OnlineProfessor

When it comes to major projects and writing assignments in your online classes, instructors often give page count or word count requirements. They can phrase this is a number of ways:

Some examples of length requirement instructions (and what they usually mean):

What’s included in the word count or page count?

Why word count requirements exist:

• The business world often contains word count restrictions.

It’s really annoying to a client when they ask you for something and you ignore them.

• Sometimes, when you go long, you magnify your errors.

There’s nothing like making a mistake and then enhancing it by doing it a dozen more times.

• Time is short. The instructor wants you to learn, but there are 30 other people in the class. When you go so long that it’s the equivalent of three student projects, it works against the system.
• It’s a way to gauge your strength of focus. Word counts are hints about expectations. An instructor or client is telling you that a good, focused project should not take more than a certain amount of space to convey. If you find you cannot achieve that, it typically means your project focus is too broad or general. You might have to reconsider the topic and approach itself.

Instructors like to say that there is no such thing as a stupid question, but honestly, there is. Students sometimes get lazy when it comes to reading instructions, and before they try to figure it out themselves and read through all the materials, they often write a note to the instructor.

A Little Common Sense Please
Consider the following question actually submitted to me by a student: “Your directions were real confusing. didn’t know where to submit my journal entry. in the journal or in the dropbox.”

Forget the fact that this contains some obvious and unprofessional grammar errors, but did the student really consider his question before sending it? Why would he think the journal entry would go anywhere other than the journal submission box? Furthermore, why would a student feel that it was appropriate to start out the message with an accusation about the clarity of the instructor’s directions?

A Little More Careful Reading Please
Here’s another classic, real-life example of a student inquiry. The instructions for a particular assignment contained this note: “The course textbook cannot be one of your three, required sources for this assignment.” I later received a message from a student asking: “Do you want one or three sources for this assignment?”

As you can see, so many of these errors stem from some careless reading. Instructors welcome questions, but be kind and avoid bothering them with things you could easily figure out on your own. They just make you look bad.

If a student is failing a course by the middle of the term, they need to make some tough decisions about withdrawing from the class. Too many students drop a class without thinking things through. Consider these points before you make up your mind.

Course withdrawal considerations:

• What are the deadlines? Be clear on all your paperwork deadlines. So many students make up their minds to drop a class, and stop doing the work. Then they realize too late that they missed the deadline. Since they can’t go back and make up additional missed work, they end up failing anyway. It’s terrible to make such a mistake because it was completely avoidable.
• How badly are you failing? Look at the syllabus and do the math. If you need to make perfect scores on every future assignment just to pass, it’s just not realistic to expect that of yourself.
• Is there any chance the instructor will take late work or give extra credit? If you missed a major assignment recently, and know you can make it up, discuss it with the instructor. Sometimes a key assignment can get you back in the game. However, not every instructor accepts late work or extra credit. So do not assume that they do. And do not assume it will be worth a major number of points.
• How does dropping a course impact financial aid? Ask your advisor and financial aid counselor about the impact of changing your schedule in the middle of the term. You don’t want to get slapped with a huge bill just because you didn’t know about some rule.
• What advice does your advisor have for you? Make sure you know all your options by speaking with your advisor. Be informed and take control of your education.

Remember, it’s not the end of the world when you withdraw from a class. I know few students who haven’t had to withdraw at least once in their school careers. Assess what you will do differently the next term to avoid repeating errors, and simply push forward with a better strategy the next time around. Most of the time, it’s a time management issue. You just might be too busy to take so many classes. Consider your options about a reduced course load as well. Good luck!

Working full-time and going to school online is no easy task. Your friends and families still need attention, and you want to find some time to relax, too. You can find time to live it up a little if you practice stellar time management.

Time Management Tip List:

• Use a calendar. Gone are the days when you can remember everything. There’s too much at stake. Get a calendar and jot down all family obligations – weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries – and also, in different colored ink, mark down all major school assignments – midterm exams, research papers, group projects, etc. If you can see bottlenecks on some weekends, plan to complete school work way ahead of time to get it out of the way.
• Ask the professor. Sometimes, the professor mentions assignments later on, but does not share specific details until a couple weeks before the deadline. Ask the professor if he/she can give you the assignment early so you can start early. There is seldom a professor who won’t share this information unless it somehow compromises another assignment. Most instructors will appreciate this initiative.
• Give yourself fake deadlines – and stick to them. If something is due on a Monday, tell yourself to finish it by Friday or Saturday morning. While it’s tough to work such a tight schedule, a free day on a weekend will be a great reward.
• Find time in small increments. Instead of waiting to do all your homework in the evenings, why not find some unused time such as: during your bus/train commute; over lunch; sitting in the doctor’s office, etc.
• Cook meals in batches. Whether you’re eating out or cooking at home, get twice as much food and freeze/refrigerate leftovers. So much time is wasted trying to cook on the fly or figure out what you’re going to eat.

Good planning is a way to get your degree while balancing some social obligations and enjoyment. Stay a step ahead with good time management. And if you’ve never been good at planning, commit to changing that or accept the misery that will come when you always feel scattered and overwhelmed. The choice is yours.

Too often, online college students suddenly disappear from their classes for several weeks and suddenly reappear. Keep in mind that if you do this you might not get a warm welcome back.

Why disappearing acts are unwelcome:

• It’s unprofessional. Would you disappear from your job without giving any notice or explanation for weeks without telling your boss? Probably not. So don’t do that discourtesy to your instructor.
• Illness is seldom a good excuse. Unless you’re in a coma, you should find a way to get an e-mail or voicemail message to your instructor. In emergencies, even a friend or family member can write a note to your instructor or advisor.
• It’s impossible to make up the work. Students who disappear for one third of the term will find that it’s impossible to make up that amount of work. So don’t try it. If you’re unlucky enough to get seriously sick, drop the class and re-take it.
• It disrupts the class momentum. Many classes have group assignments and workshops. Students who come and go without notice are hard to integrate into those assignments.
• Learning is a process. If you miss a significant portion of the class, you often miss the building blocks to things that come later in the term. Coming into the class in the middle of things completely undermines the system that’s been carefully developed for optimal learning.

Even if you have a full-time job, you can squeeze in some studying each day. You’ll just have to get creative. The commute to work can translate into valuable study time.

Train/Bus Commuter Study Tips:

• Catch up on assigned readings. Take your textbook and complete all your reading during your commute. Even if your commute is only 20 minutes, that’s 40 minutes a day and more than three hours per week.
• Take notes on your assignments. Outline what you’re going to post for your next assignment. You can craft your words in advance and then just type them in when you get to your computer.
• Print-and-Go. If your class has lectures or other content online, copy-paste them into a different document and read these during your commute as well. Some schools even have a “print” option on some pages.

Driver Study Tips:

• Make your own study disk or MP3. Today’s technology allows you to record virtually anything and take it with you. Record key terms or facts that you need to study for a test, and play them in your car as you drive.
• Boost vocabulary with books on CD. Most libraries have an extensive audio book library. Check one out a week and listen to them during your drive. While not directly related to school, it can boost vocabulary, comprehension and even give you topic ideas for school projects.
• Carpool. Use this buddy system to share expenses and to also buy yourself some study time. If you take turns driving, that means at least half the week, you gain some study time.
• If possible, take public transportation. You might love your car, but if public transportation is an option, consider it just to increase your study time.