Whether you plan to study in your home, the library, a coffee shop, or even a park, you鈥檒l want to make sure your space is set up to help you focus and therefore, succeed.

Personalize the Space

This doesn鈥檛 mean that you need to hang a sign with your initials or put up posters and pictures, but rather that you need to know what works best for you in terms of your personality and learning style. If you learn best in complete silence, you may need to consider noise-cancelling headphones or only choosing a space that is quiet like a library study carrel. If you learn best with some quiet music or ambient noise, you may want to be sure to bring some tunes or choose a space like a coffee shop that may have low level music playing. Study spaces aren鈥檛 one size fits all. You should ensure that wherever you choose to study it is aligned to your specific needs.

Minimize Distractions

When you sit down to study, turn on the do not disturb setting on your phone. I know it feels very scary to disconnect but it will help you to make sure that you won鈥檛 be interrupted by text messages or phone calls or any little red alert bubbles that may pop-up. If you plan to use your computer to study, you should consider pausing your email inbox and closing all browser windows that don鈥檛 contain the content you need to study or work on.

Another method for minimizing distractions is to have a notepad nearby to write down any distracting thoughts that may interfere with your studying. You can make a note of the thought and come back to it once you are finished studying. It is a similar technique to clearing your mind while meditating, you simply note the thought and move on so that you don鈥檛 dwell on them.

Have Your Supplies at Hand

Not only will you want a notepad for writing down distracting thoughts, you鈥檒l want to have all your supplies. It may seem too obvious to be a tip, but you will have more success studying if you aren鈥檛 interrupted by a need to get a pen or to plug in your device or hunt for a post-it-note. If you鈥檙e not studying at home or in your own space, make sure you bring what you may need with you. If you will be studying in your own space, you can ensure that you have set it up with everything you need close by. You鈥檒l want to charge any devices that you may need as well.

Don鈥檛 Just Have Your Stuff, Organize It!

Simply collecting everything you need won鈥檛 be helpful enough. You will want to make sure you know where each item is so that you don鈥檛 spend time sifting through clutter. You don鈥檛 have to have an indexed filing system and multiple cabinets but knowing where your study materials, your note-taking devices, and your snacks are will go a long way toward letting you spend your time studying instead of searching.

Make Time for a Break or Two

It鈥檚 a good idea to decide ahead of time when you will take breaks from studying. You can even use a timer or alarm to help you not check the clock or be tempted to stop working too early. Part of knowing when to take a break or how many to take is knowing your own studying needs. Are you someone who is easily distracted during a break? Then fewer breaks may be the best way for you to work. Does taking frequent breaks help you to stay focused? Then maybe knowing you have several of them scheduled during your study time can help you.

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Would you like to get the most out of your study time? Wouldn鈥檛 it be great to be able to focus so you can retain more of your course content? You鈥檙e in luck: I have some tips and tricks for how to increase concentration and hang on to your learning. And even better news: there are a wealth of resources available to you as a 国产主播 student that can help!

Feynman Technique for Memory Retention

There is a method for studying and understanding content that is proven to be very effective in helping you learn. That method is called the Feynman Learning Technique, named after Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. There are several steps to the Feynman Technique:

Step 1: Study First read or watch the lecture of a published study to learn its content.

Step 2: Explain As if you’re the one teaching it, explain the content and concept thoroughly and simply. Use specific examples to ensure you can apply the concept.

Step 3: Identify Now review your explanation for any gaps or parts that need further clarification. Revisit your materials and fill the gaps.

Step 4: Simplify Reread your explanation. Replace technical language or jargon with simple language that explains the content clearly and concisely.

The Feynman Technique will take time, but time is well spent. You’ll find you’ve better learning retention.

Exercise Your Body to Improve Your Mind

Work out your body. It’ll improve your brain function, too.

