Smart Study Hacks: How to Combine Modern Technology with Old-School Focus for Students

Education has always been challenging and demanding. Students who were lucky enough to get to a prestigious college or university typically faced lots of classes, homework and team projects. The traditional, old-school manner of studying involved losing track of time while diving into research long past midnight over essays.

The modern educational landscape is much more flexible and versatile, with many options available to students. You can order coursework online, utilize a variety of automation tools, or stick to the old-school techniques that work best for you. An even more advanced approach is to combine several approaches and develop a more personalized study strategy for success. If you’re not sure how to do this, here is a handy guide on mixing tech tools and traditional study hacks.

Pomodoro Technique (The Old and New Way)

There’s hardly anyone who has never heard about the Pomodoro technique – the lifesaver of students who tend to study for hours and feel exhausted and demotivated at the end. Pomodoro offers a different approach to managing your study and rest time; it presupposes working in focused intervals of 25-30 minutes and taking a 5-minute break after each cycle. When you’re writing coursework, take a longer break of 15-30 minutes after four cycles. This way, learners leverage their natural attention spans and avoid burnout that typically happens after lengthy studies.

Modern tech for the Pomodoro technique. Modern technologies have enabled the use of the Pomodoro approach in a way that goes beyond a regular timer. Many apps were created to offer a user-friendly, visually appealing Pomodoro timer with customizable time chunks and alerts. Wearables can be synced with these timers to give a student timely notifications and feedback. The data about Pomodoro technique use may be accumulated in the user’s smartphone, with data-driven analytical reports produced based on the user’s study patterns and productivity observations.

The future of tech-enabled Pomodoro technique use is as follows:

• Gamification. Apps gamify the use of the Pomodoro technique by awarding users with tokens or badges. For example, Forest visualizes an uninterrupted study session with growing a virtual tree, which is synchronized with real-life plant growing initiatives. Thus, you can actually have fun when composing coursework online or conducting research.
• AI-powered configuration. AI tools analyze the user’s behavior and produce data-backed reports and personalization suggestions matching individual preferences, personality types, and learning styles.
• Cross-device synchronization. By synchronizing several devices, learners can block their study time at home and on the go, having a single tracking system.

Study Space Arrangements

Tons of books, expert guides, and scholarly studies have been written on the importance of a well-designed, distraction-free space. Indeed, it’s hard to exaggerate the significance of physical space in boosting a student’s productivity or, vice versa, killing the focus. Thus, typical tips for organizing a space conducive to study and focus include:

• Convenient, ergonomic chair and desk.
• Clutter-free space with an orderly arrangement of office supplies.
• Bright and comfortable lighting.
• A quiet atmosphere without noisy distractions.

Modern tech for study space arrangements. So, how can the study space ritual be enhanced using modern technology? There are plenty of devices that can transform your study space and let you work on your coursework for hours without fatigue. Try the following to make your available space an ideal spot for creative progress and inspiration:

• Use smart lighting. Smart bulbs can adjust lighting to cool tone during your study sessions, which is known for focus enhancement.
• Apply noise control. Noise-canceling headphones are the new normal of non-distracted, concentrated studies even in crowded public places.
• Experiment with IoT systems. You can set up an IoT ecosystem on your premises to control the laptop, lamps, and other devices.

Besides, technology doesn’t stagnate on one stage and offers many innovative tools for taking the most out of your study space fine-tuning efforts. Hi-tech options to consider are as follows:

• Virtual study spaces. If you tend to procrastinate or simply study better in groups, there’s no need to travel to distant places to enjoy a collaborative work session. You can join virtual study groups on platforms like StudyStream and enjoy a teamwork atmosphere that may boost your progress compared to lone study sessions.
• Data-driven optimization suggestions. IoT systems and smart home setups can track environmental factors and suggest the most optimal time chunks for your productive studies.
• AI tools for environmental adjustments. AI-driven personalization is breaking new frontiers every day. Thus, you may enjoy new heights of data-driven adjustments by training your AI tools to turn on ambient sounds, reduce the temperature in your climate control system, etc.

Note-Taking and Flashcards

Note-taking has always been at the heart of the academic process. Students take notes of their lectures and reading sessions to pinpoint the vital information they will need when writing coursework and for exams. Flashcards are also an old-school revision method that allows learners to improve academic retention via spaced repetition.

Modern tech for notes and flashcards. Though hand-written notes are the most effective study method because of the active engagement of the brain in memorization, many tech advancements can be used to transform the process. First, students may use digital notes and combine them with hand-written notes in apps like Notability or GoodNotes. There are also many flashcard apps (e.g., Quizlet or Anki) that make the process of flashcard design easy and enjoyable. You can turn to digital tools to convert your handwritten notes and make data more organized and searchable.

Innovative tools for note-taking and memorization are also developed to take these aspects of the study process one step further, including:

• AI-powered flashcard design. AI assistants are smart and relatively autonomous, so they can enhance your notes by suggesting data addition or filling in the gaps in your records. AI systems can also analyze a student’s performance and spot areas for improvement.
• Augmented reality. AR tools are increasingly popular in the study space today, with students projecting their flashcards onto physical surfaces for an interactive memorization experience.

As you can see, there are tons of ways to make your studies more tech-powered and smart. The rise of technology doesn’t mean that you should drop old-school study methods that work well for you. It only means that you can blend the old and the new tools to develop a custom-tailored study method for stellar performance.