Distance Ed

[psychlaw]

Can someone whos doing Distance tell me about it?
Pros? Cons? How good is the quality of service?

anything else I should know?

[misskaraleah]

Worst decision i ever made.
Surely it sounds like it will be easy, and a great option if you want to complete the rest of your unit, but i would strong advise against anyone doing it in year 12.

Last year i did literature by correspondance. I thought it would be ok and all, considering i was in year 11 and i would have more tiem to focus on it. But when you and learning a subject 'alone', you have to do EVERYTHING and i mean EVERYTHING yourself. Such as, your school will be sent all your marks, all the work that is needed for you to completes, SACs- everything!

Im probably very against it because i didnt perform as well as i would have liked to, but i guess it also depends on the subject you are considering doing. Literature by corespondace - is hard, because lit is such a in depth topic relient on discussion.

Well thats my opinion. What subjects were you consdiering doing?

[AppleXY]

lol. I'm doing Distance ed. lol.

[jess3254]

I did Distance Education. (I'm tired, so I may not provide you with a very clear description lol).
Every semester, you will receive a workbook for each subject (in conjunction with an external text book). Every week, you have to submit a week's worth of work (for each subject), in which you will complete varying amounts of reading, questions, essays etc.

You can view examples of how distance ed booklets are set out for each subject here:
http://www.distance.vic.edu.au/subschools/ss1112.htm#subjects (probably more useful than my explanation.)

I did Distance Ed whilst I was sick, so obviously my experiences are going to be different to an individual who's able to attend full time school and is doing one subject through DECV.

Pros of DECV:
-Can work at your own pace. If you don’t understand a concept, you can sit there and read over it until you get it (which you can’t really do in classes.)
-DECV booklets have extensive information in them, and all your class notes are right in front of you (good for people who'd rather read than listen to someone.)
-Some of the teachers can be absolutely fantastic.
-The course is structured well
-Good if you are organised.
-I felt like I was achieving and learning a lot through DECV.

Cons of DECV:
-No class discussion.
-Not good for people who aren't very organised.
-The amount of work can be huge and stressful.  
-A detached way of learning. You need to phone your teacher to ask them a question, and it can take days to get an answer.
-According to my friends, if you are doing DECV + normal school, your DECV subject can fall through the cracks. A lot of my friends have had to drop their DECV subject because they were busy with their school subjects.
-No class time to work.

It also depends on the subject you are planning to do through DECV. Some are structured better than others, easier to complete by yourself and have better teachers. What subject are you planning on doing?

[AppleThief]

I do Distance Ed. The biggest advantage is the many, many spares. I do all my distance (music styles) work at home (it's more convenient for me), and homework in my spares -- as I only do four subjects at my school, it means I'm able to finish lots of the homework there, and don't have to brings heavy books home as much.
Also, I only have half my spares at school. I get to sleep in more due to spares in the morning, which is fun :-)

However, you need to be self-motivated. I've gotten behind a couple of times this year (and last year, omg -- do not do Philosophy through Distance; too much reading to do). And you can't be lazy. I usually end up doing an entire week's worth of work in one day, and often wish they would just spell it out for me, rather than making me think. As jess3254 mentioned, you can work at your own pace. You won't fail the unit if you're a month behind in submissions (though this may hinder your performance on SACs). You can really take as long you want to get your work done.

The quality is good (in my experience). Your teacher isn't just some faceless person. I've met my teacher and talked to her on the phone various times. The teachers are helpful and want you to do well. They tell you about themselves, and like to learn about you (had to submit a "personal profile" in week one). Seminars are also run (at DECV in Thornbury) for extra learnings.

The quality of the books are good. Effort has been put into gathering information and collating it. It is all structured (better than some school teachers who seem do things all over the place).

I disagree with jess2354 saying it can take days to get an answer from your teacher, however. Unless you have many extracurricular activities and are never home in time to call, you get a hold pretty easily. I've always been able to call my teacher, and they reply to emails pretty quickly. A rough quote from my teacher is "we're not like most teachers trying to run around teaching and organising things; we're simply sitting at our desks marking & listening to your work"

And you don't have to worry about going anywhere to do SACs; they send them to your school. However, the exam is probably somewhere else.