School is a big time commitment, and the advice you’ll get is similar to what you’ll hear as a first time parent. Things like, “your priorities will change” and “it’s not just about you anymore, it’s a big commitment!” You may nod and smile in response, but don’t let others deter you from pursuing your dreams. If getting a degree online is in your plans to further your working knowledge, and to satisfy your curiousity then go for it! Just make sure to educate yourself on what you’ll expect before you enroll online.

1.  Make sure you’re comfortable managing your time.
Since the format is virtual, you won’t have a professor coming up to your desk in class asking why you’ve been missing so many assignments. Online learning is at your own pace, but the only person reminding you to check assignments and discussion board posts will be yourself. You’ll need to develop some great time management skills quick in order to stay on top.

2.  The school should be regionally or nationally accredited, or both.
Accreditation is an important factor in deciding on investing in higher education. While there are many different types of accrediting agencies, the important thing to know is that the accrediting agency is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (www.chea.org) – which is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

3.  You need to be comfortable using technology…for just about the entirety of your program.
Since the online education format is solely online, you will be reliant on your internet connection and laptop/desktop. You can’t use your car breaking down, or dog eating your homework as an excuse for missing assignments. Check out the school’s technology requirements first.

4.  There are several ways to make connections with classmates. Just because you’re online doesn’t mean you’re alone.
This is a big question for many looking at online schools. And even though you don’t have the daily interaction with peers in the physical sense, there is always interaction through social mediums like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and also inside the classroom. Online learning can, for some, be more productive and beneficial in terms of absorbing information because there isn’t the distraction of being in a physical classroom. It’s just about the relay of information from one source, your professor and peers, to another, you.

5.  Once you apply, make sure to develop a working relationship with your academic advisor.
Don’t wait until after registering for too many classes. Make first contact after you’ve applied to the school of your choice. Once you’re in there are 5 questions you should ask up front. Ask them if transfer credit should be used, or if you’re in the right degree program.

[Learn more about online education programs at American Public University.]

Once you’ve followed my list you should be ready to begin your program. Don’t be afraid to ask for help along the way. Online education is a great medium of delivery for education, but it does have its challenges. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, talk to your advisor or sign up with a tutor. Your education is what you make of it, so make the most out of your experience.

By J. Mason

College is the next logical step after high school. It’s part tradition, and part necessity for most professions. Continuing your education will depend on your readiness for a new environment, as well as new responsibilities. So, how do you know if you’re ready for the next step?

When assessing whether you’re ready for higher education you should ask yourself a couple questions:

1. Does my career path require a degree?
2. Do I have time to dedicate to classwork, research, and reading?
3. Are there financial resources there for me to pursue higher education?
4. Has college always been a consideration?
5. Do I know what I want to major in?
6. Do I plan on using my education as a stepping stone for a career?

If you have confidence in your response as to why you should pursue a degree then you may be ready. You can always consult with an admissions counselor at your school of choice. They’ll be able to assist with other questions you may have.

[Learn more about online degree options at American Public University.]

Now that you’re ready for school you’ll need a few tips to bring to school with you.

1. Develop good time management skills up front.
2. Take a writing class in your first semester; especially if you’re attending online school.
3. Ask your academic advisor questions before classes start.
4. Always keep your syllabus handy.
5. Find a support team. Whether it’s a significant other, friends, or family. Make sure you have external support, outside of your classmates and instructors.
6. If you’re attending an online school, get training on the online classroom.
7. Research your peers. Learn about the community. Find the school on Facebook and check out the conversations.

Utilize your academic advisor as much as possible in school. They’re there to help along the way. Once you’ve started classes and gotten into your groove sport your education, and school spirit (if your school has a mascot). Find new ways to get involved and immersed in the college experience, whether it’s online or traditional.

By J. Mason

Every student comes to school with questions, and it’s with the help of student advising that a lot of those questions get answered up front. Here’s a great podcast with two student advisors from American Public University System on the five things every student should ask their academic advisor before getting too deep into their program.

Some questions addressed in this podcast are:

• When should I contact my advisor?
• Should I transfer in credit?
• How do I know I’m in the right degree program?

For the rest of these questions, and the response, listen below!

Here is part two of our in-depth look into the Chardon High School shooting that occurred little more than a week ago. In this segment Dr. Charles Bindig, former public school teacher and administrator, shares his thoughts on the role leadership played during the Chardon shooting, and if schools have the ability to prevent these types of tragedies.

[Learn more about degrees in education at American Public University.]

