Top Successful Online Learning Strategies and Tips.

Online education has come a long way in fulfilling the needs of students who cannot attend in-person learning for one reason or the other. The pandemic has made e-learning even more of an in demand platform for studying.

The trend can only continue to grow even after the pandemic. So in today’s article I will be sharing with you the top 10 tips on how to be successful at online school.

Whether the pandemic forced you to go into virtual learning or it’s your personal choice, online education comes with it’s own set of challenges. As such to be successful at e-learning or online learning, it would require a modified set of habits and self-regulation.

One of the greatest personal traits you must have, if you want to know how to be successful at online school is…grit! So here are the top 10 successful online learning strategies or tips to help you bring your best self, at all times. Let’s get into it…

How to be Successful at Online School

1. Treat Online School As a Real Deal

The first tip for success at online learning course is to treat online school like real school. What do I mean? Treat is as though you were going to a real school.

Do the usual things or routines. Wake up as if it’s any other day. Set your alarms from the night to wake you up. Pack your bag from the night before even if you just take your bag downstairs to the kitchen counter.

Feel as put together and organized as possible each night before your first day of school. Get everything ready. When you wake up in the morning brush your teeth, get ready comb your hair and do all that stuff.

Shower and get ready as if you’re really going to your first day of school.

Let me also give you this tip right now. If you have a class on zoom at 10 o’clock in the morning, don’t wake up at 9:45 am. Wake up a little earlier, say wake up at 8:30 at the latest.

There may be some people who might not have to get up maybe till even one o’clock in the afternoon. But I say start your mornings off right.

Have a nice early start. Grab some breakfast. This will make your day go by so much smoother. It’ll make it so much easier. Everything will be perfect.

So bottom line: Have an early start to make the day feel as normal as possible. Treat the beginning of your school day like this is your everyday average school life even though it’s not.

 

2. Declutter and Organize Your Study Space

This is a big tip on how to be a successful online student.

You could declutter before school starts or at least before you online course begins. If there’s something new you need to get, you do it at this time. Set your desk area to be perfect or at least as close to perfect as possible.

It’s important that you have a clear and clean study space to work at. This helps your mind stay focused on one thing. When studying from home, there are distractions everywhere, yes in your home.

It could be anything. There could be like a pencil that has a cool squishy thing on it and you’re going to want to squish it. Declutter everything, organize your space, get it prepared from the night before you start school.

Also have your iPad, Chromebook, iPod or laptop computer, everything you’re going to need for school, have it charged the night before.

I recommend picking one spot to be your study space. Pick that spot and don’t move. This also will resemble a classroom-like setting.

You know when you used to go to traditional face-to-face school you went to the same classroom. If you had assigned seats you most likely went to the same desk. Everything looked the same for you.

It’s important to mimic this in your brain so that your brain knows when you sit down at that spot, it’s time to work it’s not time to play.

I recommend that you don’t do your homework in your bed. Your bed is where you sleep, where you relax and wind down.

If you’re propped up in your bed trying to do your homework, you’re gonna doze off and that’s not good. So pick a designated study space and stick to it.

 

3. Have a Designated Study Space

Yes I know the last online school tip talked about this but we still need to go a little deeper here. If you don’t have a separate place to go and all you have is your room, what do you do?

What if you don’t have a like a desk or anything like that at the moment your online school starts?

Work with what you’ve got. Go to the kitchen table get yourself like a clear bin or like a caddy or like a rolling bin if you want to get fancy with it and put all your school essentials that you’ll need on that rolly bin or in that little box.

Every time you’re ready to go to school just take the bin downstairs with you put it on the kitchen counter and start your school day and get working towards your straight A’s.

 

4. Hold Yourself Accountable

Holding yourself accountable is one of the best tips on how you can be successful in online school. You’re a big girl or boy now and Mom or Dad can’t be waking us up right before zooms.

The age is really not an issue here so whether you’re a young person, young adult or an adult, this tip applies as well. Your mom has probably done this three times this week already.

Now if you’re like me and you’re lazy and forgetful, have a family member hold you accountable. Have a friend hold you accountable. Send them your school schedule. With regards to the online school schedule I don’t recommend someone like a friend.

They’re probably worried about their own schedule. So maybe your mom or your dad or your big sister a big brother or even your little sister or a little brother will work best in this case.

Give somebody your schedule and say hey if you ever see me slacking just make sure i’m on point. Trust me your parents or guardian will appreciate this.

Once an adult family member has a copy of schedule they will check up on you say five minutes before every zoom class session.

Bottom line: If you can’t hold yourself accountable, have someone help you.

5. Get Rid of Distractions

We’re still talking about how to be successful in online school and strategies to help you succeed. So our next point is to get rid of distractions and try to stay focused.

Online school has not been the norm for most of us. You might have done everything online with the exception of virtual learning. Things like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc.

We just search the web all day all night. We have to get rid of those distractions if we want to figure out how to be successful in online school. How do we that practically?

If you have a cell phone and you find yourself always picking it up, turn it off and put it to the side. Better still still give it to one of your parents.

Just try to stay focused. That’s the only way we can get through online school. Remember you don’t have a teacher in front of you telling you to get off that phone or you’re going to get it taken.

It’s kind of hard to stay focused when you’re kind of like left to be your own teacher and student at the same time. So turn off all distractions.

So if you have like music playing in the background or your favourite Netflix show was running next to you, turn it off turn it off. You will miss some piece of information that’s so important you won’t be able to get it back so turn off all your distractions.

Get rid of everything try to stay focused. If you’re in a Zoom class on math and you’re still gaming, it’s gonna hurt your learning. And I’m sure you want to have good grades.

