Online/Distance Learning

[Clactonian]

Looking forward to progress reports Donald.

[Cantab]

Donald, you've started an interesting thread. Upon semi-retirement I started an external degree programme through the University of London, after several decades away from the world of academe. Although it's been modified since I started, the course had no tutor support: study guide (with recommended reading lists) for the individual courses and a three hour exam at the end. So I'm glad to see that some level of tutor support is available for at least some external university work. It'll be interesting to hear how your experience works out.

[Max von MeiselMaus]

Donald, that sounds like an excellent plan. Good luck in your adventure (and share the reading list, if it looks any good. ).

[Mike Buckley]

Looking forward to progress reports Donald.

Absolutely!

[JohnRostron]

Like Max and Mike, I have had some experience in online courses from both ends. A few years before I retired I took an online module in 'Applications of Learning Technology' which was largely on the design and implementation of online learning modules. My department was then planning an online modular course and I was the leader of one module and involved in the planning and validation of several other level one modules. I was then able to continue as an online tutor for a few years after retirement.

I am pretty confident that the hoops we had to leap through to get these modules approved were very thorough, and I am sure that the same would apply to any recently validated (or re-validated) course offered by universities in the UK. I would not know about courses offered by purely commercial companies.

I see that, Donald, that you have decided on a degree course. I do wonder whether aiming for a degree is the right thing to do. I take it that you will be wanting to improve your competence, rather than wanting to use a degree to gain further employment. The advantage of modular courses is that you are not committed to going the full way. As others have said, I await hearing about your experiences.

John

[Donald]

Thank you to those who have added to the discussion.

In relation to John's point:-

I see that, Donald, that you have decided on a degree course. I do wonder whether aiming for a degree is the right thing to do. I take it that you will be wanting to improve your competence, rather than wanting to use a degree to gain further employment. The advantage of modular courses is that you are not committed to going the full way.

This course is built up from modules, each carrying a number of credits and for which you pay separately. So I can go just so far as I wish should the idea of pursuing a degree fade.

For me the purpose of this is learning. As, again, John said, I'm not doing this in order to make myself more attractive in the employment market. Learning is the end in itself. The modules are entitled things such as, 'Understanding Western Art'; 'Understanding Visual Culture'. Whether these make me a better photographer is yet to be seen. What I most certainly want them to do is enable me to increase my powers of assessment and analysis; to better think about and understand what I am doing and why; to be better informed; and to be stretched out of my comfort zones and challenged with new concepts and theories.

[Mike Buckley]

to be better informed

Any time we become better informed -- and there is nobody on the planet that can't become better informed until the day we die -- at the very least we enjoy photography (or whatever the topic happens to be) more because we take on a new appreciation of the context. One of my pet peeves is that so very few people capturing images and post-processing them take the time to learn the look of various photography methods dating back to the beginning of photography. On the opposite end of that scale, there are photographers producing images using every single one of the major methods today and there seems to be more and more interest in digitally producing images that look as if they had been made using one of the older methods.

[Manfred M]

there is nobody on the planet that can't become better informed until the day we die

+++1 to Mike's comment!

[chauncey]

+++1 to Mike's comment!

+++2...add me to that. Stagnation is the bane of too many lives.

[shreds]

What an interesting thread.

Firstly congratulations, Donald on taking up the reins and moving forward. Whilst you have clearly had huge challenges in recent years, the opportunity not to stagnate is a good one.

I was a senior lecturer at a UK University up until a couple of years ago, as well as offering training via commercial photographic companies on a part time basis, and doing a spot of lecturing in a private college, I take a keen interest in such matters.

My own professional qualification was gained by what they used to call 'correspondence course', so I have been on both sides of the coin so to speak as well as being a former student at the university that I taught at, back in the day.

I decided ultimately however, that too many of the staff were only there for their pensions, and it was noticeable that having lived most of my life in the commercial world, some of the teaching and attitudes were certainly out of touch. By using OCA you will hopefully avoid a lot of that, but do take the opportunities of any weekends or gatherings to mix with the other students. You may not be the oldest!

Conversely one thing I noticed in teaching undergraduates and post graduates, was the limited life skills and experience they often had, but which I took for granted. Clearly you pick up a lot along the way, and it was only when my own 21 year old son pointed out that my general knowledge and technical knowledge on matters far exceeded his, did I realise that my critical analysis skills and comprehension had developed so far from my own undergraduate days.

Some lecturers could be put in the category of never having gained much in the way of skills outside academia, which i think is very sad, although there were many who had so much knowledge, I could discuss topics with them all day.

So go forth Donald, I have absolutely no doubt from what I have seen here over the years, that you will be able to contribute a great deal to the course and in so doing, gain your degree. (Tell Sean we need an academic smiley head in the emoji icons!)