With every new semester comes new challenges and experiences. This semester, I’m taking my first online course. To be honest, it wasn’t until this summer that I even knew that U of T offered online courses! It's had its challenges, but this experience has made me want to share my tips for those interested in trying an online course.
With a computer and WiFi, I can access my course at any time!
If you want to take a course online, check out the Fall and Winter Session Timetable that is released every academic year to see if they are offering anything that interests you. To find my course, I went to https://timetable.iit.artsci.utoronto.ca/ and, under Advanced Search, I selected “Online Course.” There's a wide range of options, ranging from humanities to genetics courses and beyond.
Having taken the jump myself, I've found that this new academic adventure has made me a much more efficient planner. Taking an online course requires excellent time management! Without regular in-class meetings in the real world, it can feel like you’re not taking a course at all. As a result, it is even more important to write down deadlines and check Blackboard or the course’s website for announcements regularly, since you won't have a professor physically present to remind you about tests or assignments. Because of this, I have been using my UTSU planner to set time in my schedule for my online course work. As a side note, you can get these planners for free at the University of Toronto Student Union building near Hart House.
I would really recommend taking an online course if you want to be more in control of your learning. Sometimes, classes can be too fast paced or have a lot of material covered during each lecture. It can be hard to take it all in! By taking the course online and having material accessible at any point, I can work at my own pace. When a difficult concept comes up, I can pause the lecture, take detailed notes and really understand the topic being presented. This has allowed me to dig deeper into the material whenever I face a challenge! If you prefer to work ahead on material, that's definitely an option too.
If you have any time-management tips, leave a comment below! I would love to try them out as I continue my online course adventure.
0 comments on “An Online Course Adventure”