Learning is an individual journey that can be made more effective and more joyful when approached correctly and intentionally. This lesson lists a number of best practices that have proven themselves to increase learning and retention, while reduce stress at the same time.
There is no need to implement all of the practices nor should you implement them all at once. Try one or a few at a time and monitor your learning and then adjust as needed once you get feedback.
The practices below are not listed in any particular order, although the ones that have been reported to be particularly useful and listed first. Read them all and then make your own study plan; be intentional and purposeful in your studies. Adopt a method and a routine – don’t try to “wing it” – studying is a serious endeavor and requires a focused and serious attitude.
Know your surroundings: know where to go, where to find material, lessons, assignments, and how to submit them.
Know the syllabus for your class as it sets the ground rules for the relationship between the instructor, the university, and you. Read it weekly.
Be accountable to someone: your classmates, your instructor, a tutor, or your daily journal.
Study in uninterrupted blocks of 60-90 minutes. Set a schedule and put your study time into your calendar and then schedule everything else around it. During your study blocks, find a quiet place where you are not interrupted, turn off all interruptions including phone notifications. Learn and use the [Pomodoro Method] to help you stay focused.
Turn off interruptions when studying. Put your phone on airplane mode and only check your messages at the end of your study block.
Keep a daily journal. Write down what you studied, when you studied and where and whether you think it was successful. Reflect in your journal about your progress and whether your approach to studying is effective.
Study a sufficient amount of time for the course you are taking. An undergraduate course generally takes 2.5 hours of weekly study for each credit hour, so about 10 hours per week for a 4-credit course; you should count on 3.5 hours per week per credit hours for a graduate course, so about 14 hours per week. Of course, these are estimates and some courses will likely take much more time, but do not assume it takes less. if you study substantially less, then you are likely not studying correctly and sufficiently.
Take hand-written notes. Take notes during live lectures or while watching pre-recorded lectures. Taking hand-written notes has been shown to increase retention. Learn how to organize your notes and map out lectures using mind mapping.
Plan your week. Schedule each week in advance; know what’s do when and when you’ll do what work. Block time in your calendar; schedule all due dates and know when office hours are held. Be mindful and intentional in planning your time.
There are a few other recommendations that reduce stress and improve your work:
Backup your work daily or, better, yet, in real-time to a cloud drive such as OneDrive. Google Drive, iCloud, DropBox, or whichever you prefer. Set it up so your work is backed up whenever it changes. It allows you to move to a new computer and be able to work there and protects you from your computer dying, being damaged or stolen, or moving your work place.
Don’t connect to public WiFi unless you use a good VPN; you don’t want your laptop to be hijacked, infected with a virus, or locked with Ransomware. As an alternative, use your phone’s hotspot – if you do not know how to do this, learn about it.
Don’t use “strange” chargers such public chargers at airports, airplanes, trains or public places; doing so can infect your laptop with viruses, install malware, or steal private information.
Set up a dedicated workspace where you study, so all your equipment is always ready. Studying while “on-the-go” or while “nomadic” doesn’t work well (unless you are traveling or cannot be at your dedicated space). The key is to be mindful and take your studies seriously and make them your primary activity.
Remember that the content of a course and its objectives are a lot more than understanding some specific “skills” or a “programming language” or some “tool”. Those change and likely by the time you graduate. A university course is not a training course, rather it teaching you how to learn, how to think, how to find answers. It is meant to stimulate your intellectual curiosity and push you to reflect, to study deeply and appreciate the more theoretical aspects so you can build on that, form connections, and eventually expand on human knowledge. Embrace it!
Always remember that you, and only you, are responsible for your own learning and with that your own success. No one else will study for you or learn for you. As an adult learner you need to find the motivation to learn and succeed in completing a course. You are the key to your own success; it is not the professor, the teaching assistants, your advisor, or even your peers – it is you.
Block time. Block time in your schedule for studying, working on assignments
Study during office hours. Know when your instructor’s or teaching assistants’ office hours are, add them to your calendar and block your study time or time to work on assignments to coincide with their office hours; that way you can ask questions as they arise and you can work more effectively.
Form a study group. Study in small groups or with a partner. Having to be accountable to someone else can be good motivation. Of course, the time together is “work time” and not time to socialize or chat. Focus on studying, quiz each other, use each other as resources. Explaining a concept or a method to someone else can also be a really good way to learn something yourself: you won’t know something until you try to teach it. If you form a virtual study group, have a place to meet virtually (e.g., Teams channel) and then study with cameras on – peer pressure is powerful, use it to your benefit!
Have backups plans. Have access to a second computer or know where you can borrow one. Have a second power adapter, keyboard, and mouse. Know how to use your phone’s hotspot to get access to the internet if your home WiFi is out; know where you can go to get WiFi (and be safe and use a VPN).
Pre-work before traveling. Do any assignments and readings before you travel; don’t assume that you’ll have time (or have the desire and motivation) to study while you are traveling for work or leisure. Do your work before big games if you are a student athlete.
Run all tutorial code. Type in and get all tutorial code to run yourself; don’t just read it. It’s like learning to dance: watching others dance won’t make you a better dancer – you need to try the steps yourself (insert your favorite activity here instead of dancing).
Take handwritten notes when watching a recorded lecture. Taking notes forces you to listen. Pause the recording and rewind if you need to. Build mind maps or concept maps of the information you are acquiring.
Do not procrastinate. Work a little bit every day; if you can’t get started, then just start with something small. If you have a big assignment or reading to finish, read a paragraph, or do one of the questions, or just set up your project. Starting is the hardest part of finishing – anything to get you into the “zone”.
