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The Open University

Succeed with learning

The Open University via OpenLearn

Overview

Have you ever had any of the following thoughts?What do I want to do with my life? How can I reach my goal? Would I cope with studying at college or university? Can I get better at learning? How can I manage the challenges that life keeps throwing my way?If you are thinking about questions like these, Succeed with learning is just what you are looking for.This course takes your life as its starting point, developing your awareness of just how much you have already learned and what you are capable of. It will suggest ways of 'fine-tuning', and building on, the expertise you have developed in your life. You will also learn some interesting theories about how we learn, and some of the key skills and tools to make your learning a success.TranscriptSucceed with learning is a free course which lasts about 8 weeks, with approximately 3 hours' study time each week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete another week's study. You can also take as long as you want to complete it. Enrolling on the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they're a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation – which also displays your Open University badge. This course is accredited by the CPD Standards Office. It can be used to provide evidence of continuing professional development and on successful completion of the course you will be awarded 24 CPD points. Evidence of your CPD achievement is provided on the free Statement of Participation awarded on completion.Anyone wishing to provide evidence of their enrolment on this course is able to do so by sharing their Activity Record on their OpenLearn Profile, which is available before completion of the course and earning of the Statement of Participation. The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey. Once you complete the course we would also value your feedback and suggestions for future improvement, in our optional end-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

Syllabus

  • Introduction and guidance
  • Introduction and guidance
  • What is a badged course?
  • How to get a badge
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week1Week 1: What is learning?
  • Introduction
  • 1 Everyday learning – what's going on?
  • 1.1 Case study 1: Jim’s story
  • 1.2 Case study 2: Angela’s story
  • 2 Thinking about someone else’s ideas
  • 3 Formal or informal?
  • 3.1 One person’s experience
  • 4 Thinking about your own learning
  • 5 How do you learn best?
  • 6 Reflection
  • 7 This week’s quiz
  • 8 Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week2Week 2: Learning from life
  • Introduction
  • 1 Using some everyday experiences
  • 2 Being organised
  • 2.1 Organising your study time
  • 2.2 Time management
  • 3 Learning to change
  • 3.1 Comfort zones
  • 3.2 Developing emotional literacy
  • 3.3 Further techniques for emotional literacy
  • 4 Reflection
  • 5 This week’s quiz
  • 6 Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week3Week 3: Learning about yourself
  • Introduction
  • 1 Qualities
  • 1.1 Turning negatives into positives
  • 2 Knowledge
  • 3 Skills
  • 3.1 Transferable skills
  • 4 Communication skills
  • 4.1 Online communication skills
  • Netiquette
  • 4.2 Using your communication skills
  • 4.3 Developing communication skills
  • 5 Reflection
  • 6 This week’s quiz
  • 7 Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week4Week 4: Reflection and feedback
  • Introduction
  • 1 Learning through reflection
  • 1.1 Reflection at work
  • 1.2 Reflecting on your learning
  • 2 Getting feedback from other people
  • 2.1 Some theories about feedback
  • 2.2 How can you get another perspective?
  • 2.3 Using your feedback
  • 2.3.1 Using the Johari Window
  • 3 Reflection
  • 4 This week’s quiz
  • 5 Summary
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week5Week 5: Learning tool kit
  • Introduction
  • 1 Academic skills
  • 1.1 Reading, writing and note-taking
  • 1.2 Essay writing
  • 1.3 Reflective writing
  • 1.4 Developing your writing skills
  • 2 Using mind maps
  • 2.1 Further uses for mind mapping
  • 2.2 Using mind mapping as a first stage for writing
  • 3 Using information found online
  • 4 Referencing
  • 5 Your academic skills
  • 6 Reflection
  • 7 This week’s quiz
  • 8 Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week6Week 6: Wider perspectives
  • Introduction
  • 1 Why theory might be useful
  • 2 Exploring learning theories
  • 3 Learning communities
  • 3.1 The example of St Kilda
  • 3.2 Communities of practice
  • 3.3 Your learning communities
  • 3.4 A ‘health warning’ about groups
  • 4 Student approaches to learning
  • 4.1 Background to Entwistle's theory
  • 4.2 Your approach
  • 5 Reflection
  • 6 This week’s quiz
  • 7 Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week7Week 7: Where next?
  • Introduction
  • 1 Making plans
  • 1.1 Action planning — an overview
  • 2 Developing a vision
  • 3 Introducing case studies
  • 3.1 Case study 1: Mike’s story
  • 3.2 Case study 2: Charity’s story
  • 4 Turning visions into goals
  • 5 Setting SMART goals
  • 5.1 Your own SMART goals
  • 6 Reflection
  • 7 This week’s quiz
  • 8 Summary
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week8Week 8: Your plan
  • Introduction
  • 1 Developing your plan
  • 1.1 Force-field analysis
  • 1.2 Case-study illustration
  • 2 Thinking about resources
  • 2.1 People
  • 2.2 Informal learning
  • 2.3 Formal learning
  • 2.4 Free online courses
  • 3 Designing your action plan
  • 3.1 Working with your action plan
  • 3.2 Keeping your journal active
  • 4 Final reflection – the cycle of learning
  • 5 This week’s quiz
  • 6 Summary
  • Tell us what you think
  • References
  • Acknowledgements

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