12 Study Tools for Online College Students

While online learning provides flexibility and convenience, it does require discipline — perhaps even more than on-campus programs. Why? Because it’s easy to let distractions get in the way of logging in and doing the work.

Luckily, there are plenty of study tools available to help manage coursework, stay focused, and improve your note-taking abilities. In this article, we’ll explore 12 resources any student can use to support success in online college.

Project Management Tools

More than a third of 4-year college students say they'd benefit from help planning their schedules. Nearly half of students say balancing schoolwork and obligations is one of their top barriers to academic success.

Instead of managing it all in your head or on a calendar, try using project management tools. These apps can help you keep track of college milestones, due dates, and more so you can make learning less stressful.

1. Todoist

Todoist can help you keep your work organized. It offers users a platform where they can manage multiple tasks — whether for work, school, or personal — and assign them to corresponding projects.

Students with busy family lives or hectic work schedules can put everything in Todoist to get a clear overview of all their tasks and deadlines. The platform also provides easy-to-use templates for education use cases, such as class planning, language learning, group projects, and more.

2. Trello

If you enjoy a drag-and-drop environment, Trello may be the online tool for you. It’s a flexible task management platform that allows you to simply organize course material and other projects in whichever way suits your style.

Use your Trello board to manage schoolwork with a list of cards for each class. When an assignment is complete, drag that card into the completed list. Like Todoist, Trello offers college education templates, including some for remote classes.

Trello can be used in a desktop browser or a smartphone app. A free version is available, but users can upgrade to a paid plan for more features.

3. ClickUp

ClickUp™ for students is a project management solution tailored to help learners manage their schedules, track assignments, take study notes, collaborate with others, and more. It provides an all-in-one platform for students to stay on top of their studies using visual tools, drag-and-drop features, and templates.

ClickUp’s time tracking feature allows users to automatically log the time they spend on certain tasks, such as reviewing class notes or working on an assignment. It also enables time-blocking methods so students can study in intervals, helping to stay productive and avoid burnout.

The platform also integrates with Google Docs, Slack, Zoom, and other commonly used apps.

>> Discover Time Management Tips for Busy College Students

Focus and Concentration Tools

Students rank distractions from technology and people as their two biggest challenges when trying to study. If you need help staying on task, these concentration tools may help:

4. Cold Turkey

Cold Turkey is a solution that allows you to block websites, games, and applications that could distract you, freeing up your time to focus on academics. After downloading the desktop app and installing corresponding browser extensions, you can lock a block to prevent further changes. Unlike other website blockers, this one makes it almost impossible to bypass the block until the set duration is over.

According to its features page, you can block anything from entire domains and YouTube channels to specific URLs and keywords — or the whole internet. It also allows you to schedule blocks on your calendar to give yourself a break from the computer. Plus, time-tracking abilities help monitor what you spend time on and decide what needs to be blocked.

5. Freedom

Freedom is an app and website blocker to help you manage your screen time and enjoy a more productive college experience. It works on any device and operating system, including Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Chrome. It also syncs across all devices — so you don’t have to reconfigure blocks for each one.

With Freedom, you can start sessions whenever, schedule them in advance, or plan them to recur at specific times.

6. Focus

Focus is a platform for Mac users that allows them to take control of their productivity. It blocks distractions by preventing you from navigating to certain websites based on your preferred settings.

This tool also comes with built-in timers, such as the Pomodoro timer, which helps divide work into short sessions with breaks in between. This splits work into manageable chunks, helping you stay focused while encouraging timely rest.

7. Noisli

Noisli is a tool for students who need help blocking out background noise and staying focused on their work. It provides free, soothing, and ambient soundscapes to enhance concentration, reduce stress, and create a relaxing learning environment.

From rain, ocean, birds, and wind to bonfires, lakes, and waterfalls, you can mix and match any sound that helps you eliminate distractions. According to Noisli, these background noises are constant and predictable, which can help users stay calm.

Noisli is available online, as a Chrome extension, or on mobile for iOS and Android. The free plan offers up to 90 minutes of streaming per day, but paid versions provide unlimited listening. Noisli also offers a discount to current students.

8. Forest

Forest helps you concentrate with a unique twist on productivity. In the app, you can plant a tree and watch it grow in the background while you focus on your work. However, the tree only grows if you leave the app running, discouraging users from switching to a possible distraction.

Forest is available as a free Chrome extension or on mobile in the Google Play and App Store.

>> Learn More: How to Create the Perfect Study Environment for Online Learning

Note-Taking Tools

The majority of students write their study notes on a device or by hand. Twenty-five percent rely on professors to post their notes or slides after class. However, these methods aren’t always timely or efficient.

If you need help organizing your class notes, these tools can make a difference:

9. Obsidian

Obsidian is a note-taking tool that stores your notes privately on your device. That way, you can access them quickly, whether online or offline.

This platform helps you organize your ideas in any way that suits your needs. For example, built-in graphs help you visualize the relationships between study notes. The platform also provides a canvas with infinite space to brainstorm, diagram, and map your ideas. Plus, Obsidian supports thousands of plugins, allowing you to tailor it to fit your specific workflow.

10. Joplin

Joplin is a note-taking app that makes it easy to capture thoughts and share ideas from your browser or mobile device. It supports multimedia notes, allowing you to upload images, videos, PDFs, or audio files. Users can even create diagrams within the app or upload photos and save them as notes.

You can access Joplin on Windows, macOS, or Linux operating systems. It’s also available on Google Play and the App Store.

11. Google Keep

If your college uses Google Workspace, you likely have access to Google Keep. As a cloud-based solution, you can access your class notes anywhere.

Google Keep helps you create and share notes, lists, photos, drawings, and audio for future reference. With this app, you can set reminders to stay on top of deadlines. It also allows you to search your notes and use color codes, labels, and filters to find what you’re looking for quickly.

Google Keep is free with your Google account.

12. Evernote

Evernote is a note-taking app for organizing and arranging your ideas, study materials, and coursework. With this platform, you can search your notes for quick information retention, save and annotate web pages or PDFs, and connect it to apps such as Google Drive, Slack, Outlook, and Gmail.

One of its key features is the ability to link notes containing important action items to your calendar. Evernote surfaces the information you need at the right time, helping you stay on top of upcoming work. You can customize the layout to show everything you need for your next project.

Evernote offers multiple plans for different needs, including a free version with limited capabilities. Students can access Evernote Professional with the platform’s academic discount.

Additional Resources From Purdue Global

Purdue Global is dedicated to helping you achieve your goals. We offer several resources for students, including personalized student support, a large student and alumni network, and a comprehensive digital library. Purdue Global is on your side every step of the way.

Explore our online programs and certificate options, and request more information today.