Organise Your Home Office Day in March is all about creating order on the chaos that sweeps across a desk. When it comes to learning, it pays to get organised. But why is studying in an organised, positive environment so much better? And how can you achieve this?
There many research projects about studying and the effect on the local environ, all of which point to the same conclusion, more or less – an organised study environment, with minimum distractions but the right kind of background motivation is beneficial.
‘Being organised’ is a phrase that means different things to different people. What does it mean to you? Which of these distractions can you identify with and which help or hinder your learning?
Some students say they can’t work without it, but others find it a distraction and the playing of music whilst learning has long been debated. There is some suggestion that background music could help a student to focus on the task at hand.
Does it work for you? Research suggests the right kind of music is one with which you are familiar with and at a low volume in the background. There is some suggestion that this ambient music is also instrumental, as opposed to singing.
Time can be your friend and your enemy. Clock-watching is a way of marking how fast or slow time is moving. Being proactive is the key to managing time allocated to study.
Deal with it by not allowing time to drift. For example, study in blocks of 20 minutes coupled with an objective that you want to achieve in that time. This breaking down of time into chunks, rather than facing hours of study, is a great way to keep time on your side.
Part of being organised in your learning – and an important part – is to create the right environment. It needs to encourage you to focus on what you are doing, as well as being comfortable as you study too.
There is a practical element to the home office, something known as ergonomics. This is where design supports and comforts the body thus, your chair is not only the right height but supports your back too.
Lighting is an important part of a studying space. Pouring over books via a weak, non-illuminating light causes eye strain and this means, you start to flag quicker when it comes to reading and writing assignments.
Remedy poor lighting by;
The climate in which you study also needs to be comfortable. Too cold and you will find it a chore and too hot, you find you might drift off to sleep…
Control the environment by opting for a warm space but because you might be stationary for long periods, use extra layers to stay warm.
Facebook. Checking your email (again). Tweeting. Checking your Twitter timeline. Reading the headline…
You name it, there is a distraction that prevents you stay on top of studying. There are many distractions and when it comes to identifying the best way for you to stay organised whilst studying, you need to be clear about what your personal distractions are.
Disconnecting from social media and the web is a great move, as well as leaving your phone out of reach. Some students set themselves ‘rules’ that within a certain time frame they will not use their phone, answers texts, go online etc.
The great thing about home learning courses is that you study in the place you love and know best, at times that suit you too along with other many benefits – studying at home, along with reading a chapter or two on your daily work commute, planning your assignment whilst sitting on a bench in the park eating lunch or being knee-deep in theories whilst snuggled in your bed.
Be aware of how you are feeling because this comfort level can impact on how well you study. For example, snuggling in bed is great but is it the best place to be examining a concept in detail? Is all that warmth making you drowsy? Are you really paying attention to what you are doing?
Studying from home is a great way to learn and yet, it can be a landscape of distractions. What do you think is your biggest hindrance when it comes to studying? How do you deal with it?
Education, whether in the primary, secondary, post 16 or online, is rapidly changing. The need to maintain and push standards higher underpins everything an educator does, from how they plan their lessons, to the course materials they create to the assessment methods they use.
It is a challenging, yet rewarding career. Getting into teaching is something that many people often wonder about and if you are one of them, then this guide is for you.
Teaching opportunities
There are many more teaching opportunities today than there ever was; no longer is a teacher someone who is ‘confined’ to a classroom. And it is not just children who are pupils of an education system. More and more adults realise the benefits of lifelong learning, and thus, teaching opportunities can come from all different directions.
For example, online courses and home study are an increasingly popular way for people to study. Students choose their course, they take responsibility for their own learning, setting their own pace as well as deciding when and how they study.
Even though they work through the course material on their own, online and home study courses are only as good as the course material itself and the tutor support on offer to the student.
Get into teaching opportunities available may mean that you are suited to act as an online tutor. This is why we offer a Distance Learning Tutoring Diploma.
Value and credit
However, you may be wondering how much credit and value are actually applied to teaching courses that you study via the Internet.
It is true that many schools and educational establishments still hold sway that a degree, followed by a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) that relate specifically to their sector (lower primary, upper primary, secondary and post 16) is the only qualification route with any value.
The PGCE is completed mainly ‘in the field’. Thus, as a student teacher, you will be supervised in the classroom to deliver a set of lessons and so on. From these school placements – usually, a short one lasting a few weeks, followed by a longer summer term placement and interspersed with weeks at college – you will be assessed and given a pass or fail.
