Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

What is diferent about online study? 11 
studying needs only the relatively straightforward technological 
requirement of pen and paper. For students to access hyperlinked 
background notes, additional in-depth materials, or take part in 
virtual reality sessions, a reasonable level of technical skills be-
comes a requirement. In a study at Southern Utah University, 
USA, it was found that a student’s belief in their ability to cope 
with online study was directly related to their level of technol-
ogy skills (Kobayashi, 2017). Tis suggests that students who 
think they are not very technical are less likely to cope with on-
line studying, even if they are actually more technologically savvy 
than they realise. What was clear from this study was that despite 
all the technical enhancements available with online studies, most 
students tend to prefer what you might call “ordinary” videos. Tis 
was despite the availability of the “rich media” ofered by the po-
tential of online studying. So, as a student, you do not have to be 
as “technical” as you might think. You will do fne if you stick to 
the “ordinary” online materials. 
One of the issues with online technology is our lack of knowledge 
or understanding about many of the features. You probably use a 
word processor, such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Micro-
soft Word has 1,924 diferent commands available (yes, I counted 
them ...!). How many of them do you use? If you are like most 
people, not many of them. In answer to a question on a Microsoft 
help forum about the use of Word, the company revealed that just 
fve commands make up 32 per cent of the usage of the program. 
Tis is before you even consider the fact you can add an endless 
array of “macros” to add even more features to the software. Te 
chances are you use Microsoft Word or Google Docs quite well, 
without knowing more than a handful of the features. It doesn’t 
put you of using the word processor. However, when it comes to 
online studying, it appears that students can be put of because 
they feel they are not technically profcient.