Courses That Fit Around Your Life

By Nick Jackson

We all know that taking our study further can brighten our lives and boost our careers, but things are not always that easy. While fresh-faced undergrads swarm off to new lives each year, many of us have enough to contend with already. Distance learning offers you the chance to study and keep your life.

There are plenty of options out there. Hotcourses.com , the comprehensive online course directory and a forum for students to review their courses, claims to list virtually every course in the UK. A quarter of the courses listed are for distance learning: 300,000 distance-learning courses across the country offered by 5,000 different providers.

Distance learning comes in different forms. Some are correspondence courses, which require strong self-motivation, others are online, with discussion boards giving students a chance to interact with each other and tutors. Many are blended, a combination of distance learning and face-to-face time with tutors.

"In the reviews and feedback on the website, students say that distance learning fits in with their life," says Steven Wines, business development director at Hotcourses. "And it gets over the phobia a lot of adult learners have about formal education."

The biggest provider of higher education distance learning is The Open University (www.open.ac.uk). It offers courses from pre-degree diplomas, through undergraduate degrees, to PhDs for everyone from teenagers to 90-year-olds.

It is not just older people who are foregoing campus life. Now a quarter of all students taking undergraduate degrees with the OU are under 25, taking advantage of low fees, free if you are on a low income or benefits, and few extra living costs.

The OU offers blended distance learning, with teaching material matched with face- to-face contact with tutors. It is easy to apply, offers are unconditional and nearly half of its students, say the university, have two or fewer A levels.

That does not mean it’s an easy option, though. "Students are not in a classroom with a teacher cracking the whip, so they need to be well motivated," says Emma Greenstein, student services manager at the OU.

The OU is the undisputed leader of distance learning, but the growth of the internet and the opportunity to attract international students has turned other universities on to the possibilities of distance learning.

The University of East London offers degrees through International Correspondence Schools (ICS) in law, psychology, business, health and social care, and education (www.icslearn. co.uk). Liverpool University now has four Masters programmes online, in IT, information systems management, public health, and an MBA, with plans to develop another 10 or so courses over the next few years.

The university insists that the courses match standards on campus. "It’s a very high priority that these courses are the same standard as those taught on campus," says Paul Leng, professor of e- learning at Liverpool. "There are risks to the university’s reputation if anyone can point to these courses and say they are substandard." While Liverpool has joined up with Laureate Online Education to deliver the courses, all academic decisions are made by the university.

Unlike the OU, the courses are wholly online, but they include contact with tutors and fellow students through discussion boards. And while flexible, you don’t get a chance to slack off. On the MBA students are expected to spend 20 to 25 hours a week studying. "It’s demanding and involving," says Professor Leng.

Another approach to distance learning is through Learndirect (www.learn direct.co.uk), which offers advice and courses to millions of British students. Most of the courses offered are basic skills or NVQs, but its Learning Through Work programme allows people to take degrees and postgraduate qualifications relevant to their work, while they work, NVQ-style, with study directly related to their working environment.

After 15 years as general manager for City Glass, Kevin Cole wanted to develop his understanding of the business. Cole, 48, enrolled with learndirect and Wakefield College to do a Learning Through Work foundation degree in glass manufacturing and logistics, tailored to his needs.

With a job and three children going back into full-time education wasn’t an option. "I had been on numerous courses in the past but couldn’t commit to be in a certain place at a certain time every week," says Cole. "But Learndirect allowed me to choose when and where to study."

The course has paid off. "The new skills I’ve acquired have proved invaluable," says Cole. "Since enrolling on the course I’ve become a company director, exactly the challenge I’d been looking for."

For more information on Liverpool’s online courses go to www.liv.ac.uk/study/ lifelong_learning/ distance_learning.htm

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