Tips for Success

Success in a Telecourse depends on taking a different approach to studying from a regular, in-class course.

Not all students are alike, but most successful Telecourse students take advantage of the following tips during the course of a semester.


1. Know your learning "style" and adjust your scheduling and studying for assignments, to emphasize study activities that give you the best results. You may do better by taking notes while viewing and reading. Or, you may find that you want to discuss your ideas with someone else to better understand course objectives.  

2. Create a schedule for viewing lessons and for studying, and then stick to it. Don't get behind and don't forget to keep track of meetings, assignments, and exams. We often hear the lament, "I forgot that the exam was tonight."   3. Read your text, study guide, and review study questions before viewing the related video lesson. This prepares you to understand all the ideas in the lessons the first time through.      It is very helpful for students to form Study Groups where they can share information and discuss the various lessons. This is especially true for Telecourse students because you are not meeting with your instructor or other students every week.      Please ask your instructor for help in forming study groups. Please understand that your instructor can not simply share everybody's name and address because that would be a violation of privacy.      However, they can get permission from individual students to share names and addresses with other students who wish to form study group. So, work with your instructor to form STUDENT STUDY GROUPS.


1. VIEW YOUR VIDEO LESSONS "ACTIVELY". Usually people watch television for relaxation and entertainment, sitting back in a comfortable chair, effortlessly receiving the programs message. Successfully studying a video lesson is quite different. Viewing your television lessons requires that you change the typical "passive" style of entertainment viewing to a more "active" study viewing style. This "active" approach requires that you purposefully draw out ideas from the lessons, and apply these to your assignments and overall course.  

2. IF AT ALL POSSIBLE VIDEO TAPE YOUR LESSONS AND VIEW THEM MORE THAN ONCE. A single viewing may be enough but often it is not. Many people find it extremely helpful to see a lesson two or three times to make sure they understand all the information. To do this watch your lessons like you read your textbook. Stop and start the video tape so you can think about what has been presented. Take notes and go over material that you are not sure of. While Channel 27 attempts to have all programs broadcast on time as per the schedule, we are dealing with humans and machines and sometimes these devices can and do make mistakes and occasionally a scheduled lesson will start late. The way around this problem is to automatically ADD 15 MINUTES to the length of the lesson. So, for example, if your lesson starts at 9:00 AM and is an hour in length, SET YOUR RECORDER TO START RECORDING AT 9:00 AM AND SET THE LENGTH FOR ONE HOUR 15 MINUTES. This should take care of the rare occasion when the scheduled lesson starts a few minutes late.  

3. WATCH WITH AS FEW DISTRACTIONS AS POSSIBLE. Unplug your phone, turn off the phone ringer and turn on the answering machine. If others are around, enlist their help to keep interruptions to a minimum. If children view with you, encourage them to be quiet. They may develop a new attitude about watching television.  

4. DO NOT TAKE NOTES WHILE VIEWING YOUR VIDEO LESSONS UNLESS YOU ARE WATCHING A VIDEO TAPE THAT YOU CAN STOP AND START. The Tele-lesson goes by very quickly and generally skims the surface. If you read your study guide and your text book prior to watching the lesson, you will be prepared to catch the key points anyway. Generally the televised lesson moves along so rapidly, with so much information, that you do not have time to take notes. By the time you have taken a note, you will be behind the information flowing at you.  



1. Call your instructor if you have any problems or questions about course material. Your instructor has regular Telecourse office hours and is there to help you.  

2. Attend any exam review sessions that are scheduled. This can be especially helpful if you learn well by talking with others.  

3. Ask at least one other student in the course to be your study partner. Often people learn better and learn more when they can discuss ideas with others.