There will be times when you’ll find yourself at a mental roadblock, stuck on how to complete an assignment. Often, the best thing to do in those situations is to take a step back and stop working on it for a while.  Take cues from your body to determine break time. 

• Are your ideas getting stale?
• Is your mind wondering a lot?
• Are you feeling restless?

Think about your assignment off and on, in a relaxed way, while you’re doing something relaxing, like taking a walk. Sometimes your “background processing” may be much more creative than your “foreground processing.” In fact, there is research that taking a break to walk through nature significantly improved cognitive thinking skills.

 - Online Learning Tips Staff

Sometimes folks forget that they can print their assignments.  They just assume that an online classroom means that you have to read everything electronically.  Especially in this day and age when we’re all worried about waste and the environment. 

However, too often, important information is missed when reading on the computer. Print off lectures and assignments and store them in a folder near your workstation so that the information is available any time you need to quickly reference it.  You can print on recycled paper, with recycled ink and then recycle your notes after your course is complete.  By having a well organized well documented set of syllabi and course materials, you’ll be able to reference things from previous weeks quickly and efficiently. 

Additionally, by printing your assignments, you’ll be able to easily take notes and highlight important passages in the materials.  Just because you’re taking a class online with an e-book, that doesn’t mean you cannot print.   Also, if you have computer or internet access issues down the road, you’ll buy your self some extra time by printing assignments out early.

(source: Online Education Database)

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If you have to memorize terms and definitions for a test, forget about the paper index cards. Although using index cards to prepare for a test is a proven study method, dealing with them can be a hassle. It seems that you either never have enough, are always misplacing them, or maybe what you previously wrote is totally illegible and it’s taking forever to translate. Using index cards can potentially be a mess.

Instead, try an online flashcard maker. These Web sites allow students to create, share, study, and print cards from their computers. There are many flashcards makers to choose from. Below are several you can test drive.

• Flashcard Exchange – Web-based software that offers free and premium services. A free membership will allow you to create unlimited flashcards, plus the ability to study and share them online. A premium membership, a one-time fee of $20 USD, offers features such as the ability to add pictures and audio to your flashcards.
• The Flashcard Machine – is a free service created by Madhu Lundquist in 2002 while pursuing his BFA in Multimedia Design at the University of Oregon. After discovering that all of the images for his art history class were available on a class web page, he started creating web-based flashcards. Today, Flashcard Machine is a growing community of students, teachers and professionals around the world.
• Studybulb – is a free online collaborative community for study materials. It’s still in an early beta stage of testing. During this time, early-adopters can begin adding study materials to the community as well as feedback to improve the site.

 - Online Learning Tips Staff

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We cannot articulate this enough fellow students!  Create a schedule. Determine what time is best for you to study and work on your assignments. Is it every Wednesday while your partner is out for poker night? Maybe it’s Saturday mornings when the kids are at soccer practice. By creating a schedule, and setting task reminders, you’re less likely to become overwhelmed juggling school with your other commitments. 

A schedule is extremely important since your classes are online.  While you can access the classroom any time, by setting a regular schedule, you’re more likely to succeed and remember to dedicate yourself to the commitment of education.  A schedule will help you plan ahead, accommodate future appointments and meet your classroom assignment dates ahead of time.  If you lack a schedule, you will more easily forget about an assignment or procrastinate until you are overloaded.

 - Online Learning Tips Staff

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