Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog, today I would like to share with you my tips on how to stay productive whilst studying and working from home. Before I start, I hope that everyone is staying calm, safe and healthy during this challenging and unpredictable time. Working and studying from home may be challenging for some of you as you have so many distractions and staying motivated and concentrated may seem like a tuff challenge. I would also like to highlight the online education and what was the university’s response to the current situation.
Here are my main tips on how to stay productive whilst studying from home
Create your special routine
This is my number one tip! Creating a routine that will suit your style is a fundamental step towards reaching your productivity goal.
Planning
Make good use of your daily or weekly planners and write down when your assignments need to be completed. Visualising and prioritising your assignments is very important as this will keep you on top of your studies.
Organize your working space
Personally, I cannot stay productive and on top of my work when my desk or room is messy. If I want to stay productive I need to clear my desk and organise my room, also lighting a scented candle and putting some jazz music creates a perfect working environment.
Stay connected
Take a break from your studies, call your friends and family via Skype or video chat. This will not only take your mind off your studies but also keep you social. I understand that now you are missing your friends and family more than ever that’s why it is crucial to maintain virtual contact with your loved ones.
Stay healthy
Go for a short walk outside of your house or try working out in your room, watch online classes on how to exercise from home. Eating well and cooking delicious food from home will keep you healthy, no more excuses! No more takeout or fast food! Right now you have a lot of time on your heads to cook nutritious food and treat yourself, try new recipes, explore what you can cook and maybe you will discover new talent.
Online teaching at the University of Surrey
From the 23rd of March all learning, teaching and assessments are delivered online. Now, you may be interested in how are your lectures and tutorials/seminars delivered online? The University made good use of new technologies such as Panopto, Microsoft teams, Zoom. Panopto is a video platform that provides video recording and streaming, think of this as a virtual lecture where everything is pre-recorded. Both Microsoft teams and zoom are virtual classes, where your tutor emails you a special link to join and allows you to see your tutor, ask questions, and screen sharing where you can see seminar slides and talk to the tutor at the same time. Microsoft teams and zoom are also very handy when you are working on a group project because you can work with your classmates, share screens and talk at the same time.
Most importantly stay safe, healthy and look after your mental health. The University of Surrey is constantly updating its students about the current situation via Daily Bulletins where you can access the updates news, information for students, university’s response and tips on how to meditate stay connected with friends and family and etc. University also cares about your mental health during this overwhelming period, you can always find help at https://www.surrey.ac.uk/student-support/health-and-wellbeing. I’m very pleased with what the university has done to help its students, I feel safe and supported by both accommodation services and academic staff. If you need help you will always find it, you can always schedule a virtual meeting, a call.
That’s it from me! Stay safe and remember that only challenging times reveal someones true colours. And only through the unpredictable times, we are able to find a new way to learn and make good use of technologies that are available to us. Technologies are constantly improving and the current situation really shows that education can be effectively delivered online. Please remember that you are not alone, there is always help if you need it.
Дорогие друзья! Сегодня я хотела бы поделиться с вами своими советами о том, как оставаться продуктивным, учась и работая дома. Я надеюсь, что вы в безопасности и здоровы в это трудное и непредсказуемое время. Работа и учеба из дома возможно могут быть сложной задачей для некоторых из вас, так как у вас так много отвлекающих факторов. Вот мои основные советы о том, как оставаться продуктивным во время учебы из дома: создайте рутину распланируйте свой день делайте перерывы и общайтесь с близкими, а так же занимайтесь спортом и правильно питайтесь!
-Margarita.
