assignments in online learning

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Creating and Adapting Assignments for Online Courses

Online teaching requires a deliberate shift in how we communicate, deliver information, and offer feedback to our students. How do you effectively design and modify your assignments to accommodate this shift? The ways you introduce students to new assignments, keep them on track, identify and remedy confusion, and provide feedback after an assignment is due must be altered to fit the online setting. Intentional planning can help you ensure assignments are optimally designed for an online course and expectations are clearly communicated to students.  

When teaching online, it can be tempting to focus on the differences from in-person instruction in terms of adjustments, or what you need to make up for. However, there are many affordances of online assignments that can deepen learning and student engagement. Students gain new channels of interaction, flexibility in when and where they access assignments, more immediate feedback, and a student-centered experience (Gayten and McEwen, 2007; Ragupathi, 2020; Robles and Braathen, 2002). Meanwhile, ample research has uncovered that online assignments benefit instructors through automatic grading, better measurement of learning, greater student involvement, and the storing and reuse of assignments. 

In Practice

While the purpose and planning of online assignments remain the same as their in-person counterparts, certain adjustments can make them more effective. The strategies outlined below will help you design online assignments that support student success while leveraging the benefits of the online environment. 

Align assignments to learning outcomes. 

All assignments work best when they align with your learning outcomes. Each online assignment should advance students' achievement of one or more of your specific outcomes. You may be familiar with  Bloom's Taxonomy,  a well-known framework that organizes and classifies learning objectives based on the actions students take to demonstrate their learning. Online assignments have the added advantage of flexing students' digital skills, and Bloom's has been revamped for the digital age to incorporate technology-based tasks into its categories. For example, students might search for definitions online as they learn and remember course materials, tweet their understanding of a concept, mind map an analysis, or create a podcast. 

See a  complete description of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy  for further ideas. 

Provide authentic assessments. 

Authentic assessments call for relevant, purposeful actions that mimic the real-life tasks students may encounter in their lives and careers beyond the university. They represent a shift away from infrequent high-stakes assessments that tend to evaluate the acquisition of knowledge over application and understanding. Authentic assessments allow students to see the connection between what they're learning and how that learning is used and contextualized outside the virtual walls of the learning management system, thereby increasing their motivation and engagement. 

There are many ways to incorporate authenticity into an assignment, but three main strategies are to use  authentic audiences, content, and formats . A student might, for example, compose a business plan for an audience of potential investors, create a patient care plan that translates medical jargon into lay language, or propose a safe storage process for a museum collection.  

Authentic assessments in online courses can easily incorporate the internet or digital tools as part of an authentic format. Blogs, podcasts, social media posts, and multimedia artifacts such as infographics and videos represent authentic formats that leverage the online context. 

Learn more about  authentic assessments in Designing Assessments of Student Learning . 

Design for inclusivity and accessibility. 

Adopting universal design principles at the outset of course creation will ensure your material is accessible to all students. As you plan your assignments, it's important to keep in mind barriers to access in terms of tools, technology, and cost. Consider which tools achieve your learning outcomes with the fewest barriers. 

Offering a variety of assignment formats is one way to ensure students can demonstrate learning in a manner that works best for them. You can provide options within an individual assignment, such as allowing students to submit either written text or an audio recording or to choose from several technologies or platforms when completing a project. 

Be mindful of how you frame and describe an assignment to ensure it doesn't disregard populations through exclusionary language or use culturally specific references that some students may not understand. Inclusive language for all genders and racial or ethnic backgrounds can foster a sense of belonging that fully invests students in the learning community.  

Learn more about  Universal Design of Learning  and  Shaping a Positive Learning Environment . 

Design to promote academic integrity online. 

Much like incorporating universal design principles at the outset of course creation, you can take a proactive approach to academic integrity online. Design assignments that limit the possibilities for students to use the work of others or receive prohibited outside assistance.  

Provide   authentic assessments  that are more difficult to plagiarize because they incorporate recent events or unique contexts and formats. 

Scaffold assignments  so that students can work their way up to a final product by submitting smaller portions and receiving feedback along the way. 

Lower the stakes  by providing more frequent formative assessments in place of high-stakes, high-stress assessments. 

In addition to proactively creating assignments that deter cheating, there are several university-supported tools at your disposal to help identify and prevent cheating.  

Learn more about these tools in  Strategies and Tools for Academic Integrity in Online Environments . 

Communicate detailed instructions and clarify expectations. 

When teaching in-person, you likely dedicate class time to introducing and explaining an assignment; students can ask questions or linger after class for further clarification. In an online class, especially in  asynchronous  online classes, you must anticipate where students' questions might arise and account for them in the assignment instructions.  

The  Carmen course template  addresses some of students' common questions when completing an assignment. The template offers places to explain the assignment's purpose, list out steps students should take when completing it, provide helpful resources, and detail academic integrity considerations.  

Providing a rubric will clarify for students how you will evaluate their work, as well as make your grading more efficient. Sharing examples of previous student work (both good and bad) can further help students see how everything should come together in their completed products. 

Technology Tip

Enter all  assignments and due dates  in your Carmen course to increase transparency. When assignments are entered in Carmen, they also populate to Calendar, Syllabus, and Grades areas so students can easily track their upcoming work. Carmen also allows you to  develop rubrics  for every assignment in your course.  

Promote interaction and collaboration. 

Frequent student-student interaction in any course, but particularly in online courses, is integral to developing a healthy learning community that engages students with course material and contributes to academic achievement. Online education has the inherent benefit of offering multiple channels of interaction through which this can be accomplished. 

Carmen  Discussions   are a versatile platform for students to converse about and analyze course materials, connect socially, review each other's work, and communicate asynchronously during group projects. 

Peer review  can be enabled in Carmen  Assignments  and  Discussions .  Rubrics  can be attached to an assignment or a discussion that has peer review enabled, and students can use these rubrics as explicit criteria for their evaluation. Alternatively, peer review can occur within the comments of a discussion board if all students will benefit from seeing each other's responses. 

Group projects  can be carried out asynchronously through Carmen  Discussions  or  Groups , or synchronously through Carmen's  Chat function  or  CarmenZoom . Students (and instructors) may have apprehensions about group projects, but well-designed group work can help students learn from each other and draw on their peers’ strengths. Be explicit about your expectations for student interaction and offer ample support resources to ensure success on group assignments. 

Learn more about  Student Interaction Online .

Choose technology wisely. 

The internet is a vast and wondrous place, full of technology and tools that do amazing things. These tools can give students greater flexibility in approaching an assignment or deepen their learning through interactive elements. That said, it's important to be selective when integrating external tools into your online course.  

Look first to your learning outcomes and, if you are considering an external tool, determine whether the technology will help students achieve these learning outcomes. Unless one of your outcomes is for students to master new technology, the cognitive effort of using an unfamiliar tool may distract from your learning outcomes.  

Carmen should ultimately be the foundation of your course where you centralize all materials and assignments. Thoughtfully selected external tools can be useful in certain circumstances. 

Explore supported tools 

There are many  university-supported tools  and resources already available to Ohio State users. Before looking to external tools, you should explore the available options to see if you can accomplish your instructional goals with supported systems, including the  eLearning toolset , approved  CarmenCanvas integrations , and the  Microsoft365 suite .  

If a tool is not university-supported, keep in mind the security and accessibility implications, the learning curve required to use the tool, and the need for additional support resources. If you choose to use a new tool, provide links to relevant help guides on the assignment page or post a video tutorial. Include explicit instructions on how students can get technical support should they encounter technical difficulties with the tool. 

Adjustments to your assignment design can guide students toward academic success while leveraging the benefits of the online environment.  

Effective assignments in online courses are:  

Aligned to course learning outcomes 

Authentic and reflect real-life tasks 

Accessible and inclusive for all learners 

Designed to encourage academic integrity 

Transparent with clearly communicated expectations 

Designed to promote student interaction and collaboration 

Supported with intentional technology tools 

• Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty (e-book)
• Making Your Course Accessible for All Learners (workshop reccording)
• Writing Multiple Choice Questions that Demand Critical Thinking (article)

Learning Opportunities

Conrad, D., & Openo, J. (2018).  Assessment strategies for online learning: Engagement and authenticity . AU Press. Retrieved from  https://library.ohio-state.edu/record=b8475002~S7 

Gaytan, J., & McEwen, B. C. (2007). Effective online instructional and assessment strategies.  American Journal of Distance Education ,  21 (3), 117–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/08923640701341653   

Mayer, R. E. (2001).  Multimedia learning . New York: Cambridge University Press.  

Ragupathi, K. (2020). Designing Effective Online Assessments Resource Guide . National University of Singapore. Retrieved from  https://www.nus.edu.sg/cdtl/docs/default-source/professional-development-docs/resources/designing-online-assessments.pdf  

Robles, M., & Braathen, S. (2002). Online assessment techniques.  Delta Pi Epsilon Journal ,  44 (1), 39–49.  https://proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=507795215&site=eds-live&scope=site  

Swan, K., Shen, J., & Hiltz, S. R. (2006). Assessment and collaboration in online learning.  Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks ,  10 (1), 45.  

TILT Higher Ed. (n.d.).  TILT Examples and Resources . Retrieved from   https://tilthighered.com/tiltexamplesandresources  

Tallent-Runnels, M. K., Thomas, J. A., Lan, W. Y., Cooper, S., Ahern, T. C., Shaw, S. M., & Liu, X. (2006). Teaching Courses Online: A Review of the Research.  Review of Educational Research ,  76 (1), 93–135.  https://www-jstor-org.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/stable/3700584  

Walvoord, B. & Anderson, V.J. (2010).  Effective Grading : A Tool for Learning and Assessment in College: Vol. 2nd ed . Jossey-Bass.  https://library.ohio-state.edu/record=b8585181~S7

Related Teaching Topics

Designing assessments of student learning, strategies and tools for academic integrity in online environments, student interaction online, universal design for learning: planning with all students in mind, related toolsets, carmencanvas, search for resources.

10 Types of Assignments in Online Degree Programs

Students may respond to recorded video lectures, participate in discussion boards and write traditional research papers.

(Getty Images) |

Learn What to Expect

Experts say online degree programs are just as rigorous as those offered on campus. Prospective online students should expect various types of coursework suited for a virtual environment, such as discussion boards or wikis, or more traditional research papers and group projects .

