I’ll admit, having another semester completely online was not ideal for me. But I thought if I have to do online classes again, I’d try to make the most of it. Especially by not repeating last semester’s mistakes again. Due dates and assignments were sometimes hard to keep up with for me because being home completely affected my time management and organizational skills. This semester though I decided to try out new techniques and here are some that have been working for me so far:
- Time Blocking – This has become a life saver for me being home, especially because being home has made it easier for things to get in the way of studying. I have decided not only to schedule in my classes, but time to study as well. That way nothing interferes with the time im supposed to be studying. I’ve also scheduled in time for rest, and doing other things such as chores, walking my dog, etc.
- To-Do Lists – While I’m still using a planner to write down all of my assignments that are due, I’ve found that it’s easier to break down my assignments by writing down what I need to do daily. So I make a list of classes I need to study for, or homework that I want to get started, along with other daily to-do’s.
- New Study Method – Being in front of a computer screen for not only classes, but assignments too can be pretty tiresome. But I’ve started to incorporate new study techniques, that give me breaks in between doing my homework. For example, one that I’ve been using has been the pomodoro technique, where I work straight for 25 minutes with no distractions, and then take a break for 5 min. I repeat that for 4 times, until I get a longer break of 15 or 30 min.
These are just a few of the things I’ve been trying out that have really helped me not burnout so quickly and have made me a lot more productive doing school online.