My next tip, working out, may surprise you, since we usually think of exercise as for the body and not the mind. In fact, exercise modifies your brain’s structure and function so that it’s in tip-top shape. Research has consistently shown that regular exercise can help you with concentration and memory formation (Radek et al. 2001, Fernandes et al. 2017, Mandolesi et al. 2018).

In addition to working out your body, exercise your mind to support good study habits. Meditation is linked to an increase in cognitive function and working memory (Mrazek et al. 2013, Basso et al. 2019). If you鈥檙e a beginner, check out the many resources available to you as a 国产主播 online-distance-education student on LinkedIn Learning. There are a great number of courses and videos that can give you practice and help you hone your meditative skills.

Sleep and Memory Improvement

After all that working out, you鈥檙e going to be ready for a nap. Great news, my next tip is to sleep! Memories are consolidated during sleep. This means that to keep something in your memory, you need to sleep after you have learned it so that the connections in your brain are strengthened. So, if you want to remember what you鈥檝e learned — no pulling an all-nighter, you need to spend some time resting after you have studied.

Smell and Memory

Have you ever caught a whiff of a smell and had it trigger a very specific memory? The part of your brain that processes smells is very close to the part of your brain that is responsible for memory, and scientists think that may be responsible for the link between scent and memory (Hamer 2019). Since scents can be linked with memories, and you could try studying with a particular scent in a diffuser or on a tissue and then bringing that same scent into situations where you would need that recall (like an exam). According to Neumann et al. (2020) there also seems to be a link to sleeping with scents you study with, so it could be the scent association, or it could be the sleeping but combining them may give you more of a boost.

Additional Methods

Those are some of the methods that have the most scientific support, but if you want to try something where the jury is still out, you can try chewing gum (Scholey 2004, Thakur and Saxena 2019), eating more berries (Miller and Shukitt-Hale 2012, Whyte et al. 2019), or getting an extra dose of caffeine (Borota et al. 2014).

Do you have a study technique that I haven鈥檛 mentioned? Share it with us and with your fellow students in the comments. I would love to know what has worked for you. Or if you find success with one of these tips, share that too!

Basso JC, McHale A, Ende V, Oberlin DJ, Suzuki WA. 2019. Brief, daily meditation enhances attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation in non-experienced meditators. Behavioural Brain Research. 356:208鈥�220. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2018.08.023.

Borota D, Murray E, Keceli G, Chang A, Watabe JM, Ly M, Toscano JP, Yassa MA. 2014. Post-study caffeine administration enhances memory consolidation in humans. Nature neuroscience. 17(2):201鈥�3. doi:10.1038/nn.3623. [accessed 2019 Nov 9]. .

Fernandes J, Arida RM, Gomez-Pinilla F. 2017. Physical exercise as an epigenetic modulator of brain plasticity and cognition. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. 80:443鈥�456. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.06.012. .

Hamer A. 2019 Aug 1. Here鈥檚 Why Smells Trigger Such Vivid Memories. Discovery. [accessed 2022 Jan 18]. .

Mandolesi L, Polverino A, Montuori S, Foti F, Ferraioli G, Sorrentino P, Sorrentino G. 2018. Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognitive Functioning and Wellbeing: Biological and Psychological Benefits. Frontiers in Psychology. 9(9). doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00509. .

Mrazek MD, Franklin MS, Phillips DT, Baird B, Schooler JW. 2013. Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering. Psychological Science. 24(5):776鈥�781. doi:10.1177/0956797612459659.

Neumann F, Oberhauser V, Kornmeier J. 2020. How odor cues help to optimize learning during sleep in a real life-setting. Scientific Reports. 10(1):1227. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-57613-7. [accessed 2021 Nov 12]. .

Rad谩k Z, Kaneko T, Tahara S, Nakamoto H, Pucsok J, Sasv谩ri M, Nyakas C, Goto S. 2001. Regular exercise improves cognitive function and decreases oxidative damage in rat brain. Neurochemistry International. 38(1):17鈥�23. doi:10.1016/s0197-0186(00)00063-2.

