Learning at a Distance - Worksheet

This worksheet presents a brief discussion of the differences between classroom and external learning.

With classroom learning, a teacher is there to provide guidance and direction to a students learning. Most of the learning material is presented orally by teacher, although many different forms of media may be used.

My experience of classroom learning has been at highschool and TAFE. With a teacher to guide the student, every step of the learning process was clearly defined and linear in its approach to meeting final objectives.

External learning relies on the judgement of the student to assess their learning materials and distinguish between "guidance" and "source materials". Perseverance is required, and if required draw on other resources such as the student/tutor discussion forums.

When I commenced my reading last week I could not help feeling a little overwhelmed at the quantity of materials available, both in the supplied texts and online resources. I feel that I have barely scraped the surface and there is a huge amount of material to get through. I find myself reading from several books at the same time, as the material is cross-referenced, as well as beginning to explore the resources available online in the WebCT facility.

Study tips from another OUA student are proving to be tremendously useful in setting my objectives through the course. He recommended focussing on the material required to complete the assessment tasks first and foremost, with wider reading in the final weeks before exam.

I shall attempt to keep this objective at the forefront of my mind whilst scanning the materials and focussing on the parts that are most useful for the task at hand.

A link mentioned in the LITE exercise reading might become useful - Evaluation of information sources