Excel's the Magic Word

By: Ivana F.

The secret to being a successful online student is a combination of time management and scheduling. I personally find it helpful to draw up a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel, in putting all of the assignments I have due in a given week and adjusting my school days to fit the demands of my extracurricular word.

I typically plan my time around events happening at church or school, taking into account any extra activities that may be occurring. I take the number of assignments due in a given week and divide it by five - because there are five days in every school week. But say that one week I have a band concert on Tuesday until nine p.m. It wouldn't be wise for me to schedule the same amount of assignments to do that day as I would on a day with no after school activities. Bearing that concert in mind, I can budget my time so that I have five assignments Monday, two assignments Tuesday, and four on every other day. I can easily see this plan and know that, as my personal schedule changes, I have complete flexibility in altering my school one, too.

Ivana's Personal Finance schedule for the week of March 19th is pictured here.

However, sticking to your schedule can be challenging. I suggest devoting an hour or so daily to sitting down away from your cell phone, logged out of Facebook or Twitter, and focusing completely on your class work. There is nothing worse than waiting until the last minute and scrambling to finish it all. Time management and discipline will always be essential to a successful online learning experience, but how you manipulate your learning style to incorporate them is up to you.