It is often said about online education that it gives you the opportunity to “study anywhere”. But for effective education and your personal productivity this “study anywhere” must be a comfortable place.
Here are some important steps to help you create the perfect place to study at home.
Designate a study area
Even though you study from home, there should be clear study-home boundaries. Sitting on the couch with your laptop is not a good idea. You need to switch from household chores and set yourself up to learn, so having a separate office or space is a must.
Even if you don’t have an extra room for this purpose, set aside a separate area. You can put a partition, organize a workspace on the balcony or just visually separate the desk from the rest of the room, for example, by the color of the wall.
A comfortable chair and a clean table
A comfortable desk and chair are considered the key to good posture. It is recommended to use an office chair or a rigid chair with a straight high back.
Choose a desk of a size that allows you to put the most necessary things on it. It is important that there should be a minimum of things on the work surface, but everything should be easy to take.
If you have a table without additional drawers, hang a shelf next to it. It is recommended to use an arm’s length distance. This will make it easier to get papers, pens, and other materials you need for studying.
Fill the room with light
Full lighting of the study space reduces eye strain and ensures better productivity. Ideally, diffuse lighting throughout the space is combined with direct light sources above the workstation.
Allocate time to study online
Depending on the course, this can be from 15 minutes to several hours a day, a week. During this time, no one should disturb you. Some courses, webinars are held at a certain time, which should be released in your schedule. If there is no time limit, the training hours should be assigned independently, taking into account your individual activity (some people absorb new information better in the first half, others — in the second half).
Remove all distractions
A place to study should be where you will not be disturbed by other family members, children, pets, neighbors. It is ideal to have a personal computer or laptop for this purpose. If you do not use a smartphone in training, it is better to put it aside so that you are not distracted by messages, various notifications. You should also remove all distracting objects from the table, turn off the TV running in the background.
Get your files in order
If all the files on your computer are chaotically scattered or just piled into your “Downloads” folder, you will have a hard time quickly finding the file you need. Organize your study files into separate folders, grouping them by topic or purpose (lectures, additional files, homework). Add all online materials to separate folders in your browser bookmarks.