Here are 10 types of assignments you may encounter in online courses.

Read or Watch, Then Respond

An instructor provides a recorded lecture, article or book chapter and requires students to answer questions. Students generally complete the assignment at their own pace, so long as they meet the ultimate deadline, Bradley Fuster, associate vice president of institutional effectiveness at SUNY Buffalo State , wrote in a recent U.S. News blog post .

(Jessica Peterson | Getty Images)

Discussion Boards

The discussion forum is a major part of many online classes, experts say, and often supplements weekly coursework. Generally, the professor poses a question, and students respond to the prompt as well as each other. Sometimes, students must submit their own post before seeing classmates' answers.

"Good response posts are response posts that do not only agree or disagree," Noam Ebner, who then led the online graduate program in negotiation and conflict resolution at Creighton University 's law school, told U.S. News in 2015. "When you read another student's post, you have the ability to expand the conversation."

(Ariel Skelley | Getty Images)

Group Projects

Just because online students may live around the world doesn't mean they won't complete group work. Students may use Google Docs to edit assignments, email to brainstorm ideas and software such as Zoom to videoconference. Katy Katz, who earned an online MBA in 2013 at Benedictine University in Illinois, used both Skype and a chat feature in her online classroom to communicate with classmates.

"That was a good way for our instructor to see that everyone was participating," she told U.S. News in 2015. "Any planning we did – if there were going to be changes to meeting times – we would communicate in that chat area."

(Dave and Les Jacobs | Getty Images)

Virtual Presentations

Students may also give either live or recorded presentations to their classmates. At Colorado State University—Global Campus , for example, students use various video technologies and microphones for oral presentations, or software such as Prezi for more visual assignments, says Karen Ferguson, the online school's vice provost.

Oftentimes, Ferguson says, "They're using the technology that they will use in their field."

(Westend61 | Getty Images)

Like on-campus courses, online courses may have exams , depending on the discipline. These may be proctored at a local testing center, or an actual human may monitor online students through their webcam. Companies such as ProctorU make this possible.

In other cases, students may take online exams while being monitored by a computer. Automated services including ProctorTrack can keep track of what's happening on an online student's screen in case there are behaviors that may indicate cheating.

(Dr T J Martin | Getty Images)

Research Papers

Formal research papers, wrote Buffalo State's Fuster, remain common in online courses, as this type of writing is important in many disciplines, especially at the graduate level .

While there are few differences between these assignments for online and on-ground courses, online students should ensure their program offers remote access to a university's library and its resources, which may include live chats with staff, experts say.

(golibo | Getty Images)

Case Studies and Real-World Scenarios

When it comes to case studies, a reading or video may provide detailed information about a specific situation related to the online course material, Fuster wrote. Students analyze the presented issues and develop solutions.

Real-world learning can also take other forms, says Brian Worden, manager of curriculum and course development for several schools at the for-profit Capella University . In online psychology degree programs, students may hold mock therapy sessions through videoconferencing. In the K-12 education online master's program , they create lesson plans and administer them to classmates.

(Tetra Images | Getty Images)

These are particularly useful in online courses where students reflect on personal experiences, internships or clinical requirements , Fuster wrote. Generally, these are a running dialogue of a student's thoughts or ideas about a topic. They may update their blogs throughout the course, and in some cases, their classmates can respond.

(vertmedia | Getty Images)

These allow students to comment on and edit a shared document to write task lists, answer research questions, discuss personal experiences or launch discussions with classmates. They are particularly beneficial when it comes to group work, Fuster wrote.

"A blog, a wiki, even building out portfolios – we see a lot of those in communications, marketing and some of our business programs ," says Ferguson, of CSU—Global. "You may not see as much of that in accounting," for example, where students focus more on specific financial principles.

(Nalinratana Phiyanalinmat | EyeEm

A journal assignment allows an online student to communicate with his or her professor directly. While topics are sometimes assigned, journals often enable students to express ideas, concerns, opinions or questions about course material, Fuster wrote.

(Yuri_Arcurs | Getty Images)

More About Online Education

Learn more about selecting an online degree program by checking out the U.S. News 2017 Best Online Programs rankings and exploring the Online Learning Lessons blog.

For more advice, follow U.S. News Education on Twitter and Facebook .

2024 Best Online Programs

Compare online degree programs using the new U.S. News rankings and data.

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Integrating Online Assignments into your Course

Many types of assignments can be done online. Some options are outlined below as well as decision-making criteria for using online assignments in a course and course design questions to consider as you start to integrate online assignments into your course. By thinking about the reasons for using them and answering the design questions, you will be able to integrate these engaging tools in a meaningful way with the rest of your course.

What are some possible online assignments?

It is often difficult to imagine what kinds of assignments can be put online if you have never used technology in your teaching. Basically, technology can be used to put almost any assignment online. The key, though, is to have a clear rationale for doing so. Below are some examples of online assignments, but they certainly do not represent all of the possibilities.

• Online discussions
• Case studies
• Online tests/quizzes
• Practice exercises
• Virtual tutorials or labs
• Essays (submit online)
• Online literature searches
• Simulations

Decision-making criteria

Why should we put assignments online? As mentioned above, with the use of any tools or methods in our courses, there should be a clear pedagogical reason for using them. The following are some of the reasons for putting an assignment online.

• Allow for new types of assignments.  Some assignments simply cannot be done on paper. For example, you can have students work with a simulation (in two or three dimensions) to see what happens when they change one element. Or they can see full colour pictures or artwork to analyze or critique. Allow yourself to think beyond the limitations of paper-based assignments to create new ways to enhance your students’ learning.
• Refocus classroom time.  As with traditional assignments, you can have students cover content and do activities outside of class time so you can spend your in-class time in other ways. For example, students can engage in an online discussion and then be able to bring that knowledge to class for a more in-depth discussion. Or a pre-class quiz can highlight problem areas for you to focus on in your lecture. You may also be able to reduce in­class hours if your online activities are well-planned.
• Allow for collaboration.  Research has shown that one way to increase student learning is to promote collaboration where groups of students can interact with each other to solve a problem or discuss an issue together. Assignments which allow for such collaboration are often more effective at positively affecting student learning than individually-done assignments.
• Encourage reluctant participants.  Online assignments, particularly discussions, can allow even the most reluctant participants to join in a discussion. The online (often asynchronous) nature of such assignments gives students an opportunity to reflect and generate a response to a particular question – time not necessarily allowed in a face-to-­face, synchronous discussion.
• Accommodate different learning styles and levels.  Beyond encouraging participation from reluctant students, online assignments can have a multi-modal design (i.e., graphics, text, audio, virtual hands-on activities) and, if designed appropriately, can also help students reach new learning levels or think more deeply or critically about a given concept.
• Give instant feedback to students.  One of the real benefits to students of online assignments is the possibility for instant feedback on their work. Many tools used to create such assignments can be configured to provide such feedback, instead of having students wait for assignments to be graded and returned. This way, they know immediately what concepts they need to work on, and which they already understand. This can also help instructors to identify unclear concepts or students who may need remedial assistance.
• Archive course information.  Online assignments also allow for an archive to be created of relevant course information and discussions. This information can be used by students at a later date while studying for a test/exam, or by the instructor to create a frequently asked questions page or to measure students’ understanding of key concepts.
• Deliver online or distance education courses.  If a course is being offered online or at a distance, then online assignments are a natural extension of this.
• Provide students with transferable skills for other courses and in their careers.  Some instructors are interested in integrating key skills into their courses that students can use in other courses or take out into the “real-world” upon completion of their degrees. If this is a goal for your courses, then providing some familiarity with certain technologies through the use of online assignments may be a good way to introduce students to skills they can use elsewhere.
• Be environmentally friendly.  Paperless assignments are a good way to save environmental resources.

Creating your own online assignment

Now that you have some ideas about possible assignments and have reviewed the decision­making criteria, you should answer the following questions to consider how to integrate your online assignment into your course.

• Briefly describe the assignment. (Write 2-4 sentences)
• Students may need a rationale for having online assignments to help foster their motivation. What will you say to “sell” the assignment to your students? (Write 3-5 sentences)

If you would like support applying these tips to your own teaching, CTE staff members are here to help.  View the  CTE Support  page to find the most relevant staff member to contact. 

• Course design heuristic
• Collaborative online learning
• Learner-centered assessment
• Designing multiple-choice questions
• Types of assignments and tests
• Using writing as a learning tool

For more assistance, please also feel free to contact the Centre for Teaching Excellence office and we will assist you or connect you with other resources.

This Creative Commons license  lets others remix, tweak, and build upon our work non-commercially, as long as they credit us and indicate if changes were made. Use this citation format:  Integrating Online Assignments Into Your Course. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo .

Additional keywords: Blended Learning

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Rethinking Online Assignments

Main navigation.

Assignments and assessments designed to be used in person might be less effective when adapted for online learning. These strategies for rethinking learning activities for online courses can help you address these issues.

Clearly communicate assignment instructions

We often take for granted the many informal interactions that occur in a face-to-face setting. Simple clarifications, adjustments, and reassurances about assignment due dates, requirements, and expectations can be lost when going online. Consider the following strategies to address this:

• Make instructions clear and explicit. Provide students with clear guidance about exactly what needs to be done, when assignments are due, and how this will affect their grades.
• Allocate more time to communicating with students. Be prepared to spend more time communicating assignment instructions, sending reminders, answering questions, or clarifying requirements.
• Be meticulous with assignment instructions. Keep assignment instructions consistent in how and where they appear in the online learning space. Be sure to highlight any changes.
• Keep it simple. Avoid elaborate assignments that require overly complex instructions. Or, if such an assignment is important to your course, dedicate extra time to reviewing the instructions.

Make assignments easy to manage

Online coursework, particularly with asynchronous elements, gives learners more choices around how they can engage with the course. This can provide more flexibility and freedom, but it requires students to effectively and proactively manage their own learning. Help your students focus more on learning and less on managing their workload with these strategies:

• Chunk big assignments.  Large assignments put a lot of stress on particular weeks, so losing a week of work for any reason can heavily impact student success. A well-designed online course spreads the workload out as evenly as possible. With a little planning, it is also easy to accommodate extended time for short assessments . 
• Create routines and habits.  Consider repeating assignments that occur regularly, like weekly reading reflections, daily problem sets, or regular discussion forums. Create predictability by having regular due dates and instructions.
• Make the content needed for assignments convenient. If students need a particular article or weblink for an assignment, make it available with the assignment instructions. Clearly label files and materials so students can easily identify what they need to complete an assignment.

