Starting off on the right foot in any professional or personal event should always be positive. The same can be said for your online academic classes. You can do this by always making a positive and lasting impression with your online professor(s). Here are 5 ways you can do this.

1. Tuning in ALL Assignments On Time!– Turning in late work consistently does not make for a positive and lasting impression with your online professor(s). I know I automatically get a negative lasting impression of my online students who always turn in late work. I often notice that late work is often low in quality and even plagiarized more. Students who often turn in late work obviously get lower grades and even are not successful in their classes and in earning their online degrees. You should avoid turning in late work at all costs. This often tells the professor that you don’t really care about the class or your own learning. Many online professors do take a student turning in late work personally. By always turning in your work on time, you will always make a positive and lasting impression with your online professor. It is usually best to turn it in a few days early which makes an even more positive and lasting impression. But, life does happen and on occasion you might find yourself turning in at least one late assignment from time to time. Most of the time this won’t hurt you, but I would still communicate with your professor why it was late and that it will never happen again. Just remember, you might just have that same online professor again for a future class, so it is always good to leave with a good positive and lasting impression!

2. Not Making ANY Excuses!– As an online professor currently, and have also having a lot of traditional classroom college teaching experience, I have heard almost every excuse in the book. I even used some of them when I was in college myself! Most online professors have heard them all as well so please don’t think you are creating and using a new one. Simply do not make any excuses for any work you either turned in late or try to give poor excuses why you did not turn in late work. But, if you can prove a major emergency with documented written proof, then that may work more in your favor and still keep your positive and lasting impression with your online professor. This is good, just as long as this does not happen more than once.

3. Posting First in all Online Class Discussions– I often find that many students are afraid to post first in their online class discussions. Many students wait until “other” students post before they do because they don’t want to be the first one. Online professors know this and will always have a more positive and lasting impression of you if you are always the first to post. Also, the quality of your posts and how well you follow all of the very detailed directions in the class.

4. Always Using Good Netiquette– As an online student, you are always expected to use good online netiquette. Those online students who continue to use poor netiquette in their online classes will only leave a negative lasting impression with their online professor. For more information on what good netiquette is you can refer to my previous blog post on the “Top 10 Netiquette  Rules in Online Education:”  http://www.associatedegreeonline.com/2011/09/top-10-netiquette-rules-in-online-education-part-one1-5/

5. Positive Tone– You must always write in a positive tone in all of your online courses. Online professors will get a negative impression of you if you are always writing in a negative tone and or picking fights with other students in the online class.

You may ask why is it so important t leave a positive and lasting impression with your online professor? Well, like I said earlier, you might have that online professor again or even need their recommendation to get into graduate school or a future job!

And finally, I often see that many students use the website: http://www.ratemyprofessor.com  This is a great website, but remember that any non-constructive comments you make about a certain professor may prevent you from leaving a positive and lasting impression with you online professor(s). The same goes for Social Media and any other public published information.

Can you think of any other ways to make sure you are always making a positive and lasting impression with your online professor? Please let me know via Twitter @onlinefac

Stay tuned until next week when I write another innovative and thought provoking blog post on online education!