Online degrees have been around for years, but never before have they taken center stage quite like they have during 2020. Now almost every degree is encouraged to be completed online, but only those that were designed for the purpose are truly allowing their students to succeed. Translating in-class content to online takes care and consideration, and without that consideration loses a lot of the teaching tools along the way.
A dedicated online degree is designed with its students in mind. It leverages technology and makes the most out of digital tools to ensure that students have a robust learning environment, even on their own at home, without missing out on anything that might otherwise occur in-person.
Start with a Dedicated Online Degree
Many degrees don’t work well in an online setting, and students are going to suffer because of it. If you can choose, today it is a good idea to seek out degrees that were designed specifically with online education in mind.
Typically, these types of degrees are very career focused. Nurses, for example, don’t often have the ability or inclination to take time off of work to complete their BSN or MSN. As such, degrees have been designed not just for the online world, but for working professionals.
Online nursing programs are perfect for helping you progress your career while working in your career. They will be characterized by advanced use of digital tools as standard, having flexibility when it comes to when you login, and most importantly the intention to be completed alongside a 9 to 5 working schedule, or even shifts of 12 hours, three days a week.
To make it easier for you to succeed, you will also want to use these tips when completing online nursing programs:
1. Take One Course at a Time
Online nursing programs can often be completed within just a few short years, but you should never attempt to rush through them. Not only can this add undue stress onto yourself, but it also doesn’t allow you to benefit from all that online nursing programs have to offer.
The best approach to studying and working, after all, is to apply what you have learned at work. By taking one course at a time and making studying and revision a common part of your day, you won’t have to cram before the exam. Instead, you will know the information by heart.
This is particularly important in careers that require state exams. Online nursing programs can teach you what you need to know to become an RN or APRN, but by spreading out your learning you can do more than just pass, you can know everything you need by heart. It’s better for your patients and your career.
2. Minimize Your Coursework Hours
You should not try to overload your week. You will already be working an average of 35 to 40 hours a week. Adding another 35 to 40 hours of coursework is not healthy, nor is it sustainable. You need to care for your health and your wellbeing, and there simply isn’t enough time to do that on top of everything else when you have 70 to 80 hours accounted for.
That is why the best online nursing programs and other online degrees require just 15 to 20 hours of coursework to be completed per week. This is a far more sustainable option for those who are trying to juggle a career and a degree, and that’s not even accounting additional responsibilities like family and friends.
Tip: Always check what the coursework schedule is as well. You need breaks. Even if that break is a single week off between courses, that break will help you stay focused and committed. You need something to look forward to, and a second to take a breath and relax. Typically, this will come in the form of 7-1-7 format like many of the top online nursing programs offer. This means seven weeks of coursework, one-week break, and so on.
3. Take Advantage of Student Resources
You must take advantage of the student resources available when completing a degree. Even online nursing programs offer student success coaches so that you can complete your goals and achieve the next level of your career. There may also be mental health services, alumni benefits, student networks, and more.
Take advantage of it all. Access to these resources is a part of your curriculum, and how you can further the value you get out of your online nursing programs or any other type of degree you take.
Building the Routines of Success
Routine is where success happens. The saying goes that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and yet so many of us persist in success being a short-term accomplishment. Every day you do just a little bit more towards your goals is a success, because eventually those small steps will lead to milestones, and before you know it you’ll have your dream right in the palm of your hands.
This applies to online nursing programs and all other higher education programs out there. Build the right routines and see progress follow.
Care for Your Health
Routines should be done with two goals in mind:
- Supportive routines that make it easier to achieve the daily goals you set out for yourself.
- Success routines that actively help you towards your goals.
To start, you will want to work to build the first type of routine. Supportive routines that work to improve your health are all rooted in science. It is here where you can find the science of success first-hand.
Though your health is more complex than just these three focusses, it is here where you can start:
1. Sleep
A good night’s sleep is a powerful thing, and absolutely nothing can beat it. Caffeine can help wake us up, but it will never replace the benefit of the rest we need.
Getting this rest can be difficult. You have so many distractions, worries, and stresses in the day, and this can make your brain feel like it’s going haywire during the night.
