Distance Learning

Distance Learning - the easy way to learn!

Although we may be a few miles apart  this does not mean we still cannot teach you individually and at a pace that fits in with your commitments.

We have taken a lot of care and put a lot of thought into how we teach our students as well as regularly reviewing our teaching style to make our teaching methods just as good for our students as if they were attending the College personally.

The pace of the course is up to you. Some students manage just a few hours a week, whilst others are studying almost full time and we send and receive work several times a day - running the course almost on a "chat room" basis.

Our main aim is to ensure you pass the exams you have booked to gain with the course you are studying.

We limit the number of students studying with us at any one time to ensure we can look after our current students and ensure our service is maintained to a good standard.

What do our Students say about us?  Read statements from current students or those who recently finished their course.

Receiving Lessons

You will receive your lessons via email.

Each exam you are working towards is broken down into several mini lessons to help you work through each topic in bite size pieces.

With each lesson you will receive details of what you need to do, Fact Sheets providing information on the new learning you are covering in that lesson and some exercises to develop your skills involving the new topic being learnt.

You can save the Fact Sheets on your computer as well as print them out to provide a comprehensive manual of your theory for future use. This is especially popular for students studying our computer courses and medical courses.

Completing the Exercises

When you wish to complete your lesson or lessons at a time to suit yourself, you will need to read through the lesson plan first and then read through the Fact Sheets provided (or print them off so you can refer to them).

You will then complete the exercises also sent to you.

When you are happy with your work and you have finished it, you can send your completed exercises back to your personal tutor for marking and feedback.

We send you several lessons at one time, so you will always have something to do and not have to wait to hear back from your tutor before you can move on.

If you have a problem in completing the exercises, you can always email your tutor and explain, or telephone the college within normal office hours.

Marking and Feedback

When we receive your completed exercises, your personal tutor will mark this and provide relevant feedback via email.

We like to get back to our students usually the same day we receive their work, or by the end of the next working day. It is unusual for us to take longer to provide feedback and may be due to illness or heavy workload.

Preparing for Assessments and Exams

As part of your course, once you have completed the theory lessons, you will either start on your assessment portfolio, or complete some mock exams, depending on the Diploma/Exam you are working towards.

Students gradually build up their qualification portfolio right through the course, and for most students you should be gaining a new qualification nearly every 4-6 weeks.

Each Diploma is made up of several individual qualificaitons, which are allocated a certain number of credits.

Once you have gained the number of credits required for a Diploma - usually 37, you will be awarded the full Diploma.

Sitting Exams

At present over 90 OCR test centres throughout the country have provided exam sessions for our students. 

Nearer the time when you are ready to sit your exams (only applies to Text Processing exams and AMSPAR exams), we shall provide you with details of 1-3 different test centres which are within an hour's travelling of where you live or work.

You will then be able to contact the centres directly, to find out what their current charges are, if and when exam sessions are available and the procedure to register with them.  You can also ask your own questions and get to know each centre a little bit before deciding on which centre you would prefer to use.

The OCR Text Processing exams are available most months of the year, but times will vary from centre to centre. Some centres also provide evening and Saturday exam sessions which may be beneficial to some students who are working full time.

Career and Job Seeking Support

As part of your course, extensive careers counselling and development of job seeking skills can be provided.

Penny Lewis, has been providing careers advice and support for 25 years and used to run her own Emloyment Agency for several years.

Career ideas and suggestions can be talked through as well as helping to develop and design a professional CV.

Preparation of answers to interview questions typically asked at an interview - enabling students to prepare a script to ensure they present well at the interview stage.

On-going support is also provided - to help students decide on job applications, accepting job offers etc.

Careers and job seeking support can be built in to any course, from early on so students can start applying for jobs when even only part way through a course.