APU Careers & Learning Editor's Pick Online Learning

Bring ‘Play’ Into Your Classwork to Trigger Your Learning Motivation

By J. Stasiw
Online Learning Tips Editor

There’s a reason why preschools approach learning in fun ways. Children respond best to tactile play. Can you imagine a bunch of preschoolers stuck in school desks with pencil and paper with a time limit and a book to flip through? Where’s the playfulness in that teaching approach? Instead, preschools incorporate touch, smell, sounds and other exploratory methods to teach children about new things. Why wouldn’t you do the same in college?

“Playing” with your classwork shouldn’t end when recess does. There should always be an element of play to what you’re learning. Your definition of fun will change as you age, but that doesn’t mean that learning can’t be considered a fun activity. Find ways to incorporate “play” into your program discovery.

Don’t let yourself get burned out on the information you’re taking in for class. Yes, some of the content in your textbooks may be dull or hard to read, but giving up won’t help and getting frustrated can trigger your procrastination. Instead, try changing how you approach the reading or assignment.

If you have kids, do you find new and interesting ways to teach them things? If so, figure out a way to carry that over into your discussion posts, reading assignments and even your papers for class.

Kids get bored easily if they don’t understand something or it doesn’t catch their attention. Put yourself in their shoes and you may have a better chance of taking in the new information faster.

Instead of highlighting text in your book, take a minute to grab a few of the key concepts in that chapter. Make a story using them or create a few doodles that depict the information. You may be able to turn that story or artwork into study tools for test time. Or if you want to try a more adult alternative to keeping information interesting, try adding humor to the text in a way that’s relevant to the material.

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