Parnia Mazhar, Communications Writing Fellow
@ParniaMazhar

The lives of students have rapidly changed amidst the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19 disease. Professors are conducting classes remotely, jobs and internships have altered their expectations and in some cases are gone altogether. Many students were forced to leave campus and move back home. During these uncertain times, we want to make sure students are aware of all the tools available to them to learn and be prepared for a successful future.

Michigan Online contains more than 180 learning experiences and is available free to University of Michigan students, faculty, staff and alumni. For students, it is a place to take courses, participate in Teach-Outs, and earn degrees all from the comfort of their own homes. Especially during these difficult times, it is a great way for students to broaden their knowledge, complement current coursework and be engaged in learning and discussions focused on important topics. Here are 15 online resources students (and others) can rely on to navigate life and gain a better understanding of the world.

Understanding Our World

Earth Day at 50 will be celebrated April 22, and in anticipation, Michigan Online will launch a Teach-Out April 6. In the meantime, there are many previous Teach-Outs that help students and others understand the world we are all living in and the challenges we face.

1. Earth Day at 50 Teach-Out will engage you with multiple perspectives in an intergenerational and interdisciplinary conversation about what sustainability means, and help inspire you to take action on Earth Day and beyond.
2. Sustainable Food Teach-Out explores the complexities of the food system and how we can, individually and collectively, create food habits that reduce our impact on climate change.
3. Act on Climate: Steps to Individual, Community, and Political Action is a seven-week course created by students and identifies actions you can engage in to effectively address and respond to climate change.

Getting More Sleep

Coronavirus has disrupted our daily lives and daily routines. With that disruption and the associated anxiety of balancing school, economic and health worries, our sleep patterns also suffer.

Good sleep is critical to good health and the single best predictor of daytime performance is the quality of the previous night’s sleep. These courses and Teach-Outs can support your mental and physical health during these uncertain times.

1. Sleep Deprivation: Habits, Solutions, and Strategies Teach-Out teaches you how sleep works, why it is important, ways to improve your sleep, and how to build healthy sleep habits.
2. Sleep: Neurobiology, Medicine, and Society course teaches you the most up-to-date information on the biological, personal, and societal relevance of sleep, the neurobiological basis of sleep control and the relevance of sleep for preventive medicine.

Classroom Success

We are all adapting to our new virtual learning environment, but Michigan Online and the Center for Academic Innovation has tools that can help you achieve success in the classroom.

1. Statistics with Python is a three-course series to help you understand or prepare for STATS 250 coursework by teaching you how to conduct statistical analysis using the Python programming language.
2. Advanced Literature Searching in the Health Sciences helps you complete your research projects in the health sciences by teaching you components of effective searchings and best practices to efficiently report the search process.
3. Pre-med students might want to enroll in the Anatomy four-course series to complement your human anatomy studies. Using highly visual multimedia of accurate anatomical models and materials, you will learn about the following systems: integumentary, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory, urinary, nervous, gastrointestinal, reproductive, and endocrine.

BONUS: Learn how to adjust your study habits during COVID-19 with this helpful student study guide that emphasizes staying organized, avoiding multitasking, making the most of your video lectures and how to connect to others.

BONUS: For students feeling unmotivated, the behavioral science team has five ideas on how to find (at least some) motivation.

Career Success

You might be stuck inside today, but you are still working to achieve your career goals and Michigan Online provides courses that help you land your next job and be successful once you start on your career path. Success is earned day-by-day through small wins – small, achievable actions that together can help you achieve your goals sooner and exceed even your own expectations.

With these online courses, you will learn the science of success, how to successfully negotiate for what you deserve, and successful decision-making.

1. The Science of Success: What Researchers Know that You Should Know teaches you how to get better results at work (and school), achieve career success, however you define that success, and enjoy a meaningful, happy, and healthy life.
2. Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills teaches you the four steps of a successful negotiation: prepare, negotiate, close, and perform and evaluate.
3. Making Successful Decisions through the Strategy, Law & Ethics Model introduces you to a framework for leadership decisions, teaches you how to create value and manage risks in a responsible manner, and instructs you in how to create contracts to achieve business goals.

Understanding Health in the Midst of COVID-19

We are all inundated with news and information about the coronavirus and COVID-19.

We are either searching it out or we are seeing information shared by family and friends. Some of that information is more reliable than others, and it’s important we can separate fact from fiction. It’s also important we know how to communicate with others in clear and compelling ways to help broaden the understanding of the current coronavirus and the importance of social distancing, testing, and more.

1. Vaccines: Myths, Facts, and Outbreaks Teach-Out will help you better understand the considerations for developing a vaccine.
2. Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age helps you understand and manage the deluge of news and information surrounding coronavirus by teaching you basic concepts of statistics, probability, scientific methodology, cognitive psychology, and cost-benefit theory.
3. Fake News, Facts, and Alternative Facts Teach-Out helps you better understand how to distinguish credible information from “fake news” and provides you with tools you can use to tell fact from fiction.
4. Storytelling for Social Change is for anyone who wants to effectively tell an impactful story whether you want to be a writer, social activist, educator, or in business.