So bottom line: Kill off all the distractions like you would if you were in face-to-face school.

 

6. Make a Schedule and Stick to It

Our next tip for successful online learning is to make a schedule if you already have one made for you by your school or teacher. Your school may be nice enough to make you a schedule. And this may be true for most schools.

Once you get that schedule embed it into your brain that whey you’re woken at 2am you will remember your what’s on the schedule at 11am that day.

Have reminder apps on your phone that will get you to get going for that Zoom class, to turn in that assignment at particular time.

You can also purchase yourself a planner. Let your parents know and they will be happy to help you out with one. It’s really important to write stuff down because otherwise you’ll forget it.

Use your schedule. Make yourself to-do lists and simply cross things off when you’re done. It comes in handy so make yourself a schedule and stick to it.

Some schools you’re required to log on to zoom when they tell you to. Other schools they give you work to do on a certain day and it has to be done by the end of the week.

To me it’s a little bit harder when someone’s not telling you when you have to get on zoom and turn in your work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

One you have a schedule of all your work in a planner, you can divide how you even get your work done. Like you could say you know you want to try to complete 50 of your work by Sunday and the other 50 by Wednesday.

That way you could have 100 of my work done by the middle of the week and you don’t have to be stressed about anything because you’re not falling behind and not slacking or anything like that. You stay on top your due dates and keep being productive.

 

7. Write Everything Down

One of the tips for success in your online course is to write everything down. This goes side by side with making a schedule and sticking to it.

Whatever your virtual teacher says you should write down, do. What they ask you write down is most probably going to be on some pop quiz somewhere.

When you write things down it gets stuck in your brain better. It’s like a automatic reminder when you physically write it down. Putting it into your phone helps a lot too.

 

8. Take a Break Within Classes

Wanna know how to be successful in online school? Take a break. The tips I’ve given you so far on steps for successful online learning are pretty hardcore.

However, this one is really important. And it’s simply to take a break. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Being too hard on yourself could be counter-productive.

For example. Don’t sit at the table for 12 hours trying to study one concept.

Let’s talk about breaks and don’t confuse anything. When I say take a break, I don’t mean you take a break on Monday, and never come back till Thursday. I mean like in between classes, like hard study sessions. Take a 30-minute break and enjoy outside.

Grab a bite to eat go catch up with your family. See what they’re doing but do not turn on Netflix and try to watch a Netflix show. Trust me, you will start to watch the show and and somehow you’ll start on episode one and you’ll end up on episode six.

So don’t watch the Netflix show or YouTube. Ideally, get away from the screen. Go out for a walk if possible. if you don’t live in a cold climate where it’s winter. Or simply chat with your family and recharge for the second stretch.

It’s important because if you sit on the same spot all day, you get a little stiff.

 

9. Wear Blue Light Glasses

If you guys are having like random headaches and you can’t figure out why it might just be because you’re staring at that screen for way too long. You’re sitting way too close to the screen.

You’re going to be spending a big chunk of the day staring at your computer screen. This is not traditional school. We’re not talking to our friends in the hallway and then going to sit in class.

Wearing computer screen glasses give your eyes the break it needs.The glasses help take of some of the strain off your eyes. If you have headaches this might just be a solution. This will keep your eyes healthy, young and fresh for the rest of your life.

10. Turn On Your Camera During Zoom

Our last tip on how to be successful in online school is to turn on your camera during zoom classes. Yes we are online, we’re not a traditional school setting so nobody really has to see us.

This may not apply to all situations but it may a requirement for your school. That you have to be seen. You have to be seen in your school uniform polo shirt.

They don’t really care if you don’t have pants on because we’re not really getting up but you have to be on your uniform polo. You have to be groomed they literally use the word ‘groom’ and your camera has to be on.

Being in your school uniform or your prescribed attire is a very great idea because it instills and mimics our school day. We’re getting up, we’re grooming ourselves, we’re doing our hair, putting on our school uniform halfway and we’re showing our face. This will also help you get in the mindset for school.

Another great advantage of this successful online school strategy is that we get to see our faces even if we can’t see each other physically. It does help a tiny bit to be able to see each other over zoom rather than not being able to see each other at all.

Your teachers will also appreciate it if you are active in their zoom class, you’re showing your face, you’re asking questions and answering other people’s questions.

So show your face during zoom even if you’re not required to show your teacher that you are paying attention because it will help you. Your focus is on them and you’re not just off somewhere doing something else while your zoom is on but your camera’s off.

Show yourself on zoom, act like you’re interested even if you’re not. Act like you’re interested and learn something and your teacher will appreciate that.

 

11. Don’t Procrastinate (Bonus Tip)

I know I promised sharing with you the best tips on how to be successful in online school but here’s a bonus tip that’s very important. Don’t procrastinate.

In come classes that I have taken from online college, I was given homework on Monday and it’s due the next following Monday. This gives you a lot of days to procrastinate but try not to.

Set yourself some goals. Write down a schedule for yourself. Try not to procrastinate.

Let me give you an example: If you have a big test coming on Friday and it’s Monday study for about an hour every day and you will be ready for that test. You will be ready review your material before class.

It’s so easy to put it off and go gaming or YouTube or Netflix binging. If you do that you’re going to fall behind before you even know it. Once you fall behind that is it. You will start playing catch-up game and it’s not fun and it’s not easy.

Try and stay ahead of things. Stay on top of your online school work.

Conclusion

These are the top tips on how to be successful in online school. I trust you have found it useful to help you get good grades.

What other tips have you applied to help you be successful at online school? Share them with us in the ‘Comments’ below.