Getting yourself organised before you start any home learning courses is an essential study skill. Being methodical in your study approach helps to keep procrastination at bay, but also helps to keep stress levels low and the end in sight.

So, what do you need to know to stay organised?

A Place to Study
Finding a suitable place to work and study is a challenge for most people. You may find you just can’t work with the background noise of the radio, catchy cartoon jingles, or your kids arguing with each other.

We can all become rigid in the ‘right’ places to study, probably as a result of many years of sitting at the same desk in the same classroom at the same school. However, in recent years, the art of studying has become more relaxed with a wider understanding that sometimes, being seated at a desk for hours on end is not the right place for some students.

You need to understand what works best for you. There may be a quiet space at work you enjoy in which could grab an hour or two every now and then. Public spaces such as libraries are also great for quiet study. Even snatching 20 minutes reading an article or surfing the web for research on your daily commute will help you fit in your studies.

IMPORTANT – maintain a flexibility to your approach to your place of study and recognise that no matter where you study, you are still working hard and gaining a valuable qualification.

3 Key Questions

The Study Environment – The Practicalities

The ‘where’ of studying has many practical and personal considerations, but it is important that you have space to spend time on your studies. At times in your course, you will need to submit assignments or coursework for marking. With a looming deadline, you will need to get your head down in order to complete the work.

But there are some practical considerations;

3 Key Questions

When to Study
Part of being organised is knowing when to take advantage of time, and that means working at a time that suits you, but that also allows you access to the place where you study best.

Some students draw up a timetable. This can be a monthly timetable or a schedule that lasts for the duration of a module or course unit.

It identifies the core times that you know you can work without distraction and that fits with work, life and family commitments.

By organising your time and schedule, you also organise your workload. This means you prevent the stockpiling of work before a key date or deadline, spreading your work and studies out across a wider timeframe.

When the volume of work becomes too much, it can seem like an unconquerable mountain. This leads to procrastination, and this can lead to you not completing your studies. By organising the place you study and organising your time, you can manage your studies more effectively.

3 Key Questions

Support Network

Studying is a challenge, but when you get your certificate through the post, earn the promotion or start the first day of your new job, the rewards are worth it.

With our range of home learning courses, all students get 12 months of expert tutor support. Our best tip is this: tap into this support and use the expert knowledge of your tutor to enhance not only your studies, but your organisation of your work.

Stress is not always a bad thing. It can be the driver that pushes us on to achieve things, whether that is a qualification we have always wanted or finishing a unit assignment.

But just like stress in life, when stress over your studies become too much it can overcome you and lead to real problems.

Controlling stress means identifying what triggers it and what preventative measures can be taken to stop it engulfing your studies. Don’t let stress squeeze all of the enjoyment of the course you are completing.

As a leading provider of online courses, we have gathered many hints and tips over the years from our students and our tutors about how stress and studying can be controlled.

Here we give you five of the best ideas and tips.

ONE – Organisation

The first tip is to get organised. Being organised is more than just shuffling papers; it is about being proactive in managing every aspect of your studies.

Organising and planning study time, organising your work environment, organising materials and even keeping your desk or work area clean and clutter-free are just some of the tips students say help them to keep stress to a minimum.

TWO – Exercise and Fresh Air

When an assignment is due, it can be tempting to put head down and stop taking breaks so that you get the work done as quickly as possible.

But sometimes ‘less haste, less speed’ is the solution, because speed doesn’t mean you are producing your best work or are grasping the content of what you are learning.

As counter-intuitive as it seems, taking a walk in the fresh air or simply sitting outside for 20 minutes is ideal for gathering your thoughts and pushing stress back down to acceptable limits.

THREE – Distractions…

Distractions are annoying. Someone tapping away on a keyboard or someone clicking their pen can be the stressors that push us over the edge.

But here’s the thing – mindfulness experts and experts on Neuro-linguistic courses tell us that our attempts to block out these annoying habits and distractions can actually make us more stressed.

The solution is to tune into these distractions and you will be amazed at what happens! The distractions disappear.

In other words, stop working so hard at thinking about your distractions and how much you hate them. Accepting that they are there (and not becoming embroiled in hating them so much) actually loosens their grip over you. Try this method and let us know how it works for you.

FOUR – Talk

Studying for a qualification is a challenge. No one said it was going to be easy, but from what our students tell us, this is part of the learning journey.

Studying at home in your own time, whilst balancing family, work and life will see you find and hone new skills. Organisation is one key to successful study, and identifying problems and finding solutions is another.

But there are times when it can seem like just too much, and you will start to feel stressed. Talking to someone can help – you just need to find someone who is a good listener.

This could be your partner, your friend or a fellow student. You may also want to have a chat with your tutor, as they too have been in the same position. They may have pearls of wisdom and advice to impart.

FIVE – Change your outlook on stress

As we said at the start of the article, stress is not necessarily a bad thing.

Stress triggers a reaction within the body that causes us to either run away from the problem (flight) or stay and deal with it (fight).

If you want to gain a valuable qualification, flight isn’t an option. But when stress overwhelms you, it can be hard to stay and fight, simply because you don’t know how to fight against this particular challenge.

Understand how stress makes YOU feel – we all react differently to surges in stress. Do you find it difficult to sleep? Do you feel the quality of your work suffers?

We are also used to being told that stress is a negative thing. But, there are studies that show people who are exposed to positive messages about stress learn to deal with its effects much better.

Neuro-linguistic programming is about changing how we think and view certain things in life, stress being one of them. Why not take a look at how NLP can help you in your studies, as well as in life in general?

What tips could you offer fellow students for dealing with stress and their studies?

It sounds an ideal solution – studying at home whilst still working, ferrying the kids to school and after school activities, cooking tea, the shopping… the list goes on.

The truth is, we are all busy people and it can seem like there is little or no capacity for extra commitments such as studying. But many people have begun successfully studying at home and you can too.

There does need to be a dose of realism however, and that means understanding that in order for your home learning to be a success, there needs to be a few changes.

Here are five tips that our students tell us work and have been contributing factors in successfully studying from home.

#1 Distractions

Top of the list are all the distractions that you face.

tools for studying at home

It takes time and determination, as well as establishing a routine to be able to commit to your course.

Think of a household chore you hate doing – unblocking the hair trap in the shower, vacuuming, cleaning the drains etc. – and now imagine you have a choice: write the tutor-mark assignment for the module you have just studied or unblock the drains. Which would you choose?

Surprisingly, you would rather do anything, like clean drains, than sit at your laptop or PC typing out your assignment!

Distractions are everywhere. Despite our best intentions, they can and do get the better of us. But what do our students suggest?

Overwhelmingly, the answer was to identify what potential distractions there are, that could prevent you from completing your home learning course.

They are different for everyone but a few of our students mentioned: switching off mobile phones and not checking emails when working online. They also talked about how limited time can be the driving force behind getting work completed.

#2 Time

It has a habit of slipping away with us or, when we are doing something we least enjoy – like sitting in an exam – the minute hand seems to tick very slowly.

But you can use it to your advantage when studying at home. There is one tool that may be of help to you: a stopwatch. Some people are happy to read, study, write and so on for hours on end but others find this unappealing. They use a stopwatch or timer.

Try this: set 20 minutes on a timer – use your phone or a kitchen timer – aim to get as much done in that time as you can. Take a break for five minutes once the time has elapsed and then start again for another 20 minutes.

Many people find this a great way of getting the most from their study time, as well as a fantastic study habit that helps them in the future.

#3 Support

Starting something new and as important as furthering your skill set and education requires support. And this can come from various sources;

#4 Space

For anyone considering home learning, this fourth tip also comes direct from our students. You must have space for your work too.

You may enjoy reading on the sofa, making notes on course materials and so on, but there does come a time when you need to have space to complete your work. This means sitting at the kitchen table, or investing a desk and a lamp for late night essays.

man studying at home on laptop

Starting something new and as important as furthering your skill set and education requires support

Your studies are important; give it the space that it deserves.

#5 Commitment and Determination

It takes time and determination, as well as establishing a routine to be able to commit to your course when studying at home.

This means ‘making’ time and space to work. It can also means forgoing some things, such as instead of the latest best seller, you read a text book or academic journals instead.

But the commitment, the dogged determination and the struggle – there will be moments of struggle, as well as great triumph – will result in success and an enormous feeling of achievement.

Imagine you had signed up to run a marathon. Gruelling, yet fun, the sense of achievement and accomplishment as you cross the finishing line is unlike any other.

To accomplish this extraordinary physical feat, you need to train. You will start off with short runs, interspersed with walking. As you near the day of your marathon run, you will increase your running. You will work on your stamina too, your ability to endure physical exercise, in mind, body and spirit.

Just like a marathon, embarking on a new course of study, especially after a long break away from learning and academia, will present you with a challenge.

At first, you may feel more than a little sluggish. The grey cells don’t seem to be as lightning fast as they once were; you don’t seem to retain, process and recall information like you used to.

Just like training for your epic marathon, you once again need to exercise the brain, awaken it from it hiatus so that you not only learn quickly, but efficiently too.

But how do you do that?

A holistic approach
All too often we exercise our body and our mind in isolation of each other, not realising that they are linked and combined. Good mental health is related to good physical health and vice versa.

What we eat is also important for looking after our whole being. Just like you can’t run a marathon by eating Jaffa cakes alone, you can’t take on a new course of study or expect to learn quickly if you are not taking on board the right fuel.

In other words, ditch the sugary snacks and drinks, and start to eat unprocessed, wholesome food. There are some people who swear by eating plenty of oily fish too, rich in omega 3 oils that are known to have a beneficial effect on the brain.

In order for your brain to function well, your body needs to function at its peak too. This means not only great food, but plenty of regular exercise and getting enough sleep.

Sleep deprivation is common amongst children, young people and adults. Extensive research from the National Sleep Foundation has found that the average adult needs seven to nine hours of restful sleep per night to function at their peak.

Could your diet be improved? Do you exercise regularly? Do you sleep for 7 hours + per night?

Identify and avoid distractions
We live in a digital world.

It has revolutionised many facets of life, including how we learn. Home learning courses can be studied online. You can be in constant touch with your learning provider and student support team via apps. You can also access materials and resources online.

But there is an inherent danger within this digital revolution. It is almost impossible to switch off and disconnect. In many cases, we have forgotten how.

Yesteryear, we perhaps would have spent the evening watching the TV, listening to the radio or maybe reading the day’s paper or latest blockbuster novel. In modern times we multi task, bombarding our senses and our brains with information from various channels, often at the same time.

When it comes to learning new skills, and soaking up knowledge, we need to focus on the subject in hand. What are your distractions – is it social media or something else? How often do you disconnect?

For home learning courses to be a success, you need to not only carve out time in your schedule, you also need to find space to work. It needs to be free from distractions. Find how you work best – some people prefer some music in the background, whilst other prefer complete solitude.

Learn something new
Pushing the boundaries is something we think we know how to do. But really, how much do you live within your comfort zone?

Do you try new cuisines, for example, or do you stick to the tried and tested? When was the last time you tried something new?
There is a saying, “life begins at the end of your comfort zone”, and when it comes to learning, this is certainly true.

Do you always try to learn in the same way? Do you read the course materials and then answer the question, following the same pattern, assignment after assignment? Or, do you attempt something new, like find an informative YouTube video from a reputable and trusted source?

As you work your way through your new qualifications or course, trying something new doesn’t have to be an academic course of action. Why not try something like icing a cake or learn to drive?

Music or silence
At one time, we were told that to truly focus on your studies, you need to study in sphere of complete silence. Exams are sat in silence, lessons at school and at some colleges are given in silence.

And yet, there is a thought that listening to music, having something lyrical and rhythmic in nature can help your brain focus. There has been much written in recent months about listening to music and its effects on learning.

Choose something with a steady, repetitive, rhythmic beat rather than something with soul-searching lyrics. And keep the volume down too. It goes without saying that you should only do this if it works for you; some people need and want complete silence as they study and learn.

Memory games
The memory retains the important pieces of information we need and allows us to recall it when we need it; or that is the theory at least, but how often have you been in a situation, usually with a vast amount of pressure piled on, that you have been unable to recall the simplest of facts and information?

Memory games are a way of keeping the mind and the brain sharp. In academia, academics will often associate a topic or subject with a phrase or concept that is used as an aide memoir. In other words, they use something to jog their memory.

There are all kinds of games, both as apps and ‘board’ type games, which you can master to help your memory. But remember, like muscles in the body, memory-boosting games need to be practiced and used on a regular basis.

Build relationships too
Mood is important when learning or studying. If you feel low or depressed, you will be distracted. There are many reasons why your mood may be low but psychologists believe that regularly interacting and enjoying fulfilling relationships are part of parcel of feeling good about ourselves.

As you embark on your home learning course, what support networks do you have in place? At times when things are difficult, your work isn’t going as planned, who is there to listen and encourage you?

Banishing self-doubt
Imagine that you are part way through your course – you have hit a tough patch. The concept you need to grasp to progress is not coming easily. You are failing to grasp its major points.

What happens to your confidence and self-belief? It will rock or it may plummet. You may start to think that you have bitten off more than you can chew. Or you may be taken back to some unpleasant memories of when you were at school and when lessons were hard, your teacher was less than sympathetic.

