Tailored Approaches to Learning and Studying
Author: UNB College of Extended Learning
Posted on Mar 14, 2024
Category: Our Stories , Behavioural Intervention and Autism , Occupational Health and Safety , Degree Credit , Professional Development , Online Learning
When it comes to learning & studying, there's no one-size-fits-all solution.
We all think and process information in different ways. To make sure everyone succeeds, we need to focus on tailored approaches to education. Here are some useful tips and strategies we've gathered to help you.
It's about time.
"I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" - White Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland
There's something called "The Planning Fallacy" that makes it hard for us to estimate how much time we need to do something. We tend to underestimate how long a project or task will take because we often forget to include snack breaks or setbacks (and there are always setbacks).
Not to mention that our focus isn't always "on the ball" and can slip away without us even realizing, which adds even more time to whatever you're working on.
So, how do we fix this?
Write down how long you think a project (or a series of tasks) will take.
Add 30% more time to that project/task.
It sounds simple, but automatically adding 30% more time before you even begin will help to reduce stress and panic when things take longer than our initial idealized estimate.
Remind yourself to set reminders
Short-term memory and focus can be a big issue for many people, which is why reminders are often critical. But sometimes, all the reminders in the world still aren't enough, which is why it's important to actively work on your reminder strategies over time:
- Immediately set reminders.
- Even if the reminder is simply to remind you to set another reminder later, it's important to do it as soon as it pops into your mind.
- Give your reminders and alarms helpful names.
- Setting reminders/alarms isn't always helpful if we don't include enough information in it. Give your reminders/alarms obvious names, like "Start history essay".
- Explore setting options.
- Every phone and computer is a little different, so make sure you explore what yours can do. Can your digital calendar send you timed emails, texts, or automated calls about the reminders? Can you connect your digital calendar to your home devices so they can verbally remind you of things?
- When in doubt, go old-school.
- Grab a brightly coloured sticky note, use a felt pen so your words stand out, then put it somewhere you KNOW you'll see it. It can also help to put the sticky note in a new place from time to time, so your eyes don’t learn to skip over it.
- Don't have a sticky note? Write it on your hand (just don't wash it off accidentally).
- Get an accountability person.
- Ask someone you're close to if they'll check in with you and verbally encourage you to start your work. Make sure you communicate your boundaries with them in advance so they know when to step back.
Make your notes fun.
You can't always make homework fun, but you can make it more novel by engaging your senses as you take notes and study.
Here are a few ideas to try:
- Highlight keywords and concepts in bright colours.
- Take a pen or pencil and underline each word as you read.
- Write comments in the margins of your notes.
- Make quick sketches that represent concepts you're learning.
- Use different templates in your note taking app.
- Use fancy hand-lettering techniques or script fonts for headings and subheadings.
- Create a presentation out of your notes.
- Make infographics of the most critical information.
- Colour code your notes using coloured pens, coloured paper, etc.
- Use icons in your notes as a fun way to illustrate key points.
Ditch the chaos.
Disorganization in your environment can add to your stress and be a big distraction. While it's easy to tell someone to "declutter their space," the reality is that it's a difficult task and hard to maintain.
Let's go for the middle ground instead then! Don't focus on doing everything, just do what you can. Good enough is a lot better than nothing at all.
Here are a few suggestions that might help:
- "Don't put it down, put it away."
- One of the things that can become a problem is clutter, including papers from graded assignments and notes. The Neurodivers Show on YouTube has created a wonderful (and catchy) song to encourage you to try to put something away instead of just putting it down. Because we all know, once it's out of your hands, it tends to stay there.
- Tidy by category.
- Cleaning can be overwhelming, especially when you've let it go for too long. Not knowing where to start can leave you paralyzed before you even begin. Try dividing up the mess into categories and tackling it one category at a time.
- Come up with categories for your stuff. Examples: trash, dirty dishes, give away/sell, storage, and put away.
- Start with the easy ones, like trash and dirty dishes, and tidy up everything from that category only. If you have the motivation to keep going, do it. If you can only do one, that's okay! You still started the process.
- Avoid overcommitting yourself.
