Study Skills for Higher Education - Assessment 1 and 2 Analysis

This report is a comprehensive analysis of study skills in higher education, encompassing two key assessments. Assessment 1 delves into the e-learning landscape, examining its advantages, such as flexibility and wider opportunities, and disadvantages, including complicated cheating prevention and lack of practical knowledge. It also includes a personal reflection on the student's e-learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Assessment 2 focuses on strategies to improve reading abilities, such as skimming and scanning, and provides suggestions for enhancing the quality of written projects. The report emphasizes the importance of creating a conducive learning environment and offers practical techniques for students to optimize their learning process and achieve their academic goals. The content is designed to assist students in navigating the challenges of higher education and improving their overall study skills.

STUDY SKILLS FOR
HIGHER EDUCATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ASSESSMENT 1.............................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
ASSESSMENT-2............................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................7
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................7
Strategies used to improve reading abilities................................................................................7
Suggestions for students to improve the quality of written projects.........................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

ASSESSMENT 1
INTRODUCTION
E-learning is basically a learning system which is done using electronic resources such as
internet, computers etc. The main aim of promoting e-learning is to transfer the skills and
knowledge to many numbers of students at the same time and by sitting at any place. This
method of teaching and learning has been facilitating number of students in the times of COVID-
19. The report will highlight about the merits and demerits of e-learning system of learning and
growing which will be followed by sharing the personal experience regarding the e-learning.
MAIN BODY
1. E-learning is the biggest change for the students in times of pandemic of COVID-19
(Bayani, Leiton and Loaiza, 2017). Many new online learning platforms are giving free
education to the students such as BYJU’s, Tencent classrooms etc. This system is
considered as the dynamic, agile and effective way for learning, growing and training.
But it also has some advantages as well as disadvantages which are as follows:
 Advantages of e-learning
Flexibility: During the time pandemic now, everything is changing and the e-learning
is giving the agility for changing the approach of learning. This is the main advantage
with this that the students who are morning glory or night owl, both types can be
facilitated through this method as they can learn anytime being anywhere (Srivastava,
2019). This also reduces the stress of the students and also helps in investing time and
energy in learning.
Developing significant skills: Learning through online platforms requires various
skills like self-motivation, self-discipline and communication. The students develop
these skills in order to learn and grow. Unlike when the teachers force the students to
come to the class, the students need to motivate themselves to learn through online
platforms.
Wider opportunities: E-learning helps the students to learn various things related to
specific students. For example, when the students search for a particular topic, they
come to know about various things which are related to the topic. This broadens the
mind of the students as they get the opportunity to learning many things in extra
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unlike in class when they get only the limited knowledge which is delivered by the
teacher (Virca, Oancea and Gligorea, 2017). Through e learning platforms, they come
to know about the views of so many authorized publishers and the authors who
publish their articles.
 Disadvantages
Complicated cheating prevention: This is considered as one of the biggest
disadvantages as the students can easily cheat not only in form of copying the content
from other sources but also they cheat in form of not paying focus to the online
classes and just focus on giving the attendance (Oproescu and et.al., 2019). This
becomes very difficult for the teachers to monitor who is paying focus and who do
not. The students sometimes do not do the assignments on their own and submit the
assignments done by others. This decreases the knowledge of the students.
Lack of practical knowledge: Through online platforms and resources, students can
learn about the theories effectively but they can lack the practical knowledge as they
cannot perform the experiments during the offline learning in classes. In an online
environment, theoretical knowledge can be delivered easily as compared to the
practical knowledge (Yuhanna, Alexander and Kachik, 2020). This is because
implementing practical projects becomes very difficult as it was easy in face to face
communication and physical classrooms. It needs very prior planning and training if
this needs to be implemented through online platforms.
Lack of accreditation: There are many online platforms and systems which are not
accredited and also their quality is not checked and monitored by anyone except the
instructors themselves (Malik and Rana, 2020). Some online schools are not qualified
and accredited which lessens the credibility of the online education and the students
also do not get the correct knowledge. This also contributed in weakening the
legitimacy of the education through online platforms.