Be intentional about community and student input

You may find that meaningful engagement and connection happen differently in online learning than in traditional learning. Students can become disconnected from learning if the assignments are not meaningful to them, especially with asynchronous formats. These strategies can help you to get students more engaged with assignments:

• Try group projects, if it makes sense.  While group projects can be more difficult to organize, they are a great way to get students in the course to know each other and build a learning community. 
• Introduce low-stakes community-building assignments.  Try starting students off with something very simple, like a self introduction exercise, that lets them share something about themselves and connect to one another. Then, perhaps create spaces for students to get to know each other and deepen connections around shared interests, experiences, or communities.
• Let students influence assignments.  Consider assignments that connect to topics and issues that students care about. Include an element of student choice and gather feedback from students on the design of the assignment. You might even have students contribute to rubrics or grading criteria.

Center for Teaching Innovation

Resource library.

• Accessibility Quick Guide
• Plan Your Online Course

Active Learning in Online Teaching

• Video Resources for Online Teaching
• Online Assessment Strategies

Instructors can adapt many active learning strategies to online courses. Online active learning can also provide new ways for students to interact, participate, and collaborate.

For effective active learning, consider ways to combine practice with feedback , peer learning , and clear structure . Below are a selection of strategies that are used in Cornell courses for active learning in online teaching.

Practice with Feedback

Alternate short periods of lecturing (live or lecture videos) with time for students to apply what they have just learned and receive feedback. Students can work individually, in small groups, or both.

Strategies include:

Ask questions about a lecture with classroom polling

Low-stakes quizzes to check understanding, zoom chat window to share student responses, screen sharing, peer learning.

Through discussion with their peers, students may see additional patterns and connections between concepts, correct misconceptions, and organize their knowledge. It can also help create a sense of community in the class.

Breakout rooms in Zoom

Online discussion boards, group collaborations in canvas groups, peer feedback assignments, student prepared videos and other resources, google docs for collaboration.

Provide clear instructions, expectations, and accountability

Clear instructions

Clear purpose, accountability, tas can help..., expectations and examples, due dates & grading, some challenges encountered when doing active learning online, students are silent in the breakout rooms, or one student would like to talk, but no one else participates or turns their video or audio on..

• Spend time building a sense of community, especially in the first week, but also throughout the semester. Give students time to get to know each other so they are more comfortable in talking with one another. We offer additional resources on building community and inclusion in online courses
• Consider asking students for their input on online etiquette, use of Zoom features , and expectations for participation, either with the entire class or as an exercise in building a team contract (if working in permanent teams). This is a good activity in the first week of class
• Students may not see the purpose or value of the learning activities and discussions. Make sure that activities are well aligned with the learning outcomes and assessments for the course. Talk with students about the goals of the activity and the educational value of discussing with others and applying what they are learning
• Consider having more accountability: tell students that each group needs to post an answer in chat, or that groups will be called on to report out, or will need to submit a document
• Assign roles (like notetaker, reporter) to the group members (and rotate)
• Try adjusting the group size to see if larger or smaller groups seem to work better. Generally, we suggest around 3-5 students in a group, but it may depend on your class
• Consider having permanent groups throughout the semester by pre-assigning breakout rooms in Zoom . Working with the same group each time may help students feel more comfortable in talking. If groups are responsible for assignments, a peer feedback survey around mid-semester can help identify and solve problems in group participation

It is difficult to know how much time groups need in breakout rooms, or if they need help.

• Remind students of the “Ask for Help” feature in Zoom breakout rooms
• Visit the breakout rooms and ask TAs to join the rooms as well
• If you have TAs who join breakout rooms, consider setting up another channel (such as Slack) where they can tell you if questions are coming up or if groups are finished or need more time

Some students cannot easily participate in synchronous activities (unreliable internet access, no quiet space, not in the same time-zone)

• Take advantage of asynchronous options: posting to online discussion boards, downloading/uploading worksheets, short quizzes after lecture videos
• Allow a window of time to complete activities (e.g., 24 or 48 hours)
• Organize student collaboration groups by time-zones to make it easier to find a time to meet that works for them
• Offer different options for participation, for example students who cannot participate with video/audio in Zoom, can post their comments in the chat box

Putting it all together: Cornell courses using active learning online

Many Cornell courses have adapted active learning strategies. Often instructors used several approaches to meet their learning goals and to support students.

Some Cornell examples of active learning online scenarios:

Applied Econometrics (Econ 3120)

An introduction to evolutionary biology and diversity (bioee 1780), introduction to the classical world in 24 objects (classics 2700).

9 Tips to Being a Successful Online Learner

Students are taking advantage of online degree programs in record numbers. In fact, the number of online learners is expected to reach 57 million by 2027 as more individuals consider an online format to advance their careers, change jobs, or fulfill personal goals.

It should come as no surprise that enrollment numbers are growing, as online degree programs offer many unique benefits to learners , including a high degree of flexibility. Online courses bring immense benefits to your daily life, allowing you to learn whenever, wherever, and however works best for you—making it easier to earn a degree while balancing work and family commitments . And without having to attend classes in person, online learning gives you access to top degree programs across the country that might have otherwise been inaccessible or highly inconvenient.

Are Online Classes Easier?

It’s a misconception that online degrees are easier than their on-campus counterparts. An online program demands the same focus and motivation as is required in a traditional classroom setting. Factor in additional distractions that online students encounter—such as children in the home while taking classes—and the workload can easily feel more challenging.

Online courses present challenges if you’re not prepared. But, if you develop skills for effective online learning, you’ll find the courses can be an excellent alternative to a traditional classroom setting. Here are some tips for online learning success to make sure you get the most value out of your next class.

What Makes an Online Student Successful?

To be a successful online student, it is critical for you to practice self-motivation tactics, effective time management, and strong communication skills. In addition, the time commitment for online classes requires well-developed productive study habits and an adaptability to learn both in a virtual classroom setting as well as on your own outside of instruction. While these competencies might seem difficult at first, becoming goal-oriented can help you develop the motivation needed to hold yourself accountable on a regular basis.

9 Online Learning Strategies for Success

1. Get Organized

Before the semester begins, ensure you have the technical capability to access the required course materials, including e-books, online tools, and course websites. Take the time to practice navigating the online system so you’ll be prepared for your first class. This way you can focus on learning instead of struggling to log in five minutes into the lecture. Also, just as you would in a physical classroom, make sure you have materials on hand to take reliable notes. Keeping a record of your work throughout the semester will come in handy during final exams.

2. Set Up Your Workspace

Set up a dedicated learning environment for studying. By completing your work there repeatedly, you’ll begin to establish a routine. Not all students are alike—some work best listening to music, while others need peace and quiet. Experiment to discover which type of setting boosts your productivity. Whether your workspace is your kitchen table or the corner booth in a local coffee shop, just make sure you have a strong internet connection to access your coursework.

When choosing a workspace, try to limit distractions as much as possible, both physically and online. If you’re at home, resist the urge to turn on the television or finish that last load of laundry. Online, use apps like Freedom or ColdTurkey to limit interruptions and block social media sites that might compete for your attention during lectures.

3. Figure Out How You Learn Best

Once you’ve established where you’ll learn, think about when and how you accomplish your best work. If you’re a morning person, make time to study first thing. More of a night owl? Set aside an hour or two after dinner to cozy up to your computer. If the kids require your morning and evening attention, try to carve out a study session mid-day while they’re at school. Brew your usual cup of coffee, put on your go-to playlist, and do whatever you need to get into the zone and down to business.

Not everyone learns the same way, so think about what types of information help you best grasp new concepts and employ relevant study strategies. If you’re a visual learner, for example, print out transcripts of the video lectures to review. Learn best by listening? Make sure to build time into your schedule to play and replay all audio- and video-based course content.

4. Make A Schedule

Without a professor regularly checking in, it’s important to leverage your time management skills . Glance over the syllabus before your first day of class and make note of major assignments. Mark them on a calendar you check regularly so you know what workload is coming in the weeks ahead. Don’t forget to factor in prior commitments that may interfere with your regular study schedule, such as weddings or vacations, so you can give yourself enough extra time to complete assignments.

Commit to making your online coursework part of your weekly routine. Break up your workload into chunks by dedicating certain hours each week to reading, watching lectures, writing assignments, studying, and participating in forums. Then, set reminders for yourself to complete the tasks. Treat these blocks of time as seriously as you would a face-to-face lesson by showing up, letting others know you are unavailable during those times, and consistently using your designated workspace. Set a timer and give yourself permission to move on to other tasks once the time is up.

5. Be an Active Participant

Take initiative by reading materials, reaching out to classmates and instructors, and conducting additional research as needed. Productive online learners focus on acquiring and utilizing feedback for future coursework. Students who take time to engage with their instructors and classmates also tend to have the most success in their classes.

6. Stay Connected

Just because you aren’t physically in the same location, doesn’t mean you can’t get to know your fellow classmates. Build relationships with other students by introducing yourself and engaging in online discussion boards. Make an effort to ask and answer questions to enhance your understanding of the course material and build a bond with other students. Your peers can be a valuable resource when preparing for exams or asking for feedback on assignments. Make connections with the other students in your online classroom and you’ll have a built-in study group at your fingertips.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to your instructor to introduce yourself or ask questions, either. They are eager to engage one-on-one with their students, whether online or in person. And, if you do fall behind, speak up. Don’t wait until an assignment is almost due to ask questions or report issues. Email your professor and be proactive in asking for help.

7. Have an Open Mind

Some online learners feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions virtually than in the classroom. Online learning provides students with the time they need to actively reflect and organize their thoughts before answering a question or making a comment. Having an open mind helps students interact with the material—and fosters a more engaged and open community.

8. Ask Questions

The best online learners don’t hesitate to ask questions. They aren’t afraid to request clarification or guidance from other students and instructors. By doing this, they avoid confusion, become more engaged with the content, broaden their knowledge, and deepen relationships with their classmates. Successful students will also take advantage of posting to a group forum to ask questions other students may have. Professors encourage this type of interaction and value the community it builds.

