Go The Distance And Save
Sun Herald
Sunday January 23, 2000
UNIVERSITY life costs bucks these days.
Higher Education Contribution Scheme repayments, expensive textbooks and the desire to live away from parents push the modern day student to find a part-time job.
Other students must juggle family responsibilities with the commitments of study.
Macquarie University Centre for Open Education head Alan Tilley said a program of distance education was an effective way to make these common situations less stressful.
Education by correspondence gave students the flexibility to study when they chose rather than to a rigid campus timetable.
Changes in the world of work have also made this way of studying more attractive.
Mr Tilley said: ``It is not like the old days where you did a bachelor degree and that was the end of tertiary education for the rest of your working life.
``Now we are forced to consider changes of careersand therefore must gain new qualifications or update our knowledge."
The type of students undertaking correspondence courses has changed too.
In the past it was often mature age students that had missed out on education, who wanted flexible education.
``Today it is very different," Mr Tilley said.
``There are all kinds of people studying by correspondence. For example, many younger people wish to combine study with work. That never used to be the case.
``There also seems to be an increased awareness of distance education as an option that gives students the same quality of education with more flexibility within a very convenient format." Macquarie University, the third-oldest provider of distance education in Australia, has a comprehensive correspondence education program.
Students are able to gain an undergraduate degree by distance education in the areas of arts, science, education and early childhood. There are also some postgraduate options.
Mr Tilley said: ``The university is unique in allowing students to mix and match modes of attendance. Students can combine their study timetable with day, evening and distance components to suit them.
``Science students, for example, take the lecture component by distance but attend the practical or laboratory classes on campus."
Methods of study can vary for distance education students. Distance learning through study guides and audio cassettes is now supplemented by the use of videos and work kits. Some course units at Macquarie offer online components which give students e-mail access to staff.
© 2000 Sun Herald