| Learning Styles A learning style concerns how a person goes about learning something. A particular learning style is unique to each individual. Essentially its whatever suits you and is influenced by our emotions, our upbringing, our bodily state and personality. If you are interested in exploring these variables further please see http://members.shaw.ca/priscillatheroux/styles.html Everyone has their own learning style, and how you discover yours is to 'mix and match' the different elements found within each of the following dimensions to learning or studying. How to study Where to study When to study Who to study with How To Study Get Organised Time management is absolutely essential if you want to enjoy life as a student. You would be an organised person if you did two things. The first is to plan ahead, and the second is to develop a system to organise the tons of information that comes your way once a course starts. It is fatal not to do this. Planning Ahead You will be given a timetable when you arrive at college or university telling you when, where and what classes are on relevant to your course. It's always a good idea to find out the building and room a particular class or lecture is to take place. Don't be late!! You will have difficulty finding a seat, the lecturer will probably stop what they are saying until you do, as you are disturbing everyone. I can assure you that you want the ground to open up and swallow you when this happens as hundreds of pairs of eyes are upon you. So don't be late for lectures! Even worse s being late for a class! This is because the lecturer will find out who you are! Classes are small affairs; you are in the same subject class for the year, often with the same teacher. They read lateness as lack of motivation and enthusiasm. So don't be late for anything except in emergencies. |
|
|
||
|
|||
|
I would advise you get a diary. Sounds obvious but
put important dates and deadlines in it. To be effective a diary records in advance all you have
to do as a student, plus everything else in life. It is a constant reminder of appointments,
deadlines; when you are hoping to research and prepare for homework/assignments/assessments,
when you hope to write up drafts of any essays etc. to be handed in, when you hope to edit and
check completed work, etc. etc. And before I forget, diaries also record when you are going to enjoy yourself!! Organising Information You will be inundated with information concerning every subject that you do. This needs to be organised properly otherwise you have no chance as a student! There are all sorts of ways to do this; here is a simple but effective example. Have a separate ring binder for every subject that you do. In it you neatly file handouts, lecture notes etc. When in lectures, classes or tutorials take notes on punched A4 lined paper. Use file dividers to separate out different topic areas. Effective Note Taking Effective note taking is important to learning and remembering. Whatever you are attending, be it a lecture, class or tutorial it is essential to record as much as possible what you are told. What you are told is what you are expected to reflect back in essays, assessments, assignments and exams. There are loads of different ways of doing this. In lectures people use shorthand, or if you don't know how to do this adopt their own symbols that represent common words and phrases. Two obvious ones would be the symbol Y, which means PSYCHOLOGY and \which means THEREFORE. As long as the symbols are consistent and your 'shorthand' means something to you, you'll be fine. You are very often given an outline programme of lecture content. This is useful to prepare for lectures in advance. Get lecture topic, outline headings and sub headings down on paper in advance. This saves you so much time during lectures, it really does. You have a recognisable structure in front of you, can easily follow what the lecturer is saying, and can anticipate what's coming next. All you do is fill in the gaps under each heading and subheading, as the lecture is toodling along. The better this is the less of a tidy up job you have when the lecture is over. When classes and lectures are over at College or Uni, there is a great temptation to think 'that's it for the day'. Not so! The student who will do well will be thinking about writing up their class and lecture notes properly. How you do this is go over the notes you took earlier in the day putting them into a much more presentable form. When I did my law degree part time in the 1990's I'd get home about 1000 p.m. and sit until about 0200 a.m. typing up, adding to and making sense of the notes I had taken earlier that night. This was done by referring to the books the lecturer had mentioned, elaborating on points they had made etc. I also used capital letters, underlining, colour, and bullet points to emphasise what was important. No problem if you have a PC. You need to be disciplined, but such a system makes being a successful student that much more achievable. There are of course more official and formal ways of note taking. One is called The Cornell method, which is dead easy and very useful. You might like to try it out? The Cornell Method? The Cornell Method forces you to organise your class and lecture notes! You end up with a readable and comprehensive set of notes from which to study. It's a system that best of all it saves you time when the exams come around. Plus you do that much better in comparison to students whose notes are organised like a dogs dinner! How Do I Use The Cornell Method of Note Taking? Easy!
It is important to remember to fuel yourself up before, during and after studying. When a student I always ensured that I ate before putting in a 3-4 hour shift in the Library. Doing psychology helped me as well. It told me that it was important to have a wee rest every 20-30 minutes. You lose concentration otherwise. No matter where I study, be it at home or in a library, I like to spread myself out a bit, and be able to go for a walk whenever the spirit moves me. The study environment you find yourself in can affect your ability to do this. Where To Study In order to study effectively you have to be in a good learning environment. Some thought should then be given as to where to study. You should find and/or create a learning environment that best suits you. Room layout should be considered. Can you study better in a cubbyhole, rather than a big room like you'd find in a library? The furniture you use should be thought about. Do you need a desk and comfortable chair, or can you study effectively lying on top of a bed? I am a desk and chair person! Some find some background noise helpful, while others can't concentrate if it's too noisy. Personally I like peace and quiet. You should also be aware of the influence of light and temperature. Use lighting that doesn't strain your eyes. It shouldn't be too dull or too bright. Temperature is also important. If a room is too hot, you fall asleep quicker! Your 'study' is whatever suits you. It can be your bedroom, your living room, or a library. When To Study When to study is often determined by a variety of factors that are unique to you. The demands of your course, the fact that you have a part-time job, and/or whether you have children to take care of etc. What is for sure is that you must find time to study on a regular basis otherwise you are doomed! You want to be putting in as much time equally across all your subjects as is possible. It might mean studying up for a subject from 1200 to 3.00 o'clock in the afternoon in between lectures and starting your part-time job. It might mean from teatime until about 9.00 o'clock. It might mean from 1000 to 0100 pm after you have put your children to bed. Whatever. Find suitable blocks of time that suit your lifestyle and stick to them as your study time. Don't skive this, as the only person you are kidding is yourself! Use some psychological knowledge to your advantage. We are more awake in the morning than we are in the afternoon. As a result we work better in the mornings. If you have mornings free use them! If you are not feeling up to it you don't need to put in a study shift. But remember to make up for it later, otherwise you will fall behind and all the good strategies you have adopted so far will be wasted. Who To Study With Many students find it useful to study alongside others, either in pairs or small groups. This type of 'peer support' has its advantages. You feel less lonely, two heads are better than one, many hands make light work etc. It also has its disadvantages, the main one being you end up having a good time together rather than studying. Too much of this and you fail your course. It is as important for a group to get itself organised as much as it is for the individual. If you do decide that working with others is for you remember this. Decide when, what, and where you will be doing things. Make sure this happens. Allocate different tasks to different group members. If you have someone in your group who doesn't pull their weight, dump them! The successful student has no room for hangers on.
|
Research into dyslexia and Myers-Irlen syndrome suggests that changing the background colour upon which words are written can often benefit the reader. If you feel this applies to you please select your preferred colour from the DMI EasiReader © below.
Click here to go to the DMI EasiReader information page
[
Sign
my Guestbook] - [Read
my Guestbook ]