Tips on managing unexpected online learning
Here’s a little help to better navigate a new situation
Shenandoah students have experienced an abrupt shift to online learning, and most of our students are learning from home.
Here are a few thoughts on the new reality of online learning from Department Chair & Professor of Media & Communication Gina Daddario, Ph.D.,
Dr. Daddario has some tips for succeeding in taking online classes, which she has adapted from advice she provides for online summer students:
Read ALL emails and ALL Canvas posts.
Online work is often reading-intensive. Your instructor is anticipating the questions that would have been asked in a face-to-face scenario, and in doing so, will likely provide an abundance of detail in class documents.
Time-management is key.
Presumably, many of your classes will be conducted in ‘real time’ or within a ‘real time’ time frame.’ It’s easier than you think to get behind in an online class and you won’t have an in-person opportunity to plead for an extension.
Strive to reach a balance between working both independently and within a community.
You owe it to yourself to manage your studies and meet all deadlines but you also owe it to your professor and peers to participate in online chats, discussion boards and mediated classrooms, and show up in the digital realm on time.
Don’t hesitate to ask questions or to follow up with your professor.
This experience truly is a game-changer for all of us. Be especially mindful of your adjunct professors. We hire many of them because of their expertise in a particular industry or profession, and they are likely managing these responsibilities remotely as well.
There’s an extra learning opportunity embedded in all of this.
Over the weekend I emailed our communication majors to remind them that with their academic study in digital news, public relations, professional writing and other courses, they have been preparing their entire undergraduate lives for an online challenge like this one. Some of the most desirable jobs in the media industry are those that can be performed remotely and where you may be distanced from your supervisor, peers and work team. So, I encourage our students, as well as those from other majors, to consider these next few weeks as on-the-job training for careers in not only the communication industry, but also a wide variety of other fields.