This is how, it can be said that though For example, Creatrix is an accreditation management
system which helps in providing the best solution for the accreditation process and there are
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many online proctoring systems such as Examity which makes use of anti-cheating measures like
automated ID verification.
2. My experience of e-learning was very good as well as satisfactory as I was suffering
from major health problems and was unable to attend the real classes. In this tough time,
the online platforms helped me in continuing my studies and learning effectively. I was
able to learn any time being in any condition. This also saved my money and time as the
cost of transportation was reduced and the time taken in travelling from one place to
another also minimized. Though, I was facilitated in many ways through e-learning but
also I cheated with myself as I sometimes didn’t attended the online classes with full
dedication and determination and was just present in the online class.
But as compared to the disadvantages of the e-learning, I realized that e-learning proved
to be a better option in this tough time of COVID-19 pandemic as I could learn many
things without even coming in contact with anyone. The virtual platforms like Zoom,
Webinar etc. helped in attending the workshops of many well-known and prominent
personalities which was impossible to meet them in person (Gon and Rawekar, 2017). I
also expanded my knowledge in various fields sitting in my own comfort zone and
according to the time of my choice. This method was also beneficial as I could get the
videos of all the concepts which I have studied so far. Through the offline classes, I could
not learn various other things except what it was taught by the teachers and supervisors.
But through the online platforms, I got the opportunities to learn extra concepts and gain
extra knowledge. I also got the opportunity to express myself without hesitation and fear.
This also increased my various skills like self-dependent, self-motivation and the skill to
express my views and thoughts.
CONCLUSION
This can be concluded from the above section that e-learning is the biggest opportunity
for the learners especially the students as they do not have to go to classes and gain the
knowledge instead they can gain the required knowledge sitting at their place of choice as well as
according to their time. But this does not mean that this is the fulfilled system and offline system
can be shifted to this. E-learning also has some cons which can be solved using various advanced
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systems. So, the report highlighted and described about the pros and cons of e-learning. Lastly,
personal experience of e-learning was also shared and described.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Malik, S. and Rana, A., 2020. E-Learning: Role, Advantages, and Disadvantages of its
implementation in Higher Education. JIMS8I-International Journal of Information
Communication and Computing Technology. 8(1). pp.403-408.
Bayani, M., Leiton, K. and Loaiza, M., 2017. Internet of things (IoT) advantages on e-learning in
the smart cities. International Journal of Development Research. 7(12). pp.17747-
17753.
Gon, S. and Rawekar, A., 2017. Effectivity of e-learning through WhatsApp as a teaching
learning tool. MVP Journal of Medical Science. 4(1). pp.19-25. Srivastava, P., 2019.
Advantages & Disadvantages of E-Education & E-Learning. Journal of Retail
Marketing & Distribution Management. 2(3). pp.22-27.
Virca, I., Oancea, R. and Gligorea, I., 2017. Advantages to use e-learning platform in the field of
technical systems. In The International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software
for Education (Vol. 1, p. 121). " Carol I" National Defence University.
Yuhanna, I., Alexander, A. and Kachik, A., 2020. Advantages and disadvantages of Online
Learning. Journal Educational Verkenning. 1(2). pp.13-19.
Oproescu, M. and et.al., 2019, June. E-learning in Computer-Assisted Training, Advantages,
Disadvantages and Future Trends. In 2019 11th International Conference on
Electronics, Computers and Artificial Intelligence (ECAI) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
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ASSESSMENT-2
INTRODUCTION
Study is the process through which new skills and talent can be achieved through the process
of reading and experimenting which will increase the chances of goal achievement for the learner
because it allows and ability to analyse the experiences achieved during this process of learning.
