Making the most of your learning experience

Key to making the most of your time at university is being an active learner, which means taking opportunities to participate in and engage as much as possible with your course and other learning experiences at Surrey.
Be an active learner
Being active relates to how you approach your studies, as the guides to planning and organising your time and active note-making strategies show.
There are multiple ways in which you can actively engage with your studies. While you can be active through communicating in class, you can also be active by thinking about and reflecting on course content and taking part in course activities.
University is a place where you can decide how you develop not only your knowledge of the subject and your academic skills, but where you can also choose to develop your social, personal and professional skills.
Being an active learner will be easier by recognising that at Surrey you will be part of a ‘learning community’.
Top tips
Take part in class discussions
Contribute to team projects
Form informal study groups
Join university clubs/societies
Be active in your learning community
Being part of a learning community will mean working with others on your course and connecting with others across the wider university.
Possible opportunities for you to actively connect with the wider Surrey learning community include:
- Online or on-campus learning activities
- Peer learning and supporting other students
- Course/university roles, for example, your course rep
- Your personal tutor
- Module tutors and faculty staff
- Clubs/societies/volunteering
- Professional support staff and services.
Consider how you will become an active learner
- What: communicating, networking, team working and digital engagement.
- How: become an active learner and participate in your learning community.
- Develop: confidence, resilience, resourcefulness and your university identity and sense of belonging.
Focus areas
Explore how to actively engage with your learning community and why it’s beneficial to develop these skills.
Key takeaways
Using the suggestions in this guide:
- Consider how you aim to actively engage and participate within your learning community, in whichever ways you are comfortable, to make the most of your university experience
- Reflect upon and revisit all the other guides in this series, to see how the information there can help you think about how you can make the most out of your time at Surrey.
If you have read all six guides and contemplated all the suggestions therein, you have already taken some significant steps in what will become for you a unique, valuable and transformative learning journey.
Remember, the more actively you engage with your studies, the more personally rewarding your experience will be!
Read next
Visit Academic Skills and Development to see the support for your learning available to you once you start at Surrey.
Get yourself prepared by reading through resources for your chosen subject.