Online college courses can be great. They give you the flexibility to do assignments whenever you please and the best part, you can stay in bed in your PJ’s and do your assignments.
However, there are a few downsides to taking an online class, especially compared to a traditional, in-person class. Below I’ve listed my top 5 Tips to Surviving and Succeeding in an Online College Course.
Print Out The Syllabus & Write Down Due Dates
The first thing you need to do when being enrolled in an online course is to print out your syllabus and write down all your due dates on an agenda or calendar. I’ve used my fair share of planners from everything from Erin Condren to my iPhone Calendar. I personally have been using the Day Designer Planners available at both Target and Amazon for years now. They’re about half the price as Erin Condren, (starting price is just $12.99!) and I feel like it gives me more than enough space to write down any assignments, To-Dos, important dates in an organized fashion.
What’s also great about these planners is that it has separate sections for your schedule which are written out hourly, Today’s Top Three, Notes, To-Dos, and other sections.
Especially when it comes to college classes, using the schedule to plan out everything by the hour, allows you to schedule in breaks, workouts, free time, just like you would have in an in-person college class.
Staying organized in general in college is important, but in an online class, it’s extremely important to make sure you stay organized.
For more tips and tricks for staying organized in college, check out my post about How to Stay Organized in College by clicking the link here.
When you’re not constantly attending a class in-person, it’s really easy to completely forget about the class, assignments, and projects you have due as you normally don’t have your professor or classmates mentioning it during class. Having everything written down in your planner will allow you to visually see due dates, big projects, plan your semester ahead of time, and essentially, make your own schedule.
Read
I’m not going to lie and say that I’ve always done all my readings in college, BUT I can honestly say, especially when it comes to online courses, I have done significantly better if I did the assigned readings. Since with online courses, you don’t have the in-class aspect with lectures, explanations of key terms, and immediate responses to questions about the material, it’s important to do the readings and truly understand the concepts explained in the text. Without understanding the material, there’s no way you can complete the assignments or pass the quizzes. Also, most of the material for quizzes and assignments are based solely on the reading material since you don’t have that class discussion aspect.
Connect With Your Professor
It’s so easy to be almost anonymous with an online course.
I highly recommend, however, reaching out to your professor, especially if you have any questions. A lot of professors for the online course especially, are on their emails all the time and will respond back almost immediately since they’re the classroom is based online. So, if I have a question about a paper, project, or other assignments, I always email my professor to clarify my concerns. If you have something come up and you’re unable to meet a deadline, having some sort of relationship with your professor prior before this problem arises, will make them more likely to be lenient with extending the deadline.
Do Assignments Ahead of Time
As I mentioned, online classes are great because you can do the assignments whenever it fits your schedule. However, I found that doing the assignments ahead of time works best for me. Most assignments for online courses I’ve taken in the past would be due either on Friday or Sunday, both days that I don’t really want to be doing homework. Doing the assignments earlier in the week ensures not only that it gets done, but it gives me more time to work on it and therefore, do a better job as opposed to quickly trying to finish it before heading out on a Friday night.
Another problem that can occur when doing assignments last-minute is technical errors. Your WiFi might cut out, your computer crash, or the overall website might be down for a few hours. Making sure the assignment is done ahead of time will ensure that you won’t have to miss any deadlines due to technical difficulties.
Choose Your Online Courses Wisely
My last tip is to choose your online courses wisely. By that, I mean that if a course is critical to your major and making you graduate, I wouldn’t necessarily take the course online. I know right now some colleges are doing mandatory online classes, but if you can, hold off on taking really important classes until you can do them in person.
Also, if you know a course is a difficult class, I would recommend taking that course in person instead. Classes that have a huge influence on you graduating on time or courses that you know are difficult, in my opinion, better if you take them in person.
Online courses are great for flexibility and basic courses, but for more difficult courses, having that one-on-one interaction with students and a professor is so vital to succeeding.
I hope you found these tips helpful when it comes to surviving and succeeding in online courses. What are your tips for surviving online courses? Let me know in the comments down below!
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For more inspiration on how to do well this school year, I have a variety of other blog posts all about staying motivated, working remotely, and succeeding in college.
