Attending school online has taught me the importance of self-motivation and timeliness. Throughout this year it has been very difficult for me to keep myself motivated to do homework or even attend some classes since it felt like there was minimal reason to complete my tasks. Another reason for this was a lack of a changing environment. Normally, I associate different spaces with different activities/mindsets. For example, when I walk into math class my brain prepares itself to learn math. The same thing applies to each of my classes. This also affected my homework as the different settings helped me to remember to do work later that day, by mentally running through where I had been earlier.
One thing I’m looking forward to is getting to go to class, meet new people, have genuine conversations with them. I miss talking to people about random topics that come up in class and being able to walk towards your next class debating the subject of the day’s lesson. This is something that is impossible to recreate in a Zoom based education system and something I dearly miss from my freshman(/1st half of sophomore) year. I have made so many good friends like this and it had made my life in class so much better. I’d be able to ask someone what was due or for notes if I wasn’t paying the best attention that day.
I absolutely detest online schooling, but I have become much more capable in scheduling. Whether it’s my class schedule or how I allocate the rest of my day, I find I am less persuaded to deviate from a plan I made if I know it will make my life more difficult. I also find that virtual schooling has made me more reliant on making food at home. While it was nice to grab a pizza or hot dog on campus, it is definitely a good thing that I go out to the grocery store and make my own food daily.