1. Stay Connected with Schoolmates & Instructors
Thanks to the internet, staying connected is easier than ever. Try scheduling a quick video call with your classmates weekly for continuing learning. It’s easier to touch base when you’re talking “face-to-face.”
● Before sending a video call invite, identify the objectives first and the expected output. That way, you won’t lose track of the matter at hand.
● Create a shared live document so everyone in the call can contribute and follow along.
● Keep the videos open when you can. This will help you see the expressions of your classmates so you know you’re on the same page.
● Don’t forget to check up on each other. If someone has been consistently absent, it’s better to ask them why directly and see if you can do anything to help.
2. Stay Organized
With the unrest happening around, it’s difficult not to feel the pressure and stress of school even when you’re at home. Organizing activities for the day helps you stay on top of what needs to be done, and ensures that you have time for your studies. But before anything else, you might want to keep track and get clarity on the following items for each class:
- Is there going to be an online class?
- What is the schedule of the lecture and can you watch it anytime?
- Will there be any assignments? When is the due date?
- Will there be online quizzes? If so, when?
- Is the lecturer or professor offering virtual office hours? What is their schedule?
- Is there going to be an online forum for questions?
3. Stay on Schedule
You may find your school, social, and personal schedule cleared up after weeks into the Enhanced Community Quarantine. This allows you to establish a daily schedule for yourself that can help maintain structure to keep you motivated. Try following this simple format below for proper organization, and don’t forget to include time for exercise, breaks, and self-care.
4. Stay on Track
When schoolwork is starting to pile up, it might be tempting to multitask, especially when you have no clear daily schedule. However, multitasking is not an effective solution, contrary to popular belief. The constant back and forth between tasks has a lot of downsides: assignments can take longer to finish, you’re more likely to make mistakes, and you’ll remember less because your brain is divided and fatigued.
Instead of multitasking, you can learn the wonders of the Pomodoro Technique, which is a popular time management method that has been proven to help continuing learning.
- List down your tasks for the day according to priority.
- Set the timer or the “Pomodoro” for 30 minutes and begin doing your first task.
- Immerse yourself in your task and keep distractions out of reach.
- When the timer rings, tick-off the finished task on your list.
- Take a quick 5-10 minute break.
- Repeat the process. Ideally, you can take longer breaks for every four completed tasks.