Find A Substitution For Each Disadvantage
- Environment as a Cue Create an environment to only study
- With online classes you can study anywhere. There is no specific room or place you need to go as long as you have access to the internet. That might seem like a good thing but it is not. Especially, if you do your online class in your room.
- I had to take online classes in my room. The same room I watch youtube, eat, and sleep in. You can see how this becomes a problem. It was extremely hard to focus and extremely easy to get distracted.
- Because all I needed was to shift my head to the left and there was my phone. There were just necessary things about my room I was thinking about.
- So what I did was create an environment. Everytime I would study, I would remove all distractions from my desk. Be creative with creating an environment. Some Ideas:
- Coffee Shop
- Specific room in your home
- Park bench
- Remember: This place will be ONLY for studying, that is it
If you have to study in your room like I did, changing something when you are about to study to indicate it is study time
- Some example to study in your room
- Before you start online classes, turn the light on
- Before you start online classes, shift your desk
- Before you start online classes, Put some sort of curtain or post on wall
- Be creative. Just make sure you make a change that will indicate it is study time. After studying, undo the change.
Effective And Appropriate Communication Skills
Communication skills are vital in online learning because students must seek help when they need it. Teachers are willing to help students, but they are unable to pick up on non-verbal cues, such as a look of confusion on a student’s face. Follow these tips:
Use the tools provided by the school to communicate with your teachers. Many online schools and programs provide several ways for students and/or parents to communicate with teachers and staff. These might include e-mail, discussion groups, chat room office hours, cell phones, and even text messaging. Teachers and staff want to help you to succeed in your classes and will answer your questions. It may feel awkward to talk with your teachers this way, but don’t worry. If your teacher has chat room or cell phone office hours, don’t be shy about using those tools to communicate with your teacher.
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 chat rooms, blogs, text messages, and so forth.
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. Online teachers are professionals. Treat them with respect and courtesy.
Pros And Cons Of Taking Online College Classes
In the past decade, online learning has become more accessible as potential students discover that no matter what their daily obligations, they can find ways to obtain degrees while staying within their work and life schedules. Many accredited colleges such as Florida National University are now offering online learning programs, and the federal government recently started making data about online enrollments and academic performance available to researchers.
According to a published by Inside Higher Ed, more American private schools are embracing online education as a way to reach students whose socioeconomic status and life situations do not allow them to enjoy traditional campus programs.
Online learning transcends the realm of higher education. In 2018, technology giant Google invested $20 million into an initiative to create educational content on its popular YouTube platform these videos will range from explanations about science topics to step-by-step cooking, programming, and foreign language acquisition tutorials. Google is financially motivated with this project for two reasons: First of all, the company is looking for a safe place where brands can place advertisements second, data analytics and surveys indicate that online audiences are increasingly searching for educational content.
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Hardware Software And Textbooks
Most online schools have basic requirements when it comes to computers. You won’t need a supercomputer, just something that is relatively up-to-date and able to handle word processing and typical online activity. In the case of some specialized courses, you’ll need expensive hardware, but not for most classes.
Software will usually be provided free of charge. In some cases you will need to buy software for the class, which can vary widely in price. The same goes for textbooks. Make sure you know the cost estimate for software and textbooks. They can add up fast.
Will I Get The Support I Need In An Online Environment
Alessia Contino met her husband when his military assignment stationed him in Sicily, where she was born and raised. After a frustrating experience with a different school, her husband suggested University of Massachusetts Global. As soon as she placed her very first phone call, Contino was met with unmatched support something that surprised her as an international online student. She took courses while living in Europe, the Middle East and America during her four years as a student at University of Massachusetts Global.
Studying is not easy, and we all encounter many obstacles on the way that make us think about quitting or postponing because it just seems impossible to achieve our goals most of the time, she told her graduating class. Contino recounts that despite struggles with time zones and relocating,
Today, I am a mother, a military spouse, a foreigner, and I am also a student who succeeded.
Kramm also spoke highly of the support she received during her time as an online student, stating that no matter what kind of question or concern she had, she had access to knowledgeable counselors, professors and tech staff who were happy to help.
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Plotting A Course For Success
One of the best ways to avoid failure as an online student is to plan for success. Here are a few ways to do that.
