Students who take online classes for the first time sometimes get in over their heads. Here are some common mistakes that online students make:

1. Taking on too much. Some students who switch from traditional classes to online schooling may sign up for too many classes at first, and not realize that online courses require time, commitment, and lots of work. Students may become overwhelmed with their workload and the additional technology and features (blogs, forums, interactive discussions, etc) used to take their classes.

2. Budget your time. Online classes require a lot of reading and writing, and usually require students to post comments daily or weekly on discussion boards. The workloads are often more than traditional classes, as well as being more time consuming. Make sure that your current schedule can include the additional work online classes will have.

3. Not participating with the rest of the class. Many online classes require students to interact with others in discussions, forums, blogs, or for joint projects. Your grade depends on your participation, so putting things off till the last minute or not contributing with have a negative effect on your grade.

4. Your teacher. Teaching online courses is very different from teach traditional courses in a classroom, so if the teacher has never taught online classes before it may be a challenge.

5. Check out the school. Make sure the online school you are pursuing is accredited. Also make sure that the credits you have earned from your traditional school will transfer over to your online school.

6. Make sure your technology is up to date. Taking online courses requires students to access a computer and the Internet. Students without computers or with limited access to them, or dial-up or slow Internet connections will have a hard time accessing the course material and doing their assignments. Most online schools also require students to turn in assignments using Microsoft Excel or Word.

7. Plagiarism. Just because you are taking classes online, and submitting essays, papers and other work electronically, does not mean it is okay to copy and paste work that is not yours. If you are using other people’s work as reference, you must cite it appropriately. Most reputable online schools and teachers use anti-cheating software like TurnItIn.com to catch cheaters and plagiarism.

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   Source: U.S. News

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