Taking online classes is awesome because you're in control. But the question remains: Can you control the distractions?
According to "MSNBC," one-sixth of the 3.2 million students who are enrolled at a higher education institution took least one online class last fall. With gas prices hurting students' wallets, and schools saving money by virtue of needing less space and professors, it's no wonder that more and more students are learning electronically. I'm trying out the new online kick one class at a time this summer and this fall.
Of course, there are plenty of students who probably choose to sign up in order to have a flexible school schedule so they can work or be more involved in other activities. But then again, they may just have wanted to be able to rescue Princess Peach on their Nintendo while pausing to glance at a droning professor on their computer screen.
With so many distractions, what's the trick to learning effectively online? How can you prevent watching the entire "semester" of lectures during the same two-night marathon?
To start, it's impossible to schedule your online learning obligations at the exact same time each week. You've got things that randomly come up, friends who randomly want to hang out, and moments where you randomly just want to watch old Pokémon episodes on YouTube.
So rather than constraining yourself to marking your schedule up with classes and sad smiley faces each week, give yourself limited versatility. This means that you will still tend to your coursework each week, but during different chunks of time.
Each Tuesday (because I personally hate the dreadful association of Mondays with school) you can mark your schedule for what times you will dedicate that week to your online course. Give yourself different chunks of time so you can relax in between. And give yourself more chunks of time than you need, so if randomly your friends decide to reenact the finale of WrestleMania, you can join 'em.
I would also suggest studying on Wednesday or Thursday because those are the times when random things, friends and moments are least likely to happen. And, of course, it's nice to not have to work on the weekends.
To make a schedule that's easy to organize and simple for your friends to see (so their randomness can be a little less random), check out our Facebook app,
Courses 2.0. It was recently rated the 4th best app by PC Magazine!
Finally, before you sit down to e-learn, grab some ice cream or something. That way, the transition from wrestling to studying is a bit easier to swallow.
If you think you've got it together, what suggestions do you have to keep online students from watching 10 lectures on the night before the final?