Studydrive 101 - In conversation with an expert

Pi Media chatted to Studydrive aficionado Amelia Kirk about how the platform works, her favourite features, and its importance now that we’re all working remotely.

Source: press.studydrive.net

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Tell us a bit about you.

My name is Amelia Kirk, and I’m a 22-year-old 4th year student at UCL studying MSci Biological Sciences, specialising in Biodiversity and Conservation. I’ve been a member of the Studydrive community for about four or five months now.

How did you discover Studydrive?

I first came across Studydrive on Instagram as a Story advert; I’d seen it a couple of times and recognised the UCL Portico used in the promotion image. I decided to check out the website and see if they had resources for courses at UCL, and they did.

Can you give us a brief overview of how it works?

Users can access a variety of notes or other learning resources posted by students on their course at their university and upload their own notes. On the website, you can search for the relevant module either by name or by code, and if you don’t find it, you can just create it. For example, when I first joined Studydrive, there were not many of my modules on the site yet, so I made pages for all of them. There is a community aspect as well; Studydrive has many different groups centred around common topics such as travelling, study tips, internship and job application tips, and many more.

What is your favourite feature?

My favourite feature is probably the ability to comment on documents that have been uploaded. This has been useful in correcting mistakes in my own documents and allowing people to ask particular questions about a certain piece of work.

How do you upload your own documents?

I’ve uploaded nearly 40 documents to Studydrive; mainly lecture notes, but also module summaries, practical summaries, and “cheat sheets”. Uploading a document is really easy! You just click the blue ‘+’ button and ‘Create document’, then select which module the document is relevant to, upload your file, give it a title and a brief description, and tag it with other information such as: Who was the lecturer? Which term in which year was this from? What type of document is it (lecture notes, exam, assignment, summary, or other)? This helps people quickly assess what’s in your document and whether it’s going to be useful to them.

Source: studydrive.net

 How does the rewards system work?

There are three tiers to the Studydrive reward system: Basic, Gold, and Gold+. At the Basic tier, you earn 10 pence per download, and an extra £2 whenever a document reaches 15 downloads. At the Gold tier, you receive 20 pence per download, and a £5 bonus every time you complete a Gold level. At the Gold+ tier, you also earn 20 pence per download, but you receive a £10 bonus each time you complete a Gold level. To progress from Basic, to Gold, to Gold+, you must complete several tasks, such as uploading two documents, sharing Studydrive with your network, and making 10 posts. The more you put in, the more you get out of it. It’s not difficult to reach the Gold or even Gold+ tier if you remember to put some time aside to complete your tasks. 

Which groups are you part of? Which would you recommend?

I am part of six groups on Studydrive at the moment: ‘Internship, Working Student, and Part Time’, ‘Application and Job Interview’, ‘Travel Tips’, ‘Study Tips’, ‘University College London (UCL)’, and ‘Course Expert Team UK’. I highly recommend joining multiple groups; you can ask questions and comment on other people’s questions and on documents. The more you engage, the better.

Do you think Studydrive is particularly useful now that we are all working remotely?

Yes, definitely. For me, it’s a great way to earn a bit of money because during my time at UCL I’ve created loads of resources for revision which I don’t use anymore and might be of use to other people. I know first year students in particular may be struggling with their modules; I remember how difficult I found modules like Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in my first year, and so it’s particularly helpful for students who feel like they need something extra to supplement the materials they already get from their modules. Working remotely often makes it difficult to access help when you need it. In any other year, I would ask my friends in the transition mentor scheme to share my notes and resources with their groups or let them know where to find me on campus if they needed help with anything. Now, all my resources are in one place for students of all years to access. 

Have you ever used any similar platforms? If so, why does Studydrive stand out?

I have used one other platform to upload some documents, but it doesn’t offer the same rewards as Studydrive and doesn’t have nearly as much of an active community. The community on Studydrive is much more active, and staff often reach out to let you know about upcoming opportunities such as the Student Ambassador scheme which I’ll hopefully be working on.

Would you recommend Studydrive to other UCL students?

Yes, 100 per cent. I think it’s great both for students looking to find resources, and for students that have made lots of resources but don’t know how to share them.

Check out Studydrive here.