For some, mulitasking inhibits them from completing one task entirely. It can also make learning less effective. According to a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, participants lost significant amounts of time as they switched between mulitple tasks and lost even more time as the tasks became increasingly complex. This study revealed that if a student switches from one activity to another they will learn more slowly and become less efficient and make more errors.

To avoid the dangers of multitasking, shut down the e-mail, social networking sites and Internet games to focus your attention on the task in front of you and continue to work for a predetermined amount of time.

(source: About.com)

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There will be times when you’ll find yourself at a mental roadblock, stuck on how to complete an assignment. Often, the best thing to do in those situations is to take a step back and stop working on it for a while.  Take cues from your body to determine break time. 

• Are your ideas getting stale?
• Is your mind wondering a lot?
• Are you feeling restless?

Think about your assignment off and on, in a relaxed way, while you’re doing something relaxing, like taking a walk. Sometimes your “background processing” may be much more creative than your “foreground processing.” In fact, there is research that taking a break to walk through nature significantly improved cognitive thinking skills.

 - Online Learning Tips Staff

Reading doesn’t have to be a drab process that is something you dread. Turn it into something constructive, and put your reading comprehension to the test. Critical thinking concepts are great to use for difficult research assignments, classwork reading that is heavy with formulas and probabilities, as well as heavy texts weighted from topics like philosophy, chemistry, and possibly engineering.

By annotating the text, then previewing it, contextualizing, questioning, reflecting, outlining and summarizing, evaluating the argument, and comparing and contrasting related readings you are able to get the most from your assignment. This will not only help you understand the topic better, but it will aid you in forming your own opinions on the subject and better equip you for future assignments and classes.

 - Online Learning Tips Staff

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Even if you’re not a genius, you can use the same strategies as Aristotle and Einstein to harness the power of your creative mind and better manage your future.

The following strategies encourage you to think productively, rather than reproductively, in order to arrive at solutions to problems. These strategies are common to the thinking styles of creative geniuses in science, art, and industry throughout history.

Nine approaches to creative problem solving:

• Rethink – look at problems in many different ways
• Visualize – utilize diagrams and imagery to analyze your dilemma
• Produce – genius is productive
• Combine – make novel combinations
• Form – Form relationships
• Opposite! Think in opposites
• Metaphor/simile! Think metaphorically
• Failure – learning from your mistakes is one example of using failure
• Patience – don’t confuse inspiration with ideas

(source: Study Guides and Strategies)

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