questions

[rh]

1. how hard do you think it would be to take international studies through distance education, and why? to anyone who has completed it, could you have handled the course without a teacher? would you recommend doing so?

2. are units 1 and 2 vital to units 3 and 4? can you even take units 3/4 without having completed 1/2? i would look this up myself but the vcaa website isn’t loading for me atm.

thanks

[AppleThief]

I'm going to emphasise, yet again, that doing a subject via the DECV is NOT like having no teacher. You DO have a teacher, and can have as much or as little contact as you want. You'll have their email and phone number, and you can go in for tutes (it's in Thornbury, so it depends where you live). There are also seminars each term where you can meet your teacher. To answer your question, it's not really hard, but you have to make sure you keep up with the work and keep yourself motivated.

I know someone who did International Studies Units 3&4 via the DECV, and they enjoyed it. Some of the seminars were at the ABC in Southbank, and were apparently worthwhile. Also, you can complete 3&4 without 1&2, but I've no idea if any material overlaps within them.

My thoughts on choosing to do a subject via distance: If it's a subject you're interested in, then do it! If it wasn't for the DECV I wouldn't have been able to do Philosophy or Music Styles.

[rh]

thanks for clearing that up and apologies for the stupid question.

yeah, i'm definitely interested; the course sounds great and i’d be able to drop a subject that i don't like at school. although i’m not very organised, or motivated so i don't know if taking a subject through distance ed. would really suit me. i think enrolments close in feb so i’ve got a while to make up my mind.

[AppleThief]

thanks for clearing that up and apologies for the stupid question.

yeah, i'm definitely interested; the course sounds great and i’d be able to drop a subject that i don't like at school. although i’m not very organised, or motivated so i don't know if taking a subject through distance ed. would really suit me. i think enrolments close in feb so i’ve got a while to make up my mind.

Don't worry, it wasn't a stupid question. Sorry if i came off rude or whatever.

That was a reason I did Distance Ed -- my school didn't offer enough good subjects, so instead of choosing one I didn't want, I chose a good subject elsewhere!

[applekid]

Doing Units 12 is absolutely NOT essential at all to the 34 course.

EDIT: P.S have fun! IS is a good choice in subject. 

[ursus]

doing 1 & 2 isn't essential but does help with understanding some of the 3/4 concepts.
my teacher was pretty terrible and just gave us heaps of report and no material to work with, so we all pretty much did the course without a teacher anyway, which i was fine with. though it meant that because i was the only one motivated enough to do the work, i ended up holding after school classes for the rest of the class.
so i think you'd need quite a bit of motivation to do it, if you're like 99% of the population.