Have an upcoming resit? Here are some tips for learning online.
The transition to online learning has been a new experience which brings new challenges and difficulties for many students, in many ways. We wanted to take this opportunity to tell you how you can discuss your experience of online learning and share some simple tips for how you can make the most from learning online.
How to share your experience of online learning:
Our Students’ Union email addresses have remained open and if you need to contact us about your online learning experience you can email studentrep@city.ac.uk.
We recently held a round of drop in sessions to hear your experiences, thank you to the students and officers that attended these. If you missed these don’t worry, our sabbatical officers will be supporting drop ins in your schools going forward and stay tuned as we will be sharing information about future drop ins on our website.
Making the most of online learning:
We have found some key tips on how you can make the most of learning online. We want you to have the most successful and enjoyable experience learning online, so we hope that you find some of these useful.
- Have a good idea of your schedule
Learning online may mean you have more time on your hands, or sometimes less. It is important that you are able to make good use of your time, take regular breaks and structure your learning.
A good schedule will take into account what works best for you. Think about…
What time of day that you learn best?
Do you learn better with a routine?
are there any other responsibilities that take up more time than you first thought?
Our suggestion is that after thinking about these factors, use an online to-do list to figure out your tasks and use your calendar to structure your studying and work around the times that work best for you.
- Flexibility is key
The reason it is important to understand your schedule, it will allow you to be flexible.
Do not put unnecessary pressure on yourself, sometimes you need to be flexible.
If you need to take a break, take one. Your wellbeing I key and sometimes, taking a moment to pause studying and doing something to relax will have better results than staring at the screen struggling with a problem.
You may need to be flexible in a larger way, think about being flexible with your weekly schedule, not just your daily routine.
Take time for yourself, wellbeing is so important to having a good time studying online.
- Know what you need to do, track it and reward yourself for doing it.
You may have lots of small tasks you need to do while studying online, or a larger project to focus on. There is a simple 3 step process for studying online: Set a goal, keep track of it and then give yourself a reward.
Let’s say you have piece of text to learn, the first thing is to set yourself a manageable goal, maybe the first half. Make sure you give yourself time to do it and set a clear finishing point so that you know you’ve done it.
Keep track of how you are doing towards this, are you ahead or behind schedule. Don’t let this be stressful, it should help you understand whether you’ll be done sooner than you expected or if you need to give yourself more time.
Tracking your work will also help if you feel like you’re stuck. You may not realise the progress you have made! It can be a boost to see how far you’ve come and maybe help you to see where you are getting stuck.
When you have met your goal, make sure you reward yourself! Working towards a goal is easier when you are motivated to it.
Do you have a series on tv you wanted to finish? A treat you’ve been thinking about all day? It could be anything!
Think about what motivates you and make sure you reward yourself when you meet your goal, you’ve earned it!
- Stay connected and ask for support.
We may not be on campus right now, but there are many ways to stay connected. It is important not to become isolated while studying online. Stay connected to your friends and networks, maybe run an online event with your friends (for tips on how to run a bangin’ online quiz, see here).
Stay connected to people on your course, maybe you have a whatsapp group or group chat, use these for help with studying and if you feel stuck, ask for help. Use these networks to help with your work and to socialise.
Also talk to your personal tutors or lecturers if you are concerned about a topic or a subject you’re struggling with. Just because we are learning remotely does not mean you have to struggle with topics by yourself.
Some useful links: