One major takeaway from this term’s work that I plan to apply to my daily practice as a student is to work effectively as an at home employee. Because of Covid-19, DREAM Lab employees, as well as everyone else in the world who had the luxury, were all forced to change our daily routines to ones that kept us confined to working in our own spaces. We had to learn how to interact with one another through different forms of communication, like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, that originally many of us had limited experience with. Before the pandemic, I had not even heard of Zoom and had just barely used Microsoft Teams in my work at the DREAM Lab. Now, I feel well-versed in each, which will be helpful for the future when I have to conduct more collaborations with fellow students, professors, or colleagues that I may not be able to interact with in person.

While working at home, I began to face challenges with maintaining productivity (or even just feeling productive). Working in an actual workplace is helpful in that the environment is built to motivate you to stay on task and stay productive with whatever you are being paid to do. A home environment is the complete opposite. Typically, a home environment is meant to be the place you come home to after spending the day in your work environment. It is a place where sweatpants are worn periodically, Netflix is binged, and snacks are enjoyed with gusto. So how do you turn your safe space to relax and unwind into your own personal business hub? This was a big transition that I had to overcome in order to successfully perform what was expected of me as a DREAM Lab employee. To make this transition, I created my own designated workspaces within my kitchen and bedroom, regularly utilized my calendar, and attempted to wear items in my wardrobe that bore no resemblance to loungewear of any kind. It was, admittedly, a struggle at first, but after a while I was able to find a routine that worked for me. Using these skills will help as Fall Term 2020 begins and the majority of UO classes are being held remotely once again. I will be able to effectively conduct myself as a student without having to be in a classroom to do so.

Another issue that came up from working at home was trying to avoid the temptations of distraction. One thing that helped me was by limiting the amount of time I would spend using my phone, which offered the majority of my distractions. In a normal work environment, access to a personal cell phone would be totally limited, so it only made sense to try to limit it as best I could in my home work environment.

Learning how to work from home this term was pretty challenging, but the skills I learned from it will only help me with my work as a student at UO, whether it be through doing homework or taking classes at home.

Image Credit: “Workspace” by The.Passenger