You may not be surrounded by rows of desks occupied by your classmates, dodging the teacher’s eye as you pass a pen, a note or a book around, but an online class is pretty much the same. The only difference is that you are probably sitting on your bed all by yourself, or slouching at your dining table with your cat giving you odd looks from time to time. But you are connected and a part of your class all the same.

In the times of the Covid-19 pandemic, online classes have made education more accessible than ever before. For all their benefits, online classes also offer some unique challenges compared to traditional, in-person classes. But without a plan for managing these challenges, your performance could suffer. So let’s discuss how you can make the most of your online classes.

Be organised

Treat your online classes the same way you would a face-to-face class and you’ll be off to the right start. Setting goals at the beginning of the semester or term is a good idea. In an in-person class, the teacher probably reminds you of upcoming due dates for assignments and tests. But with online classes, you may not get these reminders.

Therefore, you need to be extra careful about keeping an eye out for sneaky deadlines. It’s up to you to make sure you’ve set aside enough time to complete the work so that you don’t end up starting an assignment just a day before it’s due.

If you’re feeling lost, following Covid-19 SOPs you can pair up with a fellow student and study or attend the class in your room or his or her place together. But you have to be attentive, organised and proactive to get the most from your online class.

Look at the syllabus at the start of the semester and make note of major assignments and when they are due. You could mark them on your calendar, in your diary or even in your phone if you have one. This way you know exactly what kind of workload is expected to hit you in the coming week. Also mark important, unavoidable events like weddings, birthdays and holidays so that you can set your schedule without any distractions and breaks. Having a calendar of deadlines will help you avoid damaging your grade just because you forgot an assignment was due.

When working on your assignments, try allotting yourself a certain amount of time for each task before moving on to the next one and set a timer to time yourself. This way you can complete chunks of your work with breaks in the middle and soon a big workload will have been pushed out.

Have the right learning environment

A dedicated learning environment is preferable so that you can leave unfinished work there and it won’t be disturbed by siblings or pets. You can come back to it and everything will be unaltered and you can restart from where you stopped.

Your learning environment should boost your productivity. Wherever you choose, make sure that your software is downloaded and ready and there’s a high-speed internet access, so you’re not missing an important class lecture over a bad connection.

Without a teacher looking over your shoulder or classmates sitting next to you, it’s easy to get distracted with social media, video games, or other things you’d rather be doing than studying. Do all you can to eliminate or at least minimise these distractions. Having a study space will help, but you can also use apps, like Freedom, to block digital distractions.

Make sure your files, notes, calendar, books are placed near you so that you are not running around in the middle of a lecture. Headphones for listening to lectures or discussions will help you remain undisturbed by household noises and distractions.

Participate properly

Participate in the class just the way you did physically in class. If you don’t understand something, ask the teacher or lecturer because the discussion will help you understand better and take care of the niggling doubts in your head.

Online classes may make you feel that you are learning on your own, but everyone is there, so utilise your software to share issues or notes with your classmates. Teamwork and collaboration is always encouraged, even more so in online classes.

While video conferencing apps such as Google Meet and Zoom have made it easier to host live virtual classes, your teacher may still send you a lecture video or slides each week, and you may have to submit assignments regularly. But other than this, with a high-speed connection and the right software, you will get used to online classes in no time.

Dress up for the class

Without the regular schedule of going to school, it is easy to run around in PJs all day with your hair all messed up. This may make you feel a little slack. To avoid this, treat online classes like in-person classes.

Have a routine just like you would if you were going to a class in-person. Get up at the same time each day, take a shower, get dressed, have breakfast and then “go to class.” It may seem silly at first, but it will make a big difference to your attitude, motivation and productivity.

Find a different connection

If you’re used to studying in groups, then online classes can be a little challenging. But you still have classmates, and even though you are not sitting in class, you can surely set up your own online meeting and discuss whatever you need to.

Ideas can be shared, photos shown around, but going to the canteen or the library after class will have to be postponed for the time being! However, you can still get the benefits of studying with other people even in an online class. You just have to be a bit more creative.

If you can’t find study partners from your actual class, you can use an app like Focusmate. This app lets you find an accountability partner with whom you can virtually study over a video call. Even though your accountability partner most likely will not be studying the same material as you are, just knowing that there’s another person working “in the room” will keep you from slacking off and attacking the fridge or TV. But of course, discuss this with your parents before so that they can check if they are okay with the idea and will guide you about it.

Don’t skip taking notes

Without the teacher watching you, it’s tempting to skip taking notes. One idea would be to try and record the session on another device if you can so you could go back to your teacher’s lecture if there is some confusion.

Taking notes helps engage your mind with the material by putting it in your own words. This helps to boost both your understanding of the subject and retaining what is being taught.

Keep checking teachers’ messages

With online classes, it’s important to religiously check your email and messages from your teacher. This way, you will learn about any changes to deadlines and updates for study resources. There may be a message portal where all updates are shared, make sure to keep checking that as well.

When you aren’t physically present in the classroom, you can’t just walk up to your teacher after class so it can be harder to ask your teacher for help. However, don’t let this difficulty prevent you from getting help. You can email or message you teacher and don’t delay this because you will only get closer to final exam with a list of problems that you should have tackled as and when they came up.

While we have discussed the challenges online classes may present to you, distance learning also has many advantages. It’s a chance for you to become more productive since there are fewer distractions. You can work at your own pace — recording, pausing or rewinding lectures you don’t understand. Do you think you could do that in person?

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 5th, 2020