Scholey A. 2004. Chewing gum and cognitive performance: a case of a functional food with function but no food? Appetite. 43(2):215鈥�216. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2004.07.004.

Thakur M, Saxena V. 2019. The effects of chewing gum on memory and concentration. International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Development. 2(5):77鈥�82. [accessed 2022 Jan 26].

Whyte AR, Cheng N, Butler LT, Lamport DJ, Williams CM. 2019. Flavonoid-Rich Mixed Berries Maintain and Improve Cognitive Function Over a 6 h Period in Young Healthy Adults. Nutrients. 11(11):2685. doi:10.3390/nu11112685.

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What鈥檚 my secret for your success at 国产主播? It鈥檚 really no secret, it鈥檚 written in every syllabus and provided to you at the start of every course. So, what is it? Office hours!

But wait, what are office hours?

Office hours are specific times that your faculty are making themselves available to you. That鈥檚 right, your faculty will let you know when they hold office hours and attending office hours can make a big difference. Office hours are your opportunity to ask questions, talk through concepts, clarify assignment expectations and instructions, receive additional support or find out about even more supplemental resources. There鈥檚 even evidence that being able to talk with your faculty can reduce stress surrounding the course or your education (Freeman & Wash 2013) and who doesn鈥檛 want to have less stress?

What about my instructor鈥檚 time?

You might be thinking, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to take up my instructor鈥檚 time.鈥� However, that is exactly why they set up office hours at all. They want you to use this time. Several hours of each week are set aside to meet with students. During this time, your instructor鈥檚 attention is focused on you and they can devote the time to make sure that you have the support and understanding you need.

Should I admit confusion?

You might also be thinking, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to let my instructor know I am confused.鈥� Here鈥檚 an additional unkept secret: Instructors at West Coast love being able to help a student who is initially confused. We would much rather have you tell us you are confused during an office hour than to have to figure it out ourselves while grading your work. If we can clear up your confusion before grading comes into play, it鈥檚 a definite win for both of us.

Shouldn鈥檛 I just email?

You might be more comfortable asking questions via an email or on a discussion board in the course, and those are both good options for getting information. However, your instructor can likely focus more clearly and specifically on you and your question if you ask it during office hours. That is the time they are expecting questions and requests for clarification and can dedicate their full attention to you.

Do I need office hours if I am passing?

Another thing you might be thinking is, 鈥淚 am doing well in the course overall, I do not need to go to office hours.鈥� While it is true that office hours can be critical if you are having a tough time in a course, they are also an important source of 鈥渇ace time鈥� when you are doing ok or even well. It gives you a chance to clear up even the small things that may contribute to your success.

Office hours provide you with the opportunity to get to know your faculty members and for them to get to know you. This can make it easier for you to reach out when you do find that you need some help and can also help your instructor understand any questions you ask because they have a stronger understanding of what concepts you already understand. We can use the foundation we know you have to help shore up any misunderstandings or explain new concepts.聽 Being familiar with your instructor can help you to understand their tone or meaning when you get new feedback on an assignment or read their responses on the discussion board.

Also, there鈥檚 no rule that you can only discuss the course or subject matter in office hours. You could be looking for a reference letter writer or some practical career advice. You could be interested in a news article you read that is related to your field of study or the instructor鈥檚 expertise. These less 鈥渁cademic鈥� conversations could be just as important to your success as the ones that help you with graded materials.

国产主播 is committed to your success in the classroom and beyond. One of the ways we can support you is during office hours. Utilizing office hours could be the ultimate secret to your success, but we don鈥檛 want to keep secrets around here. So don鈥檛 hesitate to reach out and attend office hours, have the conversations that can help you get ahead.

Freeman, G. G., & Wash, P. D. (2013). You Can Lead Students to the Classroom, and You Can Make Them Think: Ten Brain-Based Strategies for College Teaching and Learning Success. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 24(3), 99鈥�120.

The post My Best Unkept Secret 鈥� Office Hours appeared first on 国产主播.