Welcome to Strategies for Successful Online Learning!

Whether they join a fully online degree program, enroll in a hybrid class or get assigned
online training by an employer, learners these days will likely encounter an online class
at some point in their learning journey. By incorporating a few strategies, any learner
can be successful at online learning and take advantage of the opportunities it offers.
This course helps start the online learning journey successfully by introducing the
concepts of digital competence, academic communication and netiquette, and providing
the time management strategies and other tips needed to be successful in online
courses.

Online learning provides many benefits for students: convenience to study and learn
from anywhere, flexibility to learn on their own time schedule, greater ability to adapt the
materials to personal learning styles, and alternative ways to learn the concepts through
gamification, videos, and more immersive assignments.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

 Evaluate your current digital competency level

 Manage your time to succeed in a digital learning environment

 Identify the different features offered in your institution’s LMS

 Leverage the virtual support services offered by your institution

 Demonstrate professional etiquette and collaboration in group settings

 Model academic-style communication skills

 Maximize success in group collaboration

 Prepare for online exams with effective study habits

 Plan how to overcome the challenges you may encounter as an online

student

Meet your Facilitators

This section of the course typically introduces the course instructor and any staff that
may assist in facilitating or grading the course. Since this course is non-facilitated (more
on that later), this section introduces the course authors.

The Innovations and Emerging Initiatives (IEI) team of EdPlus at Arizona State
University created this course for young people on the African continent taking online
courses for the first time. Focused on maximizing resources between EdPlus and ASU,
the IEI team supports projects and grants from ideation through completion, managing
project startup, implementation and ongoing support at scale. The IEI team’s projects
impact students and universities throughout the MENA region and Africa, as well as
math learners everywhere.

Sandra Nabulega and Gracia (Biduaya) Batusua contributed key components of the
course content. A Baobab Digital Innovation Scholar from Uganda, Sandra studies
Learning Sciences in the ASU Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College graduate program.
While studying, she also works as an Instructional design assistant for the Innovations
and Emerging Initiatives team. A Mastercard Foundation Scholar Alumni from the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Gracia recently graduated from ASU with dual degrees
in Management Information Systems. Gracia currently works as the Bilingual
Coordinator for the Innovations and Emerging Initiatives team.

Course Facilitation

Course Facilitation
There are two main types of online courses: Facilitated and Non-facilitated.

A Non-Facilitated course does not have an instructor to guide the learner. Instead the
learner works through the course material at their own pace. Because there are no live
components involving lecture attendance, or live meetings with peers or a facilitator,
these courses are considered asynchronous. Often, non-facilitated courses also allow
learners to work at their own pace, meaning they do not have specific start and end
times for each section or due dates for the assignments. For example, courses on
Baobab are non-facilitated, asynchronous and self-paced.

A Facilitated course has an instructor (teacher, professor, assistant, etc.) who guides
you through the course. They are there to set the expectations of the course, answer
questions over the course content, provide feedback and grade assignments. Typically,
learners complete course activities, such as reading articles or textbook chapters and
watching recorded lectures at whatever time of day they choose. Because of these
characteristics, this type of course is considered asynchronous, even though there may
be specific due dates for graded assignments (facilitated courses typically are not self-
paced). However, some facilitated courses include synchronous components, meaning
a student needs to log on at a specific time for a live meeting (using video conferencing
or other virtual meeting spaces), regardless of what time of day it is for them.
 Forum of Discussion
Facilitated Courses typically have a Forum of Discussion in their welcome section,
sometimes called a Community Forum or Q & A board, amongst other terms.
The Forum of Discussion lets learners add questions & get answers from others in the
course. This tool gives the learners & instructor a place to interact with each other
asynchronously.

In online courses, forums can serve many different purposes. We’ll discuss these
purposes later in this course.

Below you will find this course's first Forum of Discussion. Use this section of the course
to greet your fellow learners, ask questions and look to see if you can answer any
questions or otherwise participate in the discussion.

What are the Competencies?

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What are the Competencies?

You may be wondering, what are digital competencies and why are they important for
online learning? In online courses, learners engage with coursework and other students
through technology, so it’s important to gauge those learners’ skill level with using
technology. To be successful in the online environment, learners need foundational
competency with a few technical or digital skills, and awareness of areas that need
attention. Don’t worry if many of these skills are unfamiliar. These are skills that can be
developed while becoming more familiar with an online environment. Identifying the
areas that need to be developed, is the first step in excelling at digital competency.

Learn about Digital Competencies

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 Competency Levels

Competency Levels
Just like everyone is at a different stage in life, we are also at different levels of digital
competence:

 Level 1 (beginner level): certifies that you KNOW the foundational concepts of each
competency area.

 Level 2 (intermediate level): certifies your ability to DO by demonstrating your efficacy

across digital environments safely and securely.

 Level 3 (advanced level): certifies your ability to LEAD by demonstrating skills related to
managing systems and processes, solving problems, and providing guidance.

