How to hack online learning
December 3, 2020 7:58 AM   Subscribe

I am going to take a fully online course in January 2020 for a professional certification. I am paying for this myself (I will write it off on my taxes) and it is important to me that I pass and pass well. My history with online learning (many years ago) is not great - I failed the shit out of some professional classes that I should have passed because I just didn't jive well with online learning. I need tips/tricks to make the format work for me.

Noting that last time it was almost all self-guided online learning with assignments and tests. I am a kinetic/auditory learner - I do best when I can HEAR and have some movement (usually just taking notes is enough in terms of movement). THIS time, I have signed up for live instruction over the internet which I think will help, but honestly, I really do not want to fuck this up. How do I make this the best experience it can be?
posted by Medieval Maven to Education (9 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
I've returned to school mid-career. It was hard to manage at first, what helped me was starting from deliverables and working backwards to allocate resources (study time) needed for the desired result just as I would in my job.
posted by mikek at 8:02 AM on December 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


I am really struggling this year with a mid-career return to complete a one-year masters program. I'm enjoying it but the online element is super hard. I don't do "home work" very well at the best of times. Live instruction is really key, I think you're on the right track.

Obviously all the usual stuff, like having a separate, quiet place that you do work and minimizing distractions.

I found it helped to really diarize everything. At the outset I put in every class, every assignment due date into my calendar. Each week I'd take time Sunday evening or Monday morning to determine what needed to be read/written/viewed that week. I think this jives with mikek's suggestion to work backwards from deliverables. Assess the volume of work you have throughout the course, and make sure you stay on top of it by starting the big stuff early.

I have two monitors (laptop and external monitor) so I can play a lecture on one, and have my notes on another. If there are readings or some other material, I have enough room to put that up on half the external monitor. This helps me mimic in-person classes where I'm writing and glancing at the lecturer. I also try to share my video because it keeps me honest.

I recommend something like FocusMe to keep me from using certain websites during class or study time!

I also joined a whatsapp group for people in the program - see if you can do this over Slack, Discord, whatever... it helps to have that casual discussion about where to find resources or what assignments are giving people issues. Its also helpful for silly administrative stuff.
posted by dazedandconfused at 8:56 AM on December 3, 2020


During lockdown in the spring semester, I advised some of my students to supplement our online course with free online lectures (specifically from Yale History). I could see from their results that it was a great help for them.
posted by mumimor at 10:26 AM on December 3, 2020


I have taken a lot of online classes, but most of them were busywork that got me a piece of paper. If you will actually be working hard and learning new material that is relevant to you, some of this advice will not be relevant.

Couple things that have helped me:

Figure out the requirements for the class on the first day, and outline when you will do them, and set alarms for both "time to get this done" and "time to turn this in." I use a paper planner because that is what works for me, but treat it like any other detailed project in a way that works for you.

...then, figure out how much you can do ahead of time and have it still count. Block out a couple 8-hour days on your weekend and knock out the material as fast as you can. If you can't turn it in early, set a new alarm for "this is already done, this is the earliest I can turn it in." This way you can make time for difficult material or a final project.

Or, block out "class time" during the week when you will be completing work, and nothing else.

If you have to make forum posts on a specific deadline (say, original post by Wednesday and two replies to others by Saturday) write your posts as early as possible, save them in a file, and copy-paste them into the forum on the deadline, then immediately make your replies. Try to ask a follow-up question in every post so it gives other people something to work with.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:33 AM on December 3, 2020


I am a creature of routine so what helps me is building a routine. For example, assuming the new course week starts on Monday and that week's assignments are due by Sunday, it would look something like this:

Monday: do the assigned reading and let it percolate, open the assignment and let the questions sink in
Tuesday: do the discussion post and any easy parts of the assignment, start building outlines to answer longer questions
Wednesday: do the research portion to suit the outlines based on what I want to cover
Thursday: write the longer answers
Friday: finish writing the answers and edit them
Saturday: any final cleanup
Sunday: submit

If you need to hear it, a lot of textbooks have a "read a loud" mode built in. Its obviously a computer voice but its better than nothing. You may also be able to copy and paste the text into Word, which has a readaloud mode as well.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 11:48 AM on December 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


I'm in a fully online MS program, where each class meets once a week via Zoom, and the rest of the time we work on our own. For me the key to success is that I have to spend some time on school every. single. night. Sometimes just an hour, sometimes several hours. But I cannot slack off.

So every Saturday I make a todo list for the week (I use Evernote, but anything will work). I list out:

- Every reading required for the week, from the book or from course materials provided by the professor
- Any videos I need to watch
- Any posts required for the discussion board
- Any work on any projects due - I break the projects down by looking at the final deliverable and working backwards with due dates

I spend probably an hour or so every Saturday morning going through all the course assignments and projects to make sure I've captured everything for the week, and then just work my list when I sit down at my desk after dinner every night.

This keeps me from having to wonder if I'm missing something and allows me to focus on the work and not have to always be managing the work. Also, Pomodoro Technique for the win.
posted by ralan at 2:52 PM on December 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


(many great suggestions here)

I know everyone's treating this like it's obvious, but as an educator I still want to highlight the number one thing that leads to student success : Do all the assigned reading for every class session. That's the thing that slips first in online learning. And it's not just about keeping up. Students who have done the reading are much more engaged in the class because the lectures/discussion have something to hook on to. It's harder to pay attention to online classes, and anything that helps engagement will enhance your experience.

If you want to get fancy, "one weird trick" you can add to doing the reading is to come up with at least one question per reading and then see if the class answers that question. And if it does, does the answer satisfy you?

The number two thing is to find a study group and/or ways to discuss material with your classmates. (And then you can ask them about your reading questions if/when the class doesn't answer them well!)

Good luck!
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 4:29 PM on December 3, 2020 [4 favorites]


I have done okay in online classes myself, but most of my recent experience is from pandemic teaching. Students who have been successful in my (synchronous) classes:
1) Come to class. Just showing up really does help.
2) Get on some sort of weekly schedule to complete assignments, as several folks suggested above. Never assume that you will get caught up "next week". There is always more to do next week, and it is very daunting to catch up.
3) Have some sort of study/support group within the class. GroupMe is very popular among our students and was even pre-pandemic. It takes a few moments before/after/during class to gather a few email addresses or phone numbers and pop them into a GroupMe (or group text or Slack or whatever works for you), and then whenever you have a question or an idea or are just frustrated with the class, send your classmates a message. Some of my students have done more formal Zoom study groups, but I think just the text chatting is very helpful for almost everybody. I am always delighted to answer student questions, but I also understand it is sometimes easier to just ask "Was this supposed to be 1 paragraph or 1 page?" in a GroupMe.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:37 AM on December 4, 2020


If you need to memorize anything, I'd recommend using Anki for flashcards. You can make audio ones, if you prefer that. I actually take notes, while I'm reading my textbooks, in a form that I can grab the whole chapter's worth and put it right into flashcards. It does help to take notes that are basically in the form of questions and answers -- there's something to do with your hands and you have to stop sometimes and sort through something confusing and make sure you have the pieces correct, in a way that just notes doesn't do quite as well, and just reading rarely does.
posted by Margalo Epps at 7:02 PM on December 6, 2020


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