Lessons learned from a year of online school

To commemorate a full year of online school, here are some things that Ontario Tech students have learned this year!

Use the GSuite

Make full use of the GSuite! At Ontario Tech we have access to the GSuite using our ontariotechu.net accounts, and I’m telling you don’t be afraid to use it. Backup your files to Google Drive using File Sync, share your calendar with your group mates and friends, schedule your late-night emails for profs to send at a reasonable time in the morning. It’s a super versatile and customizable collection of tools, knowing how to use them makes your life easier.

- Rachel Lynds, 5th Year, Mechanical Engineering 

Interacting with peers

One thing I've certainly taken for granted this year is the ability to talk and interact with people in person. Not necessarily because I miss making friends, but because I miss learning from others. Like many people, I most definitely do not know everything and can always benefit from getting advice or information from other people. It’s always good to try and be social in your classes and interact with your peers so you can rub ideas off one another and share useful information. 

- Isaac Akhigbe, 2nd Year, Comm. and Digital Media

Prepare early 

Learning and preparing for laboratory sessions has been difficult, to say the least when the main communication tool between coordinators is email and you can only imagine the amount they receive daily! For this reason, I would strongly recommend preparing early and thereby giving yourself enough time to ask your questions and hear back in time with fairness to the lab coordinator and TA’s time. Also, don’t be afraid to cross-check and confirm or clarify concepts with your friends! This tip has truly been life-saving in making the most out of my lab experience and reducing stress.

- Amanpreet Jolly, 3rd Year, Life Sciences 

Take breaks

Throughout grade 12 and my first year of university, I had this rule where I would not do any school work or anything on a Friday. This rule was made because I didn’t like the idea of doing work into the weekend and I valued relaxing over everything. I would no matter how much work I had, never do work on a Friday. Well with online school I kind of forgot that rule. Online school has made my days really clustered and I barely took any time off to really relax. So I learned that relaxing is very important, as just constantly doing work can lead to burnout, and overall was not great. So I know to take as much time as I need as no piece of work will be more important than my well-being. 

- Arajen (AJ) Narenthira, 3rd year, Criminology and Justice 

Note-taking 

One thing I have learned this year is to take effective notes during the entire semester. Before, I used to make notes after/during class and then make more detailed notes when a test or final came around. I found this semester that if I made the detailed notes once after class, it saved me a lot of time when it came time to study for a final or test. That way I could use the extra time for reviewing content. This semester I also stopped handwriting my notes which ended up saving a lot of time as well. I am a visual learner, so I still enjoy having the paper copy of my notes, but instead, I now type them out, print them, and then will highlight areas of importance and keep them in a binder. I find the consistency of typing makes the content easier to absorb and also keeps me organized.

Reach out

Having my first year of university be fully online was definitely not something I expected to experience, however, I think it taught me a lot about myself and allowed me to improve as a student. My biggest tip would be to reach out for help when you are needing it. Ontario Tech is an amazing school with lots of helpful resources including mental health supports, accessibility services, workshops, peer tutors, and lots more! I personally accessed all of those services and they were all extremely helpful in different ways, whether it be with school, or getting advice on any issues I encountered! 

Organization 

It is my absolute worst nightmare to have an important test or assignment due and completely forget about it by accident. Luckily that hasn’t happened yet (phew!) but I attribute this solely to staying organized and writing everything down! Organization has never been more important in my life as a student than it has been throughout this year of online school!