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Skills for Success as a Criminal Justice Student Online
Looking at the field of criminal justice? Want to earn your degree in criminal justice online?
It’s a very exciting career, but it does require an education. What skills will you need for success as an online criminal justice student? And if you’re already working, how are you supposed to keep body and soul together while you try to work toward a better future? In this field especially, online courses and degrees have flourished. This may be the path you can take toward a better future!
Even before enrolling, make sure the school or program you’re considering is accredited. Without accreditation, no degree or certificate you receive is likely to be accepted by an employer. You can always call a few local law enforcement agencies in your area for suggestions.
Once you’ve decided on an online program, you’ll need a few skills for success as a criminal justice student, but they’re skills most people possess—you just need to apply them.
First off, read. Let me say it again: read. You don’t have to read fast or read in a foreign language, but you do have to read. There will be some reading for your classes, of course, but if you’re taking any online courses, where most people go wrong is skimming through the syllabus and other preliminary information.
When taking the class online, you must ensure that you have the proper equipment and Internet connection. Each program will tell you in advance what equipment and software, if any, you will need.
Read through the syllabus online. Print it out, and read it again, highlighting dates assignments, the mid-term, any papers, and the final are due. Now clutch that syllabus in your hot little hand, walk over to the calendar you use at home, and write those important dates on the calendar. Highlight them to make them stand out.
In most online courses, there’s no fudge factor for turning in late assignments. You don’t have to drive to campus, find a parking spot, or take time off work. Therefore, your professor isn’t likely to cut you a lot of slack for missing or late assignments.
Skim through the books and reading material you’ll be using. Do they seem interesting, a fairly easy read? Or are they pretty dense, with a lot of areas you’ll want to highlight and study in depth? Now you have an idea of how much time you’ll need to set aside for your studies.
How many assignments are due? What kind of research is required? Will there be a paper due? What style is required for citations? Most colleges use MLA or ABA citation styles. Do you have a reference book that demonstrates those styles? If not, now’s the time to check out the library or a good bookstore.
Blackboard is a very popular software for online learning. Virtual classrooms are set up, but sometimes the instructor will require an access code to get in to the virtual classroom. This helps ensure that the class doesn’t get cluttered up with people who arrive accidentally.
Do you have the address of the virtual classroom? Do you have the access code? On what date will the instructor open the classroom? If it hasn’t arrived yet, add that to your calendar and log on the first day so you’ll have a heads-up if there’s a problem. Once you’re successfully in your virtual classroom, make the web address a Favorite so you can get there quickly.
Most instructors will have an introductory first assignment, meaning that they want you to introduce yourself to fellow students. Post this as soon as you can, then check back and see who else is in your class. You may find a study buddy or someone with similar interests with whom you can pair up. This always makes a class, whether in-person or online, a much more enriching experience.
Don’t forget to notify your instructor immediately if any of your personal information changes, especially your e-mail address if you’re in an online class.
Now that you’ve taken that first step in your class, don’t misstep. Have a Plan B! I cannot stress this enough. Picture this scenario: you’ve worked a long, hard day. Your assignment is due by midnight tonight. You just have a couple more paragraphs to write, some citations to add, and your paper will be ready to upload or turn in. But when you pull in the driveway, your house—no, your entire neighborhood—is pitch black.
The power’s out. The library is closed. All your information is on your computer’s hard drive, and you have no way to get at it. This has happened to more students than I can count. Don’t be a statistic. Back everything up in a place you can get at it!
E-mail it to yourself. Put it on a flash drive or a floppy disk. Know when the library is open, both at school and in your community. And have the phone number of a friend or someone else in your class who will let you come to his or her house, log on, and get your assignment completed.
As I said, professors have very little sympathy even with in-person classes. They have even less for online students. You’re an adult, they gave you the assignment due dates, and you’re always free to turn them in ahead of time. You could have turned it in yesterday, and you didn’t.
Set up a study time and place. Whether you’re in a traditional class or an online one, a time and a place to study is critical. Especially if you’re trying to balance one or more classes with a family and/or job, you need people around you to know how important your study and homework time is, and that you would appreciate not being interrupted.
Sometimes it’s helpful to make up a little sign you can post when you’re studying. Discourage visits when the sign is up unless your living quarters are on fire or someone is bleeding.
Learn and practice time management techniques. Especially for an online class, it’s critical you manage your online class time. Read online postings or assignments during your study time, and play Solitaire after all your assignments are done for the day. There are thousands of free time management tips available online just by doing a Google search for “time management techniques”.
The first tip you’ll probably see, though, is Don’t Procrastinate. That actually goes back to the beginning of this article. Don’t wait until the first day of class to download the syllabus! Don’t try to learn the campus layout ten minutes before your first class starts. Get prepared, and get prepared early. You’ll save yourself time, stress, and money (you’ll have time to find used textbooks instead of having to buy new ones).
The criminal justice field is fast-paced and exciting. You will not be bored in this field—ever. So get prepared by getting that education. Now that you know the skills for success as a criminal justice student, you can do your research, select a program, block out your time, and take that first step toward a challenging career!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
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