There are many resources for online students. Though this is true, I figured I’d make some room in my blog to express some great Tips for getting through online school. If you want to know more about Online Schools vs. Physical Schools, check out that blog post elsewhere in my blog.
As this is being written, I am officially in my PhD. Mostly online and with three residencies involved (so there is some physical campus activities I will participate in). I did all of my degrees online as I was busy with life and unable to attach myself to one singular physical college and location. It worked best for me. Though there were trade-offs. We will go into those in my other mentioned blog post.
Tips:
1.) Do NOT make the mistake of assuming everyone in online college is a scholar and will be productive. Especially in Group Projects. The dropout/failure rate for online colleges is tremendous
2.) Don’t believe it when they say online is easier than a physical campus. Nobody is around to hold your hand, answer multiple questions, as well as to possibly snoop off of (for those who believe cheating is best.. Dummy). There is less chance you’ll have people to work with, study with, etc…
3.) To be a productive online student, one must LIVE for it. In this I mean, you must dedicate yourself to your schooling. It is a full-time job per say. That is, if you want to actually learn and get degrees that you can retain knowledge in
4.) To be productive, you must make sure you put time aside every week to read, research, do Individual Projects, do Group Projects, properly communicate with classmates and teachers, and MUST be willing to take criticism. Criticism should be welcomed, not disregarded. We can only become better by acknowledging our weak points, and learning how to improve them
5.) Utilize Google, libraries, articles, databases, and the wealth of resources your college offers. Learn the required writing style such as APA. This will help you during your entire education and as a writer with any documents
6.) Create your own schedule that works for you. This means properly setting up study times, production times, and research times
7.) Make sure choose an online college that best suits your financial capabilities, educational goals, AND IS ACCREDITED
8.) Gain some peers for which you can chat about relevant materials. This will help you understand others, their ways of thinking, will give you the ability to learn more, and will help take some pressure off. Practice makes perfect so make sure you practice what you learn or at least keep relevant in it
9.) Understand that the greatest attribute online school gives you over a physical school is.. (and this is where most dropout or fail at), the ability to self manage your tasks, documents, assignments, time, resources, etc… The greatest thing one can do when entering the workforce is to prove and show that you don’t need your hand held. That you can, alone, research and find answers, even when they are not right in front of you
10.) Push yourself. Always push yourself. Don’t just get through college, Learn what you are studying and try to keep up to date with it.
11.) IT IS UP TO YOU WHAT YOU RETAIN, LEARN, AND UTILIZE. Nobody can give you that.. YOU MUST DO THAT PART YOURSELF!! Dedication is key!!
Albert Einstein once stated,
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school” – A. Einstein
Harris 2 Einstein 
That Einstein quote is one of my absolute favorites. It is one of my goals to show my students that their is more than one way to receive an education.
Thank you for the reply. I agree. Are you a teacher/professor? It is vital in this economy, in the ever-evolving world, and with such time restrictions people have these days, to be able to find alternate ways to get educated. As with a physical college, it is up to the student in what they learn and retain. Maybe that should be Tip #11. LOL. I look forward to your response and the sharing of some of your wisdom.
Hope you have a great day!!
I agree with tip 11 completely! I recently graduated with a degree in secondary education and English, so I’m a certified teacher without the job as of yet. My teaching experience has been the joy of my life, and is what I plan to be talking about over on my blog, along with some over dramatic musing of a millennial.
But back to the teaching, I think the hardest part about online learning is the teacher/student connection. On the college level I think the one on one interaction is less important, but still important none the less. As for me, when I started interning as a 10th grade teacher and took over the class I had a student who had incredibly poor writing skills and academic discipline and was going to drop the class. Long story short, the personal connection I had with him made the difference. For example, I’d circle incorrect comma usage in his papers, write in the margin what a comma splice was and how to avoid it, and use my comments as a mini-lesson for this student. Then, when the “behavior” was corrected on a following assignment, I’d write something simple like “Yay for proper commas!” or another silly comment so he knew I noticed the improvement. I think this engagement and personal connection is what makes all the difference and isn’t done on the college level or online learning platform nearly enough. All humans innately want to be praised for good work, so why not give it to them when it is warranted?
Sorry, that was incredibly long winded.
Don’t apologize for long convos and replies. I enjoy them. Great points here and shared experience. You sound a lot like me in the fact that you love to teach, love to learn, and love to help others. I thank you for sharing some great life experience. I hope some others can take that experience and also help others with it. Inspire others to become better teachers, students, etc.
I agree and believe that to truly get the most out of education, for both the student and teacher, we must incorporate some level of personal. Here is something to confirm that theory.. who do kids listen to most? Who do most listen to most? PEERS!! Peers seem to be on level with them, can and will relate, and etc. Therefore it is easy to see, if we all utilize some form of personal versus not, we can all become more and helps give us the drive to do such.
Oh you are absolutely right! Peers are everything and more important than anything else. I’m actually curious as to how that all manifests itself in online learning. Maybe students don’t worry about being validated by their peers as much when they don’t see them and thus are more independent, but on the other hand I think it’s much harder to generate self motivation.
YOU ARE RIGHT ON ALL ACCOUNTS!!!!
I’m heading back to school for the first time in about 7 years and I’m doing online classes, this was very helpful.
I’m glad. If you want any more hints, advice, etc, please feel free to comment here or ask for my email. There are many great things one must consider before deciding on the school, degree, and etc… Thank you for your great feedback.