We all decided to attend college for our own specific reasons. Some of us for academics, some of us for technical skills, and I’m sure, some of us for the parties. In the wake of Covid-19 sweeping across the world, many schools have made the decisions to move the rest of the semester online.
That decision is all well and good, however, not many of us have ever had experience taking a class online before, which poses a whole new set of issues. No, not because you don’t know how to use technology, but because learning online and learning in a classroom are two completely different experiences.
While I think that schools are making the best decisions that they can make in an effort to slow the spread of the virus, it leaves all of us students in a place where we need to relearn how to do the one thing we were doing okay at: learning. Lucky for you, like a few other people, I have recently taken an online class, and while the structure is a bit different with every class, the idea of learning online is still the same. Based on what I learned in my transition to online last semester for one of my classes, here are a few tips that will hopefully help make your transition online a little bit easier.
- Have a designated spot to work (and make sure it is not your bed).
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While this sounds silly, one of the things you are losing when you move online is the separation between school and home. Even when you are living on campus, you can still remove yourself from the school environment, but when you are working on your computer, going to school on your computer, and spending leisure time on your computer, it creates a space that can be chaotic and overwhelming. By sitting at a desk, table, or other location that you use only for the purpose of your schooling, by coming and going into that space day to day, it will help establish that barrier that we all need to stay sane and productive.
- Create a designated time to work on class material.
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If you are lucky enough to have asynchronous classes, take advantage of that, but not too much. Pick a time that works for you every week, and establish that time as the time where you are going to work on your online assignments. This could be daily or weekly depending on how frequently you need to get work done, but establishing that you have to do your work every Thursday at 12 pm can be beneficial in helping you succeed in your online class. Procrastination will be your worst enemy if you let it.
- Set up alerts, so you don’t miss your scheduled time.
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One thing that is really difficult with not having to go to class is making sure you get your work done in a timely manner. Procrastination is your biggest problem with an online class, since there is no real reason not to procrastinate. Setting designating times to work on things can help with offsetting this, however, if you are like me, you plan on working on something at 1:00, and if it ticks to 1:01, you then need to wait until 2:00. Setting alarms prevents this classic procrastination tactic, so you always know when your work time is coming up.
- Always use a calendar or to-do list.
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If you are not already, using a calendar or to-do list to complete assignments can be really beneficial. In a normal class, deadlines sneak up on you, and in an online class, they come back 20 years later as the ghost of classes past. With online classes, your deadlines will come and go and if you aren’t paying attention, and you probably won’t be able to recover from them. This will also negatively affect your grade even more so than missing a deadline in an in-person class.
- Remember that your professors are still there to support you.
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One of the hardest parts of not seeing your professor in-person, is that it’s hard to know when they are going to be available. You have to remember though that even though you are not face to face with them, you ARE still their student, and they do want you to succeed in their class.
Online classes are not what we were expecting, but it is better than needing to make up the semester at a later date, so lets be thankful for that as we all ZOOM off to class. Stay healthy, and good luck!