5 Tips to make the most of online courses conducted by universities

The quarantine imposed by COVID 19 has seen a sudden upsurge in lethargy amongst students and office-goers. While adults have grudgingly settled into work-from-home systems, students have been complaining of zero or no interest in studying as it is ‘not the same as school’. From sleeping off during the online lecture to facing a thousand distractions, the productivity among students has gone down massively as they struggle to adjust to the online courses conducted by their schools and universities. Here are five tips to make the most of these resources of online learning during this lockdown.

1. Stick to your normal sleep schedule
Being at home for so long has turned this quarantine into a mini-vacation despite the online courses and you know what happens when you feel it is a vacation. We slack and everything on our schedule fall behind. Sleep cycles are quite uniform during normal lecture days but being at home for days on end, tempts you to stay awake an extra hour and consequently wake up two hours late! Try to occupy and exhaust yourself even post the online courses to make sure that you fall asleep at an acceptable and healthy time to be energized and rejuvenated for the next day.

2. Take notes
Get into the habit of taking down notes if you are someone who does not. Writing out whatever you hear will help you to ensure that you are listening to whatever the professor is saying and also to tune out whatever other activities are going on around you. Taking notes during online learning will also help you formulate your answers and hence be well prepared for the exams.

3. Get dressed
What you wear during your online courses, can greatly affect your approach towards them. Sitting in loose comfy clothes will make you take the entire affair quite lightly but taking a bath and sitting in probably formals/ your uniform/ even a pair of jeans and a shirt would make you switch your mind into taking the situation seriously and hence formally. This will also help you in sticking to your old schedule and hence prevent you from withdrawing into an unorganized lifestyle.

4. Isolate yourself
Ensure that you are alone or in one room that is free from noise from other family members/ friends/ roommates so that you can concentrate better. This will also be easy as you will not feel like peeking into something possibly fun they are doing and achieve your day’s tasks effectively. If you are quarantined at your home, tell your parents to not pamper you unnecessarily or even call you for chores during lecture hours so that your mind treats it like a normal working day and not something casual.

5. Time yourself
Needless to say, the above-mentioned pointers are hard to achieve and, understandably, there will be some shift in your learning patterns. Allow yourself to take breaks where you do something productive yet relaxing. Listening to music, grabbing a quick snack, chatting with your family are some things you can do. Being at home for such long hours makes you a little bit more lethargic than usual so do not force yourself to pretend that it does not. Let yourself slowly settle into the new routine rather than forcing it upon yourself. Eat healthy homemade food, get a good amount of sleep, read books other than your academic recommendations, get a new hobby and come out as a renewed person after this lockdown.

There are several other ways to ensure that you do not go off track during this time. Everyone has their own way of dealing with stress and distractions and it is perfectly normal to feel uncertain and lazy during these stressful times. However, we hope this was helpful in some way to maneuver your way around this new lifestyle and perform well in your academics.

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