The online student needs to make sure they have 5 areas of interest down in order to survive school. They need to know time management, how to take notes, refine their writing skills, how to conduct research effectively, and effective study habits. Here are 5 app types to facilitate the online learning process:

• Time management/Organization
  • GoTasks
  • Homework Tracker w/Reminders
• Note taking
  • Evernote
  • iAnnotate PDF
• Writing
  • Write 2 Lite
  • Papers
• Researching
  • Article Search by Foreminds
• Studying/Flashcards
  • Flashcards Pro
  • iCram Master

Check out my app picks in the podcast below!
By J. Mason
5 App Types for the Online Student by APUS

For students familiar with Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory who wish to leverage their particular set of intelligences in the classroom, there are different tactics that are applicable to the different intelligences.

[Multiple Intelligences (Part 1): How Many Do You Have?]

Verbal/linguistic: You prefer to read, write, listen, memorize, try word problems, and case studies. You learn best through hearing, reading, writing and speaking. Your needs include books, audio presentations, debate, discussion, and journals.

Mathematical/Logical: You prefer to ponder, work with numbers, conduct experiments, and solve problems. You learn best through working with relationships and patterns, classifying, categorizing, exploration, manipulation, observation, and abstract concepts.

Visual/Spatial: You prefer to build, draw, create, design, and observe. You learn best through pictures, diagrams, pictures, colors, modeling, illustrating, videos, maps, charts, graphs, and observation.

Bodily/Kinesthetic: You prefer to move, touch, question, and observe. You learn best by participating, deconstructing, building, role-play, simulations, and practice.

[related: Setting Up Great (and Successful) Study Habits]

Musical: You prefer to sing, play an instrument, and to listen to music and poems. You learn best through audio, hearing music and songs, rhythm, and signing, reading aloud and attending performances.

Interpersonal: You prefer to discuss and participate in group work. You learn best through sharing, relating, debating, collaboration, comparison, networking and attending events.

Intrapersonal: You prefer choice, to work alone, reflect, and pursue interests that you have a specific interest in. You learn best through independent work, reflection, and self-paced projects in your own personal space.

Naturalistic: You prefer to be in the outdoors and to work with nature. You learn best through exploring natural habitats, make connections to real-life, and science experimentation.

Existential: You prefer choice, contemplation and comparison. You learn best through interaction, comparison, discussion, and self-expression.

Knowing your unique combination of intelligences empowers you to choose those study tactics that work best for you in the classroom or on the job. When considering a career, there is often a relationship between intelligence types and careers. For example, Existential intelligence lends itself to counseling or serving God, as might Interpersonal. Visual/special intelligence would be an advantage for those who want a career in sports or the performing arts.

By Craig Gilman
Faculty Member at American Public University

I recently enrolled in a master of business administration (MBA) online course and so far it has been an enjoyable educational experience. The online classroom requires students to interact virtually and construct well-researched and written responses prior to posting them in the online discussion boards. Here are a few simple tips that can help you be more effective with your posts.

[American Public University offers online degrees for business professionals.]

Even though the discussion forum is somewhat informal, remember that everything you write is documented. Each post that you make builds a portrait of how engaged and knowledgeable you are as a student. So, always take the time and put your best foot forward, even if it’s a simple discussion post. Ensure that you don’t have typos, that you write clearly, and that you cite your sources.

Students will often write their discussions first in Word and then copy them over into the rich text editor in the online forum. This allows students to utilize the editing features of Word. Don’t just paste the text directly. The latest versions of Word, or .doc(x) files, produce code that is used in the background. If you cut and paste directly into the rich text editor, your post will lose its format and be littered with unreadable code. A sloppy post sends the wrong message.

Most rich text editors have a Paste from Word icon in the toolbar. Click on it, then paste over your text. This simple step can help ensure the integrity of your post and you won’t have to use up valuable time to go back and edit your discussion post again. No matter what the purpose of your submission is, always focus on submitting quality posts, and it will reflect positively on you. It might even help you get the good grade you deserve.

By J. Thompson
Online Learning Tips Staff

The life of a military spouse is filled with changes and choices. Our civilian counterparts experience their fair share of change; however, military spouses experience change exponentially, especially when it comes to deciding on an educational course of action. Although there are a myriad of help organizations located at military installations, the fact remains that it is easy to become overwhelmed by the lack of knowledge about our educational choices and how to manage change. One of the best ways that we can prepare for change in the future is through careful career planning and education.

For many years I worked as an education counselor for active duty military. I was always excited to see the occasional spouse visit our education center. Hey, I am a military spouse. I can relate. Regardless of sex, rank of active duty spouse, or branch of the service, one common theme emerged…

How can I plan my career and education needs around my spouse’s military career? We never seem to be in one location long enough to complete a college degree.

