It used to be so simple. You wake up, snooze your alarm for a little, get ready, and head to class but now we have added computers into the mix. Online classes. They have been around for ages there are free ones and extremely overpriced ones but regardless of that, they’re our only option right now. I’m sure you already know why. Online classes can be convenient in some ways but on the other hand, they can stress you out and make your life more difficult. So in this article, I will mention some things which you should know how to do to be as successful as possible in online school. So here are 5 tips that can help you prep and succeed for a successful online school year.
#1 – Take Online classes seriously
With online school a lot of the work is given to you independently, you’re basically teaching yourself half of the material. This makes it so easy to fall behind if you’re not self-disciplined. With In-person classes on the other hand you have a set schedule and routine which you are obliged to follow but now there is almost no structure whatsoever. So here is the tip you have been waiting for, treat online classes as if they are in-person classes in terms of where you do them, in terms of schedule, in terms of everything.
Create a designated workspace, make sure it’s a space where you only do work no sleeping, no eating, no Netflixing. This automatically turns on a switch that when you sit at your desk or table it’s time to work and do nothing but work.
The second thing you should do is create recurring events on your calendar. I love google calendar with all my heart, my life is kind of sad. But seriously use it, it’s such a powerful tool. It sends you notifications 5 minutes before your classes start so you will always know what class you have and what time it starts.
Keep up your routines. Get ready every morning, brush your hair, your teeth maybe don’t have breakfast in the middle of class. Something that I do is wear jeans at home. Yes, it sounds horrible but I always want to make sure that I’m not too comfortable that I fall asleep at my desk.
#2 – Make Lists
It’s already hard enough to keep the mess of events and tasks in your head during normal classes. But when classes move online we lose one key component to what scientists call Episodic memory formation. This is the process that your brain goes through to consolidate and encode new memories and that is location. Location is a huge part of this process as your memories get incredibly tied to where you were when you experienced them. This applies to when you go through a normal day of normal school. If you’re used to going from classroom to classroom then moving online means that you’re losing out on a whole bunch of unique location information. This information would have helped you recall events and due dates assigned to you. This means that now more than ever with online classes you need to get all this information into a system that works. So at the end of the day, you can review this system to make sure nothing slips through and you forget an assignment that’s worth 40% of our final grade. A very simple system is placing a notebook or a piece of paper next to your laptop or on your work area and as soon as you get an assignment or something suddenly popped into your head that you need to do. WRITE IT DOWN. You can also do this digitally.
#3 – Get digitally organized
Now maybe you think that you are already perfectly organized but probably you’re not. With In-person classes, there are usually a lot of paper hand-outs creating an emphasis on physical organization. However, with online classes, you need to burn away the papers and organize everything digitally. Please don’t be that person that saves everything to their desktop creating a complete mess. I personally use google drive because it syncs with your phone, laptop, and any other device honestly. Create a folder for each subject and a subfolder for each unit and so on, trust this will make your life easier.
#4 – Dealing with isolation
Going off the last tip. One of the worst things about online school is isolation, at least the physical isolation. Instead of sitting in a classroom with 20 other students and a teacher you’re sitting alone between 4 walls, I hope. One way to fill this void is by creating a virtual study group. You can do this with a few of your classmates or friends if they want to meet on google hangouts or zoom just to study together or review assignments or explain to each other things you didn’t really get in class. I personally like having someone there to just hold me accountable and I’m just forced to study.
