Online Distance Learning News and Advice

It can be hard to study when your partner is about. Husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, they often fail to understand why their other half is so engrossed in their learning - particularly when they are studying during their precious spare time. Here are a few distractions you may want to keep up your sleeve for when your partner is feeling distracted.

Virtual bubble popping

This might not sound like the most engrossing online toy but try it. Virtual bubble popping is compulsive. If he or she is distracting you when you should be finishing that homework then sit them at the PC, open this game in front of them and before they can say ‘this can’t be that good’, three hours will have passed.

DIY

List off the shelves that need fitting, the lawn that needs mowing and the kitchen that needs cleaning. Before you know it, they will have melted away to the pub. The great thing about home learning is that you always have an excuse not to begin those chores yourself!

His ‘n’ hers home learning

With so many adults returning to learning each year, perhaps your partner is distracting you because they secretly wish they could take a course and transform their career. Why not give them the course list to browse while you finish your work? Having someone working alongside you can really improve your motivation.

Football and shopping

Not to make too many generalisations, but there are always things that one person wants to do which their partner may not share a passion for. Why not arrange to study when your boyfriend is playing football or watching a match with his mates? Why not vanish off to the other room and finish your coursework when your missus has her friends round or wants to go and browse the high street? There are always things your partner will want to do without you and if you plan your time accordingly, your other half will never feel neglected.

Motivate them

Since our ancestors first crawled out of the sea, we have been an ambitious species. The chances are that your partner has plans they need encouragement to complete. Perhaps they have recently joined a gym, started attending a book group or decided to volunteer with a local charity. Whatever their project, a few words of encouragement can really help boost their confidence and they will soon recognise the support and motivate you to spend time studying.

It is damaging to assume that people can only be educated during their first twenty years of life, an interesting article in the Financial Times has claimed.

Michael Schrage, a visiting fellow at Imperial College London, acknowledged that it can be easier to teach youngsters than grown-ups, after all, children are “fantastic little learning machines”.

However, he reflected that the web has allowed adults to grab learning opportunities they did not previously have access to and to develop their careers and their understanding with online courses and through web-based information.

It is certainly true that the internet has made a fantastic difference to adult education. Not only has it broadened the horizons of many people, it has also helped lower the price of returning to learning.

Previously, in order to study, an adult had to take an expensive residential or correspondence course - or to leave their work and go to college. Part-time studying was one of the few educational options which allowed people to support their families while they learned - and then only just.

Thanks to the internet, there is a vast amount of information available, as well as accessible support. Education remains beneficial but is now flexible and affordable too.

Many of those families with teenage children will be watching their loved ones prepare for their GCSE or A-level exams over the next few months.

It can be a trying time for candidates - the pressure builds up until it seems that nothing else matters and youngsters can become moody and withdrawn.

The summer months can be tough on parents as well, keen for their children to fulfil their potential but worried about the time they spend locked in their rooms or cramming throughout the night.

Of course, some teenagers inevitably treat study leave as an extended holiday and fail to revise at all, a situation which can also leave parents fraught with worry.

Some people simply lacked focus during their teenage years and now regret failing to achieve the exam results they know they could have secured.

However, there are still opportunities for adults to return to learning and take A-levels without going back to the classroom or even having to cut back on paid work.

Open Study College offers A-levels in many of the core subjects and provide support and assistance throughout the courses.

One of the benefits of returning to learning is that the subjects studied can help people in their everyday lives as well as within their careers or their ongoing academic ambitions.

In fact, using the skills gained from studies in everyday situations can help illustrate the value of their ongoing education and show a person how far and fast they have progressed.

Of course, it is obvious that someone studying beauty therapy, hairdressing or nail art will be popular among their female friends but many other courses offer the chance to develop talents their friends and family will admire and enlist.

For example, for those involved in charities or clubs, skills in areas such as bookkeeping, IT and web design can be really useful. Members or volunteers who are able to help out in these ways mean their organisations do not have to hire outside professionals, which saves money and ensures someone who really cares about the cause is doing the work.

Even in family life, there are many potential benefits resulting from adult learning. Someone who has developed their language skills may get more out of a holiday or adults who study nutrition in their spare time may discover their family’s diet improves dramatically.

Whatever the reason an adult returns to learning, the positive effects can be seen in every aspect of their life.

The DirectGov pages have a considerable amount of advice geared towards adults considering returning to learning, covering everything from choosing the right course, considering online study, and bursaries and educational loans which can help people commit to their classes.

However, it also has a lot of advice aimed solely at those considering taking an IT course – probably because these qualifications are so popular at the moment. Computing has become so central to the world of work that thousands of people each year choose to brush up on their skills.

Some of these are workers who left school before computing was widely taught, meaning they now feel at a disadvantage in the workplace. Others are people who have a good working knowledge of PCs but want to improve their abilities, perhaps to land a job working specifically in IT.

The DirectGov study advice notes that brushing up on computing skills can even help people manage their day-to-day tasks more easily, allowing them to shop and bank online. Furthermore, it adds that Britons who hope to return to learning other subjects can benefit from improving their IT skills first as the web can give them access to a whole load of free information and research which can help them with their studies.

