How I manage my online study

I’ve been studying a Bachelor of Business online with Griffith University since 2018. I study part-time because I’m also a Paralympic athlete.

Professional athletes have lots of obligations, from injury prevention to sponsorship commitments and everything in between, so I rely on online to be able to do my degree.

The flexibility has been above and beyond what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a battle, but Griffith and the Sports College have made it easy because even though you’re not seeing these people in person, it’s a helpful community.

Here are a few tips that I can share about studying online:

Recommended readings

I try and do as many extra readings as I can. It makes it more complicated, not being able to ask questions or have conversations in the classroom to fill in blanks so before I go into lectures, I do as many readings as I can, including Teams chats. When I’m reading, I don’t fully understand but then when I listen to the lecture, it all comes together.

Time management

There’s way less pressure studying online than I find in person, but it can be so much worse if you’re not sticking to a schedule that you’ve set up for yourself.

When I start a unit, I look at how much work must be done and how many hours it’s going to take and how to best set that up. And it doesn’t always have to be the same thing, for example I walk my dog for an hour every day and sometimes I listen to lectures while I’m doing that or while I’m meal prepping.

It’s going to be different for all of us but taking the time to work out what works for you and committing to it is worth it.

Dedicated space

My apartment has one living space so when I’m not studying, I put everything away so it’s not constantly on my mind. Then when I do grab all my study stuff out, it’s easier to get into a rhythm.

When I was really busy with training and travel, I was listening to lectures on flights to marathons and trying to get work done in hotel rooms and it was much harder.

Beat procrastination

If I need to write something, I will procrastinate for hours but I find it so easy to listen to lectures. So if I need to write an assignment, it’s better for me to listen to something first – whether it’s a tutorial, a Collaborate session or a pre-recorded lecture – and then jump into writing.

For more information about excelling at online study, please visit Griffith’s Thrive Online website.

By Madison de Rozario