Because of the pandemic, online classes made college much more challenging for many people. Being in a fully digital world sounded appealing, but it did not turn out the way we anticipated. Now is an important time to refresh how we organize for online school.
Detox Your Digital Space
We’ve all heard of detoxing your physical body, but have you detoxed your digital space? Even before the pandemic, most of us were tech-savvy with laptops, desktops, tablets, hard drives, phones, and smartwatches. A lot of you may pay attention to your room and clean it when it gets cluttered, but your digital space gets ignored. When you see that annoying update box come up on your phone or laptop, update it! Do not put it off until next week. How about deleting all of those apps on your phone that you never use? Or the thousands of selfies that you don’t want? Check your computer space too. After downloading so many syllabi and worksheets, your storage could be running out. Delete things that are not important, and sort them into folders that are easy to find. I can not tell you the number of times I have redownloaded a syllabus. If you need extra space for your computer, invest in a hard drive! I ordered a 4 TB hard drive that costs roughly $100. 4 TB is A LOT of storage. I’ve had mine since 2017, and I haven’t even filled it halfway. A hard drive is a great investment that will last you for years.
Notion
This brilliant online workspace is a new favorite of mine. Notion is an all-in-one online workspace for students, educators, and companies. If you sign up using your student email, you can get a free personal pro plan. Notion is very customizable, and I use it to take notes for my online classes, save any files, pictures, plan ahead. An array of other tasks know that paper planners aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I feel like this digital format is more compatible with everyone. There are thousands of ‘Notion Tours’ on Youtube and Tik Tok. I even made my own tour if you’d like to check it out. Using Notion can be a learning curve, and you might spend more time customizing your Notion page than actually working. Many people have templates that you can download right onto yours, so you won’t have to fuss with making your own. Here’s a list of templates for you to get started.
These two tips are my top recommendations for getting back on track for this semester. Getting your online space organized is critical to adapt to this new norm. By reinventing your digital space, you can finish off this school year in a more streamlined and convenient fashion!