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Online study
Online and distance learning study options at BU
You may be contemplating further study, but concerned about how to fit it in with all your other commitments. Online study, or distance learning, offers you the flexibility to study at your pace: when and where it suits you.
So what is online study?
You will be provided with all the tools and resources you need to complete your chosen course, but as everything is based on or accessed via the internet, you do not need to visit the campus. This way of studying enables you to decide when you want to study and gain that desired qualification. You do not need to commit to timetabled teaching sessions, as you would do with a more traditional, campus-delivered course.
Online study (or distance learning) uses a computer and the internet to support and enhance your learning experience. At a basic level, the internet is used purely to distribute your course materials, but at BU we also use it to help improve your understanding of a subject by:
- Encouraging discussion and debate using discussion boards or chat rooms with your fellow students and the academic team
- Testing your understanding by using online assessment activities like tasks and quizzes
- Providing a wide range of electronic resources such as books and journals you can access online
- Utilising the Virtual Learning Environment, myBU, which becomes your own ‘virtual campus’ and provides everything you need to help and support you through your studies.
Benefits of online study
- Large degree of flexibility – fit study around your other commitments
- Study wherever you are