Has anybody here tried distance learning, It’s a thought which has recently risen and I’ve just been looking at the Open University website, the prices seem quite expensive but still an interesting possibility nonetheless…can anyone share any experiences or recommend any other institutes that offer distance learning.
I’ve done two psychology courses with Athabasca University (Wikipedia has an entry) (Alberta, Canada), and am presently doing a Freelance Journalism course with the London School of Journalism. The Athabaska courses were very well organized, and my tutor was helpful. It’s too early to say yet how the LSJ course will go (I just started it).
When vetting courses look for opportunities for online interaction with fellow students, and live online lectures where you can participate. LSJ offers live lectures in the virtual world Second Life (where they have a virtual campus).
Self-paced distance education courses let me spend as much time as I wanted deepening on the topics, and, in that respect, where better than deadline-driven university courses. You have to enjoy studying on your own, though.