Study Skills for Distance Learning

Student Name:
Student ID:
Degree:
Module:
Module Tutor:
Date of Submission:
Word Count:

Essay Title
Essay Word Count:

Contents

Page Number

Introduction to Portfolio

Activity 1 Developing Learner Independence

Activity 2 Time Management

Activity 3 Your Personal SWOT Analysis

Activity 4 Developing Planning and Prioritisation

Reference List

Essay

Reference List

Conclusion

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You may wish to utilise the contents page function, as this will help you throughout the program see
link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e45x0xYoezs

Introduction to Portfolio
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This section should be written in the 3rd person and focus on the WBDL student (rather than you).
Include evidence of appropriate academic underpinning, properly sourced. It is an introduction to the
Portfolio, focusing on Work based distance learning and in circa 300 words, addressing:

The aim(s) of the portfolio and benefits to the WBDL student of compiling the Portfolio
Reflection (introduction/definition(s)/discussion)

Ensure your work is presented throughout the Portfolio in line with the specified criteria:
Font:
Ariel
Font size:
11
Line spacing: 1 line spacing
Margins:
fully justified
It is very important to carefully edit, proof-read and spellcheck your work several times prior to
submission. This is best done after a break from finishing it so you see the work more objectively.

Activity 1:
Developing Learner Independence Introduction/ Discussion

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This section should be written in the 3rd person, focusing on the WBDL student, and include evidence of
appropriate academic underpinning, properly sourced.
It is an introduction/discussion to Developing Learner independence and should focus on the topic
generally and consider the benefits to the WBDL student.
A word count of approximately 150 words is recommended.
Remember to ensure your content and display fully meet the specified criteria.

Independent Learner Inventory

Developing yourself as an independent learner
The aim of this inventory is to help you to think about your approach to learning. Everyone is unique and
there is no right approach to learning. By learning how we learn and by exploring new and different
approaches to learning it is possible to become even more effective learners. We hope that this tool will
help to stimulate your learning. (This paragraph should be removed prior to submission.)

Name _____________________________________ Todays date __________

a) Before you go any further, indicate how independent you think you are as a learner.
Not very
1

Very
4

10

b) How would you define independent learning?

___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
c) Ask a colleague for an estimate of how independent you are as a learner.
Not very
1

3 4

Very
5

10

How did they reach that mark?

___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________

SECTION ONE: MOTIVATION

Not very

Very

1. How interested are you in your studies?

2. How keen are you to succeed in your studies?

3. How keen are you to become a better learner?

SECTION TWO: MANAGING YOUR LEARNING

Never

Rarely

Sometimes

Always

4. Before starting a study session, are you clear about

what you hope to learn?

5. To what extent do you plan how and when you are

going to learn something?

6. If you were having difficulties learning something, do

you consider other sources of help?
7. If you come across new approaches would you
incorporate them into your study process?

SECTION THREE: REFLECTION

8. To what extent do you question what you are told, for
example by tutors, books etc?
1

9. When you have finished learning about something, do

you think back about how effective your learning
process was?

10. Do you change the way you go about learning new

things as a result of thinking about past learning
situations?

Now add up the numbers in the boxes you ticked in each of the three sections.

INTERPRETING THE RESULTS

Q13 (Motivation)

Total =

Independence level =

3 5 = low independence, 6 9 = moderate independence, 10 12 high independence

Q47 (Managing Your Learning)

Total =

Independence level =

4 7 = low independence, 8 12 = moderate independence, 13 16 = high independence

Q810 (Reflection)

Total =

Independence level =

3 5 = low independence, 6 9 = moderate independence, 10 12 high independence

GRAND TOTAL
Grand total =

Overall independence level =

Grand total: 10 19 = low, 20 30 = moderate, 31 40 = high

If your score for Reflection is moderate or low, please carefully work through this
PowerPoint presentation to help you develop this important skill:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pluvVLqqdq8

Reflection Activity 1

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This section should be written in the 1st person, focusing on you, and include evidence of appropriate
academic underpinning, properly sourced.
It is a reflection on undertaking the Independent Learner Inventory and should focus on you/what you
have learned about yourself from undertaking the activity and how it will impact on your approach to
your studies.
The word count for this section should be 250 words (plus/minus 10%).
Remember to ensure your content and display fully meet the specified criteria.

Activity 2:
Time Management Introduction/Discussion

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This section should be written in the 3rd person, focusing on the WBDL student generally, and include
evidence of appropriate academic underpinning, properly sourced.
It is an introduction/discussion to time management and should focus on the topic generally, discuss
possible strategies and consider the benefits of effective time management to the WBDL student.
A word count of approximately 150 words is recommended.
Remember to ensure your content and display fully meet the specified criteria.