Analysis of various ways through which learning efficiency can be increased is done in this
report and also evaluation of various learning processes has also been discussed in this report
through which learner can identify the weaknesses of current learning process. With that
development of several learning strategies for the improvement of written projects has also been
discussed in the report through which students can increase the effectiveness of the learning
process and can increase the chances of goal achievement.
MAIN BODY
Strategies used to improve reading abilities
There are various strategies by which the reading abilities of the students can be improved. Some
important strategies are:
Skimming:
It is one of the time saving techniques used for reading long information and data. Under
this technique instead of focussing on all the information and going into detailed informations
students usually read the information in the general sense and pickup up the important and
general information from the reading content. Also, that general information which is being
picked up usually describe the idea of whole reading context.
This skill is used to read a lot of information and picking out the general idea or
information from it. It saves the time of students in reading everything in details. This is an
important strategy used by the students to read the general and long text (Dhillon, Herman and
Syafryadin, 2020). This strategy enables the students to move and read quickly and accordingly
picking up the main idea behind the text. This strategy is used to read the non-fiction information
or data.
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Scanning:
This is also an important strategy used to improve the reading skill among the students. It
is a selective reading technique which allows the students to read and scan the entire content and
accordingly selecting the main keywords or idea behind the whole reading and on the basis of
that ideas or keywords drawing conclusion accordingly. Under this strategy students would be
able to read the detailed and long information and on the basis of that information taking out the
specific and main idea behind the text. This is also a time saving strategy which enables the
students to read the detailed text quickly and easily.
Thus, it is also similar to skimming strategy but the main difference between both the
strategies is the understanding element which means that in skimming strategy general idea is
picked up but in scanning the main idea and motive behind the text is picked up by the students
which create more level of understanding of the content (Khafizov, 2019). Thus, it would not be
wrong to said that both the strategies are same in one or the other way but the scanning strategy
allows the students to create the better and accurate understanding about the content.
Preparing the environment:
This is also an effective and important strategy which could be used by students to
develop the reading skills. As per this strategy students have to first prepare the environment of
reading. Preparing reading environment means creating such environment which should be
peaceful, relaxing and non disturbing. The reason behind such environment is improving the
level of concentration among the students so that they can be more focussed towards the content
and able to create better understanding of the content without being disturbed.
The main idea behind this strategy is that the environment plays a very important role
behind the development of reading skills which means as per the environmental condition the
behaviour of the student will be shown. Highly disturbing and restless environment usually
create stress in the mind of students and as a result the students may lose their concentration
(Boerma, Mol and Jolles, 2017). While on the other hand peaceful and non-disturbing
environment may create better level of concentration and as a result students would be able to
develop their reading skills in more efficient and better way.
Note taking:
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It is one of the best strategy which enables the students to develop reading skills along
themselves along with keeping the notes for future use. As per this strategy the students read the
information from different sources and modes and accordingly prepare the notes denoting the
main idea of the readded information. This notes will also be used by the students in
remembering the main ides of the content that they had read in the past. This strategy allows the
students to take the essence of the text and accordingly enables them to recall it whenever it is
being required by them. This strategy also helps the students in relaxing the mind by reducing
the level of stress (Savitri and Chakim, 2019). By using this strategy students would not only
being able to develop their reading skills but also enables them to develop the listening and
understanding skills among them.
As per the concept of this technique it is right to said that this technique is considering
the past as well as looking towards the future which means that this strategy on the one hand
enables the students to read the text or content while on the other hand helps the students to have
it recalls whenever it is required by them in the coming future. This technique also develops the
deep understanding of the concept due to its wider coverage and reach which helps the students
to expand their level of knowledge along with the development of reading skills.
Reading for details:
It is also an important strategy for developing the reading skills among the students.
However, it is one of the slow moving strategy in developing the reading ability in students. This
strategy allows the students to read the text in detail and deeply. As per this strategy students
have top read the entire text before developing and analysing the main idea and meaning of the
content. This strategy is the slow process by which students have to read every paragraph or
sentence of the content before knowing the exact meaning. This process moves from top to
bottom in the slow speed (Clemens, 2019). This strategy is useful when students have to read the
complex and important content where escaping is not allowed because escaping even a single
sentence or paragraph may leads to different prediction of the meaning or non understanding of
the content or understanding without predicting the exact meaning.
