Due to the coronavirus pandemic, education has been hugely impacted as schools attempt to find new ways to teach students. The most popular method used is online learning, which gives students the opportunity to learn from the safety of home. However, some students have struggled to adapt and focus on school as much as they did in a physical classroom environment. The average online learning week consists of multiple virtual meetings a day, usually through a video conferencing app called Zoom. Students must complete work during and after school hours with most of the work completed and submitted online.
Since the majority of work will be completed, stored, and submitted online, it is vital to stay organized throughout the year and not easily lose focus with the new online learning system. One strategy that students may find helpful is using a calendar system; particularly a digital one system such as Google Calendar, to organize and set up the times, dates, and links to their virtual online meetings. Sticking to a schedule helps students keep track of their daily meetings or deadlines, as well as avoid procrastination. For instance, Google Calendar can notify its user ten minutes before their next Zoom meeting begins to avoid one from forgetting about attending their classes. It is also helpful if students develop a routine and take advantage of the breaks, or passing periods, that exist between each class. With the average Zoom meeting for each period lasting for forty minutes to one hour, it is difficult for students to sit and stare at their screen continuously for multiple sessions a day. In most school’s schedules, a ten or 15 minute passing period is established for students to take a break away from their computer screen. This time is valuable to refresh the mind in order to be more focused for the next class.
Heading outside, whether it be in one’s backyard or around their neighborhood, can also help students to be more focused and organized with their work. Although it may be difficult for some, facing online learning with the same mentality as physical learning will help students benefit the most from this school year and be prepared for when they physically go back.
This new learning style is just as important to one’s education. Especially for high school students, the same rigor and intensity from learning physically at school could soon be expected in online learning, which could only be tougher if one is not organized and prepared. Recently accepted college students also face substantially more difficult challenges that could greatly affect their future on and off the campus. The online learning will force many college students to find new ways to become accustomed to and stick out in their colleges.
