Introduction

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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 and an end-of-course survey.

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.

You will be studying this course alongside Mg Mg, who is just about to start a distance education degree course in Myanmar. He will now introduce himself.

“Hello. I’m Mg Mg and I live in Monwya with my mum and dad. They’re great and really encourage me with my interests and dreams. I’ve just registered to start a degree with Mandalay University of Distance Education studying Biology. I’m a bit anxious about this, as it’s been two years since I matriculated and I might have forgotten how to study. I have to work because I need to help support my family, so distance education seemed the best option for me. I can work and study and in four years get a degree that will allow me to get a better paid job. I thought this course would prepare me for the challenges of distance education and give me some tips as to how get into good habits.”

We would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to answer a few questions in our start-of-course survey  [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] to enable us to understand who is interested in this course. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

Now go to Step 1 How will I find time to study?