With the beginning of the new academic year, new students are embarking on new challenges, schedules, timetables, duties, responsibilities, to-do lists…etc. This amount of information and chores could be overwhelming and hard to observe. So here are some tips to kickstart your new academic year.
Be Digital!
Use to-do lists, note taking and other productivity apps to keep track/record of all the different tasks and important information. Choose apps that support synchronization between multiple devices and operating systems, to ensure having all your data on different devices and environments simultaneously.
These are my suggestions for free time-management and note-taking apps:
Note Taking Apps
- Evernote (Freemium) – website: https://evernote.com/
- Google Keep (Free) – website: https://keep.google.com
- Google Docs (Free) – website: https://www.google.com/docs/about/
To-do & Time Management apps
- Workflowy (Freemium) – website: https://workflowy.com/
- Trello (Freemium) – website: https://trello.com/
- Wunderlist (Freemium) – website: https://www.wunderlist.com/
- Google Calendar (Free) – website: https://www.google.com/calendar
Online Learning Platform
Modern schools, colleges and most of the educational institutions are using some form of an online learning platform, where study materials, guidances, handbooks, useful links, approved internal/external learning resources, quizzes, important notices and information are available to be accessed from anywhere, anytime and from any device.
Familiarize yourself with the online platform. Use it as a permanent reference for academic and study information, sharpen your understanding through practice exam quizzes, contact your lecturers and supervisors, discuss ideas and questions with colleagues via discussion forums.
Ensure to have your email setup in your mobile, to have instant and up-to-date access to important announcements and answers. Use filtering, labeling and other organizing features your email provider offers, so you can easily find important/higher-priority emails.
Online Collaborate
Utilize the potentials of online sharing and collaboration services, such as; Google Docs, to collaborate with your colleagues on joint projects and assignments.
Bookmarks
Create your own custom bookmarks to helpful resources inside and outside your institution, to boost your productivity and research time. Bookmark relevant international research papers sites, educational YouTube channels, reference writing guide, how-to tips for relevant academic skills and important email address and contact numbers.
Going Cloud
Having your assignments, reports and other important documents with you all the time is vital. Physical memory sticks could be damaged, forgotten or lost. Using a cloud-based storage (online files storage accessible from anywhere and anytime) to save and organize your files is a smart move. Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive are reliable options to choose from.
Mohammad's Blog 
Leave a Reply