My Pace colleague Leslie Tenzer and I made a podcast with tips for law students as they transition to on-line classes. It is available for free download here at Professor Tenzer's Law to Fact site. I blogged some of those tips (here) under the title I Don't Care What You Wear to an Online Class (but Sitting at a Desk is a Good Choice). Each instructor will have a unique advice. Most of mine is completely obvious. Yet in these unusual times, it is good to remind ourselves and our students that we already possess the tools we need to be successful.
It will take some adjustments and understanding (by students and faculty alike) until we get the hang of the new format. We will, with patience and good humor. Here are a few of my tips:
1. Make a schedule. Block out times on your calendar for studying, attending classes (whether synchronous or asynchronous), reviewing material. Otherwise, working and studying from home can be very difficult without the usual rhythms that propel us forward.
2. Use Your Calendar. Whether you are fully digital, a paper-calendar type, or somewhere in between, put important school-related due dates, prompts, and reminders on your calendar. Have a practice midterm due on a certain date? Write it down. Need to exchange drafts of a paper with a classmate on another date? Write it down. Professor’s office hours that you’d like to access? Write it down. With new emails and reminders arriving every day, getting important deadlines and information down on the calendar can be a big help.
3. Find a Space and Gather Your Materials. Bring to your online class everything you might need, i.e., casebook, statute book, highlighters, other materials.
4. Sit at a Desk or Table. I personally don’t care what you wear to an online class or where (or whether) you are sitting up or lying in bed. But my students self-report that they feel more ready to learn when they are sitting at a desk or table. Lounging in that recliner may feel great in the moment, but your actual physical posture and position may be working at cross-signals with your brain. Ditto for taking a shower and getting dressed for class. Highly recommended! No, this is not a recommendation to wear a ballgown or even business attire. More that it helps keep you in “I’m in class” mode if you are wearing clothes similar to what you would ordinarily wear to class anyway. Business casual on top, pajamas on the bottom? I won’t ask and I won’t tell.
Listen to the full podcast here. More soon over at the ABA Before the Bar blog for students.
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