Student Ambassador Insights: In Conversation with Nils Lenoch

Parveen sat down with Nils Lenoch, a McGraw Hill Student Ambassador, to discuss his distance learning experience from his home in Germany. He described his experience during the Spring 2020 lockdown; the challenges he faced, how he overcame them and how he grew stronger from them. Nils also explains actionable methods on how he kept himself motivated and sane while using different ways and tools to finish his studies in the best way possible. 

PB: What was your first thought when you heard you had to learn and study remotely?

NL: I was excited because I could save more time, have more responsibility to plan my day on my own and handle everything myself. Don’t get me wrong, I like to be in school with my peers and I think one can communicate better in person than online, but I like to be independent too and I thought that I would learn much more if I can plan my day myself.

PB: So how did you manage during lockdown?

NL: I like to learn by myself and I feel more productive as I cannot get distracted by anyone. As a result, I studied quite well at home. I had planned to go on a retreat to a Buddhist Monastery in Norway at that time anyway, so I just decided to do the retreat at home. It felt like I did not leave my room for weeks at all. As I have experienced going to retreats before, I didn’t really notice the lockdown. I believe I did quite well. I also did a lot of sports and picked up a new skill; learning how to code web applications.

PB: How were your days set up? Did you have online classes/sessions?

NL: I got up around 6am, meditated for 30 minutes, did my morning sports for around an hour, and started the online class at 8am. If the classes started at noon, I went for a swim in the sea for around 30 minutes.

The online classes were via Zoom and there wasn’t much engagement. It felt like just a few people attended class and only some had their cameras on. I guess a lot of people were struggling with the situation. Throughout the semester, some of my teachers tried their best to enhance engagement as they also had to adjust to the situation. 

"They used breakout rooms and we were encouraged to hold our own meetings as we had case-based group work. That was much better."

NL: Class was spent on project work. The project was in collaboration with McGraw Hill and two other universities from Faroe Island and Austria. We did a research project about how COVID-19 affected students and we gathered data that McGraw Hill could use to provide solutions and improve their products. Therefore, we got access to SmartBook from a research perspective to learn more about the product.

So we didn’t use Smartbook tools at that time. Instead, we used it for independent study. Everyone had access and we read the chapters alone and then used the knowledge from the project to implement it.

PB: How did you communicate with your instructors and peers? How did you find it?

NL: We communicated mainly over email or in the online classes over Zoom. In the online environment it was different and a bit awkward as attendance was low and most didn’t say a word. 

Turning negatives into positives...

"Having said that, it meant that I had my very own private sessions with my teacher, which I really liked."

PB: How were your productivity levels? How did you motivate yourself and manage distractions?

NL: My productivity increased as I wasn’t distracted as much from others or events that were happening as there were none. I believe I am not very distractable as I love to learn and I keep myself balanced with a daily routine of sports and meditation. That’s also where my motivation came from. I believe if one doesn’t do anything for themselves and doesn’t know the reason why one does something it’s hard to motivate. I like people like Simon Sinek who wrote the book Start with Why or Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search For Meaning. These books resonated with me and I believe I learned a lot from them.

PB: How did McGraw Hill product(s) support you in your remote learning? Please name the product(s) and explain in some detail how you used it/them.

NL: McGraw Hill’s Smartbook 2.0 supported me in the way that I could test my knowledge through the questions tool. While in class I had to figure out if I really understood or could just work around a specific question. The marking tool combined with the summary tool allowed me to gather feedback based on my performance using the questions tool. 

"I could see immediately where the information was written, and I could therefore improve my summary accordingly. This helped me get even better grades and check if I missed some relevant information that I had overlooked."

PB: What was the best part about using SmartBook while learning at home? What was the main difference between SmartBook in the classroom with your teacher/peers, and at home by yourself?

NL: The question tool! One could check one’s knowledge which was not that possible in class.

PB: Maintaining your mental health during this time and beyond is vital. How did you keep calm during this time? Did you practice any mindfulness methods that helped you maintain your mental health?

NL: The first thing I did in the morning was meditation for 30 minutes daily. I have been doing that for over 2 years now and it helps me a lot to stay more focused, more happy, and more balanced overall. I simply sit straight on my bed, with my feet flat on the ground and breathe deeply through the nose, in and out, following the natural rhythm and observing it. It’s that simple, everyone can do it, one just has to do it. This Ted Talk can help you get started.

PB: Universities have returned to campus, and we hope to see a full return soon, but the option of remote learning will likely be there as a back-up plan. Do you have any advice for those students who may find themselves learning at home at some point in their university education?

NL: A routine and learning schedule with pre-set times allocated for studying is important as otherwise one might go through the day without doing the work one should have done. 

"So, make yourself a study plan, have daily routines, set yourself time frames in which you will study, when, where and what."

NL: To structure one’s workplace is essential to keep focused, simply build a stack of all the papers, or put them away, that way they are tidied up and you can focus on the important tasks.

Taking breaks is necessary too. If you cannot concentrate or focus anymore, do some sports, go for a walk, or simply relax. With that I do not mean to check your phone or social media, instead listen to calming music or meditate, close your eyes, and just breathe deeply for 10 minutes. After that you can continue and feel more focused and renewed. 

PB: Were there times in your remote learning experience that you really wanted to return to campus? If yes, how did you work through this and stay focused while at home?

NL: Yes, at times I wanted to have face-to-face contact with my teacher as I prefer real-life meetings over digital ones. It just feels more flowing than online. Besides from that, the collaboration with my team was pretty good and sharing one’s screen to show the others about something was a very useful tool.

"I’m a pretty rational and logical person. For me, I looked at the situation and realised that putting myself down about something that I cannot change anyway would be just a waste of energy."

NL: There is a nice short video of a monk, who explains it in that way. He says:

Do you have a problem? Yes! Can you do something about it? Yes! Then why worry? 

Do you have a problem? Yes! Can you do something about it? No! Then why worry? 

Do you have a problem? No! Then why worry

Implementing a routine of sports, meditation and mindfulness got me through that phase.

PB: Finally, to end on a note of positivity, what does the future hold for you?

NL: I’m going to continue in a different area of expertise, throughout the lockdowns I got hooked by coding and got accepted at a Coding School. 

Would you like to learn more about Nils' learning experience or gain some valuable student advice?
Click here to contact him directly.

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