The quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic is going to continue for a few more months. It is important to utilize this time wisely. I am sure as a college student, you are finding it difficult to set a routine and manage all your tasks during the lockdown. Don’t worry; we all are on the same page. Initially, even I had a tough time deciding on what all I need to do. It is necessary to remain productive and not waste this precious time. Here I am listing down some activities like online courses that you can take up as a college student during this lockdown.
Online Courses
A lot of websites such as Coursera, Udemy, etc are offering free online courses. Many of them are certified and will help you in building your portfolio. These courses are self-paced and you can complete them without any deadlines. Other than your course subjects, you can do some extra learning. Coursera has also removed assignment deadlines so the tasks due can be submitted at any time during the course.
Reading Books
This is another activity which can help you in improving your knowledge base. You can read various non-fiction or fiction books based on your personal choice. Personally, I feel that everyone should read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It will help you in understanding the true meaning of friendship. Reading will also keep you engaged and you can develop this habit over time. An ethical approach would be to start reading for 30 minutes either before going to bed or after waking up in the morning.
Virtual Internships
You can apply for virtual internships through LinkedIn or Internshala. It will add to your resume as most of the internships are certified. It is not difficult to get a good internship if you are willing to put your best foot forward in whatever work is assigned to you. You can get practical experience by applying your ideas to real-life situations. One thing which you should be careful about is the initial task that the employer asks you to submit. It will help you in identifying fake internships.
Develop Hobbies
If you were interested in learning how to paint but never got the time to do it because of your hectic college schedule, now is the time to start learning. Similarly, there are other hobbies such as singing, dancing, learning how to play a musical instrument and so on. If you are able to build on these, then you will be able to participate in competitions in the future and win awards and prizes. It will add to your list of extracurricular achievements!
Take Responsibility
Since household help is not available, it is important to help in household chores. As a family, everyone should work equally to maintain the house and keep it clean. We are all young adults and many of us have also experienced hostel life. The others will soon move out of their homes for further studies. It is necessary to learn life skills in order to survive while away from your family. There is no better time than now to learn all the hacks from your family members!
Completing Syllabus
Many universities have decided to take online exams. But many others are going to take exams only after the situation is normalized. This gives you the advantage to stay ahead and complete your syllabus before time. Since the exams are going to be taken at short notice, it is better to prepare now than to regret later. If you are able to cover up a huge chunk of your current course then you can also explore the material for the next semester. It will give you an edge over other college students.
Research Papers
Writing research papers is a very insightful task. Once you begin the research about various topics, you will notice that there are a lot of things you don’t know. It is an independent learning opportunity and there are no restrictions. You can find formats of how to write and compile research papers online. There are also websites like Research Gate where you can get your research paper published.
Starting YouTube
I recently started looking through articles about how to become a YouTuber. You can also find a similar article on Careerguide.com. The YouTube interface is user friendly. I feel if we have such a nice platform to share our talent then nothing should stop us from doing it. You can create your own channel and share your ideas with the world! All this can be done virtually by just creating valuable videos for your viewers!
The above are just a few suggestions to follow for students during the lockdown. I assume that it can be difficult to inculcate all these habits at once. So I would advise you to pick and commence with only the ones where you will gain the most.
