Getting the most out of this course

Here are our top tips for learning online with The Institute of Coding, Lancaster’s School of Computing and Communications (SCC) and FutureLearn.

Be considerate

FutureLearn courses attract learners from all over the world, from diverse backgrounds, and learning for a variety of reasons. It’s important to remember that your fellow learners might have different life experiences or ideas about course content. Keeping an open mind and being considerate in discussions with others is a great way to deepen your understanding by exploring other perspectives.

Be communicative

We learn best when we learn together, and FutureLearn is built on the concept of social learning. Throughout the course, you’ll see discussion prompts giving you ideas to think about or questions to consider based on course content. These can help you frame your response to a step, but feel free to get the conversation going in any way you wish. You can also reply to others’ comments, as well as showing your appreciation by liking or following other learners.

Be in control

FutureLearn courses are designed to be worked through in a particular order, but sometimes you might wish to revisit step content and discussions. You are in control of when you are finished with a step, and you can indicate as such by clicking ‘mark as complete’. Don’t worry if you didn’t get everything done in one week – you can catch up later.

Find a schedule that works for you

If you’re busy juggling work, life and study, see if you can put aside time each week to focus on online study. It might be first thing in the morning while you’re fresh, it might be before a meal or after the rest of the family have gone to bed.

Take time to reflect

Apart from the time spent on the course steps, and doing supplementary study, it’s good to spend time thinking about what you have achieved, reflecting on how you might apply your learning, and setting goals for the future. You can keep a learning journal either in a notebook or on a device, to record achievements and motivate yourself to learn more.

Please note: This course contains external links to help you discover more content. These open in the same window so if you prefer to stay within the course, remember to right-click on a PC or command+click on Mac to open these in a new tab. Alternatively, you can use your back button to always navigate back to the course.

Learning online can be a rich and rewarding experience. You are a member of a global self-selecting community, finding out more about a topic area of your choice with like-minded individuals. The opportunities for sharing ideas, reflecting on your current understanding and engaging in social learning are waiting for you. We look forward to learning with you!