9. Hold Yourself Accountable

Set goals at the beginning of the semester and check in with yourself weekly. In a traditional classroom setting, you’ll often receive verbal or visual reminders of an assignment’s upcoming due date. But without a professor actively reminding you, it’s up to you to make sure you’ve allotted enough time to complete the work so you’re not starting an assignment the day before it’s due. If you’re having trouble holding yourself responsible, pair up with a fellow classmate, or enlist the help of a spouse or friend to check in as an accountability partner. By being organized, proactive, and self-aware, you can get the most from your online class even when life outside of school becomes chaotic.

Setting Yourself Up For Success

Earning an online degree is a great opportunity to impress future employers and advance your career in a way that works for you. Adjusting to the nuances of distance learning, however, can take some getting used to. Use the nine tips and strategies above to become a successful online learner and take your skills to the next level.

Are you interested in earning your bachelor’s degree virtually? Explore Northeastern’s online bachelor’s degree completion programs .

How to create and manage online assignments for learners

Developing effective assignments for online learning does not have to be daunting. M aster the art of creating and managing online assignments for learners, whether you are with learners using 1:1 devices in a classroom, teaching hybrid or virtually.

One amazing benefit of today’s K-12 education community is the amount of resources, tips and tools available online from educators just like you. Tapping their experience, we’ll show how to create online assignments using digital tools that offer learners at least as much rigor as the ones you may have taught traditionally. 

As importantly, you will get tips on successfully managing your students during the learning process. Finally, this blog will give you teaching resources, including alternatives to building online lessons from scratch.  

How to plan successful online assignments for learners

An assignment lacking clear structure and substance can spell disaster. Not only will it be harder to manage, but learners may end up frustrated or fail to really learn the material. If not managed well, technology tools can turn into exciting and distracting shiny objects. 

To avoid the “edutainment” trap, ensure that onscreen activities support defined learning objectives tied to your district’s standards. Beginning with a strategically planned lesson provides the foundation for whatever digital tools you choose to incorporate. 

Know your learners and their current needs

The first step is to clarify what skills or knowledge your learners need to master before moving to the next level. Next, consider different types of assignments online for students to see how they could facilitate this learning. 

One brilliant advantage of digital delivery is the ability to tailor assignments to specific learner needs and interests. While selecting which kind of assignment to create, consider what might work best for your learners. Consider specific learners who may need accommodations in content or delivery. 

If you don’t already have data to understand the level of knowledge and prior experience learners have in the subject, consider using a Quizlet, survey or other fact-finding tool. Remember the backdrop of what is going on in the students’ surroundings and lives may have a bearing on their learning needs. Consider circumstances that may be affecting learners personally or in their community. 

Assess your resources including digital tools

Tap your personal teaching experience before exploring digital resources. Consider how your own understanding and knowledge of the subject can best shine through digital tools. 

Having strategies in place can help save time and reduce stress during the process of moving your expertise to an online format. Remember, the extra time put into initial start-up pays off in the long run because digital content can be reused over and over. Lessons in a digital format are shareable, adaptable and updateable.

How to make online assignments for learners

Consider variety and higher-level learning as you build assignments that are both engaging and contribute to long-term student goals. Once your academic aims are clear, look for digital tools designed to adapt to your needs as an educator and enhance what you would do in a non-digital format.

Provide clear and concise instruction

Make sure the assignment includes a logical flow from beginning to end. Organize content with headings and bullet points as well as multimedia that breaks up text. Include measurable objectives so learners can clearly understand expectations for the assignment. In some cases, it may be necessary to provide easy-to-understand instruction for each task learners need to complete. Remember you may not be there to fill in the blanks if you leave out an important detail.

Getting started with a few basics can simplify the process of creating dynamic digital content . Recording short videos is an excellent way to simulate actually being there, especially when teaching concepts asynchronously. To record what is on your computer screen, try a screencast program, like Screencastify or Loom for Education . Here you can include your face and help learners better understand you by watching you speak.  

Along with video and audio recordings, further support deeper understanding of the subject matter with multimedia elements. These can include graphics, animations, digital graphics, p odcasts, interactive quizzes and simulations like trivia games. 

Support learners with orientation and an intuitive system

Even the best instruction and assignments won’t make the learning experience pleasant if students have to spend extra hours figuring out where to find assignments and instructions. Just because students are often tech-savvy does not mean all of them can immediately navigate your school’s LMS unsupported. 

Your online assignment at the beginning of the school term could be a simple one that orients learners while providing the opportunity to get hands-on practice using the system. That helps them get used to the workflow and setup. Frustration is easy to mitigate by structuring assignments and using an intuitive learning platform. One example is Hāpara Workspace with an easy-to-view layout that organizes goals, resources, assessments and rubrics into columns.

Promote interaction and collaboration

At the heart of learning is interacting with peers and collaborating. Include activities and projects that support individuals as they practice engaging and working together with other learners. Some learners who feel more comfortable working alone may need extra encouragement and support. This is an opportunity to promote deeper learning and connection by introducing resources that are relevant to students.

Teachers can quickly share resources with groups, or better yet, give learners the opportunity to add their own resources in Hāpara Workspace. Upload everything from videos, links to apps, images and online articles to Google Docs, Slides, Forms and Drawings into Workspace. Group members can access all these resources for shared activities , assessments and collaborative projects.

Managing online assignments 

Once you have a well-designed assignment with clear instructions tailored to the needs of different learners, it’s essential to give them guidance. The amount of management you need to provide can vary significantly.

Communicate effectively

Clearly communicate with students throughout the learning process all the way through to assessment. Regular communication helps students stay informed and engaged. You can manage learners as they build toward mastery in an online environment with Hāpara tools. 

They provide superior student communication tools, including date reminders for learners and online progress tracking for teachers.

Hāpara Student Dashboard is an online assignment tracker that helps learners develop crucial executive functioning skills. It will help them gain practice organizing their own time, managing and prioritizing their assignments and assessments. 

Educators can help learners build upon these skills by providing formative feedback that encourages students to take risks and learn from mistakes. Directly from Hāpara Teacher Dashboard , you can open a learner’s assignment or assessment and provide personalized support. This timely feedback helps learners move toward their academic goals more quickly and confidently.

Monitor learner progress

Monitor how learners are progressing through the assignment. This can inform you whether you need to check in with a learner. Teacher Dashboard shows each learner’s most recent files and when they last modified it. You can also send due date reminders to the class or individual learners through an instant message in Hāpara Highlights .

Provide personalized and differentiated support 

With Teacher Dashboard, it’s easy to leave personalized feedback in learners’ recent files and share differentiated resources directly to their screens.

Pull from your own Google Drive or create a new Google Doc, Slide or Drawing on the spot to share with the class, a group or an individual learner. 

When a learner can’t find a Google file, teachers can access a learner’s Google Drive with one click in Hāpara. S earch for missing files by title or content and filter to view deleted or unshared files.

Assess and give feedback

Evaluate learners’ understanding and progress with different types of assessment methods, including rubrics, quizzes, peer review and presentations. 

Assessments should provide meaningful feedback for learners and educators alike. Use learner feedback to improve on each new assignment you develop. Data on engagement, task completion rates and learner satisfaction will help you make adjustments to improve a future assignment.

Additional resources for online assignment creation

Several alternatives to building your lessons from the ground up are available. These can save time and hassle. To begin with, Google Assignments is a free online assignment solution. To make this even easier, in Hāpara Highlights, as teachers monitor what learners are doing online and offering personalized support, they can quickly share Google Classroom Assignments, Questions and Materials. 

Finding free assignments online is another option. With the Discover feature in Hāpara Workspace , you can access online assignments other educators have created from around the world. Search thousands of curriculum-aligned Workspaces by standard, subject, grade level or topic. Then copy and modify them to meet your learners’ needs. 

Use AI to plan and teach 

Teachers can also use AI to support learning content development and in class with students.

Among the many ways ChatGPT can be used by teachers is helping them create new material, and generate ideas and quizzes. They can quickly personalize the same content in several ways to reach different learners. For example, high school literacy specialist Amanda Kremnitzer told EdWeek that she used ChatGPT to create outlines for her multiple learners who require them as a supplementary aid.  

Team up on content creation

Consider shouldering the effort and building content together as a team. Individual members of departments or subject-grade level teams can develop the type of content they are best at and share. Or they can collaborate as a group. As mentioned, you can use the Discover option in Hāpara Workspace to find assignments educators from around the world have created. 

If you are looking for a way to create, curate and manage a collection of digital assignments that only your school or district can access, consider Hāpara’s Private Library . With just a click, you can easily distribute your online assignments to educators in your school or district.

Discover why vetting edtech tools for inclusivity matters, learn key questions and criteria, and unlock strategies to leverage edtech for inclusivity.

About the author, sheilamary koch, you might also enjoy, pin it on pinterest.

Center for Teaching

Blended and online learning.

Online courses are those in which at least 80 percent of course content is delivered online. Blended (sometimes called hybrid) instruction has between 30 and 80 percent of the course content delivered online with some face-to-face interaction. Blended and online courses not only change how content is delivered, they also redefine traditional educational roles and provide different opportunities for learning. As described by Palloff and Pratt (2013):

This teaching guide presents research on the learning possibilities offered through online and blended learning, as well as effective practices for facilitating online courses. Platform-specific resources and activities can also be found at the Vanderbilt Center for Teaching’s BOLD website .

What does the research say about blended and online learning?

What are elements that can make blended and online learning successful, what are good practices to use.

Online learning is one of the fastest growing trends in educational uses of technology. A recent survey (Allen & Seaman, 2013) of more than 2,800 colleges and universities reported the following:

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education released a meta-analysis and review of empirical studies focused on online learning in K-12 schools and higher education from 1996-2008. Their findings revealed that “students in online conditions performed modestly better, on average, than those learning the same material through traditional face-to-face instruction” (p. xvi). In addition, they reported that blended instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage than purely online instruction (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia & Jones, 2010).

Although these results suggest that blended learning environments can provide a learning advantage when compared to purely face-to-face instruction, the researchers emphasized the findings “do not demonstrate that online learning is superior as a medium …It was the combination of elements in the treatment conditions (which was likely to have included additional learning time and materials as well as additional opportunities for collaboration) that produced the observed learning advantages” (p. xviii, original emphasis). In other words, it’s important for the instructor to create an interactive, supportive, and collaborative learning environment for students to reap the potential benefits afforded by online learning. Specific tips for facilitating an effective blended or online class can be found in the good practices section of this teaching guide.

