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Navigating Time and Technology: A Personal Reflection on ODeL Challenges at UNISA
Essay 1
As an Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) student at UNISA, the transition from a structured high
school environment to a self-regulated learning system has presented significant challenges,
primarily in the area of time management. Coleman (2018) notes that approximately 190,000 South
African students make the leap from high school to university each year, landing in a learning
environment that is "markedly different from school" and where they are "expected to swim." For
ODeL students like myself, this swimming must be done without the safety net of fixed lecture
schedules or campus-based reminders. Unlike the 15% of first-year students who benefit from
extended programmes that offer additional support (Coleman, 2018), I have had to construct my own
academic rhythm while balancing full-time work and family responsibilities. I have often struggled
to prioritise study hours. For example, in my first semester, I underestimated the time needed to
master a single module, leading to a last-minute rush to complete an assignment. This poor time
management directly affected my ability to prepare for final examinations: instead of revising
consistently, I spent the weeks before exams trying to cover months of backlogged work.
Consequently, my engagement in online activities was sporadic; I would log in only to submit an
assignment, missing out on formative quizzes and discussion forums that could have deepened my
understanding. The result has been unnecessary stress and lower academic performance.
A second major challenge has been navigating the myUnisa Moodle platform effectively. While the
university provides this online learning management system as a way to support distance learners,
Coleman (2018) explains that many first-year students find the tertiary environment overwhelming
precisely because it is so different from what they have experienced before. For ODeL students, this
is compounded by the fact that we must learn to use digital tools without intensive face-to-face
guidance. I have frequently experienced difficulty locating specific items, such as tutorial letters or
updated lecture notes, because they are embedded in different sections of the Moodle site. For
instance, during one assignment cycle, I missed a critical rubric because it was posted as a hidden
link within a forum thread rather than in the assessment folder. This disorientation affected my
ability to complete assignments accurately; I submitted work based on an outdated understanding of
the task. Additionally, the platform's notification system sometimes fails to alert me to new posts or
deadline changes, leaving me disengaged from real-time announcements. Preparing for examinations
has been equally challenging: using the online practice quizzes and navigating past exam papers on
Moodle requires a level of digital fluency that I am still developing, leading to inefficient study
sessions and anxiety about missing essential content.
To support students facing these challenges, I suggest two practical strategies for lecturers. First, to
address time management issues, lecturers could implement a structured, week-by-week study
roadmap within the myUnisa Moodle site at the beginning of each semester. This roadmap would
include clear, visual checklists of weekly readings, assignment milestones, and self-assessment
quizzes, along with estimated time allocations for each task. For example, a pop-up reminder each
week saying, "This week's tasks should take approximately 8 hours," would help students plan their
limited hours effectively. This directly links to my experience of underestimating study time and
rushing before deadlines. Second, to ease the use of the online platform, lecturers could create a
simple, annotated video tour specific to their course site, posted prominently on the Moodle
homepage. This tour would show, step-by-step, where to find assignments, rubrics, announcements,
and supplementary materials. Since I have often missed critical items because of unclear navigation,
Navigating Time and Technology: A Personal Reflection on ODeL Challenges at UNISA
Essay 1
As an Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) student at UNISA, the transition from a structured high
school environment to a self-regulated learning system has presented significant challenges,
primarily in the area of time management. Coleman (2018) notes that approximately 190,000 South
African students make the leap from high school to university each year, landing in a learning
environment that is "markedly different from school" and where they are "expected to swim." For
ODeL students like myself, this swimming must be done without the safety net of fixed lecture
schedules or campus-based reminders. Unlike the 15% of first-year students who benefit from
extended programmes that offer additional support (Coleman, 2018), I have had to construct my own
academic rhythm while balancing full-time work and family responsibilities. I have often struggled
to prioritise study hours. For example, in my first semester, I underestimated the time needed to
master a single module, leading to a last-minute rush to complete an assignment. This poor time
management directly affected my ability to prepare for final examinations: instead of revising
consistently, I spent the weeks before exams trying to cover months of backlogged work.
Consequently, my engagement in online activities was sporadic; I would log in only to submit an
assignment, missing out on formative quizzes and discussion forums that could have deepened my
understanding. The result has been unnecessary stress and lower academic performance.
A second major challenge has been navigating the myUnisa Moodle platform effectively. While the
university provides this online learning management system as a way to support distance learners,
Coleman (2018) explains that many first-year students find the tertiary environment overwhelming
precisely because it is so different from what they have experienced before. For ODeL students, this
is compounded by the fact that we must learn to use digital tools without intensive face-to-face
guidance. I have frequently experienced difficulty locating specific items, such as tutorial letters or
updated lecture notes, because they are embedded in different sections of the Moodle site. For
instance, during one assignment cycle, I missed a critical rubric because it was posted as a hidden
link within a forum thread rather than in the assessment folder. This disorientation affected my
ability to complete assignments accurately; I submitted work based on an outdated understanding of
the task. Additionally, the platform's notification system sometimes fails to alert me to new posts or
deadline changes, leaving me disengaged from real-time announcements. Preparing for examinations
has been equally challenging: using the online practice quizzes and navigating past exam papers on
Moodle requires a level of digital fluency that I am still developing, leading to inefficient study
sessions and anxiety about missing essential content.
To support students facing these challenges, I suggest two practical strategies for lecturers. First, to
address time management issues, lecturers could implement a structured, week-by-week study
roadmap within the myUnisa Moodle site at the beginning of each semester. This roadmap would
include clear, visual checklists of weekly readings, assignment milestones, and self-assessment
quizzes, along with estimated time allocations for each task. For example, a pop-up reminder each
week saying, "This week's tasks should take approximately 8 hours," would help students plan their
limited hours effectively. This directly links to my experience of underestimating study time and
rushing before deadlines. Second, to ease the use of the online platform, lecturers could create a
simple, annotated video tour specific to their course site, posted prominently on the Moodle
homepage. This tour would show, step-by-step, where to find assignments, rubrics, announcements,
and supplementary materials. Since I have often missed critical items because of unclear navigation,
