The Mabee library is encouraging students at Washburn to use its Study Buddies feature on the Navigate app for greater collaboration between students in their classes.

Study Buddies is a tool for students to use as to connect with their peers and form groups dedicated to specific classes across the university. Through the app, students can take initiative to find new friends in their courses and achieve greater success together.

While Study Buddies is not a new tool at Washburn, as it received a soft launch earlier this spring, it may be needed now more than ever. With a vaccine for COVID-19 still out of reach and traditional in-person classes largely restricted, it is difficult for students to form groups in their classes to study with.

“Sometimes you come across students who maybe have a harder time asking for help or maybe are a little more reserved and don’t like to talk as much,” said Christina Foreman, Student Success Evaluation and Retention Specialist. “So I think this is a great resource for all of our students. It takes away the anxiety of going up to someone and being like hey, do you want to form a study group with me? So yes I think it takes some of the anxiety away from that.”

Study Buddies provides a solution to this issue by allowing students to find their classmates and form groups online where they can chat, set up Zoom sessions, set up a study schedule, share resources, take notes together and more.

“I think it’s key that we work to develop ways for our students to have connections to their peers,” said James Barraclough, Director of Undergraduate Initiatives. “This is an academically based connection to their peers, I think it makes a lot of sense for students to engage this way as they get the person-to-person and it also helps them succeed academically if they’re meeting for the purpose of a study group.”

Staying connected during the pandemic is a way to remain motivated to succeed. Studying with friends is more beneficial to studying alone, according to Washburn University. Students can choose to study with one other person or in a group scenario and control who is accepted into the group. However, the tool is most effective if those in the group put in the time and effort necessary for their prosperity.

Blythe Landon, a junior business marketing major, was one of the first to use Study Buddies. Landon recently released a video in association with the library to help explain how students can use the tool.

“From my own experience with it it’s been really helpful, especially since everybody is struggling to make connections on campus, make friends, find people to study with, study socially distanced, etc.,” said Landon. “I think it’s a really good way for people to get names, numbers, contacts and that kind of thing just with how complex everything has been.”

Making connections that can last through a students’ career at Washburn is yet another great feature of the tool that can be exploited.

“I would definitely recommend it to any student who is in a class and wants to meet people or even just have somebody extra to study with,” said Landon.

To access Study Buddies, log in to the Navigate app and select the correct option on the home page. Find the class that you are having trouble with and a list of your classmates will appear. After that, it is a simple matter of sending an email out to those you wish to form a group with and soon you will have some study buddies.

For more information about how Study Buddies works, check out this link: https://washburn.edu/academics/center-student-success/student-success-collaborative/navigate-student.html.

Edited by Jason M., Joelle Conway