As noted above, the research suggests that when facilitated effectively, online education can not only match, but also surpass traditional face-to-face learning (Means et al., 2010). Here are some of the potential benefits of online education:

• Learner-Centered Education: Palloff and Pratt (2013) explain that an effective online instructor is someone “who is open to giving up control of the learning process” by making students active participants in their learning process (p. 24). A learner-centered approach acknowledges what students bring to the online classroom—their background, needs, and interests—and what they take away as relevant and meaningful outcomes. With the instructor serving as facilitator, students are given more control and responsibility around how they learn, including the opportunity to teach one another through collaboration and personal interactions (Palloff & Pratt, 2013).
• Collaborative & Interactive Learning: Research has found that online instruction is more effective when students collaborate rather than working independently (Means et al., 2010; Schutte, 1996). There are a variety of ways for students to collaborate online, including synchronous and asynchronous discussions and small group assignments. In addition, the relative anonymity of online discussions helps to create a “level playing field” for quieter students or those from typically marginalized groups. When posed questions in advance, students have the opportunity to compose thoughtful responses and have their voices heard, as well as respond to one another in a manner not usually afforded by face-to-face instruction (Kassop, 2003).
• Metacognitive Awareness: Since online learners have more autonomy and responsibility for carrying out the learning process, it’s important that students understand which behaviors help them learn and apply those strategies proactively. This awareness and knowledge of one’s personal learning process involves increased metacognition —a key practice for student success (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000) .
• Increased Flexibility: Online learning offers more flexibility because students can control when and where they learn. By self-monitoring their time and pacing, students are able to spend more time on unfamiliar or difficult content (Aslanian & Clinefelter, 2012).
• Immediate Feedback: Online learners generally have greater access to instructors via email and are able to have questions answered by their peers in a timely fashion on discussion boards. In addition, online tests and quizzes can be constructed with automatic grading capability that provides timely feedback (Kassop, 2003). Immediate and continual feedback throughout the learning process is beneficial for gaining understanding of difficult concepts, as well as triggering retrieval mechanisms and correcting misconceptions (Thalheimer, 2008).
• Multimodal Content: The Internet provides an abundance of interactive and multimodal materials that can be used to increase engagement and appeal to diverse learners . Click here to learn about specific ways to deliver multimodal content online, including through videos, podcasts, screencasts, video conferencing, and presentation software.

Designing Your Online Course

• Most online students have several responsibilities in life, so they seek convenience and flexibility when furthering their education. Millions of post-secondary students have turned to online education because it enables them to fit education around their work and family responsibilities and to study anytime and anywhere (p. 16).
• Online students unquestionably value the independence, self-direction, and control online education offers them. Among several factors that drive them to online programs, students most often point to “the ability to study when and where I want” and “the ability to study at my own pace” (p. 17).

As you design your course, it’s important to develop as comprehensive a picture as possible of the specific students who will be enrolling in the class (Angelino, Williams & Natvig, 2007). Gaining a sense of their prior knowledge and technology competency will help you to know what supports they will need and tailor your instruction accordingly. A few ways to gain these insights include asking students to complete an online survey, concept inventory, or pre-assessment. In addition, students can reflect on their prior knowledge and experiences through an online discussion or blog post.

• Develop Learning Goals: As with face-to-face instruction, it’s imperative to begin with the end in mind by developing learning goals first (Froyd, 2008). Ask yourself, what are the key concepts and/or skills students need to master by the end of the course? The answer to this question will help in developing course content, activities, and assessments that align with your learning goals, as well as choosing the appropriate technology (Caulfield, 2011).
• Have Clear Expectations: Present clear guidelines for participation in the class, as well as specific information for students about course expectations and procedures. In addition, use rubrics to clearly communicate learning objectives and grading criteria for each learning activity in the course (e.g., quality online discussions) and incorporate them into student assessments (Palloff & Pratt, 2013). Lauren Palladino’s online module for a graduate astronomy class is a great example of how to present clear expectations early on.

Organizing Course Content

• Provide an obvious path through the material, and make sure guideposts are clear to the student. Savery (2005) explains that organization is essential since online learners need to fit the course into their crowded schedules. He emphasizes the importance of posting course assignments and due dates early and having clear directions. Shea and colleagues (Shea, Fredericksen, Pickett & Pelz, 2003; Shea, Pickett & Pelz, 2003) also explained the importance of clearly labeling and organizing course-level and section-level materials in order to create a path that students can follow.
• Organize the content in logical units, or modules, in which each module is organized around a major topic and contains relevant objectives, material, and associated activities . In the introduction to the module, include information about how long the student should expect to spend working on the module. This helps to keep students moving along at a similar pace (Shea, Fredericksen, Pickett & Pelz, 2003; Shea, Pickett & Pelz, 2003). The course demo from Boston University here illustrates this modular organization.
• When presenting text, format the content for the Web by breaking it into short paragraphs and using headings, bullets, graphics and other formatting devices that make webpages easier to read and comprehend. The “7+/-2”instructional design rule of thumb, based on the work of psychologist George Miller, suggests inclusion of 5 to 9 pieces of information in a segment. This self-paced asynchronous course from UC-Irvine demonstrates several of these principles.
• When presenting audio or video, include a brief description and information about the length. Keep the segments short, from 2-15 minutes, to help maximize listeners’ retention (Smith, 2008). Strategically chunking content helps students to absorb the information, avoiding information overload and exhaustion (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2001).
• Help your students digest the chunks of material by providing short recall or application questions after each one. Research has demonstrated the critical role of retrieval practices for conceptual learning (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011; Karpicke & Roediger, 2008).

Facilitating Online Learning

• Promote metacognitive awareness. Since online learners have more autonomy and responsibility, it is crucial that are supported in planning, monitoring, and assessing their understanding and performance (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). As mentioned earlier, providing clear expectations and a clear path through the material can help students monitor their pace. In “ Promoting Student Metacognition ,” Tanner (2012) offers a handful of adaptable specific activities for promoting metacognition, including pre and post-assessments, reflective journals, and questions for students to ask themselves as they plan, monitor, and evaluate their thinking.
• Maintain a Social Presence: Stay present and be responsive to student needs and concerns (Savery, 2005). The instructor should engage in a balanced level of participation and communication—both publicly and privately—so students know he or she is engaged and available. This includes modeling good participation by frequently contributing to discussions through responding to students’ posts and asking further questions. The instructor is instrumental for creating a warm and inviting atmosphere that promotes an online sense of community (Garrison & Vaughan, 2008; Jiang & Ting, 2000).
• Promote Collaboration: As described by Palloff and Pratt (2013), “Collaborative learning processes help students achieve deeper levels of knowledge generation through the creation of shared goals, shared exploration, and a shared process of meaning making. In addition, collaborative activity can help to reduce the feeling s of isolation that can occur when students are working at a distance” (p. 39). Collaborative learning can be promoted through a variety of activities, including small group assignments, case studies, simulations, and group discussions.
• Promote Active Learning: Chickering and Ehrmann (1996) explain that “learning is not a spectator sport…[Students] must talk about what they are learning, write reflectively about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves” (p. 5). Keeping in mind the characteristics of online learners, it’s also important to make tasks authentic for students. That is, complex tasks related to real-life experiences that can also be applied to future activities (Woo, Herrington, Agostinho & Reeves, 2007). Here are some specific ideas for online activities.
• Incorporate Multiple Media: A key mistake instructors make is simply converting print materials for an online environment. Instead, leverage the possibilities of the Internet by considering various content sources and media formats to motivate learning and appeal to different learning styles (Mayer, 2001). CIRTL suggests that when selecting media for a course, think about how it accomplishes learning goals and how the medium will affect the learner (e.g., technology needs, download time, disabilities). In addition, Kapus (2010) recommends that when incorporating streaming media in a course to also post complete transcripts and encourage students to both watch the content and read the transcript.
• Provide Adequate Technical Support: It should not be assumed that all students have experience with online learning or using the necessary technology. Provide ample technical support for learners by including links to resources, making yourself available to students, and promoting collaborative peer problem solving on the discussion board .
• Respect Copyright Rules: The rules of fair use described here may apply to copyrighted material that you wish to excerpt.
• Allen, E. & Seaman, J. (2013). Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States. Wellesley, MA: Babson College.
• Angelino, L. M., Williams, F. K., & Natvig, D. (2007). Strategies to engage online students and reduce attrition rates. The Journal of Educators Online, 4(2), 1-14.
• Aslanian, C. B., & Clinefelter, D. L. (2012). Online college students 2012: Comprehensive data on demands and preferences . Louisville, KY: The Learning House, Inc.
• Bransford, J. D., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn: Mind brain, experience and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
• Caulfield, J. (2011). How to Design and Teach a Hybrid Course. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
• Chickering, A. W. &  Ehrmann, S. C. (1996). Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever. AAHE Bulletin, 49(1-10), 3-6.
• Froyd, J. (2008, June). White paper on promising practices in undergraduate STEM education.
• Paper presented at the National Research Council’s Workshop Linking Evidence to Promising Practices in STEM Undergraduate Education, Washington, DC.
• Garrison, D. R., & Vaughan, N. D. (2008) Blended learning in higher education: Framework, principles, and guidelines. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2001). Critical thinking, cognitive presence, and computer conferencing in distance education. American Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 87-105.
• Jiang, M. & Ting, E. (2000). A study of factors influencing students’ perceived learning in a web-based course environment. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications 6(4), 317-338.
• Kapus, J. (2010, June 25). Five quick tips for using streaming media in your blended or online courses .
• Karpicke, J. D. & Blunt, J. R. (2011). Retrieval practice produces more learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping. Science, 331(6018), 772-775.
• Karpicke, J. D. & Roediger, H. L. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, 319(5865), 966-968.
• Kassop, M. (2003). Ten ways online education matches, or surpasses, face-to-face Learning.
• Mayer R. E. (2001). Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., and Jones, K. (2010). Evaluation of Evidence-
• Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies . US Department of Education. Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. Policy and Program Studies Service. ED-04-CO-0040
• Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2013). Lessons from the Virtual Classroom (2 nd Ed). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Savery, J. R. (2005). BE VOCAL: Characteristics of Successful Online Instructors . Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 4(2). Retrieved from:
• Shea, P. J., Fredericksen, E. E., Pickett, A. M. & Pelz, W. E. (2003). A preliminary investigation of “teaching presence” in the SUNY Learning Network . In J. Bourne & J. C. Moore (Eds.) Elements of Quality Online Education: Practice and Direction. Needham, MA: Sloan Center for Online Education, 279-312.
• Shea, P. J., Pickett, A. M. & Pelz, W. E. (2003). A follow-up investigation of “teaching presence” in the SUNY Learning Network. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 7(2), 61-80.
• Schutte, J. (1996). Virtual teaching in higher education. Retrieved from http://media.sabda.org/alkitab-1/Pdfs/Schutte-VirtualTeachinginHigherEd.pdf
• Smith, R. (2008). Conquering the content: A step-by-step guide to online course design. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Tanner, Kimberly D.  (2012). Promoting student metacognition . CBE—Life Sciences Education, 11, 113-120.Thalheimer, W. (2008). Providing learners with feedback, part 1: Research based recommendations for training, education, and e-learning.
• Woo, Y., Herrington, J., Agopstinho, S., and Reeves, T.C. (2007). Implementing authentic tasks in web-based learning environments. Educause Quarterly 3, 36-43.

