What's your perception of online degrees?

It's not something that I would do personally (too many distractions at home) but I can see why others do it.

That's really interesting, thank you for replying!

I understand where you're coming from and I think this is quite a popular line of thought. In the same way that some people love to work from home, and others prefer an office environment.

We actually did a recent poll with our students and asked where they studied most, and it was a mixture of home, coffee shop, local libraries and even on the commute to work (some of our study materials are in the form of podcasts). I also think the fact that they can study whenever they want, like earlier in the morning or later at night when there are fewer distractions helps!

Do you think there are specific courses more suited to online study?

Alex - LIBF Rep 🙂

I study online at the OU.
Positives:
-I can study in my own time. Aside from the (very few, optional) online tutorials, there are no set classes, no set study times, so it fits well into my day to day life juggling both a family and study.
-There is no commute. So no getting up early to be in class, no struggling to find a parking space, no petrol costs, no stress.
-I am a very independent student, I like to just be left alone to research things and crack on with it, and this suits me perfectly.
Cons
-No real sense of being a part of something. When I was at a brick uni, I felt as though I belonged to something - I was physically going to a place I belonged in, but at home I feel more of a disconnect from the uni as a whole. Even the tutorials (which, as I say are very infrequent and totally optional) feel more like webinars as students don't use cameras and rarely use mics.
-Limited socialisation. We have a WhatsApp group for those of us on the same module, but that's about it. For some people that can be very isolating, but like I said I'm pretty independent.
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So that's my take on the OU. The positives outweigh the negatives.
I'm going to be starting an online Masters in September with the University of Edinburgh. Unlike the OU, this one has more online classes at set times which will involve having cameras and mics on and taking part in more interactively, so we'll see how that goes.

Thank you for post, it's really interesting to see how you feel about online study.
You're right that online study does really suit certain types of students, mainly those who like independent study and being left alone to get on with it. What course will you be doing in Edinburgh?
What do you think would have helped you to feel like you had more of a community feel? At LIBF we have an online community platform for all students, and we engage with them asking questions both course and personal life related to try allow students to get to know each other better. Would this kind of thing have helped you ?
Alex - LIBF Rep 🙂