How am I adjusting to online learning?
Since the beginning of COVID-19 and the transfer to online learning, adjusting has been fairly straight forward. During term time before COVID if I missed any lectures, I would be able to catch up with them at home, so online learning hasn’t been an unfamiliar process. This has been helpful practically in that I know how to take notes from online lectures and how to focus in a home environment. Similarly with assignments, there is nothing unfamiliar here as I am used to completing and submitting assignments when I am at home. However I feel that there has been some additional learning since online learning began. For example my digital literacy skills have improved as everything I need to do and learn about is all on a digital platform so naturally my ability to handle this information has improved. I am using more online resources and learning how to source valuable information for extra reading and for assignments. I am also learning how to best present my notes in a digital format so that I can understand them better when looking back on them in the future.
Aside from the digital skills I have improved on, I have also improved on general everyday skills like time management and organisational skills. Since I no longer have a routine it is important that I keep some structure to my day to ensure that I am catching up with work and learning the content effectively. Simply sitting at the table rather than sitting in bed to watch lectures greatly improves the way I understand the content as I am much more focussed. There are many more distractions at home so my ability to stay focussed and motivated has been one of my greatest strengths and a skill I didn’t really know I possessed before online learning began. Home learning also frees up a lot of time in my day compared to an average day attending university. I am able to focus on more extracurricular activities as well as do more in depth research for my degree. For example, I didn’t always have time to do extra readings, but now if I am interested in a particular area I can do further readings that are recommended by my lecturers. This is particularly useful in thinking and planning for my dissertation next year. Overall on reflection, online learning has definitely made me a better student by improving the skills I already have as well as teaching me how to time manage and study better. This will be very useful for my final and most important year of my degree.
