Study Goal is one of those things you wouldn’t even know existed unless you attend a university that uses it.
It’s not like Audible or something, where everyone knows what it is but some people choose to use it and others don’t. It’s aimed specifically at universities and students.
However, many students don’t use it to its full potential. They will use it to log attendance because they have to, but other than that, it is mostly ignored.
I think this is a mistake, and I’m going to tell you why.
What is Study Goal?
If you haven’t started your course yet this might all be new to you, so let’s bring you up to speed.
Study Goal is an app which brings all of your learning and engagement into one place. It might also be known as JISC Analytics at your Uni but it’s the same thing.
The function everyone uses it for is attendance monitoring.
Every lecture has a unique event code. The lecturer will give out the code at the start of the lecture and everyone will put the code into their app to register their attendance. This way, it’s easy to track who is turning up and who is skipping classes. It’s also difficult for anyone to fake their attendance because the code is only given to people in the room.
I suppose it could be sent from an attendee to a non-attendee in a message, but not many people are going to be able to do that and get away with it. Not more than once or twice anyway. It’s a breach of the Student Code of Conduct for both parties too, so it’s really not worth the risk.
On top of attendance monitoring, it also shows your daily schedule so you won’t forget any lectures, and can be used to monitor your engagement levels and results.
It takes your marks and results from the student records system to give you and your tutors an overview of how you are progressing.
So in short, it gathers, organises and displays data about your learning.
Using the App to Schedule Studies
The other optional features are what I think many students don’t take advantage of.
We are always looking for ways to better use our time
The app also allows you to plan your studies, set goals and targets, and track the progress you have made on each module.
For example, you can use the app to set revision periods, and it will alert you when your time is up. So you might plan a 3 hour study session as follows:
- 1 hour reading course material
- 15 minute break
- 1 hour writing presentation
- 15 minute break
- 30 minutes practicing the presentation
The app will operate as a timer so you can focus on what you are doing without having to remember to clock watch.
You might set yourself a weekly target. You can input when you plan to do it each week, how long for, and why. The app helps you hit these targets and you can mark them off when you have done them.
You can contact your tutor and other support staff through the app too, and give feedback on how you think the course is going.
Statistics
If you use all of Study Goal’s features, you can get a brilliant idea of your engagement levels and your progress, and even compare your stats with other students on the same course. Not individually, that would be mean, but against an average.
So you would be able to see that the average engagement level for your course is and then where you sit on that scale. The system does this by granting activity points for engagement.
It’s possible to view this information over different time scales too, highlighting any dips or spikes in engagement.
This all relies on students using the app properly and honestly, but if you do, it can be illuminating as well as inspire you to get more done.
Each Uni can set the app up in their own way, so students at one University might see options that students at another do not, but I recommend using all the features available to you. If you do, you will have a personal study organisation tool in your pocket that can also give you a rounded overview of your learning progress at a glance.