Teaching Guides

• Online Course Development Resources
• Principles & Frameworks
• Pedagogies & Strategies
• Reflecting & Assessing
• Challenges & Opportunities
• Populations & Contexts

Quick Links

• Services for Departments and Schools
• Examples of Online Instructional Modules

for Education

• Google Classroom
• Google Workspace Admin
• Google Cloud

Easily distribute, analyze, and grade student work with Assignments for your LMS

Assignments is an application for your learning management system (LMS). It helps educators save time grading and guides students to turn in their best work with originality reports — all through the collaborative power of Google Workspace for Education.

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Teaching excellence & educational innovation, creating assignments.

Here are some general suggestions and questions to consider when creating assignments. There are also many other resources in print and on the web that provide examples of interesting, discipline-specific assignment ideas.

Consider your learning objectives.

What do you want students to learn in your course? What could they do that would show you that they have learned it? To determine assignments that truly serve your course objectives, it is useful to write out your objectives in this form: I want my students to be able to ____. Use active, measurable verbs as you complete that sentence (e.g., compare theories, discuss ramifications, recommend strategies), and your learning objectives will point you towards suitable assignments.

Design assignments that are interesting and challenging.

This is the fun side of assignment design. Consider how to focus students’ thinking in ways that are creative, challenging, and motivating. Think beyond the conventional assignment type! For example, one American historian requires students to write diary entries for a hypothetical Nebraska farmwoman in the 1890s. By specifying that students’ diary entries must demonstrate the breadth of their historical knowledge (e.g., gender, economics, technology, diet, family structure), the instructor gets students to exercise their imaginations while also accomplishing the learning objectives of the course (Walvoord & Anderson, 1989, p. 25).

Double-check alignment.

After creating your assignments, go back to your learning objectives and make sure there is still a good match between what you want students to learn and what you are asking them to do. If you find a mismatch, you will need to adjust either the assignments or the learning objectives. For instance, if your goal is for students to be able to analyze and evaluate texts, but your assignments only ask them to summarize texts, you would need to add an analytical and evaluative dimension to some assignments or rethink your learning objectives.

Name assignments accurately.

Students can be misled by assignments that are named inappropriately. For example, if you want students to analyze a product’s strengths and weaknesses but you call the assignment a “product description,” students may focus all their energies on the descriptive, not the critical, elements of the task. Thus, it is important to ensure that the titles of your assignments communicate their intention accurately to students.

Consider sequencing.

Think about how to order your assignments so that they build skills in a logical sequence. Ideally, assignments that require the most synthesis of skills and knowledge should come later in the semester, preceded by smaller assignments that build these skills incrementally. For example, if an instructor’s final assignment is a research project that requires students to evaluate a technological solution to an environmental problem, earlier assignments should reinforce component skills, including the ability to identify and discuss key environmental issues, apply evaluative criteria, and find appropriate research sources.

Think about scheduling.

Consider your intended assignments in relation to the academic calendar and decide how they can be reasonably spaced throughout the semester, taking into account holidays and key campus events. Consider how long it will take students to complete all parts of the assignment (e.g., planning, library research, reading, coordinating groups, writing, integrating the contributions of team members, developing a presentation), and be sure to allow sufficient time between assignments.

Check feasibility.

Is the workload you have in mind reasonable for your students? Is the grading burden manageable for you? Sometimes there are ways to reduce workload (whether for you or for students) without compromising learning objectives. For example, if a primary objective in assigning a project is for students to identify an interesting engineering problem and do some preliminary research on it, it might be reasonable to require students to submit a project proposal and annotated bibliography rather than a fully developed report. If your learning objectives are clear, you will see where corners can be cut without sacrificing educational quality.

Articulate the task description clearly.

If an assignment is vague, students may interpret it any number of ways – and not necessarily how you intended. Thus, it is critical to clearly and unambiguously identify the task students are to do (e.g., design a website to help high school students locate environmental resources, create an annotated bibliography of readings on apartheid). It can be helpful to differentiate the central task (what students are supposed to produce) from other advice and information you provide in your assignment description.

Establish clear performance criteria.

Different instructors apply different criteria when grading student work, so it’s important that you clearly articulate to students what your criteria are. To do so, think about the best student work you have seen on similar tasks and try to identify the specific characteristics that made it excellent, such as clarity of thought, originality, logical organization, or use of a wide range of sources. Then identify the characteristics of the worst student work you have seen, such as shaky evidence, weak organizational structure, or lack of focus. Identifying these characteristics can help you consciously articulate the criteria you already apply. It is important to communicate these criteria to students, whether in your assignment description or as a separate rubric or scoring guide . Clearly articulated performance criteria can prevent unnecessary confusion about your expectations while also setting a high standard for students to meet.

Specify the intended audience.

Students make assumptions about the audience they are addressing in papers and presentations, which influences how they pitch their message. For example, students may assume that, since the instructor is their primary audience, they do not need to define discipline-specific terms or concepts. These assumptions may not match the instructor’s expectations. Thus, it is important on assignments to specify the intended audience http://wac.colostate.edu/intro/pop10e.cfm (e.g., undergraduates with no biology background, a potential funder who does not know engineering).

Specify the purpose of the assignment.

If students are unclear about the goals or purpose of the assignment, they may make unnecessary mistakes. For example, if students believe an assignment is focused on summarizing research as opposed to evaluating it, they may seriously miscalculate the task and put their energies in the wrong place. The same is true they think the goal of an economics problem set is to find the correct answer, rather than demonstrate a clear chain of economic reasoning. Consequently, it is important to make your objectives for the assignment clear to students.

Specify the parameters.

If you have specific parameters in mind for the assignment (e.g., length, size, formatting, citation conventions) you should be sure to specify them in your assignment description. Otherwise, students may misapply conventions and formats they learned in other courses that are not appropriate for yours.

A Checklist for Designing Assignments

Here is a set of questions you can ask yourself when creating an assignment.

• Provided a written description of the assignment (in the syllabus or in a separate document)?
• Specified the purpose of the assignment?
• Indicated the intended audience?
• Articulated the instructions in precise and unambiguous language?
• Provided information about the appropriate format and presentation (e.g., page length, typed, cover sheet, bibliography)?  
• Indicated special instructions, such as a particular citation style or headings?  
• Specified the due date and the consequences for missing it?
• Articulated performance criteria clearly?
• Indicated the assignment’s point value or percentage of the course grade?
• Provided students (where appropriate) with models or samples?

Adapted from the WAC Clearinghouse at http://wac.colostate.edu/intro/pop10e.cfm .

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Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning activities are a great way to actively engage students in their own learning. They can help foster community and counter potential feelings of disconnection or isolation, while at the same time, they help students take shared ownership and responsibility for their learning. The following resource introduces the benefits of collaborative learning, highlights some strategies for effective collaborative learning, and overviews some of the Columbia-supported tools to facilitate collaborative learning.

On this page:

Collaborative learning: the what & why, strategies for effective collaborative learning.

• Columbia-supported Tools to Facilitate Collaborative Learning

Resources & References

The ctl is here to help.

For additional support and to explore collaborative learning strategies, email [email protected] to schedule your 1-1 consultation . For immediate support with any of the Columbia tools discussed below, join our virtual office hours by phone or Zoom. 

Cite this resource: Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2021). Collaborative Learning. Columbia University. Retrieved [today’s date] from https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/teaching-with-technology/teaching-online/collaborative-learning-online/

Collaborative learning is a type of active learning that involves several students working together “and sharing the workload equitably as they progress toward intended learning outcomes” (Barkley et al., 2014, p. 4). This collaboration and equitable division of work “engages students actively in their own learning […] in a supportive and challenging social context” (Barkley et al., 2014, p. 13). While collaborative learning can help foster community among students who may be feeling otherwise disconnected, it also provides students with an opportunity to engage in team building and develop positive group dynamics.  

Research has shown positive correlation between collaborative learning experiences and students’ achievement of learning outcomes. In their book, Collaborative Learning Techniques , Barkley, Major, and Cross (2014) identified some of the benefits of collaborative learning, which include increased student engagement, persistence, and personal development, as well as improved achievement across a wide range of students (p. 23-7).

Collaborative learning activities can be designed for students to complete during class, using group work and other collaborative tools like Google docs, or asynchronously between classes, using something like a CourseWorks discussion board. Your course structure and student needs will determine the mode of these activities.

Like any class activity or lecture, collaborative learning requires intentional planning and preparation to ensure effectiveness.  

Foster an inclusive environment & classroom community  Successful collaborative learning is dependent upon an inclusive classroom community, where students trust and respect each other. Consider using social icebreakers (e.g., learning names, finding common interests) to help students warm up to each other before they begin their collaborative activities. For more strategies on fostering community in your course, see the CTL’s Community Building in Online and Hybrid (HyFlex) Courses resource.  

Intentionally design and plan for collaborative learning  Effective collaborative learning requires forethought and planning. While it’s possible to ask students to quickly form ad-hoc groups during class, you will also want to take time before class to consider the technological and pedagogical strategies to best support the activity’s learning goals. 

