Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Preparing for online study 25 
can concentrate and think, free of interruptions. It might be time 
to ask your parents for one of those “garden rooms” where you can 
be alone away from the rest of the family during study times ...! 
Indeed, one student would have probably preferred such a possi-
bility having told me, 
Studying online at home means that your bedroom or living 
room now becomes your place of learning. Tis means it is 
harder to relax and not think about studying and all the work 
you could do even late at night. It makes you feel guilty for not 
studying when you’re trying to relax. 
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NEGOTIATE WITH YOUR HOUSEHOLD 
If you are studying at home, you need to set some ground rules. 
Traditional university students either in university accommoda-
tion or in a shared house, don’t have to worry about rules relating 
to studying. Everyone is in the same situation and understands 
what people mean by saying, “I need some space now to study”. It 
is a shared experience, so students living together rarely need to 
negotiate things like study time or quiet time. Tat doesn’t mean 
they don’t have to have rules about who cleans the fridge, or when 
the bins are emptied ...! However, everything to do with studying 
is common ground among a group of students. 
Tat’s not the same for students who are at home, studying at a 
distance. When they want to study, another household member 
probably wants to do something else that could create noise or 
distraction. Parents want to have their friends around for dinner, 
or siblings want to get their mates around to listen to music or play 
games in the garden. Studying at university level is challenging – 
indeed, if it were easy, there would be no value in having a degree. 
Other members of the household need to understand that your 
study time is valuable and that you need to be able to concentrate. 
If you don’t establish how everyone in the household should deal 
with your valuable study time, confict is inevitable. You want to 

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