Academic Insights – #8 top tips on... how to succeed

My name is David Hann.

I'm a lecturer in English Language

and Applied Linguistics,

and I was

a distance learning teacher

for 10 years.

Students need to engage

with the course,

which means not only

engaging with the course materials

and the course concepts,

but engaging with their tutors;

engaging with

their fellow students.

And they also

need to plan ahead.

Partly through the grades

that they give them,

but that is accompanied

by probably something

more important,

which is the feedback that

students receive

for each assessment that they do.

When you get your tutor feedback,

read it very, very carefully.

And if there's something

about it which you don't understand,

then you need to

check that with your tutor,

and when you look

at the feedback, look back

at your own work,

and see what the tutor

is talking about and reflect

on how you can improve

on those areas

which your tutor has identified.

Assessment is very important in

– as a barometer of how

students are doing,

and how students

understand and engage

with the materials

that they're studying.

But it's more than that:

the continuous assessment

that students have throughout

the course is also

a means for them to learn:

to learn about what

they're doing well

and what they need to do better.

The most important role

the tutor has

is to give you feedback

on how you're doing

on the course.

Collaborative learning is very important

for student success.

Doing things with your fellow

students can be very, very useful,

for two basic reasons:

first of all, in real life

we have to collaborate;

and secondly,

other people's ideas

feeding into your own is very,

very useful

when it comes to learning .

If they're feeling

that they are not succeeding,

they first should

talk to the tutor about that.

A typical mindset

of a successful student

is to be positive,

and engaged,

but to be

realistic at the same time.

So they need to

have a sort of

'can do' attitude.

But when they can't do it

they need to seek help.

Go the distance.