Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

14 Getting ready for online study 
y
Web browser notifcations and updates for specifc services, 
such as online teaching videos 
y
Chat in team-based applications. 
Tis is all before you even start to consider the messages students 
send each other on various systems, including SMS, Snapchat, or 
Telegram. Plus, many universities will also have physical notice-
boards or even post letters out to students. It is so much more 
complicated to keep updated these days than when I was a student. 
For people studying online, there is an added complication. Tey 
are not in the student union or the cofee bar where conversations 
along the lines of “Did you see that notice about ...?” occur. Indi-
vidual students learning at a distance might overlook a specifc 
communication. Tey don’t bump into other students where a ca-
sual conversation could alert an individual to the relevant infor-
mation. As a result, it is easy for distance learning students to miss 
seeing some messages even though the university will say, “But we 
sent out a notice about it”. Unlike the “olden days” when I was at 
university, today’s students have too many communication meth-
ods, which is overwhelming. 
QUICK TIP:Think about the various communications methods 
you will use and have a plan for which kind of messages will use 
which method. 
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ONLINE STUDYING IS DISTRACTING 
Te biggest distraction for most young adults in a lecture theatre 
is that attractive individual sitting just a few rows away who they 
would love to get to know. Other than that, most lecture theatres 
are uninspiring places. Online studying, for all its fexibility, can 
be hugely distracting, though. You can, for instance, study in your 
garden or on the beach, where you can be taken away from your 
studies by watching butterfies or the people windsurfng. In the 

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