Skills for learning online

Studying an online course is not difficult provided you adopt a systematic approach. The most important thing is that you will need to find some time and space for studying - and make sure that you do this regularly.  

The technical skills you will need are also fairly basic skills. Check your skills against the following list:

• Using e-mail

• Getting onto the Internet

• Going to specific web addresses

• Following hyperlinks

• Saving files on local drive

• Using Acrobat documents

• Selecting text

• Using buttons on web pages

• Entering text into text boxes

• Using online help

Study skills

Many of the skills you will need are the same as for other courses – for the theoretical modules, you will need to read the learning materials and take notes. For the practical modules, you will need to use the materials to find out how to do the tasks and then use the exercises to practise the skills. As well as this, you will need to

• Keep your motivation going

• Be proactive in seeing help

• Be able to work independently

Equipment

You will also need to check that you have the required hardware and software to follow the course. This means a computer that you can use to access the Internet. You will need an email account and will also need to have a suitable software package such as Microsoft Office.