Prepare for both online and in-person teaching
Even though some universities already made a statement about their lectures being held online in the academic year 2020/2021, some universities are still struggling to find a way of how lectures will work. At this point, it would be a good idea to prepare for both possibilities, as maybe your faculty might rely on a combined approach — half lectures online, and half in person.
Prepare for in person teaching
If things were normal, this is how all lectures would look like. And it is a bit funny that now we have to prepare for something that we’re already used to?
However, the situation is anything but normal, and the chances are if your lectures go on in person, on campus, in lecture halls, you won’t be able to act as you would in pre-pandemic times.
Lecture halls are an indoor area which means it is likely that special rules will need to be followed for groups of students in that hall. Make sure you always have a mask in your bag, a pair of disposable gloves, a bottle of water and maybe your own coffee cup. Try to think of anything that would make your social-distancing life much easier.
Also, bare in mind that if you’re going to a lecture, you will possibly have to use public transport or walk to university. Remember to be cautious and keep a distance. The one thing that stays the same is that you have to bring your notebook and a pen or a laptop. After all, you are going to a lecture!
Prepare for online teaching
The last few months witnessed we can deal with online teaching and online learning!
But the question is, can we go on like this for another year? If this is your first year of university, it would be good to prepare in advance. You may be moving to the UK, you may be studying from your home country, but online teaching works the same wherever you are.
So one piece of the advice would be to check what kind of IT support your university offers. Some universities offer free programmes, free IT support and for some postgraduate and PhD students even a piece of equipment of yours doesn’t work properly. Of course, that depends on a lot of factors but try and check what kind of support you can count on. So if anything goes wrong and you cannot listen to a lecture, you cannot finish an essay, you know who to talk to.
Many UK universities use MS Teams for their online meetings. If you’re not familiar with that programme, try googling it and check a few tutorials on YouTube. So once you connect yourself to an online lecture, you know how to navigate through the software.
If you’re unsure of how online teaching will affect your studies, take a look at how to make the most out of your online lectures.
Feel free to take a look at our other blog articles, where a lot of advice is given on how to maintain routine while being at home! And as always, feel free to send us an email to info@okstudent.co.uk if you have any questions.