- It's easy to get excited about a new idea, hobby, subject, or event, but too often we spend too much time on the new things and neglect everything else. Too many obligations can also make you feel anxious and overwhelmed.
- For each new commitment you make, give up an old one. For instance, if you agree to join the school fund-raising committee, give up the neighborhood watch committee.
Fight perfectionism.
Perfectionism can be a double-edged sword. It can motivate you to work harder and deliver award-winning results, but it can also cause you unnecessary anxiety and slow you down considerably. So, how do you deal with it?
- Realistic thinking is key.
- Because people with perfectionism are often critical of themselves, one of the best ways to overcome this is to replace perfectionistic thoughts with more realistic and helpful ones.
- Even if you don't believe them right away, it's important to keep repeating them so it turns into a habit and eventually overtakes the negative self-talk.
- Avoid ruminating.
- Twisting and turning things over in your mind can sometimes make you feel like you're being productive, but it's often the opposite. How can you avoid this?
- When it starts, seek out distractions to break the cycle.
- Write down or record your unfiltered thoughts to get them out.
- Talk to others. Getting a different perspective often helps.
- Twisting and turning things over in your mind can sometimes make you feel like you're being productive, but it's often the opposite. How can you avoid this?
- See the big picture.
- Recognize your progress.
- Try not to focus on what's left to do or what's gone wrong, instead take the time to notice how far you've come and the things that have gone well.
- Get feedback early in the process.
- After you've spent a few hours on a project, get feedback from someone else – maybe a professor, coworker, or classmate. You may learn that your work is already "good enough" and you don't need to spend more time on it.
- Adjust your standards.
- At some point, the work you're putting into a project will start to net you "diminishing returns" (i.e. you're putting more into it than you'll get back). Assess the importance of your projects and prioritize them according to their due date, size/time required, and value.
- Recognize your progress.
Take care of your senses.
For a lot of people sensory issues can interfere with the ability to study or focus. Some are overwhelmed by noise, lights, smells, or textures. Others need a little stimulus, like background noise, to improve focus.
Sensory issues can be difficult to manage and can cause a lot of stress. Here are a few helpful ways you can try to alleviate those things:
Noise cancelling headphones
Try to bring noise cancelling headphones with you wherever you go in case you need to block out noise or play music to help you focus.
Sunglasses
Bring sunglasses everywhere to help with light sensitivities. There are a variety of tints you can get to help with different issues:
- Green Tints
- Help provide contrast by filtering out some blue light. This helps to reduce glare and eye strain in brighter sunlight.
- Gray Tints
- Reduce glare, especially when on the water, and are great for shielding against bright light. They also work well on cloudy and sunny days, which provides some anti-fatigue benefits.
- Blue or Purple Tints
- Provide stunning and enhanced color perception. They also help you see contours around objects more clearly while offering protection from reflective surfaces, especially snow. Sunglasses with blue lenses also work well in foggy and misty weather.
- Red or Rose Tints
- Help to filter some blue light so they may help improve driving visibility while also improving eye comfort. They may also help to increase your depth of field and enhance detail.
- Yellow, Orange or Gold Tints
- Excel in moderate- to low-level light conditions. They provide excellent depth perception, improve the visibility of objects, make surroundings appear brighter, and filter blue light. However, they can distort colors a little.
- Amber or Brown Tints
- Provide significant glare-reducing benefits and make cloudy days a bit brighter. They also filter blue light while helping to improve depth perception and can comfort eyes in sunny conditions.
Masks
If smells can be an issue for you, bring a mask with you when you go out. A thicker mask can help block out any scents that are bothersome, especially in situations where you can't move away from the source of the smell.
Scent-free environments
Whenever possible, select scent-free environments to study in. Most libraries (public and university) are scent-free. If you don't have a place handy that is scent-free, and you can't study at home, reach out to your academic advisor or a professor to see if there is a space you can go to study.
Be gentle with yourself.
Everybody makes mistakes. No one, not even Shakespeare himself, ever wrote a flawless first draft, so try not to be so hard on yourself. Two steps forward, one step back is still a step forward.