Taking online nursing classes lets you work toward your chosen career from anywhere you happen to be. As long as you have a stable internet connection, you can receive assignments, complete tests, communicate with your professor, and collaborate with fellow students. To help you have an easier time completing your classes, here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Cut Out Distractions
You have a ton of freedom when you work on your nursing degree from your laptop or desktop. However, with all that freedom comes plenty of potential obstacles. Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, and a ton of other distractions may vie for your attention, and they may win if you’re not disciplined enough to focus on the work at hand.
To keep yourself from getting too tempted to procrastinate, try to find a dedicated, quiet place to work. Use headphones to drown out the world and choose music without words that is conducive to studying. You can also try noise canceling headphones without music if you work better that way.
Stay on Schedule (Or Even Ahead of It)
Try your best to stay on schedule with all nursing school assignments. If you want to go above and beyond, you may strive to even stay ahead of any classwork you receive from your professor. The online format lets you see the entire course ahead of time, which can help you plan school work around your regular life. By doing the work in advance, you’ll take loads of pressure off yourself and won’t find yourself scrambling to catch up during those times when life gets in the way.
Occasionally Work Outside of the Home
Working on your coursework from home definitely has its perks. You can wear anything you want, and your fridge is always close at hand. Before you know it, every day feels like that movie Groundhog Day, where everything feels far too familiar, as if it’s all happened before.
To break the monotony and keep your mind sharp, take your laptop to the coffee shop for a day. Go to the park if your cell service offers Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities or hit up the library to take advantage of the free internet connection. Getting some fresh air and new scenery can help you stay energized enough to complete your nursing coursework.
Use Time Blocking
Time-blocking is a time management strategy that helps you push the limits of your productivity. Instead of switching from one task to another, you would block off time for each task. This lets your brain focus on one thing at a time. You might study for 30 minutes, then conduct 30 minutes of research, followed by 10 minutes of preparing for the following day, just to give some examples.
This technique takes some getting used to but is excellent for keeping you on track and highly focused when it counts.
Have a Partner Hold You Accountable
If you have trouble keeping distractions at bay, find an accountability partner who can help you stay focused, and vice versa. One of your online classmates would be an excellent choice since that person is already familiar with the coursework at hand. Knowing that someone is keeping tabs on you makes you more susceptible to productivity and less likely to procrastinate.
Ask for Assistance
Just because you are taking online nursing classes doesn’t mean that you’re all on your own. Your professor is there to help you whenever you get stuck or become frustrated. Find out your professor’s office hours and use them whenever you find yourself struggling. A quick text chat or video conference may be just what you need to comprehend a certain lesson or get back on track if you’ve suddenly lagged behind.
Keep Backups of Everything
With online lessons, everything is recorded. You can access your syllabus and lesson plans with ease, and you can usually go back and watch video conferences with your professor whenever you want. However, just because everything is in the cloud doesn’t mean you should get complacent with saving your own work. Save everything, twice if you can. You never know when a computer glitch may make all of your hard work disappear in a flash. You’ll save yourself headaches and tears by backing up your submission forms, homework, and even important notes to your professor. Use MS Word, Google Docs, or Open Office and keep a file of all your work saved, no matter how minor. You’ll thank yourself later.
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