Life Kit - Making Online College Work For You

Episode Date: September 14, 2020

If you (or your kids) are in college, there's a good chance you're going through online classes this semester — maybe for the first time. Learning remotely can be tough, but staying organized and maintaining social connections can help.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The beginning of the semester isn't starting the way Zia Habala had hoped. She's a junior at Emory University outside Atlanta. The school announced a month ago they'd be mostly online. There are times where I feel like uninspired, like especially like last semester. I was like, this sucks. I hate this. Zia is quiet and has a very dry sense of humor.

And her course of study is intense. Neuroscience and behavioral biology. And I'm double majoring in French, and I'm pre-med. I said it where it sounded like a lot, but it is a lot. She's interested in being an OBGYN or working in women's health. When I go to the doctor and seeing like black women in medicine makes me more comfortable when I can relate to my doctor. Zia and her family live on a cul-de-sac outside Atlanta. Her younger brother is in high school. Her dad works in IT. And she, like many college students, had a taste

of online college last spring. Some challenges, she's a procrastinator and she had a really hard time with time management. I had like an anthro exam. My class was at 830. This was one of the times where I didn't like watch the lectures beforehand. So I was like, okay, I'm just going to start watching like the four lectures at 10 o'clock. And then I finished probably around like four. And so I was like, let me just stay up and just read over my notes until like 7 30. Then I slept an hour and then that was, I was good. She says she's pulled more all-nighters like that one she just described taking online classes than she ever did on campus. I'll tell you what, my body, my brain couldn't do that. I need sleep. And research shows Zia probably needs it too. The other big difference for Zia is her social life, now that classes are

all virtual. On campus, her friends were such a big part of her college experience. Now, social life is mostly group chats. She's in a lot of them on Twitter, Messenger, and Instagram. So I don't really feel lonely. It's just like I get bored just being in my room all the time. You're listening to NPR's Life Kit. I'm Alyssa Nadwarni, a reporter covering higher education. Millions of college students like Zia Habala are starting the fall semester online, in childhood bedrooms, at kitchen tables, surrounded by siblings, or wherever they can find a quiet spot. The coronavirus has forced more than a third of four-year colleges to teach remotely.

And this episode, it's all about how to make the most of an online semester. We get it. Online learning is different from in-person learning. And with all that's going on in the world, it can be really hard to focus, especially if this isn't what you signed up for. But students have been taking online courses for a long time, and so many have loved the experience. We'll talk to some of those students and offer tips for how to make this semester successful.

At Zia's house in Dekula, Georgia, she's decided that this semester she's going to work from her childhood bedroom. She walks us through the door covered in hand-painted signs with ZS spelled out in big block letters from when she was young. The room hasn't gotten a refresh since she was in fifth grade, so in the weeks before classes started, she added a fresh coat of paint. Kind of like a light rose pink, very pale pink. There are some other new additions, a new laptop. Last semester, she was sharing one with her brother and her dad. And a baby snake plant. And I got like my plants. So it's like symbolic growth right there. In the corner of the room, there's a new desk and chair she found secondhand.

This will be her quiet place to study and work. This was like my way of moving in, just like making it feel more like me. Let's jump right in. Takeaway number one, figure out how you learn so you can get yourself set up. Do you need to sit at a desk in a quiet place like Zia? Or are you better when things are happening around you? Like maybe the kitchen table is better or an outdoor coffee shop. If you want to feel like you're at a coffee shop, but you don't actually want to go to one, there's lots of websites and YouTube videos that can make it sound like you're at one. We'll link to some in our episode page.

Jamie Stimel works as a mentor for Western Governors University, or WGU. They've been offering online degrees for more than two decades. She says students need to know themselves. Do you work better by yourself? Do you work better with background noise? It's Jamie's job to help students make it through their online classes, which means Jamie's work is all online too. She has a home office with a lovely view. I've got two big windows and bookshelves with lots of WGU swag on them.

Of course, not everyone has an extra room to work in. Lots of people are stuck at home with kids and siblings. And so Jamie says, use time to help carve out space for you. So maybe you take over the kitchen after the kids go to bed, or you get up really early to take advantage of a quiet apartment. And she adds, if you can get comfy in bed and write a paper with a movie on, more power to you. You've just got to figure out how you can focus before you log on. Once you've found a good, reliable spot, it's time to plan out your days.

