Your Course Will Include
Your course will be made up of a combination of college, tutor and materials. It’s similar to a conventional course; the main differences are that you are in charge of your own timetable, you work from study materials that we’ve created instead of going to lectures, and your contact with your tutor will be by post and telephone, fax or email instead of face-to-face.
There’s still plenty of coursework, any exams you might take are exactly the same as those taken by other students, and you can also join our discussion group so that you can stay in touch with other students – to share experiences, advice or simply network. This is by telephone and email too, so again it’s flexible.
The college
We’re here to make it all work. To sort out any problems and to help you pass. We’re confident we can do that, so if you complete your coursework and take your assessment but don’t pass, then we’ll carry on supporting you until you do.
Plenty of opportunity to change your mind
If you start your course, but in the first four weeks decide that it’s not right for you, then as long as you return your materials to us in a re-useable condition and haven’t used any of your tuition, we’ll give you a full refund. This is part of our conditions of enrollment. Follow the link to see them in full.
Efficient learning
There’s no waste in distance learning, not in money and, most of all, not in time. Distance learning is efficient – all of your fees go towards your course, whether it’s on student support or the study programme itself – and your attendance record is automatically 100 per cent.
Fast service
Most students can start their study within eight working days of sending us their enrolment form. Assignments sent to your tutor should be returned to you within eight working days. And if you need us immediately, then we are just a telephone call, fax or email away.
Discussion group
We run a telephone/email discussion group for many of our courses so that you have an opportunity to contact other students, share ideas, and network. Having other people to compare experiences with is one thing that many students fear missing out on, but the discussion group gets around that, putting you in contact with other students right around the world.
Individual tuition
Your tutor support will last for two years from the date you enrol, which should be more than enough time for your studies. If it looks as if something’s going to stop you studying, however, let us know – in most cases we can extend your tuition period.
Your tutors will treat you as an individual throughout their contact with you. They will work with you to build your understanding, eliminate your weaknesses, and prepare you for assessment. There are two main ways your tutors work with you. You have coursework which your tutor uses to assess your progress, and you can contact your tutor direct to discuss your work when you need to.
Coursework
You’ll have regular self-checking activities in the study material to help you gauge your progress and build confidence; and exam-style coursework for you to send to your tutor. Most courses have between six and eight pieces of coursework.
Your tutors will use your coursework to check your understanding and preparation for assessment. It will be a central part of your studies and, if you wish, we can issue you with a progress report at any point during your studies.
Guide answers
Where appropriate, we prepare guide answers to both the activities and coursework. Activity guide answers are already there in the study material; coursework guide answers are sent to you with your marked work.
They are useful in showing you the sort of answers that you would be expected to produce in an assessment and also in checking your understanding of the subject.
By showing you the main points that your work should have covered, they form a useful part of your study and revision and also free your tutor to concentrate on the particular aspects of your work that require the greatest and most detailed attention, thus guaranteeing you the sort of individual support that you need.
Helpline
Your tutor guides you through your subject. He or she is there to mark your coursework, answer your subject questions, and provide advice, support and encouragement. Whenever you need to, you can contact your tutor with any problems you might have understanding the work and get a one-to-one reply. You can do this by post, telephone or email, whichever method works best for the question that you have.
Study material
The information you need is right there from the start, in an easy-to-use format. The study materials are purpose-written and designed. They’ll take you through your subject just as lectures would, and give you a ready-made reference work that you can use like a textbook, and as the start of your revision.
You never miss out on any part of the course, don’t have to struggle to take notes as a lecturer speaks, and can keep going over the same section of work until you understand it fully.
There are plenty of opportunities to gauge your own progress as you work through the material, and lots of assessment preparation, too.
You don’t need to refer to lots of other books (though background reading will usually improve your marks), and can rely on our materials to give you an effective preparation for your assessment.
There is a sample of what we do on this website.
Study guidance
When you enrol we’ll send you Learning – your guide to studying with us. It provides you with a review of how distance learning works, including how to send in work and use the helpline.
There’s advice on setting up your own timetable, ideas on improving your learning ability, how to answer the different sorts of questions you might get, and preparing for exams – all of the different activities that might be unfamiliar to you.
And if there are any questions it doesn’t answer, you can contact us or your tutor for further support.
All the flexibility that you need
You can start whenever you want to; you don’t have to wait for a particular term date. If, say, your employer’s support is late in coming through, or if your promotion happens unexpectedly, you can sign up for a course the next day instead of waiting until next year.
You start off with two years of tutor support, you then decide how you want to study during that period – when, how quickly and so on. There are no strict deadlines or timetables on your study, and if you need to extend your study period, then we can usually do that.
There’s no compulsory travel except to your exam centre (if that’s the form of assessment you need to do), and no college campus to commute to once or twice a week after work – your learning comes to you.
You can relocate when, where and how often you need to – we have had students posted to research ships in the Antarctic Circle and students whose organisation has moved them around the UK several times during their studies.
And if something happens (a job or family commitment, for example) during your studies that makes you want to put things to one side for a while, then let us know and we’ll work with you to decide the best way forward.
