When I first moved to San Jose for school, I never wanted to have to deal with taking classes online. I knew that it wasn't going to be the same which is why I avoided it as much as I possibly could, with the condition of one or two over the summer. Now with Covid-19 going on and the entire semester being online based, my mind seems to be twisting and turning at all times. I did not really know how I was going to manage all my classes and remember what assignments are do when. The biggest struggle has been adjusting to learning the material online, especially in the comfort of your own home. I turned to Youtube and reading different articles on how people succeeded with doing work at home and being good at it. These were the biggest lessons I learned which have been helping me dramatically.
1. Separate your spaces
By separating spaces, you need to have your space where you sleep separate from the place where you study. It is easy to want to stay in bed and Zoom into your class comfortable, but that is going to cause you to not learn the material as well as you would in class. Put yourself on your desk or a table that way it feels as if you are still in class. Learning any material online is already hard, don't make it harder by putting yourself in a situation where at any minute you feel like falling asleep.
2. Remove objects that are going to distract you
When you are home, its much easier to distract yourself with your phone. This is why the best thing to do to make sure you aren't distracted during your online lectures would be removing your phone and anything else that will distract you from your study space. If you set limits for yourself on how long you should be on your phone and stay off of it during class, it will be way easier to concentrate.
3. Have a routine
Developing a routine that you stay true to and follow everyday will keep you on track and make you feel motivated to keep up with your classes everyday. Make sure that when you are not in class, you are doing something to keep you motivated throughout your day. If you keep yourself to a daily routine and make it in a way that will keep you active, then it will make it easier to get used to doing the same things every day.
4. Go outside
Staying in all day gets to some people and makes it less likely for them to want to learn anything. Going outside even just to your front door and getting air can change your mindset from feeling like you are done with everything to feeling like you quite literally got a breath of fresh air. Go on a walk or run around your neighborhood, practicing social distancing of course, or make lunch and eat outside. Don't make yourself go crazy by cooping yourself inside when theres little actions you can do to keep yourself inside all day.
Stay safe everyone and healthy!
-Sandra Garcia (Media Marketing Director)