Takeaway number two, make a schedule. The big thing Zia Habala told us she struggles with is when to do her classes and her homework. Unlike in a normal semester, there's no clear home versus school time. You've just got home all the time. And Jamie says that can be a problem. One of the biggest mistakes we all make as people is that when we have a lot of time, we visualize even more time. Jamie sees this a lot. Students actually overestimate how much time they have. And then all of a sudden, if they're not paying attention, the day gets filled up. Come up with a time management system. Maybe even write out your days. Plan out your days of when you'll do schoolwork, when you're you'll do school work when you're going to

do life when you're going to do your job because then you realize the limited amount of time you have when you do something like that so that you can make the most of it some online classes are synchronous meaning they're offered at a specific time just like when you're in person but others are asynchronous meaning the time for the class is up to you. Increasingly, classes are a mix of both. Maybe you watch the lecture on your own time, but then there's a scheduled discussion over Zoom. With all these moving parts, it makes it even more important to plot out the timing of your days and weeks. Once you've mapped out the timing, maybe you're an early riser, so you do your

homework or assignments right when you wake up. Jamie suggests thinking about how you're going to work. So what specifically are you going to do during the time you've set aside for school? So are you going to chunk out assignments? Are you going to do discussion board or something like that today and reading tomorrow? The clearer you are with your schedule, the easier it will be to stick to it. I would say my academic history is long and sometimes a little spotty. Michelle Krollman has tried a bunch of different colleges, the traditional brick and mortar, big state university, the community college. She says she didn't really start loving classes until she

got to Western Governors University. They like humans, and that's when I switched my major to elementary ed. She acknowledges the irony that she likes people, but she's into online classes. But after several years at WGU, she's hooked. At the beginning, she tried working from the couch. Just, you know, thinking, oh, I'm online, I can kick back. But I sort of realized I treat it like I'm kicked back. And I just do a little bit better when I'm physically sitting in front of something that looks like business. Her current setup includes an extra monitor and a keyboard and a proper chair. And I got one that was, it's for, I would say, a big and tall man. And so it's about 36 inches wide, the seat is. It is the most, literally the best thing I've ever bought for myself. I love it more than anything. Michelle says a lot of her success in online classes came from good time management and sticking to a schedule. And that meant scheduling non-school time too. That's takeaway number three,

finding a balance and embracing flexibility. For Michelle, finding a balance between classes and the rest of her life, her job, her family, that was essential. What was important for me was making blocks of time and trying to restrict my actual schoolwork. I think basically giving myself, hey, I'm going to work for eight hours. I'm going to go home. I'm going to do schoolwork for four hours. The rest is mine. I can do whatever I want with it. But it really was giving myself boundaries. Michelle lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband, and they love to take walks and go on hikes. And scheduling that stuff, Michelle says it actually made it much more manageable to focus on schoolwork when she had to. And it would be really easy,

I think, to get so overwhelmed in classwork that I forget about all the other stuff around me. You know, learning doesn't only happen in class. It happens everywhere around us. So we have to give ourselves that space too and make sure that we take it. So all my courses are remote this semester. Shannon Lee is a junior at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Shannon wasn't planning to take all her classes online, but that's what's happening. Here's what one of her first classes sounded like. During the semester, you get a grade. you don't understand why you missed points. I include a link here so you can tell us, hey, here's the assignment. That's a class on web design and accessibility that's usually taught on campus.

Of course, this year it's coming out of Shannon's laptop. After today I'm also going to include in here a quick link to the office hour link. Shannon is anticipating migrating over a few of her strategies she used when classes were in person, like setting up reminders so she'll get push notifications on a laptop, phone, or smartwatch to let her know when assignments are or when her classes are. I use Google Calendar a lot. That's very helpful in terms of just reminding myself of things I have to do. She's a little apprehensive about spending so much time in front of her laptop.

She's renting a room off campus with some friends and says she's already planning time away from her screen. I think that's very important to be able to prioritize and not underestimate your mental health, but to give yourself space away from the laptop because I think we tend to get really consumed with our technology. Many of the people who love online learning say one of the best parts is the flexibility. Here's Jamie.

Time is definitely fleeting and time is important. And while it may feel like there's no difference between time, you know, school and not school, there is. You need to take advantage of it. I mean, the nice thing is online learning gives you so much flexibility. Takeaway number four, beware the internet's rabbit holes. We've all been there. You navigate over to a new tab, you Google one thing, and then you click a link, and then another, and then another. And hours later, you surface and think, how the heck did I get here?

Michelle Kralman has been there. I am a little bit of a squirrel when it comes to the internet. There's no way to totally escape this when you're taking online classes. But Michelle has a few ideas. I have a couple times used add-ons that do things like basically block the internet outside of X, Y, and Z sites for me. So technology can be a big help. For her online setup, she's got an extra monitor to help with the workspace. So she divides the screens up to help section off or delineate between learning and internet searching. It's basically, I have a system where I say this monitor does this and this side of the

monitor does this. And basically what it is, is I have the stuff I'm reading, the stuff I'm writing and whatever music I'm listening to. And those are the only three things allowed on my monitors while I'm learning. And of course, if you can just disconnect from the wifi. So when I take the internet out of the equation, when I'm doing actual work work, that's kind of the best way to do it. One way to keep yourself on task is to have a friend or a classmate or a family member who keeps you accountable. That's takeaway number five. Don't be afraid to make human connections. They're just as important in the digital classroom.

