Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

8 Getting ready for online study 
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Tat conversation made me realise that traditional lectures are 
given at the pace of the lecturer rather than at the speed the stu-
dent wants. Often, lecturers have to cram in a great deal of infor-
mation. Tey only have an hour or two, and there is usually an 
extensive syllabus to get through. However, that doesn’t allow lec-
tures to be delivered at the pace of each individual student. Some 
students will want things to go more slowly than others so that 
they can think about what is being said. Other students will want 
to look up terms if they are not sure about their meaning. Either 
way, the recorded lecture allows the material to be delivered at the 
student’s pace, not the lecturer’s. 
ONLINE LECTURES LEAD TO 
“CHUNKING” 
Another beneft of the recorded lecture is the psychological ben-
eft of “chunking”. Memory is improved when we “chunk” things 
together. Suppose you need to remember a series of items. It is 
easier to recall them if you can group several of them together, 
rather than trying to deal with them individually. Traditional lec-
tures, delivered once a week, don’t make that easy for students. 
Something learned one week might be connected to an item in 
previous weeks. However, with the gap between the lectures, it 
can be tough to make those connections. Tis is one reason stu-
dents have to spend so much time revising for exams. 
With online lectures, students can watch videos in a batch. Tis 
allows students to make connections that would not be obvious 
when the material is delivered separately over a more extended 
period. With online lectures, students can “chunk” together the 
content of the recordings, making it easier to recall items. 
QUICK TIP:Watch lecture videos in small batches to help your 
overall understanding of the topic. 

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