Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

OvercOming presentatiOn fears 
Most students will get anxious about any kind of presentation. 
Reducing or removing that anxiety can make your studies more 

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Coping with online presentations 149 
enjoyable, plus it will help you gain higher marks if the presen-
tation is being assessed. To understand how to deal with the fear 
of presenting, it’s essential to realise how it arises. It is a funda-
mental biological instinct. People who tell you they never get 
nervous at presenting are either fbbing or think that their bio-
logical response to making presentations is normal, so it doesn’t 
phase them. 
Deep inside your brain is a system that is designed to ensure you 
survive. It deals with all kinds of biological feedback from your 
body to ensure that all your systems are working correctly. If it 
detects something is wrong, it can do things to put it right. For 
instance, you go out for a walk and twist your ankle. Te body 
detects something is wrong, a pain signal is triggered, and, in re-
turn, that stops you from using your ankle. It’s a system that pro-
tects against further damage while your body repairs the problem. 
Within this system there are also responses to deal with situations 
that are unknown or unpredictable. Your brain knows the stan-
dard everyday stuf you encounter and can see it is no danger to 
your survival. But if you enter some unusual space that you have 
never been to before, your brain doesn’t know if this is a threat to 
your survival until it has done some other checks. For example, 
imagine you have walked into a building that is very, very hot. 
Your body will detect the temperature change and will trigger 
perspiration. Your survival instinct in your brain notices this and 
starts to check if other problems could exist. Your sight and hear-
ing might be made more acute, for instance. After all, there is the 
possibility that the building is on fre or that the heating system is 
about to explode. Because your brain is not sure what is going on, 
it prepares your body to do one of two things until it gets more 
information. Either you need to run out of there as fast as you can, 
or you need to deal with the issue causing the heat in the room. 
Tis means you need to either take on the problem or run away. It 
is known as the “fght or fight” response. 
If you are going to run away or deal with a signifcant issue, your 
body needs one thing above all others – muscle power. Because 
your brain does not know how much muscle power you will need 
or when you are going to require it, the survival instinct prepares 

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