Study Guide

A guide to getting the most from your course.

WELCOME to your learning experience. You are going to find that it is much more than a study course. To paraphrase a more famous text, “This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!” This self-contained unit is designed to help you with your study. It will help you to: Work more efficiently Manage your study time Improve your presentation of work Increase your ability to remember facts and concepts Get the most out of your chosen course

 

Organising your Study The following items will help you to organise your study time: Highlighter pens to mark passages in your assignments – use different colour pens for key concepts or subject areas. Post-it notes to write useful key points on – stick them where you notice them, such as on the fridge. Find yourself a quiet study area, away from too much domestic traffic – it may include an early night so that you can study in bed. Try to ensure you allow yourself a period of time on a regular basis for study – depending on the duration and complexity of your course, this can be as little as 20 minutes, three times a week, but make sure you stick to your times wherever possible. Make sure you have good light for reading in – poor light will cause eye strain. Make sure you are warm and comfortable while studying. Don’t try to study when you are overtired – you won’t learn very much.

Reading When you first receive each assignment of your course, you will be confronted with a host of new information. We recommend the following techniques for reading: Read through the entire assignment very quickly the first time around. You are not trying to remember the content – just allow your brain the opportunity to get an overall picture of the content. Take in groups of words and phrases, noting any words which are emphasised. It can be very helpful to use a pencil or other pointer to trace under the words as you read – this can double your speed. Think about what you have just read. What do you already know about the subject? How much is familiar and how much is new? Read through quickly again. Look for any diagrams or illustrations. As you go through the assignment this time, mark any parts you find difficult, then move on. Put the assignment away for the rest of the day. Rest assured that your brain will be sifting and sorting what it has received.

Making the most of Learning

The student has already read the section on reading, and having reviewed an assignment, he or she is ready to actually learn and remember the knowledge which has been provided. One of the most important things to note about learning is the fact that whilst our brains – if rebuilt out of computer part they would reach to the moon, they are so complex – are able to assimilate large amounts of information, they need breaks on a regular basis.

The best way to optimise your concentration, understanding and memory skills is to work for 20-40 minutes at a time. Then take a break. If you carry on for any longer, your brain will stop retaining new information and the excess study will be a waste of your time and effort.

During your break, your brain will sort and sift the new information it has learned and will store it safely in your ‘memory banks’.

For a while after you have finished studying for that particular session, your brain actually increases its power. It takes all the information received and makes a tidy and logical picture of the whole process.

Mind Maps

Mind Maps© are clever ways of remembering information. You can use one to maximise your memory’s potential to remember what you have learned.

When you link things together in your mind, it is much easier to remember them. This is how a Mind Map© works.

On the following page you will find a set of instructions for drawing up the map. You may find it an unusual way of remembering – we are all too used to rather boring lists of revision notes – this is definitely more interesting!

Mind Mapping Start with a blank piece of paper on its side. (Landscape) Start by drawing a key symbol/picture in the middle. Use lots of colours if you can – it helps memory. Draw your facts on branching lines out from the key. Add more facts on more branching lines, like a tree. Write clearly and keep it simple.

Here is an example of a Mind Map© for a student studying counselling.

To read the map, begin back at the centre – focus first on the middle, then the first set of branches radiating out. Always read out from the centre, in whatever direction it flows.

This is actually how your brain works, using neural pathways to follow from the original concept. One word triggers the brain to spread along main branches which subdivide.

If you learn the same way as your brain remembers, your memory will be maximised.

Written Work

Every assignment you receive will require a series of written answers to questions relating to the work covered. Paper is supplied for you to write your answers, or you may prefer to type your answers or use a computer.

Before answering the questions, read through your assignment and study your Mind Maps© which will summarise everything you know about the assignment.

It may sound very obvious to say “answer the question” but you won’t gain any extra points unless information is relevant to the question. You can judge what is required by the way in which the question is worded.

If, for example, a question reads:

List four types of…

keep to the point. List the answers concisely and clearly.

As another example, a question reading:

State briefly…

indicates the requirement to be no more than a few sentences.

Let the phrasing of the question be a guide to the length of answer.

Once you have completed all of the questions, read through both the questions and answers to double-check that you have answered them appropriately and as well as you can. Then check that you have entered your name, student number and any other information requested.

The assignment is now complete – keep your mind maps for easy revision of the entire course.

On a final note, it will be valuable for you to create your first Mind Map© for this Study Skills unit. There is not a question paper for you to complete, so you can use your time productively to draw your Study Skills Mind Map© on a separate piece of paper.

In order to alleviate any fears that you might have regarding learning new skills and techniques, let us take a look at the principles of learning for a moment.

