College is extremely diverse when it comes to what classes you can take, where you can take them, and how you can take them. Once upon a time, you had to go on-campus to complete your courses; now, you can go to remote sites or stay in your bed. Now, before you get all hyped up about the latter (because, who am I kidding, it sounds like a dream), there are pros and cons to taking online courses. Last semester, I took two online courses, and this upcoming Spring semester, I'm taking two more. Let's say that I'm bittersweet right now. 
Online classes provide you with accessibility because you can literally access them anywhere as long as you have working Wi-Fi or a steady Hotspot. So, if you forgot about an assignment that's due tonight at 11:59 PM, yet you are out partying with your friends, as long as you have your assignment saved online (such as on GoogleDocs or Dropbox), you can quickly and easily download it and submit it. Whew. But there's the dilemma of actually remembering the class and its assignments when you do not have a class to attend daily. It's really up to you to prioritize and keep track of everything. While that can also be true for actual classes that you go to, you have to be far more organized with online courses because your only method of communication or finding out anything pertaining to the class is through the worldwide web. Of course, most professors still have office hours, but in reality, most students don't take advantage of that. 
Along the way, I have learned some tips for how to successfully complete your online college class.

1. Print out your syllabus.

It's easy to neglect this task because it's online (and you're trying to be eco-friendly, right?). However, this can make or break your semester. I found this out the hard way; it's pretty annoying having to constantly go to Blackboard, find the syllabus again, and possibly have to download it just to see when that one assignment is due. It's far easier to have a tangible copy that you can quickly pull out and reference daily. 

2. Attend Your Professor's Office Hours 

If your professor does not have set office hours (which is normally not the case), do not hesitate to reach out and set up an appointment. Some professors do not like to sit around in their office for no reason, so they might not be there if you decide to just pop up. That's why it's best to e-mail or fill out a form, letting them know that you plan to come and chat with them. This is especially important when you have an online class because it's great to create the rapport with your professor. Since you won't be seeing them during the week, it's nice to let them know who you are as well as you get to know them. Just because they're teaching an online class doesn't mean that they cannot prove to be a great reference or friend in the future!

3. Get organized online.

By this, I mean find some organization method that works best for you. You need a way to keep track of deadlines, host your assignments, and keep everything together that you'll need for your class. I personally love using a calendar for inputting my deadlines and miscellaneous tasks for classes. SolCalendar is the calendar that I use; it allows you to add marks and little graphics, set reoccurring dates (perfect for when you have a class multiple days throughout the week), invite people to the event/task, and color-code, which I find works out best for differentiating my courses. I'm also planning to use Trello this upcoming semester after reading about another student's method of organizing. I set mine up yesterday, and I'm excited to see how this works. So far, I've added all of my classes and organized what books and the costs for each of my classes. I'll update you guys once I finally start to use it. 

4. Take Notes On and Off the Computer.

I find taking notes using Microsoft OneNote the easiest for me. However, it's not always the best solution when your class is strictly online. This is for two reasons: 1) it can be difficult having to switch from your class online to taking notes on another screen; this can work because of the split-screen function that laptops have now; nevertheless, I prefer to have a full-screen versus two mini ones, and 2) writing things down helps you to learn and memorize it. You can take online classes at your pace (as far as note-taking goes), so use this to your advantage and hand write your notes. In-class note-taking is more so at the professor's rate, so having a laptop accessible to take notes seems to be easier. Use the advantage an online class gives you and take your time to truly learn the information on your time. Also, once you finish handwriting your notes, feel free to type them up (as they say, looking at and writing stuff down multiple times help you to remember it!). 

5. Try to Find and Get to Know People in Your Course

One of my hospitality management classes was online, and my professor tried to get us to establish a relationship with others in our respective groups that she assigned. She did this by having us do a forum board where we introduced ourselves and had weekly discussions that were worth a grade. While this is not necessarily the best way to get to know people (because most people are just doing this for a grade + simply talking to someone online doesn't foster a relationship like seeing someone in-person does), it's still a great way to learn names and the basics about your classmates. If you seemingly click or are interested in a particular person, do not hesitate to reach out and try to meet them in person. You never know who could become your next best friend or great study buddy.