Managing Your Study

Adapted from ‘Managing Your Study’
La Trobe University postgraduate program.

Returning to Study

Distance education as a mode of study can make for proactive and more immediate learning than that obtained on campus. 

Distance education enables the student to work at their own pace (within certain limits), at the times which suit their lifestyle, personal circumstances and in an environment of their choosing.  However, distance education also requires substantial amounts of:

• Self-discipline
• Commitment
• Motivation
• Organisation
• Independence

There is a connection between these skills and the skills or characteristics required by competent managers.

The following excerpt is from Study Skills for Managers by Mayon-White (1990):

The start of any new activity almost always generates some feelings of uncertainty and concern.  Returning to study is no different in this respect...For many people the idea of studying as an adult, when perhaps they already have children at school or college, is a curious one.  After all, if you are trained or have experience in a particular field or profession why should study or retraining be necessary? Yet, over a typical working life of thirty-five to forty years, a whole series of technologies, laws, products and practices will come and go.  Without further training we are ill-equipped to take advantage of such changes, or indeed to copy with them…

Students should look at their own working life so far and consider the impact of two major areas of change (ie communication and computers) on their own work patterns and skills. The reality of modern workplace is that career development has become a process of lifelong learning.

Study Goals

• Identify ways a busy professional can integrate study with work and resolve any conflicting demands on their time which a new task may generate;
• Make an initial assessment of their own strengths and weaknesses and training needs;
• Acquire and develop a range of study skills;
• Apply the skills taught and reinforce them through application and practice;
• Encourage the student to develop a pattern of study which fits their own lifestyle and makes full use of available learning resources;
• Understand and use self-help groups and peer-group support (Mayon-White 1990)

Planning and Commitment

Unlike an on-campus course, study via distance mode hands over responsibility for scheduling study time to the student.  It is important for the student to plan for their study.  Planning involves:

Establishing a goal

• Identifying the current situation
• Determining the existing and probable aids and barriers to achieving the goals, and
• Developing plans to achieve the goals.

Current situation

• Identify current work, family, home, leisure and other commitments;
• Identify how much time is spent on each commitment;
• Identify and schedule the available and most suitable study slots.

Aids and barriers to achieving your goals

• After studying with the schedule for a week, review your schedule and study sessions;
• Identify the times study was more effective and the reasons the times were more effective;
• Determine if the schedule was typical in terms of workload, family activities etc;
• Determine the locations of more effective study, for example, the library and why.

The other main time consideration is determining when assignments are due.  The student should check these on a calendar to make sure they don’t conflict with major or unchangeable work or other appointments.

Develop a plan to achieve goals

The student should look at the way they currently spend their time so that they will be in a better position to plan for distance study.  Make sure the plan is realistic and flexible.

Motivation and learning

The two most important elements of sustained motivation are:

• a sense of achievement because the student is making progress; and
• a sense that the student is satisfying their own learning needs. 

Students need to have a clear sense of purpose and they need to be able to monitor their progress.

Students should look at their time line of goals or aims and mark off those that have been successfully accomplished.  Modify or move them if they are not achieved as planned. 

Progress should be regularly evaluated against the topic learning objective to assess progress.  It may be necessary to rearrange the students’ schedule if they believe they need to spend more time on a particular section or topic.

Self Management

Adult Learning

Adult learners generally strive to take a greater responsibility for their own learning.  They take a more dynamic role in deciding how and what they need to know, what they should be able to do, and how they are going to do it.  They use what are known as their ‘metacognitive skills’ or more simply they ‘think about thinking’ to better manage their learning.  This thinking involves planning how to approach a given topic, monitoring understanding of content and evaluating progress towards a goal.

Managing Time and Environment

Although the unit guide for each unit gives guidelines on the amount of time required per week to complete the work within a study period, this assumes that the students’ study skills are already proficient and that they are probably familiar with some of the subject matter.  Students, especially when first returning to study, can need considerably longer.  This situation should improve after a few weeks, but if it doesn’t then the student may need to review their study methods.

• Divide a large task into smaller sub tasks;
• Match the sub tasks to short-term goals for each study session;
• Make these goals/tasks very specific and prioritise them;

At the end of a study session, the student should look carefully at any tasks that were not completed:

• Identify the reasons for their non completion;
• Analyse any anxiety causing situations;
• Can any of these tasks be approached differently;
• Are there other resources you could use to help you accomplish the task?

As more study sessions are completed, the student will have a better idea of what can reasonably be accomplished.

The ideal study environment is one which is private, quiet and which has all the students’ requirements—large table or desk, comfortable chair, good lighting, ample shelving, etc.  However, there are alternatives, such as using a library; negotiating with your own family for a quiet time for study in the dining room or joining your children for an organised session of study/homework on week nights.

Stress Management

There are many books available and information can also be found on the web on managing stress.

Improving Concentration

The length of time a person can concentrate fully depends on factors such as their enthusiasm for what they are doing, their skill at a particular task, their emotional and physical state, and their surroundings at the time.  Some ideas to assist:

• People will usually work best when no unpredictable sounds or happenings distract them. 
• Many managers believe that even the possibility of being interrupted reduces the ability to concentrate, even if no interruption occurs;
  
• Clean up visual clutter.  Most jobs are done best and output is improved in a clear work area;
  
• Be well-prepared before starting-think through the whole task and obtain any necessary resources;
  
• Relax and reduce fatigue by adequate sleep, walking and relaxation techniques.