting for many schools, making sure that classes continue and students can keep on learning.

We can see EdTech in all sectors: Educational Resources and Experiences, Advanced Tech and Coding, Language Learning, Education Financing, Tutoring, Learning Management Systems (LMSs), Workforce, Marketplaces, BlockChain, etc. 

If you are someone that loves education but also technology, this would be a great time to start building your product or establishing your company, access to capital has never been more democratized, it’s a great moment to become an entrepreneur.

LMS: free vs commercial

One of the main challenges that many colleges, universities and companies face when choosing a Learning Management System is deciding between a free or commercial platform.


There is a misguided conception when it comes to free platforms, many people assume that FREE means zero cost, but that is not always the case. This means that the implementation of the platform is free but depending on your needs you may pay additional costs (i.e., maintenance, updates in system, features, support, upgrades, hidden costs, etc.).


Unlike commercial LMS that charge monthly or annually, however, they cover all the needs mentioned in their services, this way you do not need to worry about paying any extra costs. At the end of the day, a commercial software gives many advantages since you will not have to worry about technical support nor maintenance of the service thus extra costs.


Linc is the best software for tutoring management in education since it is an all-in-one scheduling & management software for tutoring centers that offers a cloud-based platform that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, and on any device. The benefits of a cloud-based software are wide starting with higher security, cost savings, mobility, quality, accessibility.

Click here to get your demo today!

Biden’s Policies toward higher education

The 27th of April, Biden announced the 1.8 trillion budget named the “American Families Plan”, it includes a substantial amount of resources toward higher education, a total of 290 billion dollars to be exact, which includes the following:

  • $109 billion will be destined towards two years of tuition for students attending community college (including Dreamers), this was one of Biden’s proposals during his campaign.
  • 62 billion to colleges and universities for programs that fulfill and attach student retention, and therefore reduce the dropout rate.
  • $39 billion for two years of tuition subsidies for students attending minority-serving institutions (MSIs) whose annual family income is under $125,000. This includes HBCUS (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) let’s keep in mind that the VP, Kamala Harris is a graduate of the HBCU.
  • Hundreds of millions of dollars to enhance institutional capacity and student support services at community colleges and minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

By now we know, that the Biden administration intends to make education one the most urgent matters to take on forward during his mandate, particularly regarding colleges and universities. Here are some of the reasons why the higher education system will be one of the sectors mostly benefited during the next four years:

  • The Biden administration will be putting a lot of effort and resources into community colleges. You’ll see the first lady Jill Biden being part of this subject, she has been a community college educator for years.
  • “We’re rebuilding our entire education system, and now is our chance to actually put into practice the policies that we know will help our low-income children and our children of color.” Joe Biden
  • POTUS, being a member of the democrat party, and with one of his campaign slogans being “Build Back Better” is safe to say, that equity towards education is going to be his main premise.

“Just imagine how much more creative and innovative we’d be if this nation held the historically Black colleges and universities to the same opportunities, and minority serving institutions had the same funding and resources of public universities to compete for jobs in industries of the future.” Biden.

If you are a member of a community college, MSI, or college and university in general, our startup Linc Learning Inc., which is an LMS that digitalizes tutoring programs within colleges and universities could really help, feel free to contact us at https://linc.io/request-demo. Our main objective is to increase the student’s retention rate by automating tutoring centers to be more effective. Our control panel generates reports and statistics, which will provide useful information for better decision-making at your institution.

COVID-19: Linc for Online Learning

Our community has always been our top priority. We understand the concern and uncertainty you may be experiencing due to the coronavirus pandemic. At Linc, we are committed to effectively serve all the needs of our users as the situation evolves.

We encourage you to use the Linc Web Platform to take your online sessions, especially if your institution has decided to move classes online. It’s really easy to get started with online sessions. See how it works.

If you must meet for in-person sessions, we ask you to take extra care by following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations to protect against COVID-19.

If you need assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Sources of financing for entrepreneurs

The road for entrepreneurs is uphill, but it’s possible!

A venture can be easy, the complicated thing is to keep it alive and find the resources to finance it.

According to the “INEGI”, the life expectancy for new enterprises in Mexico is discouraging, 75% of Mexican enterprises close within two years of being born. Annually, 1.1 million businesses are created, but 884,000 die.

According to a study by The Failure Institute.

65% of companies in Mexico fail to have sufficient income to survive, and 38% have financing problems. That is why, we’ll introduce you to the top five main sources of financing for entrepreneurs:

1) Bootstrapping: It means paying the startup expenses without seeking external financing for a determined period of time, usually at early stages. This financing option is very common among young entrepreneurs, since they usually have no financial responsibilities and they can finance the start of their project themselves.

Advantages: you don’t have to report to any investor, and when you look for investment your startup will be better valuated, meaning you’ll have more leverage to negotiate. 

Disadvantages: it can be very exhausting for the entrepreneur and could be months or years without receiving a salary or a stable income. 

2) Friends and Family: This financing option is when the entrepreneur validates his business model and sells the idea to his friends and/or family, usually they are the closest people in his/her social circle.

Advantages: it can be very fast.

Disadvantages: since they are not used to making investments, or in the venture capital environment, they may want to participate in the operation of the company, that may result in inappropriate advice.

3) Angel Investors: They are natural figures within the ecosystem of entrepreneurship. In addition to providing capital to companies, they also contribute know-how, which is why their investment is known as smart money. They can contribute ideas /advice and open new window of opportunities.

Advantages: they can take the role of mentors.

Disadvantages: the amounts invested can become limited and they usually seek to participate in the board of directors of the startup (it can be good or bad).

4) Venture Capitals: Venture capital funds are the ones that usually invest in startups in early stages, whose potential and risk are high. In return, the entrepreneur sells a share percentage of the venture.

Advantages: Validate your business model and certify that your project is on track (due diligence).

Disadvantages: If your company does not have a validated product market fit or you are an entrepreneur with little experience, you may not be able to defend the valuation for the money you are trying to raise and you may end up giving up a large percentage of your company.

5) Credit: Traditional credit that you request at a financial institution. Financial Institutions have loans for small, medium and big enterprises.

Financing amount: 20,000 to 3 million Mexican pesos. According to CONDUSEF, interest rates can range from 6.6% to 24%.

Advantages: You decide completely the use of the resources loaned from the bank.

Disadvantages: The banks always win! if your venture fails, you will still have to pay the money loaned.

These are just some of the financing options entrepreneurs can find.