Communicate the purpose and expectations of the activity  When students understand the rationale and the specific action steps of the given activity, they are more likely to be engaged and committed to their learning. 

• Be clear with students about the purpose of the particular activity: What do you hope they will gain from the collaborative nature of the task? What are your expectations for students’ engagement, and what should they expect from their collaborators? 
• Be explicit with your expectations: Should each student take notes, or will there be a single note-taker for the group? Are you expecting groups to share-back to the whole class? 

Partner with your students As one of the primary goals of collaborative learning should be to actively engage students in their own learning, helping them take ownership of the process and experience, it’s important to partner with your students throughout. This partnership can take many forms, depending on the goals and context of your course. Some activities you might consider include: 

• Co-construct guidelines and expectations for the collaborative learning experience. 
• Assign students’ roles (or ask them to choose their own roles). Using roles in collaborative learning helps each student take responsibility for a different part of the given task.   

Engage specific technologies to facilitate collaborative learning activities  The educational technology tools you choose will be dependent upon your course goals, the goals of the specific activity, as well as the context of the course. For example, if you are asking students to complete an activity during class time, you might ask groups to take notes in a  collaborative document (like a Google Doc). If you are asking students to collaborate outside of class, you may consider leveraging your CourseWorks space, engaging students in online discussion board forums. 

The following section introduces a few of the Columbia-supported tools to help facilitate collaborative learning.     

Columbia-supported Tools to Facilitate Collaborative Learning 

There are a number of Columbia-supported tools available to help support and facilitate collaborative learning. 

Google Suite/LionMail Apps 

Faculty and students have access to a whole host of Google Suite apps through their university email accounts. Perhaps most relevant to collaborative learning are Google Docs, Google Slides, and Jamboard. Prior to engaging with any of these apps, it’s important to first understand sharing and access permissions. Please note, if you have students with both LionMail and affiliate accounts, you may want to consider creating a course parent folder for accessibility. For more information or support in creating this folder, please contact the Learning Designer liaison for your school or program. The following video offers a brief overview of creating, sharing, and accessing various Google suite applications, like Google Docs and Slides.  

Note: The video walkthroughs are conducted on LionMail. Other affiliate accounts might have different permissions or sharing settings. For direct support, please contact the CTL Faculty Programs and Services team at ColumbiaCTL @columbia.edu .

Google Docs 

Google Docs offer a great space for collaborative note-taking, a process that requires students to take shared responsibility for their work. Whether done as a whole class activity (asking students to take shared notes during a lecture or discussion) or used within small group activities, collaborative note-taking offers a number of benefits for students’ learning and engagement. Writing on her use of collaborative note-taking, M. Brielle Harbin (2020) identifies three benefits to the process. Collaborative note-taking can help to:

• “[Level] the playing field for students with different levels of prior preparation,
• [Provide] a consistent access point for assessing student comprehension and learning, and 
• [Improve] the quality of classroom discussion” (p. 216). 

In Google Docs, students can collaboratively annotate and comment on given text or images using various features like bookmarks, tagging, and suggesting mode. Previous versions of a working document can be accessed and retrieved when necessary. The following video highlights some of these Google Docs features that can make the collaborative note-taking process more effective and productive. 

Google Slides

Like Google Docs, Google Slides offer a space for students to take collaborative notes. If you are asking students to share back with the whole class, Google Slides have the added benefit of being “presentation ready.” Using Google Slides, you can ask each group to create their own presentation slide deck; this is particularly useful if you are asking for larger presentations from the groups. To help with toggling between slides, you can also create a single slide deck, with assigned slides for each group. This is helpful if you are looking to gauge student understanding and progress throughout an activity, as you can follow along with groups as they work. 

Google slides also offer a Q&A feature , which can help create a collaboration between instructors and students during a lecture. The Q&A feature allows you, the instructor, to accept student questions or comments while presenting, and show those questions and comments on the current slide in real time. Doing so allows students to actively engage in the presentation, collaborating with you to make meaning throughout the course. You can also ask students to come up with questions as a group and submit them together. The following video offers an overview of using Google Slides for collaborative note-taking as well as the Q&A feature. 

CourseWorks 

There are a number of features in CourseWorks to help facilitate collaborative learning, especially asynchronous collaboration that takes place in between class meetings. 

Discussion Board

The CourseWorks Discussion Board is a great space to have students work together in response to a particular reading or prompt. Using the discussion board, specifically threaded discussions , students can co-construct knowledge, and actively and collaboratively engage with course material. Additionally, CourseWorks Discussion Boards support a range of media, so students can respond and post using text, audio, video, images, etc. For further support facilitating discussion, see the CTL’s resources on Learning Through Discussion and Teaching with CourseWorks .

The Groups feature in CourseWorks makes it easier for students to collaborate on assignments, while also helping to break down larger projects and concepts for small groups. Using groups, students can communicate with only those assigned to their groups using a discussion board, the announcements, or the conference feature. Within CourseWorks, each group has their own calendar, discussion board, group files, and collaboration tools, making it easier for students to organize and work together more effectively. This is particularly helpful in larger classes, as you can read, review, and assess group reflections rather than sorting through individual comments or posts.

CTL Resources 

Community Building in Online and Hybrid (HyFlex) Classes

Learning Through Discussion

External Resources 

The Power of Group Note-Taking from The Chronicle of Higher Education ’s “Teaching” Column

References 

Barkley, E.F., Major, C.H., & Cross, K.P. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty, second edition. Jossey-Bass. 

Harbin, M.B. (2020). Collaborative note-taking: A tool for creating a more inclusive college classroom . College Teaching 68 (4), 214-220.  

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Home  /  News  /  10 Tips For Taking Online Classes In College

10 Tips For Taking Online Classes In College

Online classes are appealing to many students looking for flexibility and convenience, but do they have the same educational value as in-person classes? Check out our tips for taking online classes to ensure a high-quality learning experience. 

With these tips, you will learn how to be a successful online student, how to manage your time well, and make sure you are getting the most out of your online courses. Whether you are already in college or still deciding where to earn your degree, these recommendations can transform your experience taking online classes.

How Does Online College Work?

Tips for online learning success, how to be a successful online college student.

Search for online and hybrid learning degrees based on your interests at  Unity Environmental University .

Before you can understand how to succeed in online classes, you need to understand how online college works. Online college classes occur 100% remotely. Some schools like Unity Environmental University offer full degree programs completed through asynchronous online courses, providing flexibility for students to complete them at their own pace. Other schools may offer some online classes mixed with in-person classes, which is referred to as hybrid learning. Unity Environmental University also offers hybrid programs at its Maine campus.

Both online and in-person classes have their pros and cons , but you may find that one works better for you than the other or that you like a mix. Online college classes are usually asynchronous, meaning there is no set class meeting time. Students complete weekly assignments at any time that is convenient for them as long as it’s before the due date. This means online classes have a lot more flexibility with timing than in-person classes. There may be more discussion requirements to make up for the lack of class time.

While taking an online class doesn’t require any special skills, there are some best practices that can improve your experience and the return on investment in what you paid for the class. Every student is different, so consider these tips for online learning to be a suggested roadmap to navigating and excelling in the virtual classroom.

Set Up A Dedicated Study Space

Establish clear goals for each course, create a consistent schedule, practice time management skills, start early and avoid procrastination, actively participate in online discussions, build a support network with classmates, seek tech support and help early, take advantage of online resources, maintain a healthy work-life balance.

A study space is a physical area that encourages focus and productivity. It should be removed from distractions as much as possible. For example, if you share a home with many family members, try to find a quiet corner to set up your study space. By consistently doing your schoolwork in this space, you will be training your brain to associate the space with working time, which further increases productivity.

A good study environment will have plenty of clear space for you to open books, a laptop, and a notebook. A messy space can be distracting. You will also want a comfortable chair and good lighting to signal to your brain that it’s time to work. 

At the beginning of each course, review the syllabus and make notes of the workload’s flow and major assignment due dates. These will be important in managing your time throughout the semester. Consider using the  SMART goal framework  to create specific, measurable objectives for each class. Think about your long-term goals for academic and personal development and how each online class can help you reach them.

Explore the immersive online programs available through  Unity Environmental University’s Distance Education .

Create blocks in your schedule for specific tasks. Generally, you do not want to work for more than a couple hours without taking a break for your brain and to move your body. Write your schedule down either in a digital calendar, paper calendar, or planner. How you choose to write out your schedule is less important than doing it consistently and in a way that you will refer back to daily. 

Online classes require more intrinsic motivation and time management skills than in-person classes. You will not be getting verbal reminders from your professors in class about assignment due dates, upcoming exams, etc. You have to be on top of due dates and prioritize tasks well. Consider setting alarms on your phone if you like audio reminders or setting up a monthly calendar in your room if you like visual reminders. 

It can be tempting to procrastinate, but waiting until the last minute to complete an assignment means you do not have any buffer time in the event of an emergency or if the task takes you longer to complete than expected. Starting early means you can ask questions as they come up and likely produce higher-quality work than you would if you were rushed. If you are prone to procrastination, ask yourself:

• Why am I anxious about starting this task? 
• How can I break the task into smaller pieces?
• How can I reward myself for completing the first piece of this task?

A key to how to be successful in online classes is being proactive. The more you engage in your coursework, the more value you will get out of your college experience. This is true for in-person and online classes. Engagement with peers and instructors through online discussions can deepen understanding of course material. Think about building on the ideas that your classmates share. Another great strategy is to ask questions specifically to other students who haven’t shared yet and follow up on their answers.

Unity promotes high-quality online education through experiential yet purposeful  instructional design .

Taking online classes can feel lonely. To mitigate this, try connecting with fellow students for mutual support as much as possible. Peers can help hold each other accountable, study together, and provide encouragement through digital platforms. Consider setting up virtual study sessions over video chat. Have questions about what online classes are like at a specific school or in a specific program?  Student ambassadors  can be a great resource.

Are you wondering how to be successful in an online course if you are not a tech-savvy person? The answer is relatively simple but can be difficult for many students – ask for help. It is common for college students to struggle with navigating online courses or completing assignments on time, but they often do not communicate with their professors or advisors, consequently not getting the help they need.

Most schools, including  Unity Environmental University , have  support for online students  where you can get help with technology, troubleshooting support, and even academic tutoring. The sooner you ask for help, the more likely you are to avoid a stressful situation later. Universities are there to support their students, so don’t be afraid to ask for help and utilize the resources available! It can also help to practice logging in and using the online class platform and all features during the first week, so you know what you will need help with.