Creative Scheduling
This article alluded to efficient use of time and creative scheduling. One of the first steps in budgeting is to get an overview of expenses and incomes. The first step in scheduling is listing all responsibilities and priorities. Some of these can be delegated to other household members or even eliminated. Sleep is an often-ignored priority that affects learning.
Schedules should also be flexible and allow for unexpected occurrences. They should include room for variety. While students shouldnt study in the same room where people are watching television or listening to music, but it is certainly fine to go to the library or into another quiet room some days. Students can pay attention to when they feel the most alert as well and schedule some study at those times.
While students need to allocate several hours of adjunct study for each course, it shouldnt come all at once. A better idea is to study for no more than two hours at a time.
The Right Stuff
Stay Motivated
Find and Use Resources
Many Employers Prefer A Traditional Degree But Opinions Are Shifting
In a survey, 56 percent of employers said that they would prefer an employee with a degree from an average-rated traditional school to an employee with an online degree from a top-rated school. However, views of online education are improving. A 2011 survey of adults found that fewer than one-third believed that an online education was as good as a traditional degree. In 2013, nearly half of adults believed the two were of similar quality.
One bright spot for students who are well into adulthood: Employers said they viewed online education as a good way for older college students to improve skills, according to Public Agenda.
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Ensure Your Credits Will Transfer Before Enrolling
If you have any college credit to your name already, be sure your existing college credit and your prospective online education will play nice. The goal is to graduate from one school or the other, but not every school accepts credits from every other school. And some schools may accept some credits but not others from another school. Whether you intend to earn your degree from the online or the traditional university, be certain that all your needed credits will transfer. Do this before enrolling online.
Anticipated Career Or Graduate School Requirements
Some courses might be necessary for getting into graduate school or pursuing a career in a certain field. This is especially true for aspiring healthcare professionals, from doctors to physical therapists topharmacists. Make sure you read up on what youll need to do when youre planning your course schedule.
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Being Overwhelmed By The Material
Distance learning is primarily self-directed. This may not work very well for you if you need more attention from your professors, particularly for the more complex parts of coursework.
Self-directed learning can make you an independent learner, but it’s not for everyone. The trade-off is that online degrees deliver the essential knowledge and tools to form a specific skill set for your career development.
How Is Online Learning Assessed
Students taking a degree program or an individual course online will still be tested at regular intervals throughout their study period to assess their understanding of the course materials.
For those new to online education, this process can be intimidating. But there’s no need to worry! Online institutions are experienced professionals, they’ll ensure that your assessments are fair, comfortable, and designed to help you make the most of your learning experience.
Discover the assessment types you’re likely to encounter when taking an online degree program or course:
- Individual Assignments
These are probably the method of assessment that students will have the most experience with. For each assignment, youll receive your topic, deadline and word count. You’ll be required to produce a structured, reasoned argument within the boundaries set out by your course instructor.
- Discussion activities
Face-to-face discussions between friends and colleagues is something that we all do every day. However, an online academic discussion requires a different set of skills, and might not come as naturally when your first start your online learning journey. Not to worry, you’ll get the hang of it!
- Journal activities
Unlike other assignments, it is acceptable to use a subjective, personal style of writing in journal entries and refer to yourself in the first person. Think, “Over the last week, I’ve learned how to …” Journal entries are often required, but ungraded – be genuine!
- Exams
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Common Challenges Facing Deaf And Hard
It can be difficult enough to learn new concepts and absorb information even when students can clearly understand every word their teacher is saying. But, for the 1.3% of deaf and hard-of-hearing college students in the United States this can be even more difficult especially without the right accommodations. Without those, deaf and hard-of-hearing students can struggle to follow along with lectures or understand instructions to assignments.
Difficulty with communication and accessing information happens outside of the classroom too, as deaf and hard-of-hearing students may have issues communicating with their peers. This makes it harder to collaborate with other students and can lead to feelings of isolation. This in turn can lead to depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems.
While some aspects of online learning may be more accommodating for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, its not without its challenges. Some of those issues include:
- Issues with the teleconferencing platform or the instructors device can result in poor audio quality.
- Excess noise in the student or instructors location can make it more difficult to hear.
- Poor image quality or lighting in the instructors video feed can make it difficult to read lips. This also extends to interpreters.
- Not being able to see everyone in a virtual classroom if fellow students dont have their camera turned on.
- Multiple students talking at the same time.
