Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Avoiding distractions 209 
Usman, S.A. (2020) ‘Using the Pomodoro Technique® to Help Undergrad-
uate Students Better Manage Technology-Based Multitasking during 
Independent Study: A Design-Based Research Investigation’, PhD. 
Lancaster: Lancaster University. Available at: https://eprints.lancs. 
ac.uk/id/eprint/153513/1/2020usmanphd.pdf (Accessed: 15 August 
2021). 

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11
 
Online 
well-being 
Tere are two signifcant diferences between face-to-face study-
ing on campus and being an online student. Te frst is that cam-
pus studying involves a great deal of walking. On a typical day on 
campus, I can do about 15,000 steps, according to the step counter 
on my smartphone. I have to walk from the car park to my ofce. 
Ten I may need to walk to a lecture theatre on the other side 
of campus before walking back to my ofce and then of out to 
another building for a tutorial. Tis constant moving around the 
campus, walking down corridors to meetings and so on means 
that we are active. Campus students are much like lecturers, wan-
dering from room to room, from one side of campus to the other. 
However, online students only have to go from their bed to their 
desk. At home, a student studying online could fnd themselves 
doing fewer than 100 steps a day, which is drastically diferent 
from the 15,000 I might do each day on campus. Studying online 
makes you somewhat static and largely sedentary. 
Te second issue with online study is the use of the computer it-
self. Tose who are studying online do everything through their 
computer screen. You can fnd yourself sitting for hours hunched 
DOI: 10.4324/9781003259695-14 

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Online well-being 211 
over your laptop, staring at the monitor. Tis can afect your 
eyesight and your muscles. Students on campus are constant-
ly changing the focus of what they look at. Tey might look at 
a large screen in a lecture theatre, then their notebook as they 
make notes. Tey might turn to people around them when asked 
to discuss something. Even sitting still in a lecture theatre tends to 
involve changes in position and visual focus. For online students 
that does not happen. Studying online, therefore, can afect your 
eyes and muscles in ways that do not happen for those taking part 
in traditional face-to-face learning. 
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