Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

What is diferent about online study? 17 
QUICK TIP: If you fnd motivation diffcult, speak to a friend. 
Have a chat and you will fnd this social contact helps moti-
vate you. 
PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE STUDY 
IS DIFFERENT 
Often, because of higher levels of motivation with real-world 
learning, students fnd it easier to take part. Tey can see others 
around them studying – in the study areas, or in the library, for 
example. Tis gives them the incentive to learn. At home, when 
studying at a distance, though, there is no one else around who is 
studying. Tere are no role models. As a result, it is all too easy to 
reduce participation in studying when doing it online. As one stu-
dent said to me, “I can easily zone out and get bored. Postponing 
the work to later on becomes a habit”. 
Tis is related to motivation, of course. However, there is an-
other factor at play here. In traditional learning, participation is 
often directed by the academic staf. Students attend lectures, 
make notes, and do the follow-up reading (hopefully ...!). With 
online study, students are expected to direct themselves much 
more. Tere is often less opportunity for the informal direction 
that happens within a traditional campus-based study. As a re-
sult, participation in online studying is much more dependent 
upon the student themselves. Lecturers do have an infuence, of 
course, but as research in the USA discovered, student participa-
tion can be limited by the technology and design of online cours-
es (Vonderwell and Zachariah, 2005). Other research has shown 
a similar fnding by demonstrating that participation is clearly 
related to the design of an online module (Anthony, 2012). For 
students, this means it is often difcult to fnd their way around 
poorly designed online modules so they might not be able to par-
ticipate fully. 

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