What is distance learning?
When you study a college or university course from home, in other words you don’t go to classes, it is called distance learning.  Distance learning is mostly focused on individual students.  This means that you won’t study in a group, unless you have friends who do the same course.

How does it work? With distance learning, you can study from home, from your office where you work, or pretty much anywhere you like.  You don’t have to go to a physical campus or class and listen to lecturers.  Everything you need to do your course is delivered to you by mail.

Most of the time your study material is in the form of text books and exercise books.  Sometimes you will get audio lessons, like an .mp3 or .wav file.  Or you can even get video recordings of a lecture if the course offers that to its students.

The main thing about distance learning is that all the study material is sent to you by courier or in the mail.  You must then do the assignments at home and fax, mail or email it back to the college.  It is then marked by a tutor and sent back to you.  When and if you need to write an exam, you must go to a specific exam location that is chosen by the college.  This is the only time you will have to travel for your distance learning course.

What are the good and the bad things about distance learning? The Good
Distance learning is a great way to have a job and study at the same time.  Because you can study when you have time, you are not pressed to be at a class at a certain time.  You don’t have cut-off dates for handing in assignments.  The only specific dates that you have is exam dates and the dates for when you have to pay your fees.  The rest of the time you decide when you want to finish off a part of the work.

Distance learning is a good choice if you are already a bit older, or a bit more independent.  If you have a family to look after, or if you work from home.  This way you can divide your time in a way that suits you.

The Bad
Distance learning can be difficult because you have to motivate yourself to work.  If you are a very motivated person, this should not be a problem.  But you must realise that there is no lecturer to keep you on your toes.  Nobody is going to make sure that you study and do your assignments.  You have to keep yourself motivated to work regularly, you must set up your own work schedule, and you must keep to it.  If things get hectic you must still work at your studies, even if it seems like there isn’t time.  You must be able to manage your time effectively.

The Wonderful
College SA is making distance learning as easy as possible.  Because we know that it can be very difficult to keep motivated for your studies, and because we realise that you don’t have any lecturer to explain difficult concepts, we go out of our way to make it as easy as we can.

To help you keep motivated for your studies, we always give the Tactics for Winning module with your first batch of study material that you get from us.  This is a compulsory module, and it will give you great tips to be successful in your studies.  We also don’t normally give you all your study material at once.  When you hand in an assignment, we send you the next batch of study material.  That way we can know when you are struggling to finish a module and we can give you a call to offer some help should you need it.

Because you don’t have a lecturer to help you in your studies, we have some great tutors to help you.  These tutors are all experts in their fields and will be able to answer all your questions.  You can arrange to meet a tutor somewhere, or you can talk to them over the phone.  And the best part is that you don’t have to phone them – they phone you.  And they don’t mind a big telephone bill as long as you understand.  So you can talk to the tutor for as long as you need to understand your work!

There are so many things that make College SA the best distance learning college in South Africa.  To name only a few things:

• We have the Take-a-Break option where you can take a study break and paying break.
• Our dedicated personnel who will help you in any way they can.
• Our Career Test is a great tool to help you decide what to study and what career is right for you.

Why don’t you give us a call?  We have everything you need, right here.

Call us toll free on 0800 21 23 22.  We can’t wait to hear from you!