Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

QUICK TIP: Watch all the lecture videos and other videos on 
your module. The multimedia approach means you will learn 
more, and this is linked to higher marks. 
You might think, though, that the only beneft of videos comes 
from those that have high production values and which present a 
rich and diverse array of material. Students sometimes look at a 
lecture video and realise it is one of those from a lecturer uncom-
fortable with the new technology who has produced a rather dry 
video that is not exciting to watch. However, avoiding such videos 
is not a good idea. Research has shown that the diversity of media 
is not related to student outcomes (Costley and Lange, 2017). Te 
variety of material presented to students doesn’t appear to matter 
a great deal. What does seem to be of greater relevance is that 
the video comes from lecturers at the student’s own university 
(Carmichael et al., 2018). Tis is more evidence that regardless of 
the basic nature of some videos you will be asked to watch, view-
ing them will help your studies. So, get watching ...! 

WaTch lecTures online WiTh 
anoTher sTudenT 
If you were studying on campus, you would be going to lectures 
with other students. Te lecture would then be a shared experi-
ence. However, for many students who study at a distance online, 
watching recorded lectures is a solitary experience. Tis means you 
do not get the same experience as students who visit lecture the-
atres together. Tey will chat about the lecture as they sit next to 

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Using video 119 
each other. Tey will chat about the lecture with one another over 
lunch. It’s rather like going to the cinema. People tend to do that 
with someone else. Tey share the experience together and talk 
about it afterwards. Watching online lectures on your own can be 
tedious because you realise you are doing it alone and have no one 
to chat to about what you watched. Researchers in Canada investi-
gated whether watching online videos whilst remotely connected 
to someone else was benefcial (Macaranas et al., 2013). It turned 
out that people were more engaged with the video they watched 
if they were also connected by video to someone else at the same 
time. You could do this, for instance, by watching the video on your 
laptop whilst being in a video call with a fellow student on your mo-
bile phone. Tis is not as daft as it sounds. In a recent conversation 
with students, I discovered that a small group of them would even 
read textbooks and do their online research while in an ongoing 
video conference call with each other. Tey told me that often very 
little was said. Tey would start the call, have a quick check-in style 
chat with each other and then get on with their work. Tey kept 
the call open so they could see each other in the corner of their 
screen. But, otherwise, they just carried on with their work, occa-
sionally chatting or asking each other questions. When I asked why 
they did this, they told me it helped them engage with the module 
materials more. Te fact that they could see others were studying 
motivated them to work as well. Tis should not be that surprising. 
As I walk around campus each day, I see groups of students sitting 
together but studying independently. Tey are reading books or 
making notes while sitting with fellow students. Tis togetherness 
appears to help. It improves engagement with materials and in-
creases motivation. But, as someone studying online, you miss out 
on this unless you arrange to engage with module materials while 
in a video call with fellow students.