College During COVID-19

Kinesthetic learners are most productive when they can use their sense of touch and move around.

• Get creative with your notes. Use a pen. Use a pencil. Use a highlighter. Underline important vocabulary or concepts while you read. Highlight and color code passages that connect to one another. By incorporating tiny unique movements or some kind of extra action into your note taking, you are allowing yourself to maximize your learning potential. Any extra motion kinesthetic learners can use in their coursework will help them comprehend the content.
• Stand up instead of sitting down. As a kinesthetic learner, standing up actually improves your comprehension and retention. When you stand up, your body is more engaged and connected to the learning process. Plus, you may be able to concentrate for longer periods of time and remember more of what you read.
• Combine your study session with exercise. Instead of plopping on the sofa with your notes, get up and do burpees or jumping jacks in between chapters. Ask a friend or family members to quiz you on your study guide while you shoot hoops or jump rope. Combining activity keeps you energized and cements the ideas you’re studying in your brain. Plus, as a kinesthetic learner, you need a physical outlet for your excess energy, even when you have to study.
• Utilize Small Movements. It’s usually not possible to stand up and do jumping jacks during a live class, but you can still use kinesthetic study strategies to keep yourself engaged. Bounce a ball against the floor and catch it when you answer a question. Twist a rubber band around your wrist or tap a pencil while you read. Even if the motions are small, they’ll help you stay focused and receptive to the course content.
• Take a break and walk around. If it just gets to be too much to pay attention, take a short break and walk around the room. As a kinesthetic learner, it can be hard to sit still and stay focused on a topic, especially long reading assignments or videos. Be sure to give yourself time to move around and clear your head, so you can come back to the material feeling fresh.
• Try tension and relaxation. If it is simply not possible to move around during a class, use this tension and relaxation technique to stay focused. Take five to ten second intervals to tighten a particular muscle. Then relax when the seconds have passed. Repeat several times with different muscle groups throughout your body. This helps to release unwanted tension, which is something kinesthetic learners often experience during idle times.

Auditory learners do their best when information is presented in a spoken language format.

• Record lectures to review at a later time. Auditory learners can be easily distracted by other noises going on around them, which makes it difficult to learn in busy settings. Especially if you’re not in a quiet space, listening to lectures can be overwhelming. As an auditory learner, you should record the class so you can review later with less distractions.
• Participate in course discussions. Talking about your ideas and voicing your questions will increase your understanding of the material. As an auditory learner, hearing your thoughts out loud helps you process them more effectively.
• Repeat facts with your eyes closed. This technique helps auditory learners focus their attention on the auditory process, rather than any other visual stimuli that might be distracting on your desk or in the room.
• Read assignments out loud. If you’re given a homework assignment that involves reading a lengthy chapter, don’t feel trapped by a silent reading session. Instead, find a study space and read out loud to yourself.
• Record yourself reading key points out loud. Once you have a spoken version of important items you need to learn, take the time to listen to the recording — as you walk to class, exercise, get ready for bed — so it can stick in your mind when you need to recall it later.

Join a virtual study group or find a study buddy. Give yourself the opportunity to hear other perspectives of the class content. By listening to other voices, you may find a perspective that resonates with you or a new way of considering the content that you had not previously thought of.

Visual learners learn best when the content is presented in a written format or in another visual format such as pictures or diagrams.

• Ask for a demonstration. Visual learners do best when they see how something is done. Whenever possible, ask your instructor for a visual demonstration. Once you see the concept or principle in action, you’ll have an easier time understanding it and recalling it later.
• Request handouts or copies of powerpoints covered in class. Before class begins, ask the teacher if there is a physical copy of the content you can review during the lecture. These materials will help you keep track of the information being presented in the lecture.
• Don’t forget to incorporate white space. White space is important for visual learners. When too much information is crammed together on a page, it becomes difficult to read. Think of this as an organizational tool like any other and use it to separate information in your notes.
• Draw symbols and pictures. Throughout your notes, use symbols to note important items — exclamation points for important information, question marks for information that’s confusing or that you need to study further, stars for information you understand fully. These notations help visual learners better analyze and recall the content. In addition, consider illustrating complex concepts or processes in a graphically pleasing way that you’ll remember later.
• Create flashcards. Using flashcards can help visual learners remember key phrases and vocabulary. Create a set of flashcards to review as a visual cue later on.

Format your notes and study materials in a way that is visually pleasing to your brain. If the information you are learning could be better organized as a graph or chart, take the time to make one. Alternatively, create outlines for textbook chapters as you read. Seeing information in a structured format helps visual learners remember it better.