[Linada]

I am in a similar position as you. Home dweller, online education.

I use Omnifocus for everything, so I will try to keep what I do focused on the education part.
Also, I use OF mostly on the iPad. It works out that way for my general workflow:
I read textbooks on the iPad, annotate and the process the reading, as well as do my assignment writing etc, in Scrivener. So I am either on the iPad anyway, or using Scrivener full screen, so an extra screen with OF is quite nice to have.

The way my university works is that you take modules, which are counted towards your degree. The admin setup is fairly independent of everything, so I have 1 project for my degree, and 1 project each for the modules.

The module projects hold tasks related to registration, assignments, reading, practice problems, and results. We have a study calendar on the website, which has recommended dates for what to do when, I use those for deadlines. I also write these as FYIs on the calendar. So i will have a task that says: reach chapter 6.2 in the reading plan.
Assignments get a task each, with sub tasks for the steps required. Depending how hard a time I have with an assignment, they can get quite granular. eg. Look up formula for x. Or they can be quite chunky: draft answer for question 2a).

The degree project is a catch all for anything not related to a specific module yet. Learner's advice, researching which module to take next, reviewing the restructuring of the degree, etc.

Contexts tend to be focus versions of my normal contexts: eg iPadFocus.
I'd be hesitant to think of contexts as categories of activity. They add an unnecessary layer of 'what task next'. If you sit down in front of your computer, you want a list of all the tasks you can do. If you then start a program, you might want to focus on all the tasks you can do in that program. Or all the tasks you can do if your brain is toast (hence my focus suffix).

Also, to start with you could forget about contexts all together and work out of the no context category. If you then find yourself thinking: I can't do this because I am lacking x, you can set up x as a context.

Also, I'd recommend the OF/GTD whitepaper (linked in the top thread on the forum). I think it's a rather good overview of both, and it might help you see a) what's possibly in OF, and b) how the tool and the method fit together.

Generally I'd say best practice is to figure out the problem you're trying to solve first (eg how can i remember to ask my tutor about this obscure problem when I am next on the phone with him) rather then looking at the tool and wondering how you can use it.


I hope that all makes sense. It's sunday and I have woken up way too early, and my brain is still asleep.