Cherry Howard is an academic coach and former online program coordinator who has spent more than a decade helping adult learners complete degrees they once thought were out of reach. She earned her own bachelor's degree online while working full-time and raising a family—an experience that became the foundation for the system in this book. After completing a master's degree in education, she spent years advising hundreds of online students and watching the same preventable patterns, habits, and time traps cost them credit hours and confidence.
Howard has worked with learners at community colleges and major universities, and she has trained faculty on how to design effective online courses, giving her a rare view of both sides of the virtual classroom. She is a certified academic life coach and writes regularly about online study skills, motivation, and remote-work readiness. Her articles have appeared in education and career publications, and she speaks at conferences and workshops for nontraditional learners.
Her teaching rests on one belief: succeeding online is not about being the smartest person in the class. It is about having a system. *The Online University Playbook* is that system, built for every student who has ever logged in, felt lost, and refused to drop out. Howard lives in Austin, Texas, with her family, two rescue dogs, and a standing weekly appointment with her own calendar.