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.
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