How To Be A Successful Online Student

By Jenna Troidl on February 3, 2014

Photo via http://digitalcowboys.com

In this wonderful digital age of emerging technologies, it is no surprise that 21st century learning has evolved from traditional classroom settings to online, virtual environments. I believe this educational format benefits individuals, like myself, with full-time jobs, families and other obligations because it allows you to work independently on your own time.

However, this type of environment can also create some issues if you do not properly manage your time. Of course, this can be said about in-person classes as well, but I feel that it is easier to become disorganized in the online environment because it is easier to juggle more classes online than it is in traditional classrooms.

Here are some tips that will help you become a successful online student.

1. Organize your weekly assignments.

I use the My Homework student planner app on my iPhone to fulfill this task. However, you can also download it on your computer (Windows 8), iPad, Kindle, Android, or create a log-in to access it on the web.  I would suggest creating an account because it makes the app more accessible by syncing with your other devices. Another perk of having an account is the Reminder feature, which is a pop-up box that reminds you of an assignment due date approaching.

Photo via https://myhomeworkapp.com/

At the beginning of every week, input your homework assignments for each class along with the due dates. This app allows you to access your assignment information from four different categories: All, Class, Priority and Type.

Photo via https://myhomeworkapp.com/

After you complete each assignment, touch the assignment on the screen and drag it to the right. This action will cross the assignment out, indicating that you have completed it.

2. Do readings and conference/discussion posts during the week.

A majority of us online students work during the week and that is why we enjoy the convenience of online learning. But lets face it–do we really feel like doing homework after a long day of work? Find a way to alternate between reading and student posts during the week so you are not completely overwhelmed and inundated with work on the weekend.

For example, I usually had about four classes at a time so I would do the readings for two classes on Monday, do the main posts for those classes on Tuesday, do the readings for the other two classes on Wednesday, do those main posts on Thursday, and do my responses to other students’ posts on Friday. A bit obsessive-compulsive, much? Well, at least it was effective.

3. Do main homework assignments on the weekends.

Since you completed all of your reading/student posts during the week, you have two full days to complete your major homework assignments if you work Monday through Friday like I do. It is hard to work all day on a paper so make sure to take little breaks here and there in order to reset. (Hooray for Reddit!)

If you start to feel the madness from the cabin fever creep up on you after a few hours of working, take a breather and go sit outside. If you have a laptop, sit and do your work outside or bring your laptop to a Starbucks and pretend that you are an author writing your next masterpiece. It is fun to look important!

4. SAVE EVERY CLASS DOCUMENT AND TEXTBOOK!

This is the last and most essential piece of advice that I can offer. What I mean by class document is every conference/discussion post, assignment, paper, lecture, syllabus, reading PDF/doc, important email, etc. Although it seems silly to save a syllabus or lecture, it will come in handy in your capstone course for your major. I learned this the hard way.

For example, in order to fulfill the requirements for my English degree in my capstone course, I had to create a 78-page portfolio containing a collection of English coursework papers I completed throughout my program. One of the papers required peer review notes from a previous class. I had a peer review assignment in one of my previous classes but did not think it was necessary to save the document containing the notes from the student reviewing my paper. After spending a week freaking out and trying to find someone to review my paper, I finally enlisted the help of a tutor at my school’s writing center and my professor said her notes would suffice. Whew! Dodged a bullet on that one!

So to keep from having a complete meltdown like I did, create separate folders for each class on your desktop in order to organize your documents.

Then save each folder to a Google drive once the semester is over. If you don’t have a Google drive, I would suggest downloading one because it frees up so much room on your computer by storing your documents in a cloud.

As for textbooks, I know it is tempting to sell them back and make some extra cash, but it will really help you out in the future if you keep them. They definitely will help for your final projects in your capstone courses, but they will also benefit you while you are looking for a job in your field.

Example, I have been applying to technical writing jobs so I’ve been reading and making notes in my Advanced Technical Writing textbook. That way if I nail an interview, it will appear like I know what I am talking about. Because knowledge is power!

I hope these tips were helpful to online students! If not … well … sorry about that!

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