Principles of Learning

What learning is for – The purpose of learning is to develop a personal feel for what you are doing. Knowing what to do may be part of it, but can never substitute for the actual experience of doing it. Naming every part of a bicycle and analysing every physical movement involved in riding still doesn’t mean that you can get on it and go. Getting the hang of it takes practice, and that is what it is all about. This is a common sense point and is probably why so many people are suspicious of “intellectuals.” Knowing something in theory is fine, but in the real world, it is always experience that counts.

How learning works – Learning is, at best, refined trial and error. With cycling you start with a rough idea of how to do it, an image of what people on bicycles look like, and a few instructions on where your arms and legs should be. Then you make a trial run and have a shot at cycling yourself. By correcting your body movements, and eliminating those mistakes which lead to the expected fall or two, you refine your riding technique. By and large, all this means is keeping what works for you and discarding what doesn’t. Learning is a crude process but, since we were not born on bicycles, it is the only way to ride.

When learning should take place – Learning is a life-long process. Like other growth phenomena, it occurs in fits and starts. You may practice your cycling, make some progress, then get stuck for a while as you keep falling when making a left turn. Then one day, mysteriously, you don’t fall anymore. Why? Who knows? You experimented enough, someone gave you a tip, you finally got the knack of it. Maybe that day you just didn’t try so hard and it suddenly all became a lot easier. If there is a secret to learning, it is to find your own pace. Push yourself a little but not too much. The more you fight against your own individual rate, the more you slow down. There will always be difficulties, but give yourself permission to experiment to find what is right for you.

These basic principles should be self-evident, but consider in contrast these widespread and self-defeating myths regarding learning:

What learning is for – The purpose of learning is to find the ‘right way to do it’. The right way is determined by society in the form of parents, experts or authorities. Your way, or a personal feeling, for what you are doing is nice, but unnecessary. All that counts is doing it right – or even worse – doing it perfectly.

How learning works – Learning is a process of collecting right answers so that you never have to lose or be wrong. Winning and being right are what it is all about. By the age of twenty-one, a person should have enough of a grip on him or herself to know what to do in every situation or at least know which experts to ask for the right answer.

When learning should take place – Learning should be accomplished in childhood or adolescence. Any learning in adult life should occur smoothly and without upset.

Not everyone believes these myths of course, but enough people do to keep the worlds experts in business. Learning to ride a bicycle and learning how to become more confident are more alike than different. The learning is not always smooth, but learning is vital to that process of the controlled chaos called growth. Uncertainty and, to an extent, fear are a part of learning. People who live with self-enforced rigidity learn poorly. Flexibility helps since learning something new is a feat as improbable as swimming on water.

If you relax, take a chance, and throw yourself into it, you can swim along while others sink to the bottom. It takes practice and confidence. Convince yourself that you can’t and you never will.

Every student who is now defeated by situations or circumstances, or by any feeling of inferiority or inadequacy, or any other personal weakness must come to a precise releasing moment when, in his thoughts, he resolutely decides that he is going to have confidence. That his attitude will change from one of self-consciousness, fear, and tension to one of relaxation, confidence and self-assurance.

When that decision has been reached, then we have the foundations, the bedrock on which to build for the future.

Enjoy your study programme with us, but please remember we are here to help and assist you at all times. Now all that remains is for you to get started!

YOUR GOALS

Goals – A Point of Embarrassment or a Point or Empowerment Ever wonder why setting goals seems to empower some people and create miracles for them, but for you, they seem to be just a set up for feeling disappointed and as a failure? After all, who in the world needs another disappointment, another inevitable failure? Maybe, you’ve decided that goals work for the super achievers, but not someone like you! Here’s the secret! If goals are supported only by an intellectual belief, they will be a point of embarrassment. But if your heart is in your goals, and you actually expect to achieve them, then you will be empowered by them to take you to all the way to fulfilment!

Energy, passion and empowerment come by believing with your heart, not just your mind. So how do you do that? First, write goals that connect you with your highest purpose in life. So what is your highest life purpose? In general, I believe that it is to have a sense of being valuable, important and significant-this is the fundamental drive for all humans for everything we do. When we feel valuable and significant, the feeling is happiness. Of the countless ways to feel important and significant, and thus, happy, what most fully and meaningfully does this is (1) Making a contribution and (2) Feeling connected through relationships (which encompasses love). Fun, pleasure, security, success are all valid ways that also generate happiness, but by themselves will always end up leaving us feeling empty and insignificant. So write out your life purpose in light of ‘contribution and connection’. Now write down only those goals that move you towards your life purpose and only spend your time on those activities that are fully consistent with your life purpose and your goals. Use this model for every area of your life: spiritual, family, personal and business.