Recently a student emailed me asking for advice on how to be successful in online classes. I've written a little on the topic previously: here and here. But the basic premise for success in online classes is that you really have to take ownership of your own education and be prepared to advocate for yourself. 

Online classes became common during the pandemic, and often professors were creating their classes very quickly and with very little help. There are absolutely best practices for how to create and administer online education, but not all professors are aware of these best practices or able to implement them. In reality, that means that there is huge variation between how different professors in different subjects will run their online courses. And unfortunately, as a student, you have relatively little control over how your online classes are designed. That being said, there are some things you can do to make sure that you are successful in these classes, regardless of how they are set up. 

I have written previously about incorporating feedback on your work, but I don't think I've previously really explained just why feedback is so incredibly important and how you can seek it out. It's still early in the semester, so now is the perfect time to write this post. Why? Because feedback is something you should be looking for early, and often. Buckle up, and I'll tell you why.