Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

QUICK TIP: Even if you have a laptop, get an external mouse 
device. It will save you time and help reduce muscle strain. 

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Preparing for online study 35 
Get some headphones 
When studying online, you will be spending a great deal of your 
time listening to recorded lectures and other audio materials. If 
you are studying in the family home, the noise this creates could 
be annoying to the rest of the household. Equally, their noise 
could disturb your concentration when trying to listen to a lec-
ture. A set of noise-cancelling headphones or earbuds can help 
you concentrate and prevent arguments with the family. Research 
has shown that when you are in a relatively noisy environment, 
your performance at completing tasks increases when you wear 
noise-cancelling headphones (Molesworth et al., 2013). 
Buy a top-notch webcam 
Webcams are an essential component of studying online. Howev-
er, these devices are highly variable in terms of performance and 
capabilities. As with so many other items of technology, the more 
you pay, the better the device. So, get the most expensive web-
cam you can aford. In Chapter 6, you will fnd out more about 
using webcams to their best efect. However, when considering 
your preparation for online study, you need to think about which 
webcam you will get. It needs to last and perform well because 
you will inevitably be involved in many online video calls. Trying 
to save money by getting a cheap webcam will reduce your enjoy-
ment of your online studies and may hinder your performance in 
online classes. 
Consider an extra microphone 
One of the main problems with online video is the poor sound 
quality. According to Dr Jonas Köster from Stanford University, 
sound quality can have a negative impact on online video overall 
(Köster, 2018). Although he was talking about the production of 
video recordings, it is important to realise that as a student you 
will be part of “videos”. Tese will include video conference calls, 

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