Studying online doesn’t mean that you’re studying alone. There are hundreds of other students at your college and many of them are studying in the same course as you. You have the option to take part in peer support with other students via our various online forums and our Study Buddy system.
What is peer support?
Peer support is for students who are interested in sharing their experiences about studying at Open Colleges. If you’re one of these students, you have a number of choices available to you to do this through different types of forums as well as by finding a Study Buddy.
What kinds forums are there?
There are three kinds of forums available to students:
General discussion forums
General discussion forums are where students from all parts of Open Colleges can share their experiences of being a student. If you find a useful website or come across any interesting articles that you think other students might also find interesting, you can share them in general discussion forums. You can access the general discussion forums via the ‘Announcements and general discussion’ forum link in here.
Course-specific forum
Course-specific forums are for students who are doing the same course as you. In a course-specific forum, you can discuss your course in general with others who are at different stages in their course. Those students who are further on with their studies can offer useful advice to others who may be struggling with an assessment task for example. You can access course-specific forums through the link at the top of your unit page.
Study period-specific forum
In study period-specific forums, you can discuss your studies with other students who are at the same stage as you in their course. When you know that there are others facing the same challenges as you, you can motivate each other to work through assessment tasks. You can access study-specific forums via the study period-forum link in your study period.
What is a Study Buddy?
As with the student forums, you can link up with other students from anywhere with our Study Buddy system. You can choose to have just one Study Buddy or more, there aren’t any limits. The idea is to form a study group in which you can share common interests, experiences and goals. You can opt in to find a Study Buddy by ticking the relevant box in your student profile on OpenSpace.
Message other students
As well as being able to message your trainer, you can message other students via the messaging system on OpenSpace. You’ll only be able to message other students who are doing the same course as you and who have given permission on their student profile to allow others to contact them via OpenSpace.