Stay engaged in class forum. Whether it is Teams. Piazza, Canvas, or some other class forum, stay engaged. Read all message daily, post replies, or even just a quick reply or thumbs-up. Helping your fellow learners helps you. You stay engaged, you learn, and you help others – you might need their help later. Remember that timely information is often made available on forums and not knowing might mean you waste time or miss something important.
Create a study plan. Be intentional in your studies and create a written study plan. Print out the study plan and review each day and improve the plan as you find issues arising. Reflect on your progress and your study approach – and make changes right away as soon as you see problems occurring, if you are falling behind, or if you are not putting in full effort. Be accountable to yourself!
Read the syllabus. Read the syllabus at least twice and then again every other week. There is important information in the syllabus and it spells out all policies; good to be reminded periodically. Also, it forces engagement with the course.
Set reminder. Be sure to set reminders; it is easy to miss due dates; and the act of setting reminders engages you with the class and requires you to review assignments; and then be prompted to work on them.
Go to office hours. Go to office hours held by your instructor and teaching assistants when you get stuck or when you have a question or just the slightest doubt – it forces you to engage with the course and the material. It also creates a personal connection and you’ll feel more engaged with the course. It is easy to be isolated when learning remotely or virtually.
Get dressed to work. You should dress for the class (i.e., when you study or have a “class block”) like it’s in person so it ensures you are taking the work as seriously as possible and being productive during blocked times. There’s a reason why athletes are required to dress in suits for game day – it changes their outlook and gets them into “game mode” – same for you.
The Pomodoro Method is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It’s designed to enhance focus and productivity by breaking work into short, timed intervals called “pomodoros,”1 traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. Here’s how you can use the Pomodoro Technique to study more effectively as a university student:
Choose a Task to Work On: Identify what you need to study or the assignment you need to work on. It’s crucial to be specific about the task to ensure focused work.
Set a Timer for 25 Minutes: Use a kitchen timer, a timer app, or any other timer. The traditional Pomodoro session is 25 minutes, but you can adjust this length based on what works best for you.
Work on the Task Until the Timer Rings: Dive into your study material or assignment with full focus. The goal is to work with intensity and without distractions until the timer goes off.
Take a Short Break (5 minutes): Once the timer rings, take a short break. This is your time to relax and not think about studying. You might stand up, stretch, grab a cup of water, or do anything else that’s not study-related.
Repeat the Process: After your break, reset your timer for another 25 minutes and get back to work. After completing four Pomodoro sessions, take a longer break, typically 15-30 minutes. This longer break helps your brain to recover and maintain a high level of performance throughout your study sessions.
Adjust as Needed: Feel free to adjust the lengths of work sessions and breaks to match your concentration span and workload. Some tasks might require longer uninterrupted work periods, while others might be suitable for shorter sprints.
Benefits for University Students:
To maximize the effectiveness of the Pomodoro Method, it’s essential to minimize interruptions during work periods and truly disengage from work during breaks. Additionally, customizing the method to fit your personal study habits and academic demands can help you get the most out of your study sessions. The key is to be intentional is your habits.
Mind mapping is a visual organization and note-taking technique that allows you to map out your thoughts, ideas, or information around a central concept in a non-linear format. It involves creating a diagram that visually outlines information, making it easier to understand, remember, and connect various pieces of the topic at hand. Mind maps are especially useful for brainstorming, planning, studying, and consolidating information from different sources.
When it comes to listening to lectures or watching lessons, hand-drawn mind maps can significantly enhance a university student’s learning experience. Here’s how:
Start with the Central Idea: In the center of your paper, write down the main topic of the lecture or lesson. This could be the title of the lecture or a concept being discussed.
Add Major Themes as Branches: From the central idea, draw lines outwards to create branches. Label these branches with the main themes or subtopics presented in the lecture. These branches should represent the key areas covered that are directly related to the main topic.
Include Details and Sub-Branches: For each major theme or subtopic, add smaller branches to note down important details, examples, definitions, and any other relevant information. This helps in breaking down complex information into more digestible pieces.
Use Keywords and Images: Instead of writing long sentences, use keywords, symbols, or quick sketches to represent ideas. This makes the mind map easier to review and helps in reinforcing memory retention through visual cues.
Color Coding: Utilize different colors for different themes or sections. Color coding aids in visually segregating the information, making it easier to navigate and remember.
For university students, hand-drawn mind maps are a flexible tool that can adapt to various subjects and types of information. It forces a student to think about the structure of a subject or lecture in the way that they see it which improves retention and learning.
The patterns described below almost always lead to disaster, heartburn, headache, stress, and often failure, so don’t do any of these. If you recognize yourself doing some of them, stop, revisit your study habits, and change.
Not scheduling and blocking time can quickly lead to falling behind; not scheduling fixed time blocks, and, instead doing work as it arises will likely cause you to fall behind as something always comes up and then you keep pushing your work and your studying ahead. Kicking the cans down the road leads eventually to a pile of cans and a mess; just don’t do it.
Doing assignments only means that you won’t understand deeper connections and you won’t be able to effectively apply what you are supposed to have learned to new situations. You’ll become a “doer” but not a “solver”.
Be intentional in your studies by creating a plan, a schedule, and a process of continuous improvement. Learning how to learn is a lifelong skill and knowing how to effectively learn will take you a long way. Learning is fun, learning new things is interesting – it makes you interesting.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever” - Mahatma Gandhi
None yet.
I want to thank my students in IS2000, CS5200, CS5600, DA5030 and others over the years in providing me with inspiration for a number of the best practices listed herein.
I’m sure you are curious why the time slices are called “pomodoros”; go find out… it’s fun…↩︎