If you’ve decided to go back to college online, you may not have a dorm room to set up or a club meeting to attend, but there are still several back to school activities that will help you to succeed.
- Create a study space
- Introduce yourself to your Instructors
- Purchase and review class materials
- Create a master calendar
- Prep your computer
- Get into a routine
Create a Study Space
Since you won’t be learning in a classroom, it is important that you create a place where you will be able to study. Find an area that is quite and free from distractions like television and radio. Also try to keep it out of high traffic areas of the home. Make sure you are comfortable there and can stay for several hours. Stationing yourself at a desk is best because it will help you to focus. Keep supplies like highlighters, pens, and paper within reach. If you are studying in a room with a closed door, making a sign to let your family or roommates know you are studying can be helpful in keeping disturbances to a minimum.
Introduce yourself to your Instructors
It’s a good idea to send an email to each of your instructors at the beginning of the course to introduce yourself and let them know why you are taking the class and what you expect to get out of it. It will also be a good time to set up a clear line of communication and contact between you and your professor. If there is a class forum to introduce yourself, don’t shy away. This is a great way to connect with other students.
Purchase and review class materials
Find out what material you’ll need for the class and purchase it early. Oftentimes books can be more difficult to find later in the semester or may be on backorder. Once you have your study material check over it to get a feel for what the course will be like. You might find that you know quite a bit of the material from some classes so you won’t need to spend as much time studying for that class as you might others, or, you might find the opposite.
Create a Master Calendar
This is one of the most important back to school activities you can do. This will really help you as you try to manage your time. You can either do this on your computer and set reminders, or do it on paper and hang it in your study space. Indicate due dates of assignments, projects, and tests. If you are taking more than one class, you could assign each class a different color and then you’ll easily be able to see what classes have assignments that are coming up.
Prepare your Computer
You computer is going to be your most valuable tool in your online education and it is important that you know it is working at its peak. Do a diagnostic scan to remove any malware, spyware, or viruses on your computer. This will make it run much more efficiently. Install any system updates that are available. Ensure that you have a reliable internet connection and a back up location planned, like the library, if your connection goes down. Familiarize yourself with a document writing software. The most popular is Microsoft but there are many alternatives out there such as OpenOffice.org and AbiWord. Make sure that you can properly format papers to your teacher’s guidelines.
Get into a routine
Learn to manage your time now so that you have a plan before you fall behind. Start a routine for checking your classes for new reading assignments or papers due. Set aside a time each day for your school work. Many students find this is easiest to do in the morning before distractions can get in the way. If you work, this may not be a possibility but it would be smart to sign on each morning to see what workload you are going to have.
Another one of the most important back to school activities is to remind yourself why you are going back to school. Make a list of the reasons and post it somewhere you’ll see it often. Do you want to move up in your company or get a better job? Being reminded of this often will help you to see past the workload and focus more on your bigger goals.