In some ways, the courses that offer a route into teaching that are online offer a similar experience. The preparing to teach courses such as QCF Level 3 Education and Training Award includes a micro-teaching session.
This means that you are applying theories and principles into practice.
Other home study education-related courses
When it comes to teaching, every life experience is important and can be useful both in and out of the classroom.
Some people opt to become a teacher after spending some time in an educational setting as a TA or a support worker of another kind. There are diplomas and courses available that strengthen these skills and these too, can be used to underpin both your suitability as a teacher as well as going on to study more specialist educational courses.
But why study from home?
Online teaching courses provide an exceptional opportunity to gain the teaching skills you need to become a successful tutor. Generally, online courses are proving popular and more trusted in the results they give.
Teaching courses will examine the boundaries of the professional educator, the various teaching and learning approaches, lesson planning skills, assessment methods and the need for accurate record-keeping.
Learning can be challenging, more so if you are worried about how you are going to pay your student loan back or how you will pay the bills now that you are no longer working. It is possible, with hard work and dedication to learn from home and gain qualifications that have value.
Learning is something we all do differently and at a different pace. Learning from home or via online methods means you can study at a pace that suits you; there may be some modules that you work through quicker than others, or some that you would prefer to take at a slower pace.
You can also learn new skills at a time that suits you. It may be possible to read some course texts on your commute home from work, or you may scribble notes during your lunch break.
Applying for online teaching courses
To get into teaching, you will need to be sure that you have a solid background in a subject that is taught in your chosen education sector.
If you require help or advice, call us on 0333 220 1538. If you know which course is right for you, add it to your basket, choose how to pay and click enrol. Within days, your course materials will arrive and you can get into teaching!
Criminology is a fascinating area of study. It is the scientific study of crime, its causes and response by law enforcement agencies, as well as examining methods of prevention. It is a sub-group of sociology which is the scientific study of behaviour.
There are many sub-groups within criminology itself, which is why if are looking at exploring this topic, you will find many criminology courses on offer.
However, a significant barrier to people taking on new challenges and learning something new is time. You need to work to pay the bills. Thus you are not afforded the time to enrol at college.
There is another way. This solution allows you to carry on working and live life as you need to, as it allows you to study when you can and when you want. It may sound easy – there will be times when it is tough – but online, home study criminology courses offer you all kinds of benefits…
The process is important, as is the final destination
Studying for a qualification will make a huge difference to your life; it opens up whole new career prospects that until now may have been out of reach. But education and learning is not just about the piece of paper at the end – it is about how you learn as much as it is about what you learn.
With online and home study courses, you will learn to manage and organise your learning, honing your time management skills so that you work to maximum effect in the time you have to do so.
You will learn to order your thoughts, creating a reasoned argument in the form of reports or essays. All these skills you will practice and refine as you go through your course. You will learn self-discipline; you will learn how to find information both online, as well as using other means. Research skills are essential in criminology, as well as questioning the source
Your time, your choice
Life is jam-packed with all kinds of activities, as well as your job. It can seem impossible to take on anything else, let alone study criminology courses online.
It will be a challenge, but one that is enjoyable and not insurmountable. Enrolling at college sounds a great idea, but when you look at your schedule, you realise you can’t make every Tuesday evening or the Friday morning lecture and so on.
With home study courses, you won’t face these issues because you study at a time, and a pace and a place that suits you. The 20-minute commute home on the bus is the perfect time to read a chapter from a course book. You can make notes for an essay you are writing whilst cooking the evening meal and the half an hour or so you have ‘spare’ can be the perfect time to make a start on your assignment.
You are in control; it is your choice when you study, where you study and you determine the pace. Not sure about something? Then double-back and take another look. Or if you grasp a concept quickly, move on at a quicker pace.
Continuous assessment – no dreaded exams!
Online criminology courses will have a programme of continual assessment throughout the course, with some also having a larger assessment at the end of the module.
This affords you the possibility of having detailed knowledge on certain key aspects of your chosen course, rather than everything coming down to a final exam or test.
This means that many online courses are marked as a pass, although your tutor may also provide a short statement on how you studied and applied yourself.
Build your knowledge over time
Experience, knowledge and skills are three important factors that you will achieve with online criminology courses but they don’t all come at once. You will acquire a certain skill and, by applying it in different settings and situations; you will become more experienced.
