In my first semester as a graduate student, I didn’t think much about the Thanksgiving holiday and how it would affect me. Since I took my classes with the Georgia Institute of Technology online, I thought that my schedule wouldn’t be affected. I quickly learned otherwise, and here are a few tips to help other online students enjoy the holidays.
[Learn ways online education can benefit adult learners.]
1. Be ready for unexpected downtime: When so many people are shopping, traveling or trying to squeeze in last-minute appointments at the same time, things will go wrong. Lines will form. A quick outing can easily turn into an hour of waiting around.
By doing something as simple as making sure that class work is loaded on a smartphone or tablet, an online student can enjoy the advantage of making progress in class from anywhere.
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2. Plan out work time: For most of the semester, the best thing an online student can do is build up habits and routines around getting class work done. Sitting down at the same time every day to do a little bit is a lot easier than always having to stop and think about when to study.
This strategy can backfire when a student experiences a big schedule change, however. Someone who always studies during lunch at work or just after getting home from the office won’t have a cue to get started on a day when the office is closed. Combined with worrying about gift lists and scheduling family visits, this can easily lead to missed deadlines and bad grades. Be careful to make note of any deadlines occurring during the season, along with a plan for how to meet them.
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3. Remember that the holidays affect everyone else’s schedule, too: Attending school online makes it easy to forget how much the holidays can affect the schedule of a university and its staff. Pay attention to when offices will be closed and when your instructors won’t be available to answer questions because they’re spending time with their families.
4. Don’t forget to enjoy the experience: The classes I take with Georgia Tech are challenging and fascinating, to the point that they could easily take over my life if I let them. Taking a little time away from the computer to play with my nieces and nephew isn’t a bad thing; it’s a great way to refresh my mind while maintaining a sense of balance in my life. Don’t ignore school, but don’t obsess about it so much that you can’t enjoy seeing your family.
The takeaway: It’s more challenging to manage online classes around the holidays, but staying on track and having fun is still possible with a little planning.
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4 Holiday Survival Tips for Online Students originally appeared on usnews.com