How Well Do You Work Questionnaire

Yes
1

Do I waste time

Do I give time to my priorities

Do I know what I want to achieve each day

Do I put things off

Do I waste other peoples time

Do I set deadlines

Do I meet deadlines

Am I in control of my time

Are others in control of my time

10

Do I plan my time

11

Do I spend too much time on some tasks

12

Are there times in the day when nothing seems to get accomplished

13

Do I prefer to do things that are interesting even if they are not a

priority

14

Do I spend too long on something trying to make it perfect

15

Do I plan my time successfully in the short term

16

Do I plan my time successfully in the long term

Reflection Activity 2

No

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This section should be written in the 1st person, focusing on you, and include evidence of appropriate
academic underpinning, properly sourced.
It is a reflection on undertaking the time management activity and should focus on you/what you have
learned about yourself from undertaking the activity and how it will impact on your approach to your
studies.
The word count for this section should be 250 words (plus/minus 10%).
Remember to ensure your content and display fully meet the specified criteria.

Activity 3:
SWOT Analysis Introduction/Discussion
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This section should be written in the 3rd person, focusing on the WBDL student, and include evidence of
appropriate academic underpinning, properly sourced.
It is an introduction/discussion to the personal SWOT analysis and should focus on the topic generally
and consider the benefits to the WBDL student of undertaking a personal SWOT analysis.
A word count of approximately 150 words is recommended.
Remember to ensure your content and display fully meet the specified criteria.

Personal SWOT Analysis

Strengths (internal factors)

Weaknesses (internal factors)

Opportunities (external factors)

Threats (external factors)

Weakness Mitigation and Plan

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This section should be written in the 3rd person and should address how the weaknesses identified in the
SWOT analysis will be mitigated.
The word count should be 400 words and must be underpinned with appropriate academic research to
inform your mitigations.
Over the page is a plan for you to complete to complement the mitigations.

Weakness Plan

Plan to mitigate weaknesses identified in SWOT analysis

Weakness Mitigating Actions

Resources Support Deadline Check Progress

Completed/Actions

Notes

Reflection Activity 3

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This section should be written in the 1st person and include evidence of appropriate academic
underpinning, properly sourced.
It is a reflection on undertaking the SWOT Analysis and should focus on you/what you have learned
about yourself from undertaking the activity and how it will impact on your approach to your studies.
The word count for this section should be 250 words (plus/minus 10%).
Remember to ensure your content and display fully meet the specified criteria.

Activity 4:
Developing Planning and Prioritisation
Introduction/Discussion

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This section should be written in the 3rd person, focusing on the WBDL student, and include evidence of
appropriate academic underpinning, properly sourced.
It is an introduction/discussion to Planning and Prioritisation and should focus on the topic generally and
consider the benefits to the WBDL student of compiling a Personal Action Plan (PAP).
A word count of approximately 150 words is recommended.
Remember to ensure your content and display fully meet the specified criteria.

Personal Action Plan and Study Timetable

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Within this section you need to identify all your modules (see information within your Programme
Handbook for information on each module) and develop an appropriate and comprehensive Personal
Action Plan (PAP) and Study Timetable to guide and support you throughout your studies.
The PAP should be in table format, listing each module of your degree (including the dissertation) and
listing specific actions you need to engage in to complete the assessment, keeping in mind the
submission dates, eg: what do you need to do/read/research for that assignment and by when;
how/when will you contact your tutor; when will the 1st/2nd/3rd drafts be completed and the work ready for
final submission etc. Your actions must be specific to each activity within each assignment within each
module.
An example layout is provided below however, please note the Personal Acton Plan should be
presented in landscape orientation.
(There is no recommended word count for this section and this activity is not included in the word count.)

Personal Action Plan for (insert your Degree title)

Objective 1: (give timescale in which you wish to complete the degree)

Module 1: Study Skills for Distance Learners BUS3092M (give details of hand in date)

Activity/Achieved Sub-Activity Resources Support Deadline Check Progress Completed/Actions Notes

Reflection Activity 4

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This section should be written in the 1st person, focusing on you, and include evidence of appropriate
academic underpinning, properly sourced.
It is a reflection on undertaking the Personal Action Plan activity and should focus on you/what you have
learned about yourself from undertaking the activity and how it will impact on your approach to your
studies.
The word count for this section should be 250 words (plus/minus 10%).
Remember to ensure your content and display fully meet the specified criteria.

Reference List

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Please check the correct format of the Reference List from the Referencing Handbook.
You need to include all sources referenced in the first part of the Portfolio (ie Introductions/discussions
and reflections for each activity).

Bibliography

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The Bibliography is optional for this work please see Getting Started with the Study Skills Module
notes sent to you by your tutor.
Remove this page if not including a Bibliography.

