If you literally couldn't bare to register for a Friday class but needed the units, and your university is on the flexible side, you probably decided to do online classes. Online classes sound amazing, but in reality they usually end up being the most frustrating part of your semester. You can't charm your professor, there's no office hours, and the deadlines are ridiculously late at night. Wasn't this suppose to just be reading?!? Here's how to survive.
1. Save, Print, Repeat.
If you lose your work, it's gone. No paper copies or class notes. So try and print every syllabus, assignment, quiz, and paper outline, as well as putting all the dates on a calendar.2. Make a Calendar That Follows You Everywhere
You can't hit 'snooze' on assignments. And you can only kill off so many relatives as excuses. So turn those notifications on overdrive! Like you would for a birth control pill reminder. And have it follow you from your laptop, to your phone, to your notes, to sticky notes, to written on your hand.
3. Your Professor Is Basically A Robot
Sometimes you'll start to take their comments on your work personally. Just like it's easy to misread signals while texting, it's just as easy to misunderstand an assignment. So if they seem at your throat about something, seek outside help and do the best you can and just assign them a silly disney character whenever they e-mail you something particularly shady.
4. Do The Readings ALL WEEK LONG
5. Pour Your Heart Out In The Online Discussions
The only way to earn points outside of assignments is participating with the class. So communicate with as many people as you can on their discussion posts and continue to make observations. Even if they're obvious points, it's worth expressing you have a basic understanding of the material than just relying on the assignments. Sometimes you will not be informed, but unless it's in the readings, you will get points for trying.
6. Most importantly: C's Get Degrees
Since it's actually very challenging working with an online schedule. With super late-night deadlines, no human communication, and a surplus of reading to make up for lost lectures, just keep it average. No use letting this required education class get in the way of what you're there to learn. And you'll learn something from it, even if it's latin names for planets or artwork from the Conquistadors.
