With colleges and universities reopening across India for students, as the effects of Covid-19 abates, it is now “back to school/college/university” for a vast majority of the student community. With new-normal (neo-normal) learning now in force, university education campuses and students are still required to ensure that they are safe even before the actual process of learning begins physically within campuses. In this new normal learning environment, if you are a student getting set to go back to your school/college/university campus, the below hacks could come in handy to adapt to learning in the new normal that is different from pre-Covid learning modes:
- Getting used to distancing norms – Social distancing has inevitably become a part of human lives ever since the Covid-19 pandemic stuck. Hence, social distancing measures & norms as defined by your educational institution need to be adhered to while you are on the campus and in your classrooms. Your friends, in all likelihood, will now be seated far from you; you may miss those hushed conversations in the classrooms. However, the effort here is definitely worth considering the fact that Covid-19 almost deprived young minds of classroom learning/experience.
- Getting vaccinated – This requirement is important considering the fact that vaccinations are proven to be the most effective way of keeping Covid-19 at bay. Vaccination at the right time helps protect yourself as well as your friends in the classroom.
- Staying away from fake news – As much as getting vaccinated at the right time, you would also need to shield yourself from fake news doing the rounds on various media. Always do fact checks through official news/information sources (refer to these often) before you consume these and forward to loved ones. The issue of fake news has been classified as a menace by law enforcement agencies across the globe. Fake news is also found to damage the human psyche and cause negative effects such as anxiety, and depression.
- Initiating positive conversations – At the campus, it is always recommended to engage with peers/teachers through positive conversations adding to the experience of campus education that add to the learning stimuli. This is an effective way to pick up new learning experiences. Staying positive also helps in this regard.
- Leveraging open source tools and MOOCs – With digital learning tools having received a shot in the arm due to Covid-19, it would do no harm to leverage digital learning tools for the classroom and maintain this as a standard practice. Here, MOOCs and digital tools in education could be considered for add-on learning, and to obtain certifications to add to your knowledge base.
