Plan Your Time

As an online learning student, planning is your best weapon against procrastination. Without the set schedule of a classroom course, you may delay doing lessons. You will have to manage your time carefully to successfully complete the course. The following suggestions will help you.

Get Started as Soon as Possible

Read through your course guide and be sure you understand how online learning works and what's expected of you. Read each lesson in your course guide carefully and read the sections assigned from each text.

Mark Your Deadlines on a Calendar

Make a schedule and stick to it. Students who submit assignments regularly are more likely to complete the course than those who procrastinate.

Keep Going

While you are waiting for each assignment to be evaluated, you are encouraged to work ahead on the next assignment.

Use the Lesson Objectives to Guide Your Study

Each lesson has clear objectives that tell you what you should be able to do by the time you complete the lesson. Use these as a guide to focus your study and to measure your success.

Learn the Vocabulary of Your Course

Some courses have key terms listed at the beginning of each lesson that will alert you to the new and important vocabulary items you will be working with. All these terms are defined either in the textbook(s), course guide, or in the Web-based course materials. It is important to master the key terms.

Take Advantage of Your Reading Assignments

The reading assignments are carefully chosen to give you a basic understanding of the concepts and techniques needed to accomplish the tasks toward which the lesson is directed. Do these readings after you have reviewed the lesson, but before you begin any of the exercises or assignments.

Contact Your Instructor When You Have Questions

Your instructor is available to assist you. Take full advantage of e-mail and the telephone to share questions, comments, and concerns with your instructor at any time. You will receive a quick, thoughtful response that will not only help you maintain your progress in the program, but will give you the full benefit of your instructor's experience as both a teacher and a professional.

Use Proven Study Methods

How you study depends on your personal style, but proven guidelines will help you use this time effectively. Whatever your chosen methods, recognize the importance of being systematic and organized. Each lesson has clear objectives that tell you what you should be able to do by the time you complete the lesson. Use these as a guide to focus your study and to measure your success.

Books that may inspire and help you in your strategy include Becoming a Master Student ¹ by Dave Ellis, and The Good Study Guide ² by Andrew Northedge, from which some of the following tips have been adapted:

Establish a Comfortable Study Location

You may prefer to brainstorm an assignment by sitting over a latte in your favorite coffeehouse or to seclude yourself in a library carrel. In any case, it helps to have a regular study spot that you will associate with getting down to work. Equip it with what you will need (good lighting, dictionary, snacks, marking pens, and so on) and make it as inviting as possible. Do your best to minimize interruptions.

Reflect on Your Personal Goals and Interests in the Course

What do you hope to learn from the course? Jot down your goals and the questions you have about the field. Looking for information that will meet your interests and needs will help you become an active reader. A good learning experience builds on your current thinking. It helps you revise your ideas and enables you to bring your own insights to a field.

To the extent that your course offers you a choice of assignments and focus, choose what is most relevant to your personal and professional goals. It is much easier to add those extra hours of study to your lifestyle if you have chosen to do what is important to you.

Communicate Your Interests to Your Instructor

As a good way to get started, fill out the Student Information Sheet that immediately precedes Lesson One in each course guide or compose a letter to your instructor describing your background, goals, concerns, and timelines for the course. As you review the instructor's biographical notes, look for common ground. Sharing a little of your personal background may help to break the ice and give you added incentive to study. Establishing this personal connection helps overcome "the loneliness of the long-distance learner."

Just as on-campus conversations with an instructor after class may lead to important insights, so does informal communication contribute to the quality of your online learning. You may benefit by including a note to your instructor with each assignment, focusing on your specific questions, interests, and reactions to that unit of work. If you are having difficulties or successes, mention these. This will enable your instructor to guide you, and writing the note will often help you get started on the assignment itself.

Read with a Purpose

Most effective reading strategies use some version of the widely known "SQ3R" method:

Survey the Material. Look over the table of contents, lesson objectives, headings, and summaries. Look for ideas that spark your curiosity. Look at the assignment given at the end of the unit. Ask how this relates to your goals and interests. Finally, determine what you need to read closely and what you need only skim.

Question It. What do you see are the primary questions the author addresses? (For instance, in social psychology, it might be "Is the human being by nature competitive or altruistic?") What questions are important to you in the material? What are your views on these questions? Formulating these questions will engage you as you read.

Read Actively and Critically. As you go along, ask how each point relates to the primary questions the author asks, as well as your own. Look for evidence about these issues as you read. Overall, what seems to be the author's bias or point of view? Do you agree with the author?

If you own the book, you may find it useful to underline key points and to note questions, reactions, and summaries in the margin. Some people prefer to take notes or to combine notes and underlining. Notes may consist of an outline of an argument. As another approach, write questions on one side of a blank page and answers on the other; later you can simulate an examination by hiding the answers while you go through the questions.

Read difficult passages out loud. Recognize when nothing is sinking in. In this case, move on to what interests you most in the unit and return at a later time to the difficult passage. Find someone with whom to talk about the material. This may involve contacting the instructor or posting to an online discussion group on the subject matter.

Remember, your confusion and questions are the key to your learning. Beginning with what puzzles you will lead to personal insight. There are no "stupid questions."

Recite the Insight You Develop. Answer the questions you have posed, preferably out loud. Make a speech. Go talk about the ideas with friends; ask if they agree with points made.

Review Frequently. Reviewing the material within 24 hours can save hours of review later on. Briefly go over your notes and the passages you have underlined, and clarify any remaining uncertainties. Doing this just before going to sleep or upon awakening may be especially effective.

Later, review the material periodically for as little as five minutes. Carry flash cards of key concepts to make it fun. Talk the material over with friends. Play with the ideas and see if you can gain additional insights. Apply these insights to what you see around you.

Take Notes

If you highlight or underline in your textbook, focus on essential ideas (underlining everything is not useful). If you keep a notebook, finish reading a section of the text before taking notes on it. If some words or concepts are new to you, put these in your notes and define them in your own words. It is a waste of time to copy what you see.

Clarify the Feedback You Receive

Your instructor should evaluate your assignments within seven days of receiving them. Adding the time required by the postal service, you should expect your assignments back within two weeks. (If you are submitting assignments by e-mail, your response should come within one week.) If you don’t hear back in this time, you are welcome to call the instructor to be sure your assignment was received and to find out when you can expect it back. If you do not get a quick response, contact the Online Learning Support Staff.

If the feedback you receive on your assignment is not clear to you, be sure to contact your instructor for clarification. Take advantage of the communication media available to you from your home and work: voice mail, e-mail and postal service to share questions, comments, and concerns. (Information on how to reach your instructor is on the Instructor Contact Information sheet you received when you enrolled.) You will receive a quick, thoughtful response that will not only help you maintain your progress in the program, but will give you the full benefit of your instructor’s experience as both a teacher and a project manager.

Writing and Revising

Use the following general guidelines when completing a writing assignment:

• Write. Try not to be a perfectionist when you write the first draft. If you find you’re doing a lot of writing without accomplishing much, ask yourself if you really know what you want to write about.
• Go away from the draft for a few days. (Ideally, do something fun so that you come back refreshed.)
• Read through the draft, concentrating on larger issues such as overall content and organization. You may need to generate one or more drafts if you have extensive changes to make. Try outlining your draft to provide yourself with a different perspective.
• Once you are satisfied that the overall content and organization are okay, take a look at less global issues such as paragraph organization, style, and mechanics. You may need to make several "passes" through the document before you're satisfied with the results.

¹  Ellis, Dave. Becoming a Master Student. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994

²  Northedge, Andrew. The Good Study Guide. Milton Keynes, Great Britain: The Open University, 1990

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