Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

QUICK TIP: To avoid being distracted by other browser tabs, 
when you need to open something for studying, such as an 
ebook, or the VLE, open a new browser window, not a new tab. 
That way, there is nothing to distract you. 
Time blocking 
One method of staying focused is known as “time blocking”. Tis 
is a time management method favoured by several leading en-
trepreneurs. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is reported to 
use time blocking, as is Jack Dorsey, one of the founders of Twit-
ter. Plus, Benjamin Franklin, one of the USA’s founding fathers, 
demonstrated the concept of time blocking in his autobiography 
(Franklin, n.d.). 
Te notion of time blocking is straightforward. You block out 
a time in your diary for a specifc kind of task, which is all you 
do during that time. So you might block out an hour for reading 

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200 Coping online 
TODAY 
08:30 
Emails and social media 
09:00 
Reading material on the VLE
09:30 
10:00 
Online chat 
10:30 
11:00 
Textbook reading 
11:30 
12:00 
Lecture videos 
12:30 
13:00 
Lunch 
13:30 
14:00 
Tutorial work 
14:30 
15:00 
15:30 
16:00 
Assignment writing 
16:30 
17:00 
17:30 
Catching up with other students 
18:00 
Emails and social media 
a textbook, an hour for watching lecture videos, and another 
hour for writing notes. In those blocks of time in your diary, you 
do nothing else. For example, you do not need to worry about 
watching videos while reading your textbook because you know 
there is a block of time in your diary when you will be doing that.