Study Skills for Distance Learning

Student Name:
Student ID:
Degree:
Module:
Module Tutor:
Date of Submission:
Word Count:

Essay Title

Essay Word Count:

Remember you need to discuss/agree your

essay title with your Study Skills tutor prior to
starting work on it

Essay

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Do not start work on the essay until you have completed the first part of the Portfolio, actioned the tutor
feedback and your tutor has confirmed that the work is to an appropriate standard, since this will
develop your academic writing style and ensure you are referencing correctly. You will then need to
discuss and agree an appropriate essay title with your Study Skills tutor the essay title needs to be
phrased in such a way that you will be finding something out.
Take the time to look at the example academic essays on Blackboard (Study Skills Module Resources
Example Academic essays).
You will need to include evidence of appropriate, relevant and sufficient academic research, so ensure
there is an appropriate body of knowledge for you to draw on when you consider your title. The word
count for the essay is 1500 words (plus/minus 10%).
You need to include a minimum of 6 different authors from academic text books and/or journal articles
and use and include 2 electronic sources from suitable sites. All sources and citations must be correctly
displayed in accordance with the Referencing Handbook.
It is important to note that the essay is not a test of your specific knowledge on a subject, but an
assessment of your ability to:
read, research and apply academic material;
reference sources correctly;
go beyond mere description by commenting/considering the implications of what has been written;
construct an academic essay, supported with academic evidence and using academic debate.
The essay title must be discussed with/approved by your tutor. It is preferable to pose a question as you
will need to find something out, not simply describe something, for example:
How can active reflection improve independent learning for distance learners?
The title needs to have 3 main areas:
the overarching subject matter in the example, this would be independent learning.
look at one specific aspect of the overarching subject matter in the example, this would be
reflection.
the context in which the essay in being written in in the example, this would be distance learning.
Throughout the work, you will need to include appropriate, sufficient and relevant academic definitions
(not dictionary definitions), quotations (both direct and indirect) and if appropriate,
theories/concepts/models - all properly sourced.
Academic writing style is important, as is readability - guide your reader through the discussion,
clarifying and elaborating where appropriate. Write in the 3rd person throughout, avoid use of you, your,
we, our etc.
The introduction should be about 10% of the word count and introduce the essay, focus on the topic(s)
and make it clear what will be explored/researched in the work.
Introduce the key parts of the question using an appropriate definition(s) to integrate this into a brief
discussion. In the case of the example title above, you would need to define reflection, independent
learning and distance learning. This is a good way to incorporate the literature as you should always
seek definitions from academic sources.
Provide a road map for the reader by setting the parameters for the essay by stating what areas you
will be covering in the essay.

The main body should form approximately 80% of the word count and focus on addressing the
title/answering the question throughout. Any words/thoughts that are not your own must be properly
sourced. Avoid slang or colloquial language and avoid giving opinions/conclusions within the main body.
Avoid simply relating material it is essential to contextualise the discussion: in what context are you
exploring these themes and why is this important. Use the literature to say why this discussion is
important.
Considering the example title, you may indicate that the output of Person As research may be that
distance learners are faced with many more challenges than thought students, so they need a good
level of independent learning to be successful. The output of person Bs research found that reflection is
a good way to develop successful learning techniques, therefore, you are going to discuss if reflection
helps a distance learner develop independent learning skills.
For your research it is very important to use appropriate academic books/e-books and journals/
e-journals. Whilst you may use the internet, do take great care to ensure that the sites are valid and
appropriate for academic purposes sites such as Wikipedia, Businessballs.com, mindtools.com etc are
inappropriate for academic research.
Consider the structure and flow of the work throughout, ensuring a clear narrative and a logical
progression from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph. Note that headings, sub-headings,
bullet points etc should not be used in an academic essay.
You will need to structure an argument/discussion and may do this by introducing a theory, concept or
model. Consider what the literature says about it - here you need to do some reading to find out what
other authors feel about the theory, concept or model you have just introduced. This will develop the
critical element to your discussion.
Contextualize your material by considering how the academic discussion relates to the context of your
essay. In the example title, you would need to relate the discussion you have just had about the
theory/concept/model in relation to distance learning.
Consider how this relates back to the main essay theme/question. In the example title, this could be
related to how this helps improve learner independence.
The conclusion should be about 10% of the word count, draw the key points raised in the discussion
together and provides an overview of the points discussed. The conclusion should specifically address
the title/answer the question.
In the example title, you could conclude that active reflection does improve learner independence, or
perhaps, indicate that it does not improve learner independence, or maybe indicate there is so much
discussion that you cannot make a judgement and more research needs to be undertaken.
As with all your assessed work, it is very important that you carefully edit, proof-read and spellcheck
your work several times each time you will further enhance it. In order that you view the work
objectively, have a break in between finishing the work and editing/proof-reading. This is expected of
you as an independent learner, please do not expect your tutor to do it for you!
Acknowledgements:
The information in this section has drawn on the work of Victoria Ellis and Sharlene Holley.

Reference List

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Please check the correct format of the Reference List from the Referencing Handbook.
You need to include all sources referenced in the essay.

Bibliography

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The Bibliography is optional for this work please see Getting Started with the Study Skills Module
notes sent to you by your tutor.
Remove this page if not including a Bibliography.

Conclusion to portfolio

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This section should be written in the 1st person and evidence of appropriate academic underpinning,
properly sourced, is optional.

The word count should be circa 200 words and be a reflective account focusing on:

your learning from the Portfolio in particular;

your learning from the Study Skills module in general;
how your learning from the module may impact on your approach to your studies;
how you have developed as a WBDL student.