Thus, this strategy is generally used when students have to read the text carefully in order
to derive its meaning. Hence, it would not be wrong to said that this strategy proves to be very
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helpful for students in developing the detailed knowledge or understanding about the content but
at a relatively slow speed.
Suggestions for students to improve the quality of written projects
Good writing skills are very crucial and important part for any project, it is helpful for
the reader as well because good writing and the matter of the project provides clarity when it is
read by anyone ( Ramírez, 2018). Correct use of grammar, spelling and words are the key of any
written project. So it is a suggestion to students that they don't commit any mistake and errors
while jotting any report because it becomes difficult for the reader and it takes long time to
understand, what the writer wants to deliver. It is also a suggestion to students that before
writing any magnificent content they get a deep knowledge and do at least research to know the
basic principle of the particular topic, it will help them in writing clear, precise and relevant
details about the given project.
For writing any new project student should started reading new blogs and matters, they
just not get stuck on the same website, book or journal from where they are getting necessary
information they should expand their skill of searching and writing new contents. It will be
helpful for the students if they highlight the matter which they like and can narrate them in their
content. Students can use idioms and phrases to make their content more interesting for the
readers. The another suggestion for the students to enhance their writing skill is that they should
not copy someone others matter, they can take help from the others content or magazine or
internet, but they should write in their own language or whatever they learn after reading such
blogs and contents it will increase their knowledge and writing skill.
Another suggestion to student is that instead of writing on a blank paper, they can draw an
outline or border in the paper it will make their content attractive. Outline should be simple
because complex outline can make the content mysterious and will not look good. Before started
writing any project student can go for executive summary, this will help the reader to understand
what the project is talking about and what matter does the reader have used in this.
Student can only give more importance to good writing when they know the value of
good writing, that good writing will get rewarded and let the students know writing is an art with
the help of using appropriate word and correct grammar in their project they can easily share
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their views others also and let others get motivated by writing good content in project (Ramon,
2019). It is also very important for the teachers to let the students know that they should select
narrow and simple topic at the beginning of their project report and when they learn all the
necessary things about writing then they should go for big and deep topics.
If the students are writing the project for the very first time they can do it in partnership also,
they can take help of some senior about how to begin the project what are precautions they
should consider, what kind of matter they should choose which put weight age to their content
and project.
Another suggestion for the students it that they should avoid using unnecessary word in
their project, it is very common mistake which every new student or beginner commits while
jotting any new project, except this they should avoid writing long sentences because it increases
the complexity and sometimes reader don't understand the meaning as well. Even small sentence
can put great impact on reader.
It will be beneficial for the student to choose such topic for the project in which they have
keen interest so that they will enjoy the work, besides this, their knowledge will get stronger
about the topic and it will become habitual for them to narrate good matter. For making the
students habitual of writing teachers and faculties can conduct some essay writing competition
for them it will help the student to enhance their thinking and student become habitual of writing
(Little , 2018).It is another suggestion for the students that they should focus on reading, whether
it is a novel, newspaper and magazine it will increase their thinking capacity. After writing all
the content they should at least read them once, by doing this they will know errors and mistake,
here the
students will learn how to edit and modify those mistakes and how to improve them.
These are a few suggestions by which students can improve their writing skill for any project.
CONCLUSION
From the analysis in this report it can be concluded that it is very important for students to
increase their knowledge base by learning new skills and talents through which it can increase
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the chances of achieving its goals. Therefore, in order to increase the learning capabilities learner
has to develop effective learning capability, thus for which it has increase its engagement in
learning through reading cooks and also at the same time has to evaluate the working process by
which it can make sure that it is resolving the problems which it making negative impact on the
learning process. Due to which student can increase its learning speed and thus can achieve high
productivity at reduced time span.
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