This post is the second part of a series, aimed at making online education more approachable. If you missed the first post, you can find it here. 

Previously I noted that, when talking to college students, a few themes emerge regarding the particular challenges of online learning:

1. It is much harder to stay organized and keep track of assignments when classes are online
2. Community is lacking in these courses and students don't know their classmates 
3. Courses are more self-paced, which requires more self-discipline to avoid falling behind 
4. Some professors do not make themselves accessible through zooms 

This post is going to tackle how to build a classroom community when everything is online. You might think that this is the professor's job, and it is (to an extent); but it is also your job. As bell hooks eloquently says: 

“When everyone in the classroom, teacher and students, recognizes that they are responsible for creating a learning community together, learning is at its most meaningful and useful.” ― bell hooks, Teaching Critical Thinking

In other words, there can be no classroom community without engaged students who are willing to take responsibility for their own education. Professors can hold office hours, create discussion boards, and encourage students to get to know one another, but ultimately only the students themselves can take the final step. 

​Students can help create community in their online classrooms in both large and small ways.

As we have all been thrown abruptly into the world of online education, both professors and students have floundered. While online classes have existed for some time, few of us were prepared - mentally or emotionally - to suddenly move entirely online. As zoom and asynchronous classes have over taken higher education, we all find ourselves needing to suddenly adjust our strategies and metrics for success. What does it look like to be a successful college student when libraries are operating with limited hours, study rooms are restricted, and your professor only holds online zooms instead of in-person office hours? 

Talking to college students, a few themes emerge:

1. It is much harder to stay organized and keep track of assignments when classes are online
2. Community is lacking in these courses and students don't know their classmates 
3. Courses are more self-paced, which requires more self-discipline to avoid falling behind 
4. Some professors do not make themselves accessible through zooms 

All of these concerns and challenges are very real, and frankly, they suck. But there are a few things that you can do to make them suck less, or at least lessen their impact and succeed in spite of them. I'll tackle these challenges in a short series of blog posts, aimed at helping make online classes just a little less painful. 

First, I'm going to tackle the challenge of staying organized in online classes, and I won't bury the lede. When it comes to keeping track of assignments for online classes, the key to success is actually exactly the same as it was for in-person classes. Read the syllabus. Print the syllabus and hang it on your wall. Frame the syllabus and hang it over your bed.

Here's the problem: professors are not necessarily any better at online classes than you are. Many professors have no experience, no idea, and no help with setting up an online class. They do not necessarily understand the user experience. Some professors might be putting discussion boards in one place, assignments in another place, and readings somewhere else; while other professors reliably use modules. Every class you take may be structured differently, according to how well or poorly the professor understands the learning management system and how much experience they have taking and teaching online classes. You cannot control any of this. But you can look at the syllabus, figure out what assignments are due when, and keep track of what you need and when you need to do it. In this sense, nothing has changed from when you took in-person classes. The syllabus is still God, and you can still put those deadlines on your personal calendar, keep track of readings, and find the class materials exactly the way you did before everything moved online. 

If you are taking four online classes, and each class has a different method of online organization, posts assignments in different spots, and readings are scattered across hell and back, then don't rely on the LMS (canvas, blackboard, whatever) to tell you what to do.

Take charge! Here's how