Online Classes
In 2020, many students and teachers were rapidly pushed into online school without warning. There were many, many challenges in the spring for these schools, from the logistics to the finances of the entire student population moving on campus and transitioning tens of thousands of students to online classes. Students across the world struggled, including many of my classmates. Many of our teachers basically disappeared, without the knowledge or experience of doing online classes or just without sufficient time and support to prepare. Office hours were spotty, the syllabi were all thrown off, and some schools even opted to switch to pass/fail grading systems.
I won't be focusing on just COVID-era classes, but on all online classes in this post. As a student, it can be important to be able to take and succeed in online classes, and as this pandemic has shown us, it's entirely possible for future jobs to ask for or offer remote working opportunities. How can students be productive without any of the structure, consistency, or support of an in-person class? That is what I'll be discussing in this post:
- Brief Description of Online Classes
- How to be Successful
- Teacher Troubles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Feel free to skip this description if you've taken college classes online before! Online classes can either be synchronous or asynchronous, meaning they are either done like a regular class or you're given deadlines and expected to do work on your own time. They might have live lectures or lecture videos (videos are great because you can use closed captions and speed up, slow down, or pause and rewind what your professor said). They might have no lectures at all, and rely entirely on reading assignments. You'll likely have frequent quizzes and assignments; most online classes have them on a regular basis. You'll still have a syllabus or calendar of some sort.
HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL
Essentially, with online classes, you have to provide structure for yourself, rather than having it provided for you. If the class is synchronous, you can plan ahead just like a regular class, by using a physical or digital calendar and a reminders app to establish when you'll be in class and when assignments will be due. If there is a quiz every week, you can make one reminder and set it to repeat weekly. If it's asynchronous, you'll want to do the same thing, but choose a specific time or range of times for yourself. Let me give an example: For my public administration class online, we had to do the readings and quiz by Thursday each week, and they became available on Sunday. I chose to do the readings on Monday and the quiz on Wednesday, since my other class work fell on Tuesdays. You can also set your own deadlines: do the readings by Monday, but start Sunday if you like. Do the same for assignments: figure out about how long you think it'll take you to do each assignment, or each step if it's large, and set a day or range of days on which to do it. If I have an essay due in a month, I'll set a deadline to do the outline by the end of the first week, a rough draft by the second, and a final draft by the third, and based on the rest of my classwork and schedule, I decide I'll do the work on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week.
It is very important with online classes to check them daily. My university uses a platform that lets you set email or text notifications, including for if an assignment is due in two days. However, a professor had a dropbox assignment that didn't notify me because the deadline was in the syllabus, but the professor didn't program it into the online platform! I ended up submitting an hour late with an apology email and taking a hit on the grade solely for turning it in late. The best bet is to get online every week morning and once Sunday night and check each class page for due dates, news posts from the teacher, and upcoming assignments. It takes about 5 minutes and can save you a lot of stress and rushing later!
Online classes also put a screen between you and your professor, making it hard to get in touch and even harder to create a good relationship with them. If you don't have a professor who has gone out of the way to let you know how to contact them, there's several steps you can try. Many professors who have done online classes for a while will have a discussion post for questions first, a rule that you have to read the syllabus before asking questions, and/or a very, very specific email format you must use. Otherwise, start with an email. Online classes tend to be larger and those professors have many classes, so include your class name and section, your full name, and the subject/module you have a question about in the first sentence. Sign off with your name again and your student ID number. This helps you skip the step of your teacher responding and asking "which assignment?" or, "which class are you in?" and you responding before they can answer your question. One trick that Gmail lets you use is to write your email and schedule it to send at 8am the next morning, so it'll be one of the first they see and you can avoid emailing them on Saturday because you know you'll forget before Monday.
If email isn't sufficient or you have a complicated question, ask your teacher to set up an office hours appointment with you, either online or in-person depending on how close they or you are to campus. They might offer to make the appointment by Zoom, Google Meets, or even by phone. Most universities have a requirement that even for online classes, teachers have to provide students with office hours and make reasonable effort to meet with the student if the student can't meet during the hours they set. In the first week, if the teacher hasn't made it clear, you may even want to contact them ahead of time to ask when and in what format office hours will be or how they prefer to be contacted.
You should also see about making some kind of group chat with your fellow students, which can be very helpful if you miss a class or don't understand an assignment. Your platform may differ, but my university's showed the email of every other student in your class (don't forget to de-select the teacher) which you can use to send an invitation link to apps like GroupMe or Slack. You might also email a fellow student directly with a question, such as someone who has posted really good discussion post responses or who you've had a class with before.
Having online classes and virtual textbooks might be difficult for you if you're a hands-on learner. Try printing things out and highlighting them, taking notes by hand or rewriting bullet points from your typed notes. If you learn by listening, you can have Docs or Word read your notes out loud. Many online textbook platforms can also read things out loud, or you can search for YouTube videos on the same subject to re-learn it. It might be helpful to read things out loud, especially if you're having trouble concentrating or have re-typed a paper so many times it all blurs together. Many people have a primary learning style, but a combination of methods can improve retention, so try a combination of these and other methods. You can also take advantage of your teacher by using their office hours to ask them to go over difficult topics with you, giving you the ability to ask questions and listen to their explanations out loud.
TEACHER TROUBLES
If your teacher disappears off of the face of the earth once the semester starts, or has very poor communication to the extent it is impacting your grades, you might consider going above their head. The risk here is that the teacher won't like it very much which can make the rest of the semester a little tense, but it may be worth it if it means you pass because you actually understand the material. You can contact the Dean of Students or the department chair for that class's department. A less risky alternative, if the issue is just that you don't understand the material, is to find a tutor who's taken that class before (which the university might provide you for free) or contact another professor who teaches the same class and ask for personal help (although they might be busy with their own classes).
Especially if you have accommodations for a disability through the student disability resource office that the teacher is failing to fully implement, or you have a personal crisis like a death in the family that impacts your grades, contact the Dean of Student. When you have issues with a professor, document every attempt you make to work with them and ask them for help, including saving emails and taking note of when you talked with them, especially if you feel that they're treating you unfairly. These can help your case with the Dean or even be used to contest a grade after the semester if you feel your grade was lowered by the teacher out of dislike or bias.
Remember, online classes work better for some people than others. If you find that you consistently do worse in online classes, that doesn't mean you can't take them. Instead, you might do only one online per semester, relegate them to 2 or 3 over the summer when you have more free time, or only do online classes for subjects you're very confident in. You can also go on ratemyprofessor.com and see if any of the reviews talk about the teacher's online teaching and communication styles beforehand. Just like everything in college, it's all about balance, planning ahead, and doing what's right for you personally!
Related Articles: How to Organize Your Time
Check out my other content >> The College Search, Funding Your Education, Getting Ready to Register, New Year's Resolutions?, Making and Saving Money in College, College Budget, How to Write a College Application Essay in 2021, How to Actually Use LinkedIn as a College Student
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