It's important to have a place to study that's all your own because it helps with studying in important ways. It's a physical and mental must for anyone taking a professional development course online, by mail, or through distance learning. It gives you a place where you can study that is visible, physical, and personal. It also gives you facilities to help you study. You only go there to study. Think of it like going to work, where as soon as you get there, you switch into work mode. You switch to study mode when you go to your study area.
Where should you put your study area. This will depend on how your home is set up and how big it is, but there are some great spots and some very bad ones. If you didn't have a specific place to study, you'd have to do it on kitchen tables, sofas, beds, armchairs, dining tables, and other places where you do other things around the house. These are very unsuitable because they don't help with professional, academic, or personal growth and are full of distractions and things that make it hard to study. The best place would be in a small room set up like a home office where you can just study. Some students might have garages, basements, or lofts that could be turned into living space. Less ideal, but still good, would be a study area in a bedroom that was never used for anything else. This would keep you from doing most daytime and evening chores at home (and even if you are single, living alone, it will keep you away from the television and refrigerator). If you have to use the kitchen or living room, you will have to change when you study so that you are not in these rooms when other people are. Don't try to study in the same room as other people or where you can see or hear things going on at home. Not going to work.
If you can, buy an old-fashioned desk. It doesn't have to be big or cost a lot of money (a low cost, second-hand, used, desk will be perfectly suitable). This will make your study area look and feel like a real office right away. It will also give you drawers and surfaces to put your computer, laptop, papers, printer, pens, and study books on. Next, make sure you obtain a suitable chair. The best chair would be one that can be turned around like an office chair, but a fixed chair will do. No matter what style you choose, make sure it is easy to use for a long time. Again, if you choose carefully, a used chair will be just as good as a new one. Most courses of study will require a PC or laptop. Most courses will be fine with one in the middle to low range. It's best to use an office suite like MS Office, but cheaper, simpler packages are fine too (and Microsoft itself offers a MS Office in Student-Teacher version, at one third of the cost of the commercial price). Comfort is much more important than power when it comes to your PC or laptop. The most important things are a comfortable keyboard for long periods of typing and a screen that is easy on the eyes for long periods of work. Even if you email your documents to your teacher, you still need a printer, even if it's just a simple one that doesn't cost much. It's a good idea to print out your assignments (outlines, draughts, and final copies) and read them to check for mistakes and see them as your teacher will (most tutors will print off your work and then read and assess it). It's important to have light. A well-lit room is important, and a lamp on a desk can help bring attention to the work area.
It helps to have supplies and other things close by. Having a set of drawers in your desk, a cabinet, or wall shelves that are just for books, paper, pens, pencils, cartridges, etc. will help you stay organised, keep your study area clean, and always have the supplies you need on hand.
Choose a layout that works for you, but make sure that when you sit down to study, you won't be distracted by what's going on in a doorway, window, or other part of the room.
Most people would do well to keep things clean. But some people can't work in a neat way, but they are fine working in what other people would call chaos. If that's how you naturally work, that's fine. But even if that's the case, try to be as neat and organised as you can. This will help you stay on track with your study schedule.
You should use your personal study area whenever you have a planned or scheduled study activity that requires you to read and think about what you are reading, do research on the internet, talk to your tutor by email, phone, or letter, or write answers to exercises, tests, or assignments. Don't do anything else with it. It's not a good place to eat a snack, watch TV, plan your next vacation, paint your nails, or talk with other family members. If you want to do any of these things, leave your study area and do them somewhere else.
If you live with family or friends or they work near your study area, talk to them and make a deal that they won't bother you when you go there to study. Make this a permanent rule that can't be broken except in an emergency. You can help by planning your study times for times when other people are less likely to bother you and by making sure you have time to spend with family and friends when you're not studying. If you like to study while listening to music or the radio, that's fine, but make sure it's not really getting in the way. The moving pictures on TV are too much of a distraction to be a good idea. If your study area has to be near a busy place where people are always doing things, try to schedule your study time when the area is the least busy. If you don't have to talk to coworkers from work, turn off your cell phone. If work colleagues need to reach you at home, try to talk to them first so they don't call when you're trying to study.
Some students can't have a dedicated place to study at home, or at least not one that stays there. There are places outside that can't be changed, but could be used often enough to feel like home. For instance, Internet cafes have most of the furniture and equipment you need. You can add to these with carefully chosen study aids, like books about your coursework. Most Internet cafes do charge an hourly fee, which is usually a fair price, but most will give regular users a discount. Libraries usually have a lot of desk space, a quiet, study-friendly atmosphere, and, of course, reference and subject textbooks that can be ordered and checked out for a short time if they are not always on hand. Many libraries have computers and internet access now. Except for a small fee to use the internet, libraries are almost free to use. Your Workplace, where you might be able to study during your lunch break or before or after work. It might also be possible, at least for a short time, to use a meeting room or an empty office. Some of our students who can't study at home and who work in places that are only open 5 days a week make plans to study at their workplaces on the weekends.
When you start to study for a professional development qualification, one of the best things you can do is set up a personal study area. When your study space is set up well and has all the tools you need, it becomes a place you know to go when it's time to study. It becomes a place where you feel comfortable, where you know the layout and the facilities, and where you are sure you can work without being interrupted or distracted and, most importantly, where you can study well. Even if you can't make a space like this in your own home, you should try as hard as you can to make as many of the things listed above happen in another place. Once it's set up, it's easy to keep up and becomes more useful as you get used to it.