Then there is shift work. A nurse that is working shifts may feel like it is impossible to complete online nursing programs, but this isn’t the case. Just as you can work and study as a shift nurse, you can also get a good night’s sleep, even with odd hours. The secret here is to be consistent with your routine. Do the same wind-down activities before bed. Set an alarm for eight hours. Make your sleep cycle revolve around your phycological tricks, rather than the time of day. The only thing you need to do is make sure that you get a minimum of eight hours, and ideally nine or ten.
For those working Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, you have our natural circadian rhythms on your side. In these instances, you need to aim to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Improve your chances of deep periods of sleep by staying hydrated, staying away from screens for a few hours before bed, and even meditating to help release stress from your mind and body.
2. Diet
Sleep may keep us awake and alert, but it is the food we eat that will power us through the day. Diet is one of the most critical components to success. It is what will help a nurse through their shift, and then allow them to work on their online nursing programs after the fact.
The food you eat, however, matters. A good way to eat healthier even on a budget is to:
- Throw out unhealthy temptations
- Make your own power bars and snacks
- Prep healthy meals in advance
Taking the time to make healthy foods in advance is wonderful for your budget and helps you to maintain your energy levels through those days of nursing and following online nursing programs. It is what will give you the energy to stay on your feet all day and push yourself further.
3. Exercise
Some professions won’t need to get extra exercise. Nurses are typically on their feet all day and are generally very fit. That being said, you can still benefit from light stretches in the morning, as well as at least a 15-minute vigorous exercise routine. This will help improve circulation through to your brain and keep your strength up so that you can physically handle your career and your online nursing programs.
Care for Your Mental Health
Keeping your body healthy and using all the aforementioned tips is just the start. What is even more difficult to manage is your mental health.
1. Small and Steady
The best way to care for your mental health is to take your online degree, like any of the online nursing programs, bit by bit and day by day. Take advantage, especially if there are no mandatory login times, and break up the hours you want to spend on your degree in small chunks. This way, you can keep the effort it takes to a minimum and give yourself more time to revise and do your coursework.
2. Regular Breaks
The best thing you can do in terms of your actual studying and completion of online nursing programs, or any other type of online degree, is to take breaks. Five-minute breaks after half-hour study slots. Fifteen-minute breaks after two hours of that. These breaks keep the brain from becoming fatigued.
Use the Right Tools
The right tools will make all the difference.
Voice-to-Text
One of the first tools you will want to invest in is an annotation tool. This can be a specialized tool that allows you to transcribe lectures with ease automatically. Or you can just use built-in features in your phone to write notes from your own voice.
The opposite works as well. You can revise on the go by having your phone read out text notes for you.
Online Note Taking
Note-taking tools are great because they are multi-media. You can add videos, infographics, diagrams, and so much more to give yourself the contextual understanding you need to allow the information to sink in.
Digital Groups
Don’t study alone. Work with others by using online messaging systems. This can be just on social media, or it can be a dedicated platform like Discord or Zoom. It depends entirely on your preferences and what tools you need for your online study sessions.
Cloud Computing
Work with others to create study notes by creating cloud-based documents so you can all add notes as you go and have access to the master notes document. These cloud tools are free to use as well, so you can all benefit.
Don’t Pressure Yourself
You have a lot of pressure on yourself as a nurse. You have patients to care for, their families to assure, your coworkers to help, and your boss to please. Nurses deal with life and death, even those in the safest and calmest of environments. It’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself, even without the additional stress of online nursing programs.
The issue has only become worse in 2020. The mental health and wellbeing of all healthcare professionals have experienced an increased risk during this pandemic, and though committing to an online degree now can help things look up for your future, it’s okay if you need more time.
Minimal progress is still progress. The only situation you do not want to get into is a burnout. If your burnout, you put yourself at risk in more ways than one. You could lose your job, you could make working as a nurse, or trying to complete an online degree while working traumatic, and so much more. By taking your time and adjusting as you go to care for your health and wellbeing, you will see your goals through. It may just take more time, but that is okay.
Laila Azzahra is a professional writer and blogger that loves to write about technology, business, entertainment, science, and health.