Higher education is valuable in many ways  and more accessible than ever with affordable online degree programs. 

When you are taking in-person classes, you have access to a variety of on-campus resources that online students cannot access. However, there are many online resources to enhance learning that distance education students can take advantage of, such as:

• Your institution’s online libraries
• Institutionally-provided educational platforms
• Professors’ virtual office hours
• Academic journals 
• AI chatbots such as Unity Environmental University’s  Spruce
• Digital tools for organization

During your designated study times, explore some of these resources and think about how you can incorporate them into your study routines. You may find successful online learning strategies such as digital note-taking work well for you. Experimentation is the most effective way to discover what works best for the individual learner.

One of the most important tips for taking online classes is maintaining a healthy work-life balance. A healthy mix of fun, physical activity, and time with loved ones is just as crucial as completing all your schoolwork. Maintaining a clear schedule and designated workspace can help ensure a balance between academic responsibilities, personal life, and other responsibilities. If you struggle with managing stress during school, try adding intentional relaxation time, exercise, or a fun hobby to your schedule, and just as you do with schoolwork, stick to it! 

In addition to the tips above, let’s explore how to take online classes from a technical perspective. You will need access to a computer and reliable high-speed internet connection to successfully complete an online course. The required specifications for your computer hardware and software will depend on which educational platforms and technologies your school is using for online classes. You can always reach out to the university for technology support.

Finally, build some reflection time into your schedule to evaluate your progress, engagement, and overall satisfaction with the online learning experience. As you take more online courses, you can fine-tune the organization and time management systems that work best for you, keeping your long-term goals as your primary guide.

Earn A Degree Online At Unity Environmental University

Whether you are seeking to earn a  bachelor’s degree  or a  master’s degree , you can complete your coursework 100% online without sacrificing the quality of your education. Unity Distance Education programs include experiential learning to provide all students with real-world, hands-on experience in their chosen field of study.

We know many distance-learning students have busy schedules, so our courses are designed with that in mind. Unity’s five-week courses are structured to help students effectively focus on the subject of the course, and each course has multiple start dates throughout the year. Study wherever and whenever it’s most convenient for you!

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5 Ways to Acquire New Skills Without Going Back to School

Article written by Marlo Lyons for  Harvard Business Review.

Recent layoffs aren’t just the result of an uncertain economy. They’re also the result of jobs changing more quickly than employees can upskill to meet business needs. With rapid changes in technology, including digitization and automation, the World Economic Forum  projects  that 50% of all jobs will require a change in skillsets by 2027. Therefore, it’s critical to own your upskilling to ensure you’ll be able to adapt to dynamic business needs. Without continuously growing your skills, you could become obsolete quicker than you realize.

There are plenty of ways to educate yourself and upskill without going back for a traditional undergraduate or graduate degree. Here are five ways to upskill without going back to school:

Certifications

Many careers offer certifications to prove you have both a baseline understanding of what’s required in a job or a mastery of best practices in a certain field. For example, the  Project Management Institute  is globally recognized for its courses and PMP certification for project managers.  Product School  offers product management courses and certifications.  SHRM  and  HRCI  offer courses and exams to earn HR certifications. There are dozens of certifications for other jobs as well, such as  business analytics ,  business processes ,  inbound marketing , and  leadership .

Certifications show you have knowledge and capabilities in a certain field, which make them especially important if you’re transitioning careers and don’t have a lot of work experience in the new field. For example, when I was transitioning to my first human resources job, I had some transferrable skills that could be considered HR experience, but I had never worked in a traditional HR function. To prove I had the knowledge and understood the language of HR, I studied and passed the SPHR and GPRH certification exams. Having those certifications as part of my credentials helped me break through any hiring manager and recruiter assumptions that I had no HR skills and capabilities.

Online Learning Courses

There’s a wealth of learning platforms out there. LinkedIn Learning is one of the most recognized, but there are many others with courses that can take your functional and leadership skills to the next level. Coursera, edX, Open Culture, and Khan Academy are just a few online resources that offer free courses. You’ll also find free courses from some of the top schools in the United States, including  MIT ,  Harvard ,  Yale , and  Stanford .

While taking individual classes may not seem comparable to a four-year degree, showing you’re continuously learning and growing your skills is an attractive quality in an employee. The best way to showcase your relevant coursework is to add a “Continuous Learning” or “Continuous Education” section to your resume after your formal education.

Internships, Rotations, and Volunteering

Most internships, even paid ones, require that you be attending school. To qualify for many internships, you can register for a class at a local community college that would provide valuable knowledge in your field or the one you want to move into.

If you already have a full-time job, consider whether your boss would allow for a rotation in another area of the organization. When one of my employees was in night MBA school, she found her passion: data science. She was frustrated that she couldn’t intern like her classmates because was working in her current job to support her family. While I gave her as many analytics projects as I could muster, it still wasn’t true data-science experience. So, I offered that if she could secure an internship in our company’s data science department, I would cover her work for six weeks. She received an internship offer and on the day she went upstairs, I told her, “Don’t come back. There are four openings in that department, and I expect you to prove you deserve one of them.” She not only interned for that department, she landed a full-time job there immediately at the end of her internship.

This type of arrangement isn’t going to be feasible for every boss or company. Therefore, you may have to seek training on your own time. For example, if you want to move into accounting, consider joining a school board or nonprofit board, volunteering at your child’s school as treasurer, or setting up your own small company and taking on clients separate from your day job. Another way to gain experience is to find a small business or family friend who can provide you an opportunity to help with one of their work projects, which will allow you to gain practical skills in areas such as analytics, customer acquisition, social media, or marketing. Being paid is not a barometer for gaining new or higher-level skills when those skills allow you to contribute more toward advancing a company’s goals.

Stretch Assignments

If you have the bandwidth, ask for work from another department at your organization. You’ll not only bring value to the company, you’ll also enhance your visibility. Stretch assignments teach you new or higher-level skills while also challenging you to demonstrate those skills to the people who gave you the opportunity. So even if the project itself isn’t highly visible, at least one person will know what you can achieve.

Importantly, this type of stretch assignment cannot interfere with your day job. And while you may be raising your eyebrow at doing extra work on the side, remember that the goal is to continue to uplevel your skills so you can be considered for the next opportunity — or be so valuable that the company can’t imagine functioning without you.

Mentors can provide so much more than a listening ear. The right mentor  outside  of your direct leadership or function will provide new perspectives on your work and how to uplevel your skills and challenge you to think differently.

When we’re heads down in our work, we don’t always realize the larger objective of assignments. If you find a mentor who is a senior leader in your organization, they’ll have deeper knowledge of the company’s growth trajectory and what capabilities will be needed as the company grows or shifts strategy. Even if your mentor isn’t sure of what hard skills are needed, mastering “soft” skills like cross-functional communication, complex problem-solving, stakeholder alignment, and inclusive leadership is what advances employees to higher levels. Having different perspectives on issues improves your thought leadership, which is critical in all jobs and will make you a viable candidate for future opportunities.

Whether you want to change jobs or prepare for the next-level role, the most important thing to know about upskilling is that every employee needs to be doing it all the time. Jobs are changing as business demands change, and employees are expected to prove their value with increasingly higher expectations. Don’t be caught behind when you can uplevel your skills to move ahead.

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• Weight loss

Exercise for weight loss: Calories burned in 1 hour

Being active can help you lose weight and keep it off. Find out how much you need.

Being active is vital to losing weight and keeping it off. When active, the body uses more energy in the form of calories. And burning more calories than you take in leads to weight loss.

To lose weight, most people need to cut the number of calories they eat and move more. This is according to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Most often, that means cutting daily calories by 500 to 750 to lose 1 1/2 pounds (0.7 kilograms) a week.

Other factors might be involved in losing weight. Because of changes to the body over time, you might need to cut calories more as you age to keep losing weight or to stay at the same weight.

Diet or exercise: Does one matter more?

Both are important. Diet affects weight loss more than physical activity does. Physical activity, including exercise, has a stronger effect in keeping weight from coming back after weight loss.

Losing weight with diet alone and without physical activity can make people weaker. This is because of age-related losses in bone density and muscle mass. Adding resistance training and aerobic exercise to a weight-loss program helps prevent the loss of bone and muscle.

These are the exercise guidelines for most healthy adults from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

Aerobic activity. Get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week. Or get 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week. You also can get an equal mix of the two types.

Aim to exercise most days of the week. For even more health benefits, strive for 300 minutes a week or more of moderate aerobic activity or 150 minutes of vigorous activity. Exercising this much may help with weight loss or keeping off lost weight. But even small amounts of physical activity can be helpful. Being active for short periods of time during the day can add up and give you great health benefits.

• Strength training. Do strength training exercises for all major muscle groups at least two times a week. One set of each exercise is enough for health and fitness benefits. Use a weight or resistance level heavy enough to tire your muscles after about 12 to 15 repetitions.

Moderate aerobic exercise includes activities such as brisk walking, biking, swimming and mowing the lawn.

Vigorous aerobic exercise includes activities such as running, swimming hard laps, heavy yardwork and aerobic dancing.

Strength training can include use of weights or weight machines, your own body weight, resistance tubing, or activities such as rock climbing.

How much am I burning?

This list shows about how many calories are burned while doing certain exercises for one hour. This is based on a person who weighs 160 pounds (73 kilograms). The calories you burn depend on the exercise you do, how hard you do it, how much you weigh and other factors.

Based on Ainsworth BE, et al. 2011 compendium of physical activities: A second update of codes and MET values. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2011;43:1575.

Remember, to lose weight or to keep weight from creeping up on you as you age, you need to eat less and move more. Moving more means adding more physical activity into your life.

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• Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. 2nd ed. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://health.gov/paguidelines/second-edition. Accessed March 13, 2024.
• Physical activity for a healthy weight. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html. Accessed March 13, 2024.
• Ainsworth BE, et al. 2011 compendium of physical activities: A second update of codes and MET values. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2011;43:1575.
• 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov. Accessed March 13, 2024.
• Perreault L, et al. Obesity in adults: Role of physical activity and exercise. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed March 13, 2024.
• AskMayoExpert. Physical activity (adult). Mayo Clinic; 2022.

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