Success as an Online Student

Strategies for Effective Learning

Kevin Fandl, Jamie Smith

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317521617
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book is a practical guide for any student considering enrollment in, currently enrolled in, or recently graduated from an online course. The authors, both with substantial online teaching and learning experience as well as seasoned professionals, deliver concise guidance to make the online learning journey enjoyable, productive, and most of all, worthwhile. Major topics include how to identify the best online program; comparing online with traditional education programs; finding an ideal work-life balance; managing time and staying organized; how to form good habits to maximize your chances for success; getting the most out of an online learning environment; and using your online education to succeed in your career. As the singular guide to success as an online learner, this practical book serves as the essential desk reference for every online student.

Section Two

Strategies for Success in Online Education

Chapter 4

Forming Good Habits to Reduce Stress, Find a Work—Life Balance, and Succeed in School

Max feels like he is always on the run. He wishes he had more time to study, but he feels like every minute of his day is already scheduled and doesn’t know how he can fit in additional studying.

4.1 Introduction

It is easy to get overwhelmed with how much you need to accomplish if you do not have a clear plan to get it all done. It is also easy to start feeling resentful toward work and school obligations if you think you are missing out on other parts of life, such as time with friends and family. Forming good habits to get, and stay, organized early on in your academic career will help make your time in school less stressful, more enjoyable, and most importantly, make you more successful.

4.2 Getting Organized

4.2.1 Use a Calendar

Most online students deal with multiple demands on their time. It is essential to find a system that helps you stay organized and on-track. Your final grade will suffer if you fall behind in your required reading or miss deadlines for class assignments. Having a system in place at the beginning of class to ensure this does not happen will give you an advantage over your classmates and put you on the path to success.

To be organized it is essential to use a calendar. You should use one calendar to keep track of school, work, family, and social obligations to ensure you are able to fit in everything that needs to get done and make adjustments to your schedule when it’s needed. That may sound easy enough, but in order to be certain you create a system that works, you should give some thought to what kind of calendar works best. If you usually use the calendar on your computer or phone to schedule a work and social event, you should follow that same method to keep track of your schoolwork. If you usually use a paper calendar to keep track of your schedule, stay with that approach. Another consideration is the view you should use. Whether you use an electronic or physical calendar, consider how far in advance you like to plan. If you normally create plans far in advance, you should use a calendar with a month view. If you can only plan a week at a time, a calendar with a weekly view is best for you.

Once you have your calendar, you should identify the different categories you will be writing on your calendar and assigning each one a color. For example, work obligations could be written in blue, time with family in purple, social events in red, and schoolwork in orange. Using different colors will let you know at a glance what your day, week, or month holds in store. As you develop the habit of associating a color with a type of event, you will be able to more effectively manage your increasingly crowded schedule.

You should start your calendaring process by writing down obligations you cannot change. Write down your work hours as soon as you know them. If you will be caring for children every day from the time you pick them up from school until the time they go to bed, write that down as well. Even if your schedule includes events that are always going to occur on certain days or times, having a visual reminder of your other obligations will help you identify the best time to study.

Once you have done this, you are ready to fill in school obligations. This will be a two-step process that involves first writing down due dates and then setting aside time to complete your assignments and review of course material.

As soon as you get your class syllabus, write down when all assignments are due in the color you have chosen to record schoolwork. If discussion board posts are due on Thursdays, be sure to write that information down on each Thursday for the duration of the term. Also fill in any deadlines for tests and papers. Many students also find it helpful to include reminders or “ticklers” for assignments. This means that if your discussion board post is due on Thursday, you may want to put on your calendar that you should start working on your post on Tuesday. If you use Google or Outlook as your calendar, you should be able to add a reminder to the event so that you get a “ding” when your postings or assignments are nearly due. If you are required to take a quiz each Sunday, you should note on your calendar that you will need time to study for the quiz earlier the week. For larger assignments, such as final papers due the last week of class, you should create a schedule for yourself that you will follow throughout the term. For example, if your paper is due in week 11 of a class, you should note on your calendar that you should have your topic chosen by week two, research complete by week four, an outline by week five, a draft by week eight, a draft submitted to the school’s writing center by week nine, and a final revision complete by week 10.

