Julian - Boston University

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Hey, folks, My name is Julian cheaper Barnum and I'm a senior studying acting at Boston University. In this video, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about what my experience was with online learning for get started. Before the pandemic hit, I was actually studying abroad in Madrid and having the best experience ever. So when I was sent home and had to take online classes, I was honestly in credibly bummed out and very stressed about what the rest of my semester is gonna look like. Although it was initially a little bit hard, I did end up having a pretty good time with virtual classes. I would say the biggest thing I learned from all of this was that I personally really needed to schedule to get anything out of my virtual classes. When I first started, I would get up 15 minutes before class rollover, opened my laptop and start, but was still kind of asleep and not really able to fully pay attention. After about a week and 1/2 of that, I was realizing that I wasn't taking good notes. I was really tired during the class, and I totally wasn't getting what I could've out of it. I totally switched it up and created a routine for myself. I would shower, eat breakfast and I would sit up during class. Sitting up during class totally changed my experience. I had good lightings that I could be seen in present, and it totally changed my whole learning experience because I was actually there and accountable for what I was learning. Another thing that really worked free was actually getting out of the house, especially now that it's more acceptable to go out and around taking like an hour, every hour that you have and going to the park or walking under block, or just like talking somebody on the phone and not face time was really helping me because I was just screen, screen, screen, screen screen for like, hours at a time, and it was just it was diminishing returns. By the end of the day, I was just so tired looking at a computer that I didn't even want to like, be in the class. Um, another thing I recommend is that in some classes you don't actually have to look at the screen. Uh, I found that doing a puzzle while I was listening to the class was really helpful, especially for my art history class, where we would be given slides with presentation later on. I would say modifying and breaking up the pattern of online learning is really helpful. Don't just stay in the same spot, get up as much as you can eat regularly, create like a schedule that would feel like you are having a normal day of school that includes separating places where you relax from places where you learn. So I found that learning in my bed made it really hard for me to sleep at night. So I would try to do my classes in the living room when I could at my desk when I could and just not in the place where I was getting my rest. Because otherwise everything blended into each other and I felt like it wasn't even alive at all. Honestly, I think having online learning is not the end of the world. Nothing is going to be being in classrooms with your teachers, but it is a way to continue your education, even during this very challenging time. There are all these things that you can do to help yourself that you don't just kind of slip away into a computer's on the personally. It is my last year, and I do want to graduate and get out into the world as an artist. I know my friend at Yale is taking the next year off because something that's very important to her is being on campus Dartmouth College experience. I know, I know some of my classes might virtual but being there and getting through my education is something that feels important to me. I don't really mind during the online class thing. Some people dio I think you just have to look into yourself and be like, OK, with the classes are gonna take. Am I able to get what I need out of it is part of what I need, being in class with people. If it is, then maybe online learning isn't the thing for you, but I know that personally, I have to get a philosophy. I really don't mind just taking that credit from my house. As long as I am able to still get the in class experience for my acting class is, it's It's a trade off for sure. Are there ways that you can take credits now that might lighten your course load later when you are on campus and doing things with the other people that you're with? If there's a way that maybe you can knock out a bunch of credits and then have some lighter semesters in the future that would open up your time to explore your own passions. That actually sounds like a pretty cool alternative. I know that my schedules have been packed to the brim every semester, and I haven't really been ableto be in the social scene as much as I wanted to, and I feel like, honestly, a semester where I just jammed it full of credits, work my butt off and was able to go back and have a freer time in school might actually be a good time. I do think that if you feel very hung up on it and you feel very stressed about online learning, maybe try taking a course over the summer. See, if it works for you, re evaluate whatever you do, you will be learning. You will be getting something out of life, and it's better than just sitting at home and doing nothing.