With new variants of the COVID-19 virus and the reintroduction of virtual learning taking hold of colleges again, I think that we all could use a bit more motivation heading into these next few weeks! For so many of us, the past two years have been filled with study tips to acclimate to a new way of learning and successfully pursue our education. With that being said, I think that these tips are great reminders in helping us transition back to virtual learning for the time being. I hope that during this time we can all fall back in love with learning and stay curious no matter what our classroom looks like at the moment. These three tips are sure to help you through these upcoming weeks and revive the inspiration to start off this quarter strong:
- Find a cute Study Space
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Romanticizing studying and bringing out that sense of joy in pursuing an education can come through so many different mediums. One of the most popular is making an aesthetically pleasing, personal place to work to increase productivity. Heading into Winter quarter, having a comfortable place to enjoy learning could decrease the stress that comes with the fluctuating state of the world. For me personally, this truly helped maximize what I am getting from my education and it fostered a sense of gratitude for my access to education in the face of anxiety about the future. Even if the means to how we are going to college isn’t really ideal, I hope that curating your own place to study will be really motiving this winter!
- Attend all virtual lectures
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Speaking as someone who had a full course of online or asynchronous classes last quarter, attending all virtual lectures was a huge cornerstone in structuring my weeks. Since there is technically no place I needed to be, and all lectures were recorded, missing online classes earlier on in the quarter felt as if I was endlessly trying to catch up on course material. Attending all virtual lectures, or trying your very best to, will provide a backbone to your week that you can schedule other things around, which might be especially helpful during days in your dorm that feel insanely long. Attending lectures live also means that you will be able to discuss questions with your professors and TAs if you are particularly worried about how to shift your study methods to match the online format.
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- turning your phone off
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It’s absolutely no secret that having your phone right next to you during lectures while you are sitting at home or in your dorm is completely different than when you are sitting in a class. The accountability to pay attention to classes is basically nonexistent when you know that you could re-watch the lecture at a later time. While we should all use our technology to our advantage in terms of staying connected with loved ones and friends, resisting our impulses to scroll through content during class or multitasking could reintroduce that feeling of being back in person. This tip truly depends on what your needs are as a student, but if you get easily distracted by notifications and you’re not really invested in your class, turning off your phone might be a great habit to implement.
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While I’m sure that everyone has heard these tips time and time again at the beginning of March 2020, I think that the reintroduction of virtual learning should emphasize bringing these habits back into our lives. After learning in one type of environment for so long, we still might face days that reveal just how new we are to virtual school. I hope that this article serves as a reminder that finding small ways to enjoy online learning might be more sustainable until we all go back in person. These small habits are only a few ways to start off the quarter prepared, and effective tips on how to learn from home vary greatly from person to person. I hope that there was at least one tip that resonated with you and that your winter quarter starts off on a note of optimism!