The biggest obstacle to learning is our own self-doubt. It is time to change that thought pattern. It is time to understand that just because you are not grasping a new concept first time, it is not somehow a failure. It is the opposite.

You will learn and you will succeed. There will be times when things are tough and there will be times when the course seems to fly on by.

Organise your learning
To learn faster and more effectively, you need to tweak your learning style. And for many students this means being far more organised in their learning than what they currently are on a day-to-day basis.

When faced with a large topic, break it down into bite-sized chunks. Set deadlines but don’t be too harsh on yourself if you don’t meet them. Study when you work best, even if this is 6am or 11pm but remember you need to get sleep and be physically active too.

Choose home learning courses
For the ultimate in a worthwhile learning experience, there is nothing quite like you being in control of your learning.

You can read your course notes whilst lounging on the sofa, or you may set aside time to use the kitchen table as your desk. You may complete extra reading around your subject via your Kindle on the bus each morning, and read a chapter or two in an evening.

Home learning means learning your way, in your own time and at your own pace. It means finding self-discipline you never knew you had, along with drive, determination and focus. And, with so many home-learning courses to choose from, with which subject will you start?

When used effectively, a teaching assistant can bring about an improvement in a pupil’s reading of between three and six months. Great news for those students taking a teaching assistant course to improve their skills in the classroom.

The evidence comes from two reading support programmes run by teaching assistants. Research has also shown that how teaching assistants have traditionally been used – working with low-attaining pupils, usually on an ad hoc or as-and-when-basis – does not result in improvement in children’s learning, as it assumed it would.

Make more of an impact

The way in which many teaching assistants are used in the classroom is having little positive effect. Worryingly, research from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) show that it can have a negative impact on student outcomes; not what a hardworking teaching assistant wants to hear.

But when do teaching assistants have more of an impact? There are seven steps to a clearer opportunity to get more for students and for teaching assistants in the classroom.

Not an informal teaching resource

Firstly, the EEF suggests that many teaching assistants used to work with low-attaining pupils are actually doing very little for advancing or improving outcomes.

This is because many of these small groups of one-to-one sessions are informal, not structured and not well supported. In a small number of schools where smaller group work was planned and effectively resourced, children did make progress.

All too often, TAs are directed on the day or at the start of a lesson to work with a small group of children or young people; they are often not briefed and have no real idea what the outcome of the lesson is.

Use teaching assistants to add value to the learning processteaching-assistant

The teaching assistant is often seen as a support mechanism that can be moved as and when required or used as a substitute when there is no teacher available.

When teaching assistants and their contribution to the classroom are not always valued as highly as they should be, it can be ‘easy’ to simply place people where there is a perceived need, including covering for absent colleagues or working with a ‘difficult’ class or group.

Support independent learning

For those studying a teaching assistant course, they will be aware of the need for children and young people to understand their own learning, how and why they get to the outcomes that they do.

Teaching assistants are instrumental in this process – or they can be. This links with the first point of a teaching assistant being used in a structured and supported way. It also points to the need for TAs to be trained to offer the learning process to students whereby they manage their own learning.

Trained and prepared teaching assistants

It is common practice for teaching assistants to be assigned to classes or teaching colleagues at the start of the year. They may be given scant information about certain students, and no information about others.

However, these research projects found that trained TAs in the classroom made more of an impact; but teaching assistants who were fully prepared before each lesson, given time outside of lessons to meet with teaching colleagues and so on, made a far bigger impact on learning outcomes for students.

Structured interventions

Following on from this last point, and the crux of the research projects findings, is the need to use teaching assistants in planned, structured sessions. This means high quality one-to-one sessions and small group support too.

Use effective and proven session formats

There is evidence that shows a long-term relationship between student or students and a teaching assistant can lead to a negative impact on learning, although the relationships they create can be positive.

The following sessions are thought to be the most effective, backed by the findings of the research projects:

  1. Brief sessions of between 20 and 50 minutes
  2. Regular sessions of three to five times a week
  3. Sustained sessions over a period of eight to 20 weeks

Every day connection between teacher and teaching assistant

For those on Teaching Assistant courses online, they are encouraged to connect with their teaching colleague on a regular basis, and the findings of the research project confirm that when there is a structured, daily ‘meeting’ between the teacher and the teaching assistant, the learning outcomes for all students in the classroom are improved.

In summary

Being a teaching assistant is a rewarding role in the classroom, and it is a profession that primary and secondary schools are beginning to value even more. Teaching assistants can also work in pupil referral units and in some colleges too.

To find out more about the reading support groups and the research findings, take a look at The Education Endowment Foundation and the Reach programme.