In addition to completing assignments, you will also be required to examine course materials, which may include required reading, listening to lectures, and visiting web sites. Consider these requirements with deadlines for completion and note the deadlines on your calendar. Decide at the beginning of the term when you would like to have your review of course material completed. This should be done as early in the week as possible to allow you sufficient time to work on discussion board posts and other assignments that are due that week. Once you have decided on these self-imposed deadlines, write them on your calendar. For example, you may want to have your weekly reading done by Monday each week and your review of the weekly lecture done by Tuesday.

After you have filled in due dates for all assignments and created a schedule to keep you on track, you should figure out how much time it will take to complete these assignments and schedule time to do so. You should approximate the amount of time it will take to complete all assignments and examine course material each week and block off time of in your calendar to get your work done. This will let you know if you have time to pick up another shift or if you need to turn down an invitation for drinks because you will need more time to work on a paper.

If possible, it is helpful to have a consistent schedule for studying and to set aside at least a little time for schoolwork each day. For example, you may plan to do schoolwork for one hour on Monday night, two hours on Tuesday afternoon, one hour each Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evening, five hours on Saturday afternoon, and a half-hour to check-in to your class on Sunday. Having a consistent schedule will help you ensure that you have the time you need to get the best grades you can. If you find you have set aside too much time for schoolwork for a given class, you can always cut back. It is better to err on the side of caution when creating a schedule and ensure you have allotted all the time you think you will need. You should also be realistic about the amount of time it will take to complete assignments such as term papers or studying for final exams. Because you will have those assignments written on your calendar at the beginning of the term, you should schedule additional time for completing schoolwork in weeks in which additional work is required.

4.3 Creating Manageable Goals

When you begin an online degree program, your ultimate goal is to complete all required courses, graduate, and presumably get a job in your chosen field. Looking at the long list of classes you need to reach that goal may make you feel like that goal is unobtainable. However, when you look at each individual class and make the completion of each class a goal in and of itself, you will start to feel like you can accomplish anything one step at a time. However, there are steps you can take to break each class, and even each assignment, down into smaller, more manageable goals that can help you complete your work more quickly and with less stress.

When you start each new class, you will likely receive a syllabus or course guide laying out all of the work that is required for the term. When you open the syllabus, you will likely see hundreds of pages of reading, several required discussion boards, at least a few papers, and may be an exam or two. Many students look at the long list required work and wonder how they can possibly get it all done and still work, not become a stranger to their family, and keep up with other obligations. You do not need to complete all classwork at once, and setting goals will help you stay focused and get the work done without feeling overwhelmed by everything that needs to be accomplished before the end of the term.

Weekly goals: When you see a syllabus for a new class for the first time, take a deep breath. Remind yourself that you do not need to complete all of this work at once or even in a couple of weeks. In fact, you only need to complete a small portion each week and that should be your weekly goal. Instead of looking at the syllabus as a whole document, break it down into smaller syllabi—one for each week of the term. You will likely find focusing on the relatively small amount of required work each week is a manageable goal. You may not feel as overwhelmed, and completing your weekly goals will seem like a manageable task.

Daily goals: Even after realizing that your weekly goal is manageable, you still need a strategy to achieve those goals. Moreover, looking at what you have to do in a given week, there may be times when you will still wonder how to get it all done. You can further break down each week’s assignments into even smaller chunks that you want to accomplish each day. By doing this, you will see that accomplishing a small goal of getting a portion of your work done each day can easily be done. This approach also allows you to set smaller goals for yourself on days when other obligations, such as a long shift at work or your daughter’s ballet recital, may leave little time for schoolwork. You can then set a larger goal for yourself on days when you will not have as many competing obligations.

