The transition from being completely on campus to completely online was tough for everyone; students, professors, and other faculty and staff members have had to dramatically readjust their lives over the course of the past few months.
You may be wondering, how can I keep connected with the UMBC community while learning at home? Fear not, we have some tips for you!
Use Social Media
Social media is a wonderful tool that our generation can use to its fullest potential. Platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook allow for students to stay connected to friends, family, and the UMBC community. Some links for UMBC platforms to connect to are @UMBC, @UMBClife, @UMBCpage, and @UMBCathletics.
Email Your Professors
Your professors are here to help you. They will be more than happy to talk with you if you reach out to them. Everyone is going through this drastic change together, so they are understanding of circumstances and hardships that you may be going through. Reaching out to professors for non-class related topics may be scary, but it is worthwhile to keep that connection strong.
FaceTime Your Friends
Everyone needs someone to talk to during these trying times. One great way to stay connected to friends and family is by using video calling applications; Zoom, WebEx, Skype, and FaceTime are the most popular of the bunch. These tools are great ways to be able to hang-out “face-to-face” with the people you love most!
Social Distance, but Outside
As stay-at-home orders are being lifted in many states, people can leave their houses more and more every day. Go and meet with the people you love while following your state’s social distancing mandates. Go take a walk around the nearby lake, have a picnic at the park, or run around your neighborhood. But don’t forget your mask!
Take Advantage of Your Resources
UMBC has a number of resources for students to use while distance learning. The Learning Resource Center has some great resources in regards to being organized and learning at home. The Division of Information Technology has many resources for students (including free software downloads such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Cloud!) And the Counseling Center has multiple links to help with mental health, essential resources, among other things to help during this pandemic. These resources are all free for students to use, so why not use them?