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I remember waking up one Friday morning in February to a notice from my university, Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), informing me that I was to be placed on a leave of absence (LOA) with immediate effect. One of my classmates had tested positive for Covid-19 and had been admitted to hospital for treatment.

In line with the measures put in place by Singapore’s Ministry of Health at the time, SIT had mandated that the entire cohort of Year 3 telematics students were to be placed on LOA. We were also reminded to seek medical treatment should we feel unwell.

It took a few moments for me to gather my thoughts before I realised that being away from school meant missing classes. Anxiousness and uncertainty came over me as I wondered if this LOA would affect my learning experience and impact subsequent assignments and examinations.

Thankfully, the university was quick to respond to the situation and assured students that the quality of learning would not be affected by the disruption.

Within a few hours, we received revisions of learning plans to facilitate online learning and assessments.

All lectures and tutorials were to be streamed online and recordings would be made easily accessible on SIT’s learning portal.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and enjoyable online learning was.

Zoom and Microsoft Teams were the favourite tools used by our professors to conduct lectures and tutorials via video conference calls. There were many features on these platforms that made the online learning experience fruitful.

I found the chat box tool particularly useful in facilitating open discussions and engagement between students and professors. It served as a platform for instant feedback and a conducive space for us students to consolidate questions and comments for our professors to address during the session.

Some professors hosted dedicated consultation groups on Microsoft Teams. This made it convenient and accessible for students to reach out to their professors while ensuring that the rest benefitted from the open discussion as well.

Overall, I found the e-learning process enjoyable and effective. Every professor developed his or her own method for conducting online teaching. Some included short quizzes in their pre-recorded lectures to aid learning. Others preferred to interact with students and encouraged the sharing of ideas during the online tutorials and lectures.

However, I must confess that even with all the online tools and well-curated learning materials, I did find it hard adjusting to learning on my own at home. Being away from campus made it a lot easier for me to procrastinate.

The need to not have to get up early to get dressed and go to school made sleeping in the only natural thing to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if most students, like me, struggle to remain productive during this period as many schools move to e-learning. 

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Here are two things I did to ensure that I kept up with my studies and assignments.    

1. Get organised with a study plan

A good study plan is realistic and flexible to allow for some adjustments whenever necessary. There are several methods to organise your study plan: I prefer to plan them out on a weekly basis.

One of the first things I do when I plan out my week is to block out the hours where I need to attend the live streaming sessions of my lectures and classes. This ensures that I do not miss any lessons.

I then allocate the hours required for my own self-study and time to complete my projects and assignments. I usually like to reserve my mornings for self-study and the afternoons for projects and assignments.

Finally, to stay motivated and accountable, my secret is allocating a few pockets of time throughout the day for me to relax, have fun and let loose. This includes watching an episode of my favourite Netflix series or whipping up something delicious in the kitchen. The key here is to make sure you are accountable for your time. That means if you only have one hour of downtime, you must not exceed it no matter what!

I also like to set a little reward for each task I complete to motivate me. For example, for every difficult math problem I manage to solve, I get to help myself to a handful of berries and nuts as a study snack. 

To stay on track of my progress, I usually review my study plan at the end of the week. Doing so allows me to mark the milestones and key activities I would like to achieve for the week ahead.

A useful tip when organising your study plan is to allow some buffer time between each task in your schedule. That way you do not have to feel pressured to adhere strictly to the hours you set aside in your schedule. The flexibility will allow you to stay in the zone longer and make your revision more effective.

Everyone has a preferred routine and optimal productive time in the day, so it is always best to arrange your time around what works best for you.

2. Curate a suitable environment to get into the zone

Home to many of us is a place where we are the most comfortable. There seem to be an endless number of distractions that make it challenging for us to remain focused. However, it is not impossible to create a suitable environment that helps you feel productive and focused.

When I began designing my ideal environment I followed a very simple principle: “Remove all that does not spark productivity.” In case you are wondering, the inspiration did come from that consultant who tells her clients to throw out unwanted items.

For example, I remove my phone from my study table whenever I want to be productive to avoid being tempted to use it. I keep my desk empty except for relevant and necessary study materials to avoid becoming distracted by irrelevant content.  

Finally, I use music to ease me into a productive headspace as I find that it helps me stay calm and get the creative juices flowing. Whenever I work on my assignments, I listen to tunes without lyrics such as smooth jazz or instrumental tracks.

It does take a bit of self-awareness to know what techniques work for you. It is important to be honest with yourself and be accountable to ensure that your environment is suitable for you to be productive. I hope that these tips are as useful to you as they have been for me.

Read more: Coronavirus: when learning never (quite) stops