As many of you know some of us are going to continue doing online learning while others are doing in-person. Some of us might be considering continuing online learning. To some of us, online learning is new to us and we are just getting used to it and so it can be overwhelming or harder to understand concepts. Online learning may require a little more time and energy than a traditional classroom course because it requires specific computer skills and learning strategies in order to succeed.

A Good Study Environment

The key to academic success is a good study environment

• Get some peace and quiet. You will need a quiet place to work without any distractions from things.
• Set up good lighting and comfortable seating. Lighting in the room you are in should at least be as bright as your computer screen to avoid eye strain. Adjust the height of your chair and screen so that you are comfortable.
• BEWARE online surfing. It is the black hole of the internet. Avoid going site to site.

Effective Time Management Skills

You must be able to manage your time well. It can help you stay on top of your classwork and free up some extra time you didn’t know you had.

You can learn how to manage your time if you haven’t already. These skills have to be learned they don’t just happen. They will benefit you throughout your life. Follow these tips below to develop yours.

• Review the week at a glance (WAG) for each of your courses
• Make a daily to-do list and have fun checking things off the list.
• Overcome procrastination. This has a negative effect on productivity.
• Avoid multi-tasking. Most of us tend to feel that multitasking is an efficient way to get things done, but the truth is we do better when we focus on one thing.
• Start early. Most successful people start their day early as it gives them time to plan their day.

Motivation

In order to be successful, you have to want to succeed. Online learning requires responsibility, commitment, and a decent level of maturity. There are so many reasons to work hard in school. You might want some satisfaction in your future career. Maybe you want to take pride in your accomplishments or seek a higher range of other opportunities. In order to stay motivated, you can follow these simple tips below.

• Get social. To avoid feeling isolated make a habit of interacting with friends and teachers through messages, email, facetime, or other social platforms. It will help you develop a higher liability for your classwork.
• Share some knowledge. Talk about your classwork with your friends & family, make connections.
• Set goals. Set small manageable goals for each class period to avoid getting overwhelmed or discouraged.

It is easy to fall behind so you should have a constant reminder of why you are doing online learning or school to keep you going.

Commitment

Commitment is the biggest key. Students who succeed are those who are willing to tolerate technical problems.

• When you run into a challenge– keep trying and ask for help.
• Set up a manageable study schedule for yourself and stick to it.
• Stay connected.

Communication Skills

Communication skills are essential in online learning you must seek help if you need it. Teachers are willing to help but they aren’t able to pick up non-verbal clues such as a look of confusion on a student’s face.

• Use the tools provided by the school to communicate with your teachers. We have many ways to communicate with our teachers, including e-mail, office hours, Remind, and even text messaging.
• Use appropriate style and language for school. When communicating with teachers and other staff, you should write in full, grammatically correct sentences and with a respectful tone. Many students are used to a very informal style of writing in social media, text messages, and so forth.

It may be awkward to talk to your teachers this way but don’t worry, your teachers are there to help. Because of the distance, it’s tempting for some students to say things out of anger or frustration that they would never say to a teacher in person. Treat them with respect and courtesy.

Reading and Writing Skills

Reading and writing are usually the main ways you’ll communicate in an online class. You should be comfortable reading a lot of documents on a computer screen and be able to type. Some tests and quizzes have multiple choice questions, but some of your assignments may require writing short or long answers.

Even though online learning is not for everyone, it is still an effective way to learn. It is interesting to see how online and in-person learning are different in many ways. I hope these strategies help while in the transition to online learning. It can be overwhelming, but hold yourself accountable and don’t give up so quickly. We should be grateful for our school’s teachers and staff as they have put their time and effort into creating a new learning experience no matter if we are virtual or in-person. Don’t give up and stay healthy mustangs!