Atomic.edu: Open learning

Speaking of lectures, there are certain advantages to attending them in person. While universities tend to upload both the lecture slides and a recording of what the lecturer said, having seen them – along with any extra videos or images the lecturer displayed – in one presentation is an advantage. When listening to lecture recordings and viewing the visual aides online, it can sometimes be difficult to figure out which slide the lecturer is talking about. Furthermore, focusing in an actual lecture theatre isn’t too hard. The lights are dimmed, the lecturer is right there and the slides are being beamed onto the wall behind them. You can focus easily on what’s being said and displayed. With a recording, however, it’s very easy to just tune out. Of course, if you’re the sort of person who can listen to audio books for more than two minutes, you shouldn’t have a problem.

Lectures aren’t the biggest issue, though. When you learn by correspondence, generally your tutorials are replaced by discussions on a forum. For those nervous about raising their hand and vocalising their opinions in class – even when ten per cent of one’s mark rides on the ability to do just that – being able to talk in text is advantageous. For others – the author included – debating in person as you would learning on-campus as a student at a traditional university is much more preferable. While being able to post something on the forum at 1am when you’ve finally dealt with your various day-to-day commitments is swell, so is having instantaneous feedback on your ideas and opinions from tutors or fellow students.

Furthermore, for those who’ve not yet attended university, your tutor – rather than the lecturer – serves as your first and probably only point of contact when you have problems or simply want to clarify something you didn’t understand from a reading, lecture or tutorial. While in a traditional, on-campus learning setting the tutor might have fairly limited consultation hours, they generally have an office you can camp out in front of if the matter is urgent. Not all tutors are on top of their email – a pain in the arse for on-campus students, but a major problem for their off-campus counterparts who can’t physically hunt the bastards down.

We made a point earlier about the initial cost of studying at university. Even with the HECS-HELP system, going to university is expensive. The costs aren’t reduced simply because you’d rather study off-campus. If you rate lectures and tutorials over recordings, .pdf documents and forums, you may feel that as an off-campus student, you’re getting less for your significant investment than an on-campus student would. One could argue that you’re making a considerable saving in that you don’t need to pay for transport to get to or from the university campus, but this point is made void and redundant if you’re a full-time worker who pays for fuel or train fares to get to your workplace.

A classic advantage of off-campus learning, though, has always been the ability to learn at your own pace. Granted, you’re still looking at a 13-week semester – piddly if you’re studying a language, programming, politics or something equally heavy – but you’re able to spend as many hours as you please posting on that forum. As an on-campus student, you only have a single, hour-long tutorial and maybe – depending on what it is you’re studying – a seminar that provides a little bit of room for student-teacher interaction. Sometimes, that simply isn’t enough.

Whether you see off-campus learning as being superior to on-campus learning is up to you. To my mind, aside from the convenience factor – which may be the sole factor in your decision, depending on your situation – what one gets from off-campus learning simply isn’t worth giving up the numerous advantages offered by on-campus learning. If learning on-campus is realistic for you, even if it means you need to study part-time – effectively doubling the number of years you’ll be spending with your head in the books, then seriously consider it. Being on-campus is a motivator in itself. And while not everyone goes to university to socialise, having a group of people there with shared interests in and a common goal – both inside and outside the formal environment of a tutorial room – can be enormously beneficial.

In some areas of study – particularly languages, from our experience – having the opportunity to forum a study group is something invaluable that off-campus learning simply can’t replicate.