Online courses are definitely as challenging as face-to-face courses are.

It may be
easy to tend to think that online course will be somehow easier or smoother than a
face-to-face course because one does not actually have a specific schedule to attend
to or go to a classroom. That is one of the main advantages of online courses, it
offers a person the ability to manage or set up their own schedule to study or take a
class. I believe that my ability to success on an online class greatly relies on my
ability to remind myself that I must keep up to date and involved as much as I can on
the class, especially when I am taking some other classes that are not online.
Naturally I tend to spend more time on those classes, which makes it easier for me
to forget or keep delaying the time I should spend on my online courses. I believe
that procrastination is the main issue I face when taking an online course. When I
am at school I find myself fully engaged on doing my school work, however even if I
said to myself that I do need to work on my online course when I get home, I tend to
push those obligations in order to do other things that are not school related.
An action plan for me to be able to successfully complete my online courses must be
followed. First, I need to understand and remind myself that I am responsible for my
own learning, not only because it is important and because I do wish to pass the
class but also because I am paying for this course and if I do not take it seriously I
would simply not only waste a lot of money but I will also waste a lot of time.
Second, and one of the most important steps to follow on this process are to crate a
schedule and actually follow it. Setting up days and specific hours when I will be
working on my online courses is essential for me when taking online courses. Since
on Mondays I only have one class and it is not really related to my major, I have
decided to take Mondays on the evening I have decided to set it apart to work on my
online class. I also have to set up an alarm (my cellphone alarm) that reminds me
about these responsibilities just so I make sure I remember to work on it.
Then, creating a learning space will follow on my list. Monday evenings when I begin
working on my online courses I need to set my dog and myself apart from all type of
distractions, specially my phone. I need to put away my phone because a simple text
can drag me away from what I am doing. My dog is also a distraction because it
seems as if every time I decide to start doing something I need to do my dog needs
to go for a walk, so I need to be in place where there is not my dog. After that
establishing a way to communicate with my instructor is also important not only
because my instructor is the perfect to clarify all my doubts or answer any question
I have but also because I can receive important and useful feedbacks from my
instructor. This step seems to be one of the hardest for me to follow because for
some reason I rarely ever communicate with my instructors.
Making sure the devices I use when working on my online courses is also important.
I personally can not work on my online assignments using my cellphone or a table,
because its just very uncomfortable for me, I need to have a keyboard, a big enough
screen and most importantly a high seep running internet connection, this last one
is the reason why I have to work on my online courses at home because the school
Wi-Fi networks are just extremely slow perhaps due to the high amount of people
connected to it.
Another very important step to follow is mastering the tools the course uses,
because sometime even if I am on time completing the assignments I may get lost

just trying to submit the assignments. Hopefully the college I previously attended
used very similar software so that is not an issue. However, I need to know in
advance when drop boxes and/or quizzes will be open and closed so I make sure I
do not miss a deadline.
Getting to know my classmates or keeping up to date to what is post on the
classmates discussion board is one of the most important steps on the process for
me because very often I have a doubt or a question that several of my classmates
have as well so I typically find answers on those discussions boards, that saves me
time when I am trying to get started on any assignment.
Lastly, and the hardest part for me to accomplish is staying active and on time on
the course assignments. It is very easy to procrastinate and get behind on online
courses, keeping active and constantly checking discussion boards or the course
page allows me to know what is going on and make sure how much time I have left
to complete a specific assignment. It is extremely important to keep engage on the
course and check for announcements on the class.