When Spring 2020 got cut short and all of our universities sent us home, we entered the realm of online learning for the foreseeable future. Although so many people are hating this learning option, many people have began to embrace it and made the best of a bad situation. You get to do school from your bed in whatever outfit you wanna wear, you don't even have to turn your camera on or be seen, and you can leave for snacks and have your whole pantry available all day long. There are many positives to Zoom school, although not many of them are academic based, and I have even began to embrace this new realm of learning. However, for many students it is virtually impossible to focus and get in the school mindset from the comfort of their own homes. If this is you, check out my five best tips for normalizing Zoom University and conquer your online classes:
1. Get a planner
I have never been an avid planner user. I did not initially buy myself a planner this year because I usually never use it and it gets shoved to the bottom of my bag. I realized quickly that it's almost impossible to tackle online learning without a calendar and a planner so that you can organize your work. With many different (or similar) classes, it can be difficult to remember which assignments are do at which times and on which days. Do yourself a favor, get a planner.
2. Plan out time for your homework.
This one is especially important for those students who have classes that do not have Zoom meetings. Block out time in your day to do work for specific classes. Create yourself your own personal class schedule, if you will. This idea will help you stay in the school mindset and condition you for when we all eventually return to in person classes.
3. Actually log into your Zoom meetings.
I know this seems obvious, but sometimes it becomes hard to muster up the motivation to log in to a 200-300 person zoom lecture knowing your professor will never take attendance and they will be recording/posting their lesson on Canvas afterwards. Hear me out, GO. Even if you're barely paying attention, you are subconsciously absorbing information from your lecture that may be beneficial to you in the long run or be present to potentially get extra credit or first dibs at a sign up.
4. Make friends in your classes.
I know many schools have academic honor policies against group chats, but let me tell you that having a group of people to remind me about my assignments being due has been so beyond helpful. Even if you just have one or two friends that you can study with, socially distant of course, it makes the world of a difference. It is almost essential in online learning to have other classmates to hold you accountable for submitting assignments on time and logging in to Zoom.
5. Take advantage of the situation.
No, I don't mean cheat (even though if you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin!!!). I mean, jump in the shower while you leave your zoom running in your bed (with your camera off of course), pick up a hobby to do with all your free time, and enjoy the pajamas and no pants version of school! This obviously isn't an ideal learning or social situation for many, but think about how much more terrible that 8 A.M. would be if you actually had to wake up at 6 A.M. and trek across campus in the hot sun. 'Nuff said.
