The Importance of Staying MotivatedДЇor some students, the convenience of online courses can encourage poor study habits. If necessary, your instructor may suggest tutoring, which is available at a number of schools that offer online degree programs. He or she may recommend supplemental reading to help you brush up on basic information that you are unfamiliar with. Your professor may be able to help you understand the material more clearly. One way to start is by contacting your instructor privately, either through the virtual learning platform or through email. If you find yourself struggling in an online class, it is important that you address the problem sooner rather than later. Social engagement is necessary to good mental health, and students who study online must take advantage of virtual gatherings and forums for academic success and for their own mental health. Half of traditional college freshmen reported feeling depressed when they entered school. While they do interact online, it is a different atmosphere. In fact, a US News and World Report asserts that students interact with peers in person less than they did a generation ago. Of course, not all students taking courses or entire programs online will suffer depression, but many will. That, in turn, can make concentrating on assignments difficult, decrease the ability to organize thoughts and disrupts memory. Isolation brought on by the lack of peer-to-peer and student-instructor interaction can bring on depression. That is because education is not only an academic pursuit it is social. The lack of in-person communication can become problematic for students who are struggling to understand course material, according to The New York Times.Д«esides increasing the difficulty of interpreting the material, the lack of engagement can leave students feeling isolated. However, despite the range of ways instructors can foster student engagement, some students simply do not find a virtual classroom as engaging as a traditional one. Professors can provide course instruction in a variety of ways, such as by sharing slide show presentations, posting videos of recorded lectures, or even streaming lectures live. This platform may include reading materials, assignments, and even a forum or chat room for class discussions. Online courses are typically conducted through a virtual learning platform. Perhaps the most common challenge students face in online degree programs is the lack of face-to-face engagement with professors and other students. Graduate students should prepare to spend double that time on those activities. Those estimates are for undergraduate programs. Some online courses, however, require more work than traditional ones, and students could be expected to complete the course load of one-and-a-half times that of traditional courses. Additionally, schools recommend that students spend four-to-five hours a week for each three-credit course doing paperwork, completing assignments and participating in online forums. Online students should spend the same amount of time reading the materials and listening to online lectures. Traditional students will spend three hours a week in the classroom. Traditional program courses average three credits each. Some students take online courses because they can adapt their schedules and work full-time while earning a degree. The first big hurdle online students face is miscalculating their workloads. That may be because online learning is not without difficulties. Students forced to take online programs view them more negatively than those who elected to forego traditional learning.

The pandemic has resulted in an uptick of online students as well, but the growth from Covid-19 may be temporary. While enrollment at traditional brick-and-mortar schools is down by up to four percent in the US, the percentage of students enrolled in online programs has risen by double digits.

In fact, in one four-year period the number of people studying online more than doubled. So, who studies online? According to the same website, 35.3 percent of students take at least one course online. While undergraduates surveyed saw their programs as equal to traditional offerings, more than half of graduate students said that the online degree programs were better than traditional advanced degrees. A greater percentage, however, take at least one online course. The National Center for Education Statistics says that 14 percent of undergraduates and nearly 31 percent of graduate students earn their degrees completely online.

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