Starting an Online Program This Fall? Here’s Three Tips to Get Ready.
My Advice for New Online Students
It’s back to school season! Here at CUNY SPS, we are getting ready to welcome our students starting their online undergraduate and graduate programs.
For many of you who may be new to online learning, let me offer a few of my own tips on what you can do to make sure you get the most out of your semester:
Get Oriented
Online classes are often a very different experience from in-person ones. For example, you may find you have a lot more options when it comes to taking the class and reviewing the coursework and that you might interact with your teacher and fellow students in a less spontaneous but more intensive way. In general, the online learning format requires you to take a different approach to your studies than you may be used to. That is why my number one bit of advice for new online students is to sign up for any orientation or online learning tutorial that your school provides — and make sure you do this before you start any of your classes.
At CUNY SPS, we offer a number of different types of online orientations. Prospective students can take Test Flight, a free weeklong online learning simulation, to acquaint themselves with this format. We also offer a New Student Orientation for undergraduates, which focus on online learning and time management, and an Online Learning Essentials course for graduate students. I tell all our students to take advantage of these programs, which are taught by our faculty experts, since this goes a long way in preparing them for online learning success.
Update Your Tech
This is a simple tip but one often forgotten. Online learning will be frustrating if your tools and technology do not work or work slowly. Since you know you’ll be spending a lot of time on your computer over the next few months, spend some time in advance to make sure everything is working and current. Install all the latest apps, patches, and updates on your computer. Back everything up. Test your microphone and camera, and make sure your headphones are working. Get a new thumb drive or clear out an old one (just be sure it works on your computer). Upload the latest version of the computer programs and tools you know you’ll be using. If you’re not sure what the technology requirements will be for your classes, reach out to your school or academic program representative and just ask. You won’t regret this.
Plan Ahead
Like anything else in life, planning ahead as much as possible will help you immensely. However, I would say that the ability to plan ahead is even more important with online learning, since you have a lot more control over when you take your classes and how and when you complete your work. This flexibility is really one of the great benefits of online learning — but it can also be more chaotic if you don’t practice good time management.
To avoid crunch times, I recommend that you sit down at the beginning of the semester, once you have your class syllabi, and spend a couple of hours scheduling all your classes, deadlines, and exams in your calendar. Once you have that, go back and look at the rest of your schedule and coordinate these due dates with your job, family, or other life responsibilities.
For example, you might realize while looking at your schedule that a big paper due in your class in November might coincide with both a work deadline and your daughter’s play. If you figure this out at the beginning of the semester, you will have plenty of time in advance to troubleshoot how to work around this. Your solution may be to watch your class lectures right away and write your paper early, or ask your boss for an extension, or take a day off so you are free to attend the play, or all of the above. Either way, this planning ensures that you’ll be less stressed and will have the time to balance all of your responsibilities.
Well that’s it! I hope you all enjoy these tips, and find them useful. Good luck and have a wonderful Fall 2022 semester!
