The latest craze to hit the world of academia is online learning. This opens up a campus to the rest of the free world. You could be in China and taking a course in the U.S. as all you need is a computer and an internet hookup. Many students taking online courses are also holding regular, 9-5 jobs.

It can be a real crunch to achieve a balance so here are some ways you can make the grade:

1. Do one thing at a time. If your project has smaller lessons within it, try to knock the smaller assignments one at a time. This way you can be sure you do everything your course dictates and will allow you to learn the information in a more deliberate manner.

2. Stick to a schedule. Set aside about two hours a day where you can devote your time to your courses. Maybe you get up and do work before you go to your job or maybe you tend to your studies right when you get home from work. Whatever you feel is a dependable time you can turn to your studies stick to the schedule and make it a routine.

3. Take some time to yourself. After you’ve made your schedule factor in one day off a week. This will keep you fresh and let you take care of everything else going on in your life besides school and work. Use this time to relax and be with your friends and family.

4. Find a study zone. Try to find a place (at home, the library or a coffee shop) where you can have peace and quiet. This may sound easy but it’s often a daunting task. Go to the same place once you’ve found it so you can focus on your studies and clear out all other distractions.

5. Don’t overload. The beauty of online courses is that you can make your own schedule. There is often a temptation to try to do more than you can actually handle. Find out how much work is involved in a given class before you actually register to make sure you can handle the work.

6. Finish your work first. Take care of your professional responsibilities before you get started with your coursework on a given day. If you can’t get to your classes one day then move on and pick it up again tomorrow.

Heather Johnson is a freelance writer as well as a regular contributor for RNCentral.com, a site which covers all things related to RN. Heather welcomes your comments and emails related to job inquiries at her email address, heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 9:24 pm and is filed under Online Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.