The pandemic this past year has flipped our world upside down as we’ve had to adapt to a new virtual studying environment. Using Zoom to substitute the on-campus experience blurs the line between our personal and college life, which makes it confusing to differentiate the two. I mean, after all, who would have expected a global pandemic to interrupt our college life? Despite the Zoom fatigue, there are virtual, innovative tools creators have made to improve studying habits and productivity! Here are five online study tools to take advantage of in college:
#1: StudyStream
StudyStream is a virtual productive community that hosts focus rooms for college students to study on a group Zoom call! With 24/7 access to their Focus Rooms, the creators created this online forum using methods backed by science. These methods improve study habits by making students take accountability for doing their work and mimic focused peers who are on the video call. This is certainly the go-to when wanting to get the productive flow going!
#2: Flora
Grow a vibrant garden on Flora! This app is a new way to stay off your phone while planting real trees. By selecting a focused duration of time on the app, you grow a tree, but be careful because leaving the app will cause the tree to die! Things get even more interesting when you challenge your friends to plant trees together while sharing your progress to motivate each other. Flora has double the productivity, as you save the planet and improve yourself!
#3: Chilled Cow
Chilled Cow is a YouTube channel that gives students the opportunity to study with the famous Study Girl. This animated student is always seen studying at her desk with her orange-striped cat, and it feels as though you are studying with her! With lofi beats and a chill ambiance, this is certainly a soothing way to calm the midterm nerves.
#4: Momentum
Rather than having a simple dashboard for your search engine, Momentum is a personalized, productive dashboard that includes a daily photo, the weather forecast, and an inspirational quote. It also sets a daily focus and tracks the items on your to-do list. With over three million users, Momentum works against procrastination and distractions with its picturesque, calming layout. Logging online has never been more satisfying.
#5: Speechify
Speechify is a reading assistant that transforms any speech into audio! Instead of reading word-for-word, the Google Extension makes it easier to listen to text with over 30 different voices, multiple languages, and varying speeds! As a pretty slow reader, Speechify is a complete life-saver as it cuts my reading time in half.
Since we’re halfway through the semester, it has been challenging to log onto Zoom University, to say the least. The sore eyes, temptation to sleep through class, and academic procrastination are all mutual experiences we are feeling as students. However, adding these apps and extensions to your life will drastically improve your online student experience.