Time management/organization – Time management and organization is the most important ingredient to becoming a successful distance-learning student. As a distance learning student, it can be difficult at times to juggle the responsibilities of career and family while trying to balance college courses and class assignments effortlessly. Investing in a day planner or organizer strictly for your class courses will help keep time management of your college courses in perspective. This will also eliminate crunch time and overbooking of other family and/or career responsibilities. Ensure that you are allotting enough time in your schedule for study time. Most distance learning courses take a lot of discipline, individual reading and intense comprehensive in order to grasp the concept of the assignment. Therefore, ensuring that you are allotting enough time in your schedule for study time is imperative. Keep your daily and school organizer together, so when you are checking your daily schedule, your school planner is right there as a constant reminder.

Read and reread syllabus – The class syllabus is your guideline and foundation of any college course and can make or break your success in passing the class. Because a distance learning course has limited restrictions on actual “in class” time, the syllabus is made of specific course information that can help guide you through the course without any added headaches. The instructors put a lot of time in designing distance learning courses therefore, read the syllabus carefully and pay special attention to grading systems, extra credit opportunities and assignment due dates. The syllabus should be the first thing you place in your day “school” planner along with writing down each and every assignment due date and reading homework (if applicable). Once again, your syllabus is the most important piece of paper you will receive from your distance-learning course therefore keep this information handy at all times during your duration of the course.

Know your instructors schedule and available “office” hours – Most instructors distance – learning instructors are limited on availability to their students therefore, knowing your instructor’s accessibility will be invaluable during the time you are taking their course. Also, be sure to check the syllabus for your instructors e-mail address and prefer mode of communication. Some instructors are real sticklers on time constraints so knowing your instructor’s schedule will save a lot of time when it comes to communicating with him or her.

Utilize online libraries – A distance-learning student does not have the luxury of utilizing the college library unlike on-campus students, therefore they must rely on online libraries to accommodate their research. Most colleges have online libraries available to distance learning students especially if the school has a real strong distance-learning program. So check with your college or instructor on how to utilize the college online library system. If not, there are a few good online libraries currently on the web. Some of the good ones are; Questia and The Library Spot. Also, check with the local college in your area about getting access to utilize their library. Some local community colleges allow distance learning students’ limited access to their campus library during regular semesters.

Participate in discussion and chats- Participation is the other key to becoming a successful distance-learning student. Online discussions are used to talk about current assignment or chat with other students in the class about an upcoming project. Most online chats and discussions are simulated like an online study group on which you can bounce ideas among classmates and get answers to questions on assignments or readings.

Distance learning can be challenging at times, but can also be a very educational and truly amazing learning process. If you follow some of these key pointers in achieving distance-learning success, you could possibly come out on top as a successful distance-learning student.

About The Author

Career Diva is a freelance writer who has written articles on career advice, job search, fashion, music and dating/relationships. I enjoy researching cooking/food websites and writing book reviews.  She currently holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, and is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies.

• Discussion Board Guidelines

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Throughout the course, students will be required to make a minimum of weekly posts to the discussion board.  In large part, the quality of interaction on the discussion board is how a student’s class participation grade will be derived.  All of these posts will be in the full class discussion forum.  Each week on the Discussion Board, starting with Week 2, you will see 3 to 4 questions that you are required to discuss with everyone.  There will be FIVE graded full-class discussions during the course.  These discussions will be more general and theoretical in nature, much like a general class discussion in a residential setting. 

 

Each student is required to make at least ONE substantive original post (thread) for each of the questions and at least TWO short interaction/reply posts to two other student’s original posts.  However, each student may also make more than the required posts.  You are encouraged to talk with one another as much as possible. 

 

Each Discussion Board requires a minimum of an original post (at least 200–250 words answering the questions given) and the two smaller interaction/reply posts (50–100 words).  While students are encouraged to participate more actively in the learning activities, only the original and interaction/reply posts will count toward the grade.

 

All original Discussion Board posts are due on Wednesdays by 11:59 p.m (ET).  All interaction/replies to discussion board posts are due on Saturdays by 11:59 p.m (ET).   

 

If you do not respond by these time deadlines, your interaction will not “count” (Blackboard records the date and time!) and, therefore, you will not receive points toward the grade for that assignment.  But this will be a much more valuable experience if students post soon after the questions are announced.  Imagine a classroom where the professor asked a question, but no one ever responded or waited for 3 days to respond!  Contrast that with a vibrant classroom discussion where students are engaging each other and the professor in dialogue on a particular topic.

 

Enthusiastic agreement and respectful disagreement with others in the class is expected.  Disrespect (e.g., name-calling, “Bible thumping,” sermonizing, hostility, etc.) will not be acceptable communication on the discussion boards and severe final course grade reduction will be the consequence if it occurs.  Learning to accurately communicate beliefs, attitudes, and emotions about important issues is a crucial part of personal and professional development, particularly when others don’t see them as you do. 

• Study Group for One: How to Be a Successful Distance Learning Student
• Is Your Distance Learning School Accredited?
• New Strategy For A New Year, Semester
• Definition of Distance Learning
• Learning Through Computer Interaction

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