Now that the second semester is starting, here are some tips to make online learning work for you.
When it comes to online learning, you can do more than just “get by.” You can thrive. You and your high school teachers may have switched over to online learning in a hurry in the spring of 2020. Now, as high schools and colleges make decisions about whether—and how—to reopen for in-person classes, you may still have some classes that you take online—or take at least partially online. You may also be applying to colleges that are fully in-person, fully online (for now), or that have transitioned to a hybrid model. Even if you’re going to high school in person right now, you’re likely needing to make greater use of online forms of communication, since socially distanced in-person interactions present challenges of their own.
Before we jump into class schedules and GPA, let’s look at all the ways you can capitalize on the advantages of online instruction so that it benefits you.
Stay organized.
It’s more important than ever to put every single class and every single assignment into one big calendar. Staying on top of all your assignments is key as you’re not likely to get the same usual reminders, like your classmates chatting about an upcoming problem set on the way to class, that you’d get in an ordinary semester.
Treat your online classes with as much seriousness as you would your in-person classes.
Make sure you attend class. (This is especially true if you have any lectures that are asynchronous, meaning pre-recorded and posted online so you can watch anytime.) Arrive on time. Take notes. If the lesson is happening in real time, ask questions. Engage with the material. If a class is asynchronous, put time in your schedule to regularly do the classwork, just as you would in a live, synchronous class. The habits you cultivate now will serve you well in your future educational and professional life.
Automatically add any virtual office hours for your instructors to your calendar.
Virtual office hours are a time period you can “drop in” online and ask your teacher questions about the lesson, get extra help when you’re stuck, or review how you’re performing in the course. If your instructors are making virtual office hours available, make a habit of going regularly. Because you aren’t having as much face-to-face interaction these days, you’ll want to ensure, first, that your instructors know you and know that you’re a serious learner, and second, that you’re understanding the material as you go along. Problems are much easier to address when you catch them early!
Try to replicate the support systems you’d have under ordinary circumstances.
We’ve already talked about showing up to office hours. You can also email your instructor if you have questions. Beyond that, make sure that you are an engaged member of your class community. Create or join smaller virtual study groups. Set up online meetings to talk about the material and test each other. Keep your peer-to-peer connections strong. A huge part of your educational experience will be the relationships you cultivate with your classmates.
Get into “work mode.”
Folks, it’s both a physical state of being and a state of mind. Set up your desk, or wherever you’ll attend classes and do schoolwork, like a workstation. All the better if your workstation is in a room with a door that closes! Get dressed in the clothes you would wear if you were taking the same class at your physical high school. All of these tricks help you send signals to yourself that school-including online school—is a serious enterprise. Those cues can help you create the educational rhythms you’ve become accustomed to, and that will help you succeed.