Can You Cheat On Online Classes
The risk of cheating in an online class is the same as the risk of cheating in a traditional class. To combat cheating, many instructors use higher-level questions. These are questions that require reasoning, justification, and explanation, rather than questions that can be answered by a quick internet search.
Many instructors also use anti-cheating software. For example, they might check for information copied and pasted from another source , or they might run a program that checks to see if your computer has multiple browsers open during a test.
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Are Online College Classes Harder Than In
I often hear people ask the question: Are online college classes harder than the traditional in-person classes that can be taken on physical campuses?
For some reason, there is this stigma that online college classes are easier.
I can see why this argument is often made In-person classes require students to attend regularly, take closed book tests, and complete group projects that involve giving a lengthy presentation at the end of the semester. Additionally, these courses typically last 16 weeks, the normal timeframe for a college semester.
People often look at these requirements and cant imagine school being any harder.
Although I cant disagree that the multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank exams are much more difficult when you attend an in-person class, I have to say that online college classes are a lot more challenging than people think.
Important Tips For Online Classes
- Overall Goal:
- Why are you taking an online class? What do you want it to do for you? Is the class for a degree?
- It is a lot easier to do something when you have the why. Always come back to your main goal, it can give you the motivation to keep going.
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Friedrick Neizche
- Real class:
- Treat online classes as a real class. I know it is difficult because of the challenges it comes with, but take it seriously.
- When taking your online class, imagine you are on campus and give your undivided attention.
- Do not be so hard on yourself:
- I was very hard on myself when taking online classes. I would end up over analyzing everything and getting off track easily. And thinking too much is never good.
- So go easy on yourself. Take a little break, maybe listen to Bob Marley or play soccer.
- Looking back, all that over analyzing was of no good to me. When you notice you are doing this, take a deep breath and relax.
- At the end of the day, Its just an online class.
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Online Accommodations For Deaf And Hard
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that all public colleges and universities provide deaf and hard-of-hearing students with equal access to all activities. To comply with this law and make their online courses accessible, colleges typically offer the following accommodations to online students:
Professors Arent Always Available Right When You Need Them
With a traditional class, you know that any question you may have during the lesson can be answered at the end of the class period. With online classes, you are at the mercy of your professors timeline. Most professors set specific times that they check their emails or work on grading online assignments. This means that a last-minute question or issue with an assignment may go unanswered until after the assignment is due.
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Youll Want To Make An Effort To Make Connections
One of the benefits of going to school is the number of people it puts you in contact with. Friendships, mentorships and networking can all come from academic experiencesbut is that still the case with online classes?
Online degrees can be less personable. You can go through multiple online classes without really connecting to anyone. It’s easy to miss out on all the networking opportunities and friendships that on-campus classes can provide, says Lyn Alden of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy. I would recommend that you really make an effort to get to know some of your online classmates or your professor.
Alden says she encourages students to reach out and discuss assignmentsand even meet in person with classmates and instructors if you’re close by.
Online platforms are getting more and more advanced, and provide increasing ways to interact and network online. But you still have to be more proactive than you would in a classroom setting, and make the first move to reach out to people, Alden says.
What I Wish Someone Told Me Before Taking Online Classes
By Hannah Meinke on 07/27/2020
The perks of taking online classes are numerous. They offer additional flexibility for busy students, especially for those balancing school with work and family. They can attract professionals looking for career advancement, parents seeking to better provide for their families and returning students looking to pick up where they left off. Some online programs even provide additional control over the pace of learning.
But if youve never taken one before, you might not know exactly how they differ from on-campus courses. Are they harder? Whats the best way to stay on track?
Learn from those who have been in your shoes. Keep reading to get some insider knowledge about what to expect when taking classes online.
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How Difficult Are Online College Classes
ByFrank Jan Johnson | Submitted On June 27, 2010
Many people wonder how difficult are online college classes. The answer is that it depends on the class. I just recently graduated this last spring and took about 80% of my degree courses online. Having taken this many classes, I feel that I could give a person a good idea about how difficult college online classes can be.
The first thing that a person needs to consider that will directly effect the difficulty of these classes is the type of major they have selected. What I mean by this is that a medical degree will have much harder online classes than a marketing degree. If you are in an extremely aggressive and intense field of study, be prepared for some very difficult online college courses that will really take you to the brink.
Many people are curious about the difficulty level of online college classes, but see how the benefits far outweigh the amount of work to pass a course.