# Introduction

Students new to distance learning often return to study after a gap. Many say they feel unprepared and not confident that the skills they already have will enable them to succeed.

This free course will help to support you in becoming a confident distance student. It will guide you through five simple interactive steps to refresh your approach to learning. You will explore useful study skills, time management, assessment, becoming digitally ready, and effective engagement with course materials.

You will complete the course with an exercise to enable you to reflect on your readiness to be a distance learner.

After studying this course you should be able to:

- identify areas of study strengths in preparation for becoming a distance learner
- explore and reflect on skills that are valuable for distance study
- identify opportunities to further develop your skills as a distance learner
- understand the attributes of a successful distance student.

The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey . Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

OpenLearn - Am I ready to be a distance learner?
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