The Student’s Guide to Learning During a Lockdown
“I never let my schooling interfere with my education.” This quote by Mark Twain is as handy as ever. Now that schools are globally on lockdown, your schooling might be on hold, but your education shouldn’t.
There are a few ways to look at this period of isolation; as a barrier to learning or an opportunity to learn at your own pace. Majority of schools have halted learning due to the lockdown, a few have moved to learn online. You can still learn during the isolation despite the barriers such as distraction and absence of the social experience that comes with face-to-face learning. Learning at this time of isolation might be challenging, even for students who take online classes prior to the pandemic. The rest of this article suggests ways to continue learning in isolation even though schooling may temporarily be on hold.
One of the perks of learning in isolation is the flexibility and convenience. You set your own timetable. Design your study guide. Find resources that will improve your understanding of various subjects of your choice. What have you been curious about? What do you want to become in the future? This is the time to learn those things.
Schedule your study time. In order to cope with the isolation, one might get so busy with entertainment that they forget to learn. Don’t let that be you. You may have all the time in your control, but scheduling helps you to be more productive with your learning. Create a checklist of the materials you want to study for the day, how long you want to study each material for. In order to be self-accountable, make a summary of what you have learnt each day.
If you can, stay in touch with your teachers. Reach out to them if you have access. Ask them for tips you could use to learn, seek recommendations on what to read also.
Use your devices to learn. Do you have an iPad, a phone, a laptop or your parents/siblings have any of these devices? Now is a time to take advantage of computer-assisted learning. Use the internet to hone your skills. Read articles, e-books. Do you have audiobooks? Get your hands on some. Do you listen to podcasts? Find some that will interest you. Listen to them while you do a chore.
Create a virtual study group. You may have study buddies from school, you can still study with them. Also, you can agree to share summaries of what you have learnt from time to time. Create virtual study spaces with your study partners or classmates.
Learn ahead. Go through your syllabus and begin to read through what you have left for the term. Before doing this, a good idea might be to go over what you already learnt during the term. If there has been any portion that was unclear, now is a good time to patiently study that concept until you understand it. When you have achieved that, go on to the rest of the scheme of work and get familiar with the topics in advance. You will be a few steps ahead when the isolation period is finally over.
Learning is beyond the four walls of your classroom. Enjoy the break from schooling but don’t let your learning stop. Take advantage of the situation.
Read books that develop your mind. Develop your writing, learn a DIY, learn computer software, increase your typing speed by practising. Bonus tip- journal your experience during the isolation.
Have you heard about the CTCTW Academy? It is an online institution established to help you even during this period of isolation. There will be the delivery of free classes via our Facebook page and via our Telegram channel.
Learn more about these classes here:https://bit.ly/2xzwrQK