Learning is similar. And when studying a new subject, you need to show that you have acquired knowledge, practiced skills and that you are ready to experience new things, all of which takes time, as well as a smattering of basic study skills too. But with home study courses, you build your knowledge over time, making sure-footed steps every time.
Enrol today
You can enrol online on one of our criminology courses, including ballistics or cyber crime diplomas. You can choose to study in a paper format, or some courses can be accessed online via our secure learning portal. Get ready to build your skills and career using our online courses with qualifications.
You can also pay in easy monthly instalments or pay in one lump sum, whichever suits your situation best – which is the essence of home learning; it is about what suits you best.
Take a moment or two to browse online courses or home study option and you will, at some point, come across an advert or promotional photograph that suggests studying in your favourite pyjamas and comfy slippers is one very clear advantage of studying or learning from home.
Whilst this may be true, this only skims the surface of what you, as a learner, can gain from studying your chosen course from the comfort and confines of your own home, or reading course materials on the bus and so on.
Teaching courses are no different. Effectively you have the knowledge of your subject or skill, you now need to understand, appreciate and try out how different ways of getting the message across to others, so that they can do the same. This is true of teaching all subjects at all levels, whether it is A Level Geography or how to decorate a cake – there are skills involved and you need to be able to show these, practice these and assess these skills in others.
Thus, teaching courses online have a value to them and studying from home holds many advantages for you, as a teacher or instructor;
#1 variety of programmes and courses
You may think that the field of teaching courses online is narrow but you will find that this is not the case. Their end goal may be similar but you may feel that you need to develop certain kinds of skills or want to address key aspects in relation to how you would teach your subject.
Take your time to examine what the teaching course offers, as much as what qualification you will come out with at the end.
#2 Lower costs overall
From giving up your job to student loans, tuition fees and so on, there is a lot of discussion in relation to learning and money. For many students, both those straight from school and returning learners, there is a clear issue of learning and debt.
With online courses, the financial outlay is clearer – you pay for your course and that, in most cases, is it. You can opt for an increased support package, if you feel you need it and the cost of this is quite clear. Some courses you pay in one lump sum but with other providers you can pay monthly or in three equal payments etc. There is no overhanging debt and no need to give up work or drop hours etc., unless you want to, of course.
#3 Comfortable environment
We are back to the pyjamas and slippers argument here but over the years, there has been discussion and debate about taking the formality out of formal education. It was assumed that courses only had value if, amongst other things, you sat for hours in a lecture theatre, pouring over complex texts and listening to lecturers.
Attitudes have changed and the ability to self-study, and manage your own learning is now seen as valuable. So, if you learn better at 3am sat at your kitchen table in your pyjamas, then so be it. Or maybe you are a night owl? The point is, you study and learn in a place that you feel comfortable and able to learn.
Neither do you have to co-ordinate childcare, the school run, juggling rush hour traffic and, the biggest bugbear at most colleges and schools, finding somewhere to park.
#4 Convenient & flexible
The last point of car parking and family routines leads nicely onto the point of convenience and flexibility.
Many people find that expanding their horizons, such as with a teaching qualification, are hampered by the fact that studying simply doesn’t fit with their lives. So lectures start at 9am but you can’t drop the kids off at school till 8.30 and it’s a 40-minute drive from there…
But what you do have is an hour after school where the kids are at swimming and you could study at the table in the café. Get the picture? You can fit your study and learning into the time you have but also when you feel you learn better too – back to the night owl or the early morning person.
It can make learning feel so much more pleasant and possible when you can structure and manage it yourself.
#5 Pushing boundaries
In the film Education Rita, Rita transforms from an unpolished diamond into a sophisticated, learned woman. It took her hours of work, scribbling away by a lonely lightbulb as well as pushing herself to fit in, talk to people and so on.
While the value of interaction is not to be dubbed down, if you have limited time to throw yourself into the full spectre of family life, opting for teaching courses online can be the way forward. And it still pushes your boundaries, presenting plenty of challenges along the way.
In summary
Online Teaching Courses as well as teaching assistant courses online offer the means by which you can progress your career without taking a huge financial gamble, benefitting both you and your employer too. There is also opportunity for some courses, with sufficient credits, to be added to your grown bank of credits and be part of a larger, over-arching qualification.
Signing up is simple too. Take a moment to look round our website at the range of online courses with qualifications, paying close attention to what the course covers and the qualification you would gain. When you are confident you have found the right course, enrol by choosing which payment option suits you. Your course materials can be accessed online or a printed copy mailed to you – and now, you can start learning!