Online schools may offer more convenience than a traditional education, yet it’s not an easy ride and free ticket for obtaining a degree. Attending an online school requires significant discipline and time management, and like every other educational path, online schooling comes with its own set of obstacles to battle. We’ve identified challenges students studying online face as well as solutions to overcome them.

Face-to-Face Interaction

Online schooling is a dynamic environment for all students, whether you’re returning to school after a long hiatus or taking an alternative educational path than your high school peers. Penn Foster, a premier online learning institution, notes that more than 150,000 students enroll in their online programs each year. As online schools grow in popularity, concerns about lacking interaction and face-to-face communication arise.

Instructors rely on videoconferencing as a tool to improve interpersonal communication. According to Wainhouse Research, nearly 30,000 videoconferencing systems were located in schools, district offices, departments of education, and service centers, as early as April 2009. Since then, software like Skype in the Classroom has made communication and interaction between professors, students, and their peers easier than ever.

Digital Distractions

Online students can easily become victims of distractions since they can easily click among website tabs and play with smartphone apps. If your apps are distractions, then use apps as tools to help you stay focused. The Study Buddy app ($0.99) for iOS helps you maintain focus by recording distractions during a study session (e.g. breaking for phone calls, text messages, or gaming) to help you stay on track. A graph of Study Efficiency tracks your progress and forces you to confront all of those time-wasting distractions.

Multiple Obligations

Many students fulfill more roles than just being a full-time student. Students are also mothers, fathers, employees, and entrepreneurs. When you wear more than one hat, a 12-hour day is jam-packed, and time management is a must. LifeTopix ($4.99) is an excellent iOS app for complete organization of your life. The calendar app features “note taking, GTD inbox, tasks/to-do lists, shopping, projects, family events (still with me?), reminders, bookmarks with passwords, files, media, fitness…” and the itunes.apple.com list goes on…

Motivation & Self-Discipline

Duke’s TIP program recently drew attention to an article by Carol Dweck that states “Genius and great, creative contributions are the product of passion, learning, and persistence.” In other words, success isn’t something that just comes naturally to anyone — it has to be worked for. Use your passion to fuel your drive to find motivation and self-discipline as you work toward your academic achievements.

As boundaries blur between the real world and digital universe, it’s only natural that education takes advantage of digital platforms as well. Online schools make possible what was formerly impossible with more traditional forms of education. With a few tools and tips, you can adapt your skills to the ever-changing educational and professional world.