Discrete goals: Your daily goals can be broken into even smaller goals in order to help you plan your day. Instead of looking at all of the reading you have to do for the week as one assignment, you can break down your reading assignments even further. For example, look at the 10 pages of reading you have to get done from Text A as one goal to accomplish and the 20 pages of reading you have to complete from Text B as a second goal. You may find that setting discrete goals will reduce stress related to completing schoolwork and allow you to fit more activities into your life. You may not be able to read all 30 pages on your bus ride to work, but if you set reading 10 pages from Text A as its own goal, you just may find you can accomplish one of your daily goals during time that would otherwise have been wasted.

Remember to record your weekly and daily goals on your calendar. Checking off the goals you have accomplished at the end of each day will give you a great sense of satisfaction and clearly show you how much progress you are making toward reaching your ultimate goal of holding your diploma in your hand. A great trick to stay motivated in achieving goals is to write them down on an index card or small square of paper and tape them to the refrigerator or somewhere you will see them every day. You can’t avoid them if they are always in front of you!

4.4 Managing Your Inbox Clutter

Everyone’s inbox can fill up quickly with e-mails from friends, work, merchants, and a variety of other sources. While you are in school, your inbox will also fill up with e-mail from the university, your professors, your classmates, and eventually potential employers. It is important you develop a system for keeping track of your e-mails so that you do not miss anything important that could make a difference or your grade, registering for the classes you want, or making the key connection that could give you the edge in getting the job you want after graduation.

Many students find it convenient to have one e-mail account where all of their e-mail goes to reduce time spent checking multiple e-mail accounts. If you prefer this method, you may be able to set up your school’s e-mail account to be automatically forwarded to your central account. Some students prefer to keep school e-mails separate from their other e-mails and choose to use their school e-mail account exclusively for correspondence related to school—either approach is fine.

Regardless of whether you choose to use one e-mail account or two while in school, you should develop and use a foldering or labeling system for your incoming mail. At a minimum, you should have separate folders for each class, administrative matters, potential contacts, and personal issues.

A list of folders related to school might look like this:

• Political Science 100
• American Government 201
• Financial Aid
• Tech Support
• Job Leads
• Networking Connections
• Friends.

If you choose to use a central e-mail account for all e-mail, you should create additional folders related to specific work projects, events, online orders, and any other area in which you frequently send or receive e-mails.

This system is simple to implement and will help you stay organized and find the information you need quickly. Keep in mind that not every e-mail is created equally. If you do not feel the need to label an e-mail in your inbox, you should immediately delete it to reduce inbox clutter. For example, if your school sends you an e-mail advertising new sweatshirts with the school logo and you have no interest in buying one, do not hesitate to delete it right away and not give it another thought.

4.5 Creating a Study Kit

Even if you are taking classes online, there will still be some things other than your computer that you will need to use regularly. You may be required to use textbooks and you may choose to use old-fashioned pen and paper or notecards to take notes. You should create a “study kit” to help you save time by having everything you need in one place. Creating a study kit is easy and will save you time in the long run. Simply choose a bag or box and fill it with everything you need to study. If you do this, you will never find yourself wasting valuable study time looking for your lost textbook or the colored pens you use to keep track of assignments. Your study kit should also include anything you use to reward yourself for getting your work done, whether it be a chocolate bar or a $5 gift card for iTunes. A study kit will also ensure that you have everything that you need if you travel or need to study somewhere other than home, such as a café or library.

4.6 Preparing for the Worst-Case Scenario

At some point while you are in school, you will find yourself dealing with an unexpected situation. It could be finding yourself without power, dealing with a sick babysitter, or having your work schedule changed unexpectedly. When such situations occur, they cause additional stress, in large part because you have to scramble to find a solution while still getting your work done. You can reduce the stress that comes alo...