Returning to learning as an adult takes a certain amount of grit. It can initially seem hard to commit to studying, particularly for those who did not enjoy school. However, it is never is difficult as it may at first seem and the resulting rewards can be huge, including an increase in confidence, improved job prospects and the chance to pursue a dream career. To successfully complete a course, a person needs the three Ds - discipline, determination and drive.

Determination

Many people are determined to succeed in their studies in order to achieve better for themselves and their families. Whether it’s to secure a better job and salary in order to afford the best for your children, or simply to brush up on maths and literacy skills to help them with their own homework, family can be a hugely motivational factor when it comes to adult study.

Drive

However determined a person is, maintaining that motivation can be hard. That is why tutor support throughout the course is vital, especially when learning at home. Open Study College helps maintain enthusiasm with friendly online teaching assistance, meaning that students are never left baffled by their courses.

Discipline

No matter how interesting a course is, it can be hard to make the time to study at home. Furthermore, it can be difficult for people who have not been in education for a long time to settle down to studying again. Fortunately, we offer accessible textbooks to make concentrating enjoyable and the Open Study College guarantee. This means that if a student – for whatever reason – is unable to complete the course successfully, they can take it again free of charge.

Many of our students take advantage of our internet facilities. We offer web-based tutor support, internet enrolment and - for our keenest PC users - all our courses are available completely online.

Now, to offer those signing up through our website extra protection, we are Hacker Safe stamped. Each day our pages are tested to ensure they are safe and secure – meaning there are no spying or malicious programs lingering on any part of our site and our students can confidently enter their details.

The security checks are run by anti-virus giant McAfee, which protects more than 250,000 other websites.

As far as we know, we are the only home study provider which offers this level of online security. We only want our students to worry about gaining the most from their courses and not about whether their sensitive information has been compromised.

Computer resource Get Safe Online suggests people only enter their details through sites they trust and which carry badges to show they are safe. Here at Open Study College, we wholeheartedly agree with this advice and are pleased we can now set our students’ minds at ease.

When someone refers to their work/life balance, it usually means they want to protect their free time from the demands of the workplace, perhaps to spend more time with their family. However, for people seeking to study or run a business from home, the balance can shift. People can find they are struggling to find time and space in which to quietly get on with their tasks.

This makes it vital for such people to create a space in which they can feel they are at work or in the classroom. A spot they associate with clearing their heads of the demands of their home and in which they can concentrate. However, very few people have a spare room they can fill with a desk, a pot plant and an inspirational poster, so here are some tips for creating a good study space in the most crowded of homes.

Clear the space of distractions
Where possible, clear your work space completely. If you do not have a desk or spare table then make an effort to clear the kitchen table of the usual household clutter - at least while you study. You will soon associate the tidied table with learning, which can help with concentration.

Avoid noise
This can be easier said than done! It is easy to turn off the TV but having a couple of children playing with Lego under your feet will also stop you from concentrating. If you have kids then try to set aside study time when they are at school – or if they are younger, ask your friend or partner to take them out of your hair for a while. It will be worth it in the long run.

Be organised
If you are clearing the kitchen table to work, it can be too easy to tidy away college papers afterwards and then lose them. Put everything to do with a course in one place and keep notes in folders.

Be inspired
Keep something in your workspace which reminds you what you are working towards – perhaps a picture of your family or for would-be entrepreneurs a sign that says ‘The Boss’. Studying can be hard and self-discipline is easier to come by if your motivations are clear.

Women are often unable to devote extra hours to their jobs once they become mothers, a report has revealed.

A study recently conducted by the TUC found that women without children are more likely to work additional unpaid hours.

Commenting on the results, general secretary of the congress Brendan Barber said: “Women who want to get on at work need to put in longer hours than anyone else but as soon as they have children they no longer have that option.”

It may be unfair that Britons feel they must work for free in order to further their careers but it seems even more wrong that mothers struggle to compete in such an employment environment.

Fortunately, there are options for mums who want to return to work and progress their careers despite having taken a few important years out to raise their children.

Studying at home can allow such women to add qualities to their CV and present themselves as attractive candidates for promotion even if their peers have additional experience.

When a young family begins nursery or school, it can be the perfect time for a parent to undertake flexible studies. Gaining qualifications can help someone walk confidently back into their career and embrace every opportunity available to them.

Tutors can provide their students with useful careers advice and guidance which can be enormously valuable once they have finished gaining their qualification.

In fact, having access to such expertise is another benefit of formal study and, for adults returning to learning, teaching staff can be an invaluable source of advice, support and motivation.

One area in which tutors can provide invaluable support is by recommending useful work experience and voluntary placements which can help them gain employment once they have graduated. Their knowledge of their industries can be a vital aid to those hoping to find work within difficult fields.

Shadowing and work experience placements can be of particular use within competitive sectors such as journalism and fashion design, where employers often seek experience as well as qualifications.