Jamie Stimel suggests looking up folks enrolled in classes with you. Perhaps there's an email thread with everyone's name or a roster posted online. Since everyone's in the same boat as you navigating this online world, there's nothing to lose by reaching out and a whole lot to gain. You could start with an email or a message. Just reaching out saying, hey, I just started this course or this program at this college. Anyone else with me want to be an accountability partner.

They don't even have to be in the same program. They just need someone to say, hey, can you do, or did you do your work? Your school may even offer online study groups. And while we all know Facebook is a great place to connect, Jamie recommends LinkedIn, where there are many support groups for online learners. Michelle Crahman says every time she reached out to someone in a class,

she's been rewarded because everyone is craving connection. But lots of people are too scared to take the first step and just say hello. When someone does take a moment to go, you know what? No, I'm going to make this happen. We're going to talk to each other. We're going to know each other. There's just relief there on both sides. You know, nobody wants to be the first one to say it, but everyone's grateful that someone said it first.

Having someone to check in with makes the endeavor much less lonely. But it also means you'll have someone holding you accountable, making sure you're actually doing your work, cheerleading your progress, which can help you do better academically. And don't forget, professors are there to make sure you're learning, which means they kind of work for you. The whole purpose of an instructor is that they're not just sitting there to sit there. Their goal, and not just to talk, their goal is for you to learn. Yes, it can be scary to email your professor, but at least you're buffered by a screen and in some cases, hundreds

of miles. Here's how Michelle recommends getting started. So just kind of deep breathe a little moment to yourself and just start an email. Hey, is there a time that the two of us could sit down and actually get to know each other? I wanted to ask some questions and I had some feedback about the class. And if you're going to set up a time to chat, remember, you don't have to talk about the class. You can just get to know each other, talk about movies or books, or share what your home life is like so that your professor understands you as a whole person and not just as a student sitting in their class. Speaking of who you are outside of class, takeaway number six is take advantage of virtual extracurriculars. Many schools that have transitioned online for the fall have worked super

hard to transition a lot of that student life to the digital space. Fraternities and sororities are conducting digital rush. There are Zoom orientations. And in the first few weeks of class, colleges are offering virtual club fairs. I know Michigan has like festival coming up this weekend, so it's sort of just like a place where you can talk more about representatives of different organizations and sort of learn more. Shannon Lee, who's starting their semester with all online classes at the University of Michigan, says for learning virtually, you got to make sure you're checking your university email for online events and opportunities to get involved because those opportunities are out there

and a lot of that info is going to get sent to your inbox. I think our education is important, but also valuing the community aspect and also there's other more important things like in life and just focusing on getting that grade that you want. Many of Shannon's extracurriculars are focused on social advocacy and volunteering, much of which can still be done online. And that sort of like paying forward has been really helpful in terms of balancing everything with the stress that's going on. Back when she got to college two years ago, she didn't know that this is what she'd be so into. So her advice to other students, stick with what makes you happy,

but also be open to exploring other stuff, even if you're doing it all from your couch. Be able to have an open mind and a fresh perspective on different organizations on campus because I think we learn a lot more about ourselves and our identities throughout college. And I think sort of having that open perspective can be very helpful to understand yourself a bit more, but also meeting other types of people out there on campus. Having an open mind for the whole semester is great advice. Sometimes people have preconceived ideas of what online college is, but the truth is millions of students have been taking online classes for years and they love it. And you never know, this might be you. Here's Michelle.

I imagine there are going to be students who find that they actually prefer online. I know I did. I'm still surprised that I did because I do like people so much. But for some of us, it's just going to be, it's just going to work. I think the flexibility, the benefits you get from the flexibility really outweigh some of the things that you lose. So let's recap. Takeaway number one, figure out how you learn so you can get yourself set up. Takeaway number two, make a schedule. Takeaway number three, seek balance and embrace the flexibility.

Takeaway number four, beware the internet's rabbit holes. Takeaway number five, don't be afraid to make human connections. Your professors, they work for you. Takeaway number six, virtual extracurriculars. They're out there. For more NPR Life Kit, check out our other episodes. I've hosted one on how to do well in college. It's got a bunch of study tips. and another on how to get rid of stains. I'm super messy, so this is really important for me. You can find those at NPR.org slash LifeKit. And if you love LifeKit and want more, subscribe to our newsletter at NPR.org slash LifeKit newsletter. And here, as always, a completely random tip,

this time from Emily Murphy. After you get out of the shower, you should make sure that your shower curtain is open all the way so that it's not bunched up on one side, which will prevent mildew from forming on the shower liner. If you've got a good tip,

leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823 or email us a voice memo at likeit at npr.org. This episode was produced by Audrey Nguyen. Megan Cain is the managing producer. Beth Donovan is the senior editor. This episode was edited by Steve Drummond. Our digital editors are Beck Harlan and Claire Lombardo, and our editorial assistant is Claire Schneider. Special thanks to Lauren Magaki, Jesse Stomel, Melissa Luke at WGU, and Colleen Van Lent at the University of Michigan. I'm Alyssa Nadborny. Thanks for listening.