You’ve decided to study an online degree, and may be wondering how to make the most of this experience, especially if you’ve never studied a degree before, been out of education for a long time, or not completed an online programme.
To help you navigate your studies, we’ve pulled together some tips on (effectively) integrating online study into your schedule.
If you’ve ever worked remotely from home, you may be familiar with the advice about separating your ‘work’ space from your ‘living’ space. Not only does it help your mind transition between ‘study/work mode’ and any other state but creating a dedicated space for online learning also helps you establish a study routine.
At the start of your studies, try different spots around your home to find the environment that works best for you. For some that might be at the dining table, for others it may be at a desk in the bedroom, a few people may even find a local café is best (although we don’t recommend busy, noisy environments for your live online classes).
Distractions, no matter how small and infrequent, can easily disrupt your studies and little distractions can become bigger distractions down the line. If you get used to just checking social media quickly or just doing a quick task around the house during your scheduled study time, you’ll be surprised how much it will impact your studies.
Try to keep potential distractions to a minimum; it will help you focus and have a positive impact on your chances of success in your studies. If it helps, put your phone in another room or do errands before your scheduled online study time.
During your online learning days, make sure you take regular breaks throughout the day. This will keep your mind fresh and is one of the most effective ways to ensure you don’t experience burn out.
Step away from your computer or laptop for 10-15 minutes every hour or so and do something else to take your mind off online study:
If you find that your are forgetting to take regular breaks, try setting an alarm or timer to remind you to step away.
Not only is active participation a requirement of your online degree at Northumbria University London, but it will give you a better chance of understanding your course material and get the most out of your online education. You’ve invested a lot of money in your studies, why wouldn’t you want to make the most of it?
All of this will help improve your knowledge, understanding, and even enjoyment of your online programme.
Creating your own study schedule (outside of the timetabled sessions for your course) is one of the major benefits of studying an online degree. You are your own boss when it comes to managing your independent study time.
However, you need to manage your time effectively. If you don’t, you could find yourself without enough time to complete the required work to the best of your ability. Create a realistic schedule for your independent study, that you know you’ll be able to manage, and stick to it.
Whilst you should not use AI to write your assignments, there is no reason why you can’t use AI to help you with your studies. One way AI tools, like ChatGPT, can help is by using it to create a manageable study timetable. By inputting a few details, apps like ChatGPT can produce a timetable to help you utilise your spare time in a way that will benefit your degree studies.
To use AI to create a timetable for you, simply:
Once you have provided the above, the AI tool should be able to produce a timetable that you can use to plan your independent study time around your existing commitments.
Here is an example prompt that you can use in ChatGPT. Just replace the necessary parts with the details that apply to you and add, delete, or edit those that are or are not relevant to you:
I would like you to create a study schedule for me. I have classes on [insert days here] from [insert start time here] to [insert end time here]. I have a job and work on [insert days here] from [insert start time here] to [insert end time here]. I am studying [insert module content here] and would like to study 2 hours per day with an equal split for each module across the week. I have assignments due on [insert dates and modules assignments are for here]. I study more effectively in the evening. I want to keep Sundays free so I can have a break from studying and work.
You can be as detailed as you like and if some parts of the schedule aren’t quite right, you can ask it to make a specific change, and it will recreate the timetable for you with the edits you require. Have a play with the above prompt, reword it to suit you, and see what ChatGPT comes up with.
We hope these tips help you make the most of your online degree! And if you’ve just started thinking about studying, you may find exactly what you’re looking for in our choice of online degrees.