Tips to complete your online MBA program

The online MBA programs cater to the needs of both recent graduates and working professionals who desire to pursue higher education while maintaining a balance between their personal and professional lives. By opting for an online MBA in any reputed institution, you can benefit from the flexibility to learn at your own pace, enabling you to complete the program within a span of 24 months.  

Many aspiring students often ponder over the efficacy of an online MBA program in enhancing their careers. This dilemma is shared among 50% of potential learners, who often question the feasibility of pursuing an online MBA and ponder over the process of successfully completing it. 

A learner attests importance of online MBA 

While juggling between a full-time job and being a mother of two, Ahmedabad-based Marketing professional Diksha excelled in crafting her schedule and successfully earned a master’s degree through Online Manipal.   

“Unlike traditional learning, which is around the schedule, Manipal University Jaipur gives freedom to learn from anywhere, anytime, and on any device. My continuous dedication and strategic approach towards the completion of an online MBA helped me achieve career heights,” she says.  

Tips to complete your online MBA effectively and efficiently 

If you would like to follow a similar path to that of Diksha, here are the tips and ideas to effectively plan your online MBA learning and complete the degree program.  

1. Connect with the student support team and understand the expectations beforehand 

Contact the student support or admin team and understand the requisites for an MBA online program. One can discuss and clear their doubts and queries related to admission, curriculum, assessment, important notifications, learning material, and access to learning portals. It, in turn, helps the learner foster networking opportunities within and outside their cohort.   

2. Time management is a key 

In the hustle and bustle of busy life, making room for studies can sometimes be demanding. Setting up a realistic time schedule will help in prioritizing the task and prepare one for accomplishing the task. Strategize and equally disbursed tasks in small chunks that can reduce the amount of stress and will help in working smarter. The key aspect of online study is managing your time wisely and becoming abreast of semester ongoing activities.   

Secondly, figure out which hour in a day you can channel your time and efforts best for study. It can be a time when you are travelling back from the office, or it can be an hour early in the morning.   

3. Interaction and networking 

Weekly live webinars, discussion forums, guest lectures, panel discussions, quizzes, and case study discussions will provide you with many opportunities to converse with industry experts, entrepreneurs, faculty, coordinators, and fellow students. One can network and exchange ideas and thoughts on the latest trends and career enhancement topics. 

Find out more details regarding networking with an online MBA. 

4. Make the most of e-learning material 

From e-tutorial to e-content, online discussion forums to live webinars, all formats of content are made available to you on the learning management portal (LMS). Learners can also access the e-library, which has a vast collection of e-books by international and national authors, journals, and research papers on specialized areas such as marketing, technology, human resource, analytics, finance, and much more. You can also devote your time wisely to go through the content available to them during that specific period.  

5. Make studying a habit 

Ensure you dedicate enough time to your daily to-do list to study. If you have work priorities, you must make sure you give plenty of time to study on weekends. So that you will not disconnect once you log in the next week. Try to stick to the schedule, and gradually, it becomes a habit.  

6. Watch and learn 

Make the most of self-paced video content that can be accessed and consumed on the go at the learner’s convenience. Depending on availability, you can choose to learn at weekends or evenings. A regular pace can help learners to understand and grasp the content quickly. E-tutorial comprises capsule videos for each topic that builds learner interest and helps them understand the concept fast. Along with videos, the learner gets a recap of each module, interactive videos in the form of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), and explainer videos to relate to the topic.   

You would not feel disconnected if you are actively engaged with all the above learning formats. You can switch between formats to get a hold of topics.  

7. Read to learn 

E-content is available on the LMS for learners to go over the assigned readings of the units covered so far. E-content has a detailed explanation of topics so that one can skim through sections. If you feel you have less time on hand, you can run through the bold text in the e-content to save time and speed up your reading without losing comprehension. You can highlight important points while reading so that it can help in future reference. One can also look out for self-assessment questions to ensure learning effectiveness.   

Give yourselves a break from reading every 30 minutes – this will help the brain process and retain information for a longer time.  

8. Practice note-taking 

While you are watching e-tutorials and/or reading e-content, make a practice of taking notes of concepts, ideas, phrases, and important dates. You can also make notes of keywords, draw concept mapping, and use numbers, letters, abbreviations, and symbols to memorize and organize the main topics. Try to remember examples so that it is easy to relate the theories. You can pick critical points from the transcript of the e-tutorial in case you missed any part of it.   

Here are the tips for better note-taking during your online classes. 

9. Do not stress 

Set a weekly goal for yourself and avoid being critical if you do not meet your target. It may lead to counter-productivity and causes stress, which will make you less productive. Keeping a happy and positive outlook will help you overcome stress and anxiety and effectively deal with challenging circumstances.  

Find out some useful techniques to manage stress while studying online. 

Conclusion

By dedicating consistent effort and adopting an effective approach, you can successfully complete an online MBA and reap its benefits in terms of career growth and enhanced skills. You can work smart to achieve a better academic score while working and enhance your skills as a working professional. You can upskill and reskill your knowledge and elevate your career by enrolling in online MBA at Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ), or Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) or MBA-BKFS at T.A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) through Online Manipal.