ADHD resources

• Know when STAR opens and plan your timetable and other commitments early.
• Readings may be available before the start of trimester.
• Your Cloud unit sites open in OWeek – log in and check resources and make careful note of all your assessment due dates. Think about how you will keep track of due dates – diary, phone or use one of our study workload planners.
• If using an e-calendar to keep track of studies, adding what week of the trimester it is can be useful to help orientate you to where you are up to in the trimester and how many weeks of study are left.

• Think about when you are most productive – some people like to get up early; others prefer to work late at night.
• Think about where you are most productive – at home? In the library? In a cafe? Do you work best with ambient noise or completely distraction-free?
• Try the Pomodoro Method – work for 25 minutes, then have a short, 5-minute break. Repeat. Build up to 4 Pomodoro cycles, which gives you 100 minutes of solid work time around regular short breaks.
• Check out the study support guides for a range of ideas and advice.
• Remember – you are expected to spend approx. 10 hours / week / unit on average, so 4 units will equate to a full-time job! Some weeks may be less, some more – and you may need to build in some contingency hours if you have some days that are not as productive as hoped.
• Our study workload planner is a visual tool to ‘see’ time, which may help with ‘time blindness’.
• Consider using timer apps to aid focus and limit distraction. A range of ideas are listed on ADCET (Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training) resource. Mac users can also use the studybreak time tracker for free. Chrome also has extensions called Focus To-Do. and RoFocus, which has environmental sounds to help keep you in a study zone. One sec app forces a pause when opening social media apps.
• Create a launchpad at home: this is where you can keep your laptop, keys, wallet, phone – everything you need is in one place and ready to go.
• If you need ambient noise, try white, brown, or pink noise, or something more soothing like the sound of the sea or nature – the choices are endless!
• Have you tried 'body doubling' before? This is where you try to mirror what people are doing around you. Body doubling in quiet spaces where other students are studying, such as the library, can be a helpful focus tool for some people. Read the ABC Everyday article on body doubling for more information. Focusmate is an online community where people can be paired with a body double. Explore more if you are interested!
• If you are feeling particularly restless or can’t focus, try some form of exercise, like walking around the block, going for a quick run or putting on a song and dance like no-one's watching.
• Consider a study load that works for you. Speak to a student adviser about all enrolment issues.

• The library has a great guide on active reading which has a range of tips on effective reading, note taking and referencing.
• Consider listening to your readings or any text documents – the library’s converting text to audio page has some ways to do this.
• Natural Reader – free for Deakin students.
• Read and Write – free for Deakin students. Watch the text help introductory video (3:27 CC available) to learn more about core functions.
• Speechify is another useful text-to-speech tool.
• Try TextAloud
• Both PC's and Macs also have inbuilt text to speech capabilities. Check the accessibility features.
• Immersive Reader is an inbuilt Microsoft tool, which can work in Word, on your Mac, or with your iPad. It can also work in OneNote (you can try Immersive Reader with your own reading material on this page). If you would like a more detailed understanding of immersive reader, watch an online seminar (58.28 minutes CC and transcript available. Starting around the 9 minutes mark may be helpful!)
• Do you need to reduce visual distraction when reading? Tools such as Screen Mask or ReaderMode might be helpful. Read and Write has screen masking and ruler functions to help isolate text and limit visual distractions.
• Sometimes it can be simple things that help – like adding, changing, or deleting the background colour in Word.
• Do you work better with hardcopy? Most printing is free (up to $100 per month) on campus for Deakin students. Some key readings in hard copy can be helpful.
• Highlight – do you know how to highlight in a PDF (Portable Document Format)? Highlight on your iPad? Read and Write also has highlighting.
• Be strategic with your reading. Some weeks you may not have time to read everything, but it is unlikely you will be able to achieve your best marks in written assessment tasks without referencing key readings.
• Student Success Learning Advisors can help with effective reading techniques.
• Explore our assistive technology resources for more ideas.

It can be challenging being able to follow information for the duration of class – but it is essential that you consider how you might best be able to engage.

• If your classes/seminars are recorded – you can rewatch and stop/start. This does take time, so make sure to add at least an extra 30 mins to each hour you set aside to review online content.
• Some students find it easier to follow information when they can read and listen at the same time. See the DRC assitive tech page for information on how to activate captions and transcripts in Panopto, Zoom and Teams.
• If you are a Chrome user, you can access captions for most videos. Turn on live caption in Chrome.
• Auto captioning relies on automatic voice recognition and has varying levels of accuracy. It is important to carefully check information.
• Speak to your DLO about Genio, an easy-to-use notetaking software program that helps you take notes in seminars and classes. Genio enables students to have a visual and audio record of information presented in class and to be able to quickly ‘tag’ key information. Students can import slides, record sessions, and then generate an auto transcript of the recording (this is not 100% accurate but can be helpful). Try the free trial and speak to your DLO if you think Genio would be helpful for you. We have a limited number of Genio licences available for loan.
• Read and Write has a referencing/bibliography tool that you may find helpful.

Planning is necessary in meeting deadlines, organising your time, and figuring out how to study.

• Plans need to be specific. For example, instead of planning to do general readings for your unit, highlight some specific reads and put this on your plan (e.g. I will complete reading 1, 2 & 3 by [date]).
• Allocate a time limit for your task and set a reminder.
• At end of your time, if you have not finished all that you set out to complete, set a new plan for the next time you will be able to study so you already have a starting point.
• Example of a study plan may look like:
  • Find 3 journal articles for assessment 1 (30 minutes).
  • Save and file articles.
  • Watch class recording (30 minutes)
  • File notes from recording.
  • Make a list of what I need to do tomorrow when I return to study.
• The Deakin assignment schedule planner may be helpful in breaking tasks down for an assessment.
• Mind mapping tools can provide a visual tool to help sort all your thoughts into an essay plan. Try EdrawMind or Goblin Tools.
• Have you ever considered speech to text programs? Speech to text program might help you get started with assignments by verbalising and/or ‘brain dumping’ ideas. Macs have a very useful inbuilt speech to text program.  Read and Write can also provide speech to text and is free for Deakin students. Learn more at the Text Help academy.
• Another good way to get ideas out of your head and into text is to have a meeting with yourself using Microsoft Teams. Record the meeting and enable the transcript, then you can simply speak your ideas. At the end of the meeting, you will have a transcript you can use and refine later into full sentences. For example, 'opening paragraph to say…..', 'next introduce the key evidence for…..' and 'now summarise my reasoning and conclude with…..' etc.
• Would organising a study group help? Or consider joining something like Focusmate.