How To: 5 Ways to Survive School Online
In recent news, all California State Universities will transition to fully online classes for the fall 2020 term. I feel your pain students, and for lack of better words, this sucks. On the flip side, as an online college student, I’m stoked for people to find out why I prefer online over in class.
It took me 8 years to complete my bachelor’s. Shout out to students who pay their way through school, including rent and various bills, this is no easy feat. Like many students, I worked full-time and attended school full time. It was only in my last year and a half that I fully transitioned to online versus in class. I wish I had done it sooner, as I probably would have been able to finish my degree faster. But hey, trial and error.
Once I got into a rhythm with my online classes, I found myself breezing through the end of my B.A. I listed out some tips that I found the most useful below.
READ the entire syllabus, you’d be surprised how much you can miss, when there isn’t a professor verbalizing the most important parts to you, in person. Don’t skim, don’t skip through, just buckle down and read it. I’ve made this mistake on several occasions and the outcome isn’t fun.
2. Opt to put notifications in your phone, this seems like a no brainer, but it took me a while to actually do this step. Usually, your assignments or tests are due on the same days of the week, every week, which makes it super easy to make calendar events to remind you of assignments or quizzes due. Create however many alarms or calendar events you need, depending on how many classes you’re taking. Also, it doesn’t hurt to turn on notifications on your phone for your email that’s connected to your university. That way you’ll recieve emails from professors directly to your phone.
3. Dedicate 2-3 days a week to school BUT adjust it to your lifestyle and class load. You don’t have to dedicate the entire day to this, maybe just a couple hours on those two chosen days. I can tell you now, I didn’t spend close to the “required” amount of time on a class. The way they calculate it is 3 hours per credit unit. So, if you’re taking a 3-unit course, you should spend 9 hours a week on that class. If that sounds like a normal amount to you, feel free to use that guideline. Know your limits and your short comings! Prepare for them!
4. Check Canvas/Blackboard/Whatever platform your school uses, multiple times a week….and I mean this. This doesn’t mean you have to study or do an assignment multiple times a week. You’ll just want to check in every other day or so. Sometimes your professors will post an announcement, or you just want to double check that nothing is due that day.
5. Get comfortable with technology. This isn’t as big of an issue as it may have been a decade ago, most people are caught up with technology. Sometimes the platform your college uses for online classes (blackboard, canvas), can be a little confusing. Luckily, there’s a ton of YouTube videos that outline how to navigate these platforms. On the bright side, a lot of colleges who have online platforms, require students to take an intro course on online school. This course will usually outline how to navigate through the site, and it will also list some tips for success, so look out for those opportunities. If you’re school doesn’t do this, I’ve listed out some YouTube videos for a couple different platforms below.
In conclusion, Freshmen, I can’t imagine the shift you're going through, no high school graduation and now no “real” first year of college. Consider opting to community college to get your general education credits done, don’t put yourself in debt for a college year that you won’t really get to experience.
Sophomores and Juniors, hang in there. You’re in the most *preferable* years, considering the circumstance. This will all be over by the time you’re ready to walk that stage.
Seniors (both 2020 & 2021), we’re in this together. I was unable to walk in my graduation because of COVID-19 as well. Hopefully we’ll all get to walk together this fall, or next spring. As someone who worked for many, many years towards my B.A, not being able to walk in my graduation was a hard pill to swallow; but we still did it, YOU still accomplished something special. Entering the workforce in a time like this one will be tough, but it’s only going to make us better people - if we let it. Congratulations to you, class of 2020. Cheers!