Sharing your own study tips as a student project

Where have you picked up your best study tips from?  Was it a suggestion from your tutor?  A library workshop you attended?  Or maybe someone on your course or from your study group had a great idea to share?

The best tips usually come from someone who’s already been there, procrastinated over essay writing, or lost their notes before finding a great online tool to save them on instead, so we’ve found some great tips from students for students to help you with your study.  The University of Nottingham and University of Edinburgh have great examples of projects to get students sharing their own study tips and resources, as well as guidance on using social media for study and research, so this post shares some of these handy resources.  Hopefully you’ll be inspired to share your own!

Talking ‘Eds

The University of Edinburgh set up Talking ‘Eds for students to share their experiences of studying, and tips and advice on good study practice, via video.  The videos cover a range of study skills topics, from time management, taking notes and essay writing, to revision techniques and report writing, and both undergraduate and postgraduate students got involved.

Take a look at these videos on using social media tools for study:

Ø  David – using mind map software for taking notes in lectures

Ø  Eric – using a digital calendar for time management

Ø  Ellie – free interactive tools for revision

There are also loads of other general study tips, so we really recommend having a browse through the videos and seeing what other advice you can pick up.

Research Practices 2.0

The University of Nottingham Graduate School developed their Research Practices 2.0 project after PhD students highlighted the need for an information resource on social media, including examples of how they are used in academic and research practices.  As well as providing a bank of resources on using social media, it also provided an opportunity to see how students from different disciplines are using them in their studies. 

The contributing students recorded their thoughts on video, from what social media means to them to common types of social media and how they can be used:

Ø  What is social media?

Ø  Using social media

They’ve also collated a fantastic selection of social media resources that anyone can access, across the below topics - including social media guides, blog posts and online articles related to academic use of social media:

ü  General social media and academic practice

ü  General guides to social media

ü  Tutorials

ü  Copyright and attribution

ü  Blogging

ü  Twitter

ü  Social bookmarking and aggregation

ü  Social networking

ü  Blogs for PhD students.

So dig around for ideas and see what you can use to make studying and research easier.  And there’s still time to enter our competition to be in with a chance of winning a Kindle Fire by sharing your best tip on using social media for study or research.

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Many thanks to Shineen Dewil, Learning Technology Support Officer at The University of Nottingham Graduate School and Suzanne Spalding, Student Guidance/Welfare Advisor at University of Edinburgh for giving permission to share these resources.