Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Efective online collaboration 137 
QUICK TIP: Use every opportunity available online to connect 
with and collaborate with other students. It will improve your 
learning and make it a more enjoyable experience. 

USING THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEMS 
FOR COLLABORATION 
Your university will provide you with a range of tools for working 
with other students. Some of these will only be available at spe-
cifc times, for instance, to allow for some assessed group work. 
Other features, though, will be available throughout your studies. 
Exactly what is provided will depend upon the systems and soft-
ware selected by your particular university. Some universities, for 
instance, will do everything through a VLE, such as Moodle. Oth-
ers will use collaboration software such as Microsoft Teams or 
Slack. Indeed, Slack has a system that it uses to “recreate campus 
life” by providing specifc communication channels for socialis-
ing and collaborating. Even so, not all universities opt for such a 
system. Instead, they may have developed bespoke software spe-
cifcally for their university requirements. Ultimately, there is no 
single way in which universities have chosen to create online col-
laboration. Tis means you will need to investigate the systems at 
your own university to ensure you know exactly what is available. 
When you start your studies, you will be given an induction and 
information about the systems you can use. However, there is a 
great deal of material pumped in your direction when you start 
university, which can be overwhelming. As a result, it is all too 
easy to forget what you were told about the online systems for 
collaboration. 
QUICK TIP: Explore all the aspects of the online systems of 
your university so that you can fnd out the various options for