- Posted by maedstudent on March 25, 2008
Time management is crucial in order to be successful in an online college environment. I am here to tell you if you are not somewhat disciplined do not plan on doing online. If you are distracted easily be having to check your emails every five minutes, or having to be interrupted by text messages, then online is probably not for you. If you need to be online doing anything else but research and school work, the online environment is probably not for you. If you need to have face to face interaction, then online is probably not for you. As far as time management goes, one needs to be very flexible and may need to actually put in more time then a traditional class would require. For the most part, online classes generally require about 5 out of 7 days to be available for postings and interaction with other class members.
Not all members of your online team will be online at the same time so this may be one of the biggest obstacles that one would need to over come in order to be successful in this environment. So before committing to online ask yourself these questions:
Can I commit to my team to be flexible and online when needed, or will my schedule be too hectic to commit to this type of environment?
Do I want to be able to be online for 5 days each week or would I rather go to class once and get it over with?
Do I work well in groups, or do I not want to pull other peoples’ weight in class? This is a huge question that you need to answer in order to commit to online. If you cannot be willing to work with others and depend on others then definitely online is not for you.