‘I probably now have a collection of maybe 60 dogs. Some are at the computer. Some are reading,’ the professor revealed.

The start of a new semester of school always brings with it a never-ending list of things to remember. From a barrage of new names to important assignment dates and other tedious details—it’s a challenge for both students and professors. This was what prompted Dr. Marie-Amélie George to come up with an adorable hack to help remember her students’ names. She asked them to send photos of their pets doing homework. “Well, when we start at the beginning of the semester, I tell them what the class is going to be about. And then I tell them a little bit about me,” she told Good Morning America about how it all started.

“Since I’m standing in front of them, they don’t really need a photograph of me on the side deck, so I put pictures of my really adorable dog. His name is Henry. He is a Schnauzer-Poodle mix. Empirical studies would show that he is the best dog. One of the students sent me pictures of her dog doing the reading that we are assigned for that week. So, I included that in the slides and students were really into it,” George continued. “I probably now have a collection of maybe 60 dogs. Some are at the computer. Some are reading… I do see—slightly fewer—but some cats, and I have a great picture of a hermit crab who is studying hard as well.”

Dr. George’s collection grew exponentially back in 2020 when she shared her lighthearted assignment on Twitter. What seemed like the entire internet jumped at the challenge and started sharing awww-dorable snaps of their pets “working” or “studying.” Here are some of our favorites: