Study Skills for Higher Education
Assessment 1 - Individual essay
Introduction
The objective of work-life balance is to
establish the perfect balance among a student’s academic and personal lives
while studying at a university (Alleyne, 2016). Finding the ideal balance among
work-life and study is tough as well as stressful. Most of the students struggle
with stress due to doing their academic tasks on time, earning livelihood, and
enjoy university life (Crompton and Lyonette, 2006). In this essay, the factors
affecting the students work life balance will be identified as well as the solutions
to overcoming these difficulties will be described.
Why it is difficult to maintain a work-life balance at university.
Students leave their home to stay outside
for their higher study at a university and often they face a lot of
difficulties in the environment that they cannot maintain their work-life
balance while studying (Doherty and Manfredi, 2006). The reasons behind this
imbalance are as following.
- High level stress: Students have to stay a long time outside their home for continuing their study at a university. In this time, they have to complete their academic assignments and quizzes, earn money for their living as well as enjoy their university life while studying (Jones, 2021). But not all the students can do these tasks properly and stay in a mentally sound health. Balancing all the activities is often impossible for the newly joined students as they are in a huge pressure in this time. Thus, the students are put on a huge pressure on balancing their study and work-life at the same time.
- Unsupportive relationships: Supportive relationships among friends, families and colleagues makes an individual’s life easier (Jones, 2021). They can then enjoy the environment and learn from it. But an unsupportive relationship among friends, families and colleagues makes an individual’s life difficult and damaged. They, then cannot even cooperate with their colleagues while working, cannot study properly and eventually they find their life miserable.
- Unrealistic demands: Every student have the desire that they will happily enjoy their university life while both earning (by working) and studying. But doing everything so easily isn’t possible, everyone has to be handworker to achieve this. At the same time, some of the students desire the finest life while studying and working. The think that they will be provided with all the facilities that are necessary to conduct a beautiful lifecycle. All these desires are very much unrealistic, and students face mental depression while not getting everything they desired.
- Unhelpful attitude: This is another big factor that affects the work-life balance of a student while studying at a university. It is evident that there are a lot of people around us who don’t want to help others in need. They always remain busy with themselves. This unhelpful attitude makes a students work-life balance difficult.
- Lack of control: Controlling everything around us is another important factor. If a student cannot control his works and study at the same time controlling his/her demands, s/he will certainly be unable to maintain his/her work-life balance at a university. Lack of control endangers a student’s life with difficulty in study, work and enjoy the surrounding environment (Loehr, 2019).
- Familial obligations: There are lots of student those have to bear their family expenses while studying. In this case, they must earn a lump sum amount to bear their family expenses. And when a student face this, s/he tends to earn more while studying that eventually affects his/her mental health and s/he then cannot maintain his/her work-life balance.
- Challenges with online learning: Studies investigating the effectiveness of remote learning until the standardization of distance classes in 2020 discovered that students' technological proficiency and knowledge and understanding of virtual systems had a massive effect on their performance and involvement in their e-learning, specifically by influencing their self-discipline, encouragement, and behaviors toward their learning and abilities (Rosa, 2022).
Designing an effective study plan to overcome difficulties.
When discovering how to study properly, there is no one method that works for everyone. Every student must have a different study strategy. Understanding own potentiality is crucial because everyone possesses different abilities (Cheesborough, 2017). Several students find it easy to study and remain motivated, while others might need to put in a little bit more effort. Here is a detailed way student can develop their study plan and overcome the difficulties they face in their university life.
- Make a list: Making a list of all the specified concepts that a student needs to learn helps them to study more appropriately before sitting for an exam. Thus, a student can break down his needs into smaller units for better understanding and learning. This will eventually help them to recall information's before their exams.
- Spaced Schedule: Distributing practices over time helps the students to make an effective study plan than cramming. While cramming is often stressful, a spaced practice helps the student to organise their works overtime and do according to the plans.
- Using evidence-based strategies: Once the students have a list and a schedule of study, they must use evidenced-based strategies to better study and memorize the concepts, themes and implications. Efficient techniques students can use to do are self-quizzing, brain dumps and flash cards. They can also use highlighters to identify terms, dates and facts in their study.
- Identify gaps: Once a study can identify their gaps in knowledge, they can decide on futures studies focusing on interest.
- Close the gaps: After identifying the gaps in knowledge, students can then revisit their study materials and fill the gaps in knowledge by further reading.
The above 5 step plan developed by Jones, (2021)
helps students to design their study plan appropriately finding and filling out
gaps in their study. If a student can properly design his study plan, he will
easily be able to overcome difficulties in his study.
Conclusion
Balancing work-life stresses out a student’s
mental health and can achieve desired goals in life. But the abovementioned
factors significantly hamper a student’s study life and demotivates the
students. If a student can properly design an effective study plan as outlined
above, s/he can then be able to achieve desired outcome while studying at a
university.
References
Alleyne, T.S. (2016). Work Life
Balance- What Balance? Frontiers in Pediatrics, 3.
doi:10.3389/fped.2015.00102.
Crompton, R. and Lyonette, C. (2006).
Work-Life ‘Balance’ in Europe. Acta Sociologica, 49(4), pp.379–393.
doi:10.1177/0001699306071680.
Cheesborough, J.E., Gray, S.S. and Bajaj, A.K., (2017).
Striking a better integration of work and life: challenges and solutions. Plastic
and Reconstructive Surgery, 139(2), pp.495-500.
Doherty, L. and Manfredi, S. (2006).
Action Research to Develop Work‐life Balance in a UK University. Women in
Management Review, 21(3), pp.241–259. doi:10.1108/09649420610657416.
Jones, K. (2021). Retrieval
practice : resource guide : ideas & activities for the classroom.
Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk: John Catt.
Loehr, T. (2019). Balance Is B.S. :
How to Have a Work Life Blend. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.
Radcliffe, L. (2013). Why I Study
Work-Life Balance. The Work Life Balance Bulletin: a DOP Publication,
4(1), pp.17–18. doi:10.53841/bpswlb.2013.4.1.17.
Rosa, R., 2022. The trouble
with ‘work–life balance’in neoliberal academia: A systematic and critical
review. Journal of Gender Studies, 31(1), pp.55-73.
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