Need to upgrade your skills for work but can't find a suitable course nearby? or perhaps you'd like to complete your education but family responsibilities prevent you attending full-time classes. One option to consider is distance education. Offered by a number of Irish and UK colleges and universities, distance learning allows you to study subjects of your choice, from home and at a time that suits you. Courses can be offered through traditional correspondence schools or, increasingly, through audio or video tapes, on CD-ROMs, or via the Internet. The main feature is that you are in charge of your own learning.
"A lot of people don't have the time to be anything but self-learners," says Margaret Purcell, librarian with AONTAS, the National Association of Adult Education. "With distance learning, they can study at any time and in any place that suits them. They also have a choice in the pace at which they study, and in the subjects."
In response to an increasing number of inquiries in recent years, AONTAS has produced a booklet on distance learning and a directory on distance education courses available in Ireland. One of the most important things to find out in advance is whether a reputable body accredits the course, especially if you are taking the course in hope of advancing your career, says Purcell.
All the providers listed in the AONTAS directory are well-known and highly regarded. But other distance courses - for example, some offered through the Internet - may be a waste of time and money.
"People might be paying an enormous amount of money and only getting a piece of paper. The course may not have any standing anywhere," says Purcell. "You need to check it out."
In Ireland, the largest course providers are the Open University and the National Distance Education Centre, based at Dublin City University. Both offer a range of diplomas and degrees in the arts, social sciences, education, law, business, science and information technology.
Other course providers listed in the directory include the public libraries, RTE, business schools and a range of UK-based providers.
Increasingly, distance education, which has long been associated with reams of paper dropping through the letter-box, is going hi-tech. Many courses now require students to have access to a computer and the Internet. "That's going to become an essential part of courses moving forward, even if it's just to get notes and email," says Jane McKeon, who, in addition to being information officer with AONTAS, is doing a degree in Library and Information Studies through the University of Wales in her spare time.
McKeon uses the Internet to stay in contact with her tutor in Wales and with other students doing the course.
She also meets up socially with the 20 or so Irish students who are enrolled in the programme. The contact and support is important, she believes, to counter the isolation that turns many people off distance learning. "A lot of people assume there is no support for distance learning and that turns them off.
But, depending on the course, it is possible to meet people," she says. "Technology isn't required for every course."
