Tips for online education

[ashlesha]

so today was the first day of taking online classes to get my bachelors.

i am freaking out.

when i am in a class with other people, i can get a feel for how intelligent they are and how much effort they are putting into their schoolwork and it gives me a barometer. working entirely by myself, i have no barometer, and my default is to give 100% (carefully taking detailed notes, reading every word in the textbook, etc.) and there's just no way i'll be able to do that on top of my other obligations without burning myself out and going crazy. i know i'm smart enough to get good grades without throwing myself entirely into it, ive done it before, but i can't remember how. its been like 10 years now since ive been in school so i'm out of practice. AND i am not so good at processing info when it all comes at me from a fucking SCREEN with no discussion, no variation, not even a fucking textbook i can hold in my hands.

i know some of you do this online school thing. give me tips. console me. hold me.

[Kim]

@Scapegrace

Also, what classes are you taking?

[ashlesha]

intro to geology (i was informed that this was "rocks for jocks" the other day, hah) & strategic management.

i'm supposed to give an example by wednesday of a specific example of strategic management in an organization and the issues and factors contributing to it. three people have responded to that already and its the first day and we've only been given the broadest overview of the terms and concepts. wtf? i didn't take the intro to business class cuz i guess they figured my transfer credits covered it. maybe thats why.

[Creepy-male]

intro to geology (i was informed that this was "rocks for jocks" the other day, hah) & strategic management.

i'm supposed to give an example by wednesday of a specific example of strategic management in an organization and the issues and factors contributing to it. three people have responded to that already and its the first day and we've only been given the broadest overview of the terms and concepts. wtf? i didn't take the intro to business class cuz i guess they figured my transfer credits covered it. maybe thats why.

Steve Jobs returning to Apple after being kicked out of the company and implementing the blitzkrieg of Apple-ish products and advertising that we now see today.

[squirreltual]

three people have responded to that already and its the first day we've only been the broadest overview of the terms and concepts. wtf?

Ignore those fuckers, for a start. They have no lives.

Were you not given any guidance on how long they expect you to spend on it every week? Maybe you can ask your tutors? We also get given learning outcome sheets as a way of clarifying expectations.

I find it strange your material is purely all online. Maybe there are some textbooks from elsewhere that you can use in addition? Also there's a lot of different lectures on itunes.

[ashlesha]

i sucked it up and completed my first assignment and now i feel much better about myself. behold:

The lithosphere has been shaped in part by water erosion from the hydrosphere. This is seen in the patches of snow on the rocky plateaus.

The snow fell as precipitation after evaporating and condensing in the atmosphere.

The biosphere – the grass and flowers in the picture - is fed from the nutrients in both the hydrosphere and the lithosphere. It also exchanges gases with the atmosphere.

the nobel prize will be on my doorstep any minute now.

[Scapegrace]

Step 1: stop giving a fuck what other people are doing, and how smart they are. It doesn't matter.

[Minde]

I completed a good portion of my degree through online courses. One thing I discovered is that the portion of your grade that you'd normally get for just showing up to class isn't there anymore. Instead, everything is about the reading and the assignments. Lots of reading, and lots of writing. (I know, seems obvious writing it out here, but coming from a "traditional" environment it can take some getting used to.)

Another thing I discovered is that if I could get ahead in the assignments, my future self would thank me.

Also, I found that getting in touch with the professor and communicating with (but not pestering) them often is helpful. It gives both that barometer you mentioned as well as lets them know that you're engaged in the course, which can be helpful come grading time. Plus you can get extra tips that way. Asking clarifying questions is a good way to do that.

Taking *just* online courses became a little too brutal for me, so I ended up interspersing some "real live" classes with the online ones (mostly art, some ASL, stuff that works better for in-person instruction). My university (the one providing the online education) was fortunately pretty flexible in allowing me to take local community college classes and transfer them into my degree.

[Scapegrace]

Fair warning: it's definitely more difficult than doing traditional on campus course.

[Minde]

Yeah, I'd suggest starting slow, taking just one course or maybe two until you get the rhythm of it. But two is still pushing it. Especially if you're trying to still work. One term, I made the near fatal mistake of trying to take 20 credits of pure online courses at once. The most memorable and valuable thing I learned during that term is humility, and that being a human with limits is ok.

Ooh, if you can test out of courses, that can be a little bit easier than a full-on class, especially if it's in areas where you already have experience.

That's exciting you're pursuing your bachelor's

[xerx]

I took a 6 course semester once, offline. all advanced math / comp sci. courses. t'was intense.

I had an LII teacher who gave us such a heavy course load that we had to stay up till midnight almost every day; some people stayed up all through spring break. He enjoyed weeding out slackers. He actually bragged about making people cry. In retrospect, succeeding through such a huge challenge was one of the formative experiences of my life and many difficulties now seem trivial by comparison.

[ashlesha]

I had been going into it just with thoughts of passing classes and getting a degree, but as I actually throw myself into assignments I have been feeling a lot better and remembering how I enjoy the challenge and why in the past I've said it would be cool to be a student forever. There are parts of it that suck, but enjoying the process instead of seeing it as something to put behind me really makes a difference.

[ashlesha]

(now I'll come back and say that again when it's time for exams or something)