Altilab2005 - Distance Education Blog

Setting out on a university education is a scary thing for many, many people.  It’s natural to wonder ‘am I doing the right thing, have I chosen the right course, will I be able to cope, will I make friends and what will I do if things don’t work out?’ 

Within all of these concerns is the question of confidence - confidence in yourself and confidence in the choices that you’re making. It’ll probably come as no great surprise to you but people tend to do better on courses that they enjoy.  Doing well, in turn, boosts your confidence in your abilities.

This leads me to stress – do your research!  Consider what you want from a course, from an institution and from your time as a student.  In true career adviser style I’ve got to say that career choice could be one factor in your choice of studies.  Another could be how the qualifications that interest you are structured.  At Massey, any one of a team of Student Liaison Advisers can help with this – and with navigating a path through your studies.  So too can our booklet Choosing a career or major. 

Remember too that it’s OK to ask for help.  All universities have a host of support services available to help students to remain in, enjoy, make the most of and succeed at university.  Here at Massey this includes the study and exams skills, essay and assignment writing, report writing and referencing help offered by our Student Learning Centre – help that can, amongst other things, boost your confidence by boosting your grades and developing your full learning potential! See also, our On-line Writing and Learning Link. 

Check out our Assignment Pre-Reading Service. too.  This innovative and well-received service for our distance students offers them the opportunity to email up to two assignments per semester to a writing consultant for pre-reading (to obtain comments on structure and style) before submitting the assignment for marking.  Active participation in any of their regional workshops can also be a confidence-booster – very often you’ll find yourself in a room full of like minds, people with similar worries, concerns and questions as you – and the same applies to those who take part in any on-line learning element and/or contact course elements of their studies.

Alongside the Student Learning Centre are additional support services such as Massey’s Student Counselling Service – in particular see their publication ‘Dealing with low self-esteem’ if self-confidence is an issue for you.  Not to be overlooked too, is support for dealing with IT issues – getting to grips with the technology that is used increasingly in distance learning can  be a huge aid to confidence.

While we’re on ‘getting to grips’ what about the crucial getting to grips with how your work will be assessed issue?  You can find out more about this here. Finally, how about hearing from some who have been there and done that?  You can do so here.