Let’s now apply the three levels to the five standards and highlight some of the tangible
tasks involved

Guess What Level

5 points possible (ungraded)
Guess what level you think you are at for each competency. Record your guesses
below.
What level do you think you are at for Information and Digital Literacy?
unanswered

What level do you think you are at forCommunication and Collaboration?

unanswered

What level do you think you are at for Digital Content Creation?
unanswered

What level do you think you are at for Problem Solving? unanswered

What level do you think you are at for Online Safety? unanswered

Submit
Interactive Assessment of Digital Competencies

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Interactive Assessment of Digital Competencies

Instructors use digital competence levels to tailor instruction and help respond to
learners' needs more appropriately. You need to understand your digital competence
level to be able to discover what your level is and take the next step to improve your
skills.

Here are two tools to help assess your digital competence level. Click the image to
visit the website to take the assessment.

1. DigComp
2. Pix - Once on the home page, scroll till you see the title, "Try Pix before signing up in
8 questions," click the "Start the demo" button to take the assessment.
 Discussion forum: Assess your digital competency

Myths vs Facts of Online Learning

Myths vs Facts of Online Learning

There are lots of myths about what online learning is like. Let’s look at a few in the cards
below. Then watch the video to see what some university students have to say about
their experience taking classes online.

Benefits of online learning

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What time is class?: Synchronous vs. Asynchronous

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BooWhat time is class? Sychronous vs Asynchronous
As mentioned earlier, online learning comes in two forms: synchronous and
asynchronous courses. The key difference between synchronous and asynchronous
courses is that synchronous courses include scheduled, real-time interactions by phone,
video, or in-person. In asynchronous courses, learners engage with the material on their
own schedule. These options give the flexibility to decide to learn from almost
anywhere/any time – at home, on the road or even later in the night after work.
However, don’t be fooled by the flexibility; it still can be overwhelming. Success in online
learning is a combination of several factors, but one of the most important factors is time
management.
 Synchronous/Asynchronous & Time Zone Challenges
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When do you get things done? How to Manage your Class &
Study Time

When do you get things done? How to Manage your Class & Study
Time
Something we all have in common everywhere on earth: 24 hours a day, not a minute
more, not a minute less. The question is, are we getting the results we want? Are we
achieving our day-to-day priorities? Are we using our time wisely? Listen to fellow online
learners share their best time management habits and how they prioritized to get their
course work done on time.

Time Management Tips From Online Learners

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 your mind kind of focuses

 'cause it knows this space is meant for schoolwork.
 - As an online learner, you need to organize your tasks.
 (Gracia speaking in foreign language)
 - I get clear on what I'm really going to do,
 particularly when, at what time,
 if possible, where, particularly,
 and then try to cultivate that discipline to follow that
 because sometimes it's not easy.
 - When I have an assignment, I have to make sure
 that I do the initial research as early as possible
 so that I can know how demanding that task is,
 that assignment is.
 Thus I can organize the steps that I have to follow
 and making sure that I put that on my calendar.
 - By the end of the day,
 you're able to hold yourself accountable.
 You say, "I've done this, I've done this,
 I have not done this."
 You know?
 - If you have many things on your plate,
 you'll forget something, so just having a place
 where you can kind of tick them off is very helpful.
 - Google Calendars helped me.
 If I have interviews, if I have meetings,
 if I have discussions or any discussions,
 they are already indicated in my Google Calendar.
 And I love the notifications actually.
 They've really helped me so much.
 - At the very beginning, I could study during the night.
 I woke up late at night
 and read my things or do my assignments.
 And then when I find out that this is not working for me,
 I can now use early morning hours before going to work
 because I know that's where I'm really concentrated
 and that's where I have all the energy.
 - So maybe take a break early in the day
 or take an nap early in the day so that I'm okay at night
 to do that meeting and, like, I'll be focused and attentive.
 - You need to understand
 that you can't work with the same schedule.
 You can't be involved in everything,
 you know, because maybe that's the time
 where you have a class
 or that's when you have to meet your team members.
 So you will miss out on events, miss out on, you know, fun.
 - The people around you
 might start dragging you into other things,
 you know, just 'cause, you know, they're doing life
 and they want you to come out and hang out.
 They want you to go see this movie,
 want you to do all these other things.
 So it's a bigger deal for you to keep yourself focused
 on what you're doing.
 (Gracia speaking in foreign language)
 - Keep distractions to a minimum.
  - I had to make sure that I am on top of my readings
 and always making sure that I'm doing my assignment.
 And my weekends were definitely affected most of the time.
 It's quite unfortunate, but if you're following a dream,
 you need to put in some level of sacrifice.
 - Try and push yourself to get that work done
 before the deadline.
 Because it might feel very bad now,
 but if you miss the deadline,
 you're gonna have way more work to do
 and then you feel stuck.
 - The onus is on you to stay on track.
 So you have to be more disciplined
 than you would have if you were in a normal school program.
 (bright music)
 End of transcript. Skip to the start.

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Steps to Better Organize Your Schedule
Here are some important steps to better organize your schedule so you can achieve
your daily priorities.