While it is true, Military spouses are faced with multiple deployments, permanent duty station changes, extended work hours for our military spouses, finding new schools for children, setting up a new house, etc., it is easy to get side tracked from our own education goals. However, even in the midst of our military lives, you can accomplish your educational goals.

You may have heard the expression, “walk before you run.” Finding a good education fit is the same thing. Start slowly by gathering information about available degree programs in your area, determine the possibility of realistically completing your degree of choice prior to your next permanent change of station or consider an online program of study. To ensure that your education goals don’t remain on the back burner, consider the following:

1. Visit your local base education Center Directory of Military Education Centers. Military education centers are staffed by subject-matter experts who can help you to navigate the available education programs in your area. In many cases staff members at education centers are military spouses too, and they can speak from experience that it can be done.
2. Look for spouse organizations and base support organization for assistance. The following links provide information about financial grants and loans available for military spouses: Financial Aid for Spouses of Service Members & General Scholarship Opportunities.
3. Consider attending an online university or college Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education (DANTES). Completing your degree online can afford you opportunity to study free from time constraints, duty station locations, or frequent permanent change of stations.

By John B. Aldrich
Director, Military Outreach at American Military University

Having ready access to the internet means you have a wide assortment of resources at your fingertips. If you have a smartphone or tablet then you’re probably always connected in some capacity. Where do you go when you’re not attending classes? An easy answer might be news sites, Facebook, shopping, or your favorite DIY blog.

What if I said you could access a bevy of super informative webcasts without paying anything, and they would take up as much time as a short lunch break? That’s exactly what we have as a resource, an�archive of webcasts from American Public University (APU) subject matter experts.

Here are some topics you can use for your programs:

• Revealing North Korea – our newest webcast recording; great for intelligence students
• Nurses for Change – ideal for students in Nursing programs
• A Nuclear Middle East – great for homeland security students
• Predators and the Constitution – a great topic for legal studies and criminal justice students
• Inside the Terrorist Mind – a great study for counter terrorism majors

Check out the APU webcast archive with over 30 topics for students to choose from.

Balance, it’s something that we often seek in many aspects of our lives; whether we seek it in family tasks, school work, or our jobs, we often find that we are striving to find some aspect of balance in our lives.  Balancing course registrations can be a difficult task to accomplish; however, I have included a few tips to consider in regards to balancing your course registrations.

[related: Tips for Online Learning Success]

Tip #1: Try not to pair two writing intensive courses together; this will likely cause you to devote more time to school work than other obligations.  Writing intensive courses are courses that have heavier writing than other courses; typically, a writing intensive course is defined as having a research paper and heavy research projects throughout the course in addition to regular course work (reading, discussion forums, replies to peers, etc.).

Tip #2: Unless you are seeking a career as a detective, try not to pair two analytical courses together.  Analytical courses have a focus on the logical and systematic approach to learning; analytical courses often have complex problems/situations that need to be addressed by a student which requires some investigative thinking on the student’s behalf.  

Tip #3: Consider the readings that you will have in the course from the text books and additional readings assigned by the instructor, additionally, you need to also consider the assignments each week that will be assigned including quizzes, research proposals, exams, and discussion board forums. 

I encourage you to try some of these combinations:

• Math and English
• History and Science
• Literature and Math
• Social Science and History

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses will help you to divide your time in your courses each week.  Now that you know which courses to pair together, let’s look at how to break down your schedule when you attend an online university.  Typically, if you’ve ever attended an online university before, you’ve noticed that you have a decent amount of freedom in regards to submitting your assignments.  You mean, you can turn the assignment in on Sunday at 11:54 p.m.?  You sure can; however, you are encouraged to review your assignments on a weekly basis so that you’re not staying up until 11:59 p.m. each Sunday on your third cup of coffee attempting to submit all assignments for your different courses. 

If you have assignments that are due at the same time each week, you could possibly focus your attention on two courses during Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and the other two courses during Tuesdays and Thursdays (for a longer period of time since it’s only two days a week).  This aligns with the traditional college schedule; you can ensure that your work is done on certain nights of the week.  Weekends can be devoted to catching up on assignments or even reading ahead for the next week!  Another alternative would be to set deadlines for yourself.  While your instructor may not provide specific deadlines, setting deadlines for yourself will allow you to see a “due date” despite the fact that there is really no due date. 

All in all, balance is fundamental to doing well in an online environment.  While you may have more freedom in an online course, remember that you need to ensure that your courses are paired well so that you don’t burn out too quickly, and you want to ensure that you have a schedule in place for your assignments so that you can remain organized throughout the semester!  I wish you luck!

By Melanie Dougherty
Academic Success Advisor at American Public University