Step 1: Set Reminders - Always… ALWAYS!

We often think we will never forget… but we sometimes do, don’t we?
Our brain has about 50,000 spontaneous thoughts, images and ideas
every day! There’s a possibility you might just forget that phone call you
were supposed to make or that colleague you were supposed to meet.
Your phone is the ideal place to have all your reminders set easily as most of us take
our phones everywhere.

Step 2: Expect the UNexpected.

It’s important to remember that things often take longer than expected.
So, allow a little extra time for the unexpected. If you think it takes 30
minutes to get somewhere, give yourself 40. If you think it will take 3
hours to study for tomorrow’s exam, give yourself 4 hours. One clever
way to do this is to schedule events earlier in your calendar. Put your 1:00 pm
appointment into your schedule at 12:50 pm, for example. Mark that due date for your
research paper a day earlier.

Step 3: Get Ready in Advance

If you are not a morning person and usually take a more extended
amount of time getting going in the morning, make sure you get as
much ready as possible the night before. Charge your laptop and
electronics devices before you go to bed. Create a to-do list so you
know what you must get done the next day. If you are going to work on your classes
somewhere else, do you have your transportation arranged? Do you know where you
are going? When you are ready to start learning, don’t wait to the last second to start
your computer. Start your computer before its time, just in case you need to download
applications, run updates and to make sure all programs you need are working
correctly.

Step 4: Make Better Time Estimates

Learn to estimate better how much time things take. Think back to the
last time you did the same activity and recall how long it took? Was it
longer or shorter than expected?

Use Technology: You can use a free time tracker app on your laptop
like RescueTime or Toggl to learn how much time typical tasks take you to complete.
Record these times, and refer to your record when estimating the time needed for
similar tasks.

Step 5: Think Backwards

For example, if you have an online class session that starts at 9 am,
start there and go back. It takes you about 15 minutes to get set up, get
all your snacks, water, and notebooks, connect all your devices to the
internet and be ready to start class. So at what time at the latest should
you start preparing for your lesson so as not to be late even when working online? The
best thing to do is to start setting up at 8:30 am so that if something goes wrong, you
still have time to fix it or let your teacher know before class.

Setting goals/ priorities

In his best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Stephen R. Covey
highlights the importance of finishing our most important tasks first before moving on to
other easier, less important, or less urgent tasks. Examples include succeeding on that
upcoming exam, finishing that research paper, eating dinner with family, meeting friends
on the weekend and going to the gym 3 times a week. See the matrix below and
consider where the tasks on your list fit: Urgent and Important; Not Urgent, but
Important, Not Important, but Urgent, or Not Urgent and Not Important.

At the start of every week, set aside time to identify your priorities and prioritize your
tasks. Then on a daily basis, make sure to identify the most important tasks you must
complete that are aligned with your current priorities. Living a balanced life requires
proper planning as well as self-reflection about what matters most to you. The “Big
Rocks” video shares a valuable lesson on prioritization and living a balanced life. Make
sure you design a schedule that makes time for the most important aspects of your life
– the ‘big rocks of life'.
To Learn More:
 Benefits of Online Learning – 16 Advantages to Learning Online

5 Ways to Stop Procrastinating

Advice on time management

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

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Learning Management Systems (LMS)

Having reviewed the Digital Competencies and Time Management Skills needed to
successfully learn online, this section explores the environment where that learning will
take place: the Learning Management System (LMS). There are many different types of
LMS, the most popular are: Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, EdX. This one uses Open
edX. No matter the LMS, there are many qualities that they all share.

 Ability to communicate with your instructor

 Track your course grades

 Alerts and notifications for announcements from the instructor

 Calendars

 Navigation Menus

 Tech Support

 Access to course materials such as textbooks, videos, study guides, etc.

 Discussion Forums

Try it out! Click on the hotspots (+) in the images below to explore the features of the
LMS at ASU.

Know How to Access Student Support Services for Your Institution:

 Just because you are taking classes online doesn’t mean you are alone. Each institution
provides services to support online students as they complete their online educational
journey. Its a good best practice to familiarize yourself with those services before you
actually need them. We’ve included a few examples so that you know what they might
look like, but remember, each institution has their own way of listing them. If you can’t
find what you need, call your institution directly and ask. Making use of the Student
Support services will make your life as a student easier. Taking advantage of these
resources does not mean you’re failing; it means you know how to maximize the
resources provided to you.

Provided resources might include:

 Bookstore

 Tech Support

 Academic Records

 Finances

 Student Wellness Support

 Accessibility Resources

 Tutoring

 Writing Support

Try it out! See how many of the above you can find in this example from ASU’s portal.
Click on the hotspots (+) in the images below to explore the different resources provided
to online students.

To Learn More:

7 Time-Management Tips for Online College Students

How to Manage Your Time Better

Checklist for Student Success

Develop Self-Motivation Skills Before Starting Online Courses

You asked: A complete guide to studying (part 2)

Student Tips - Survival Habits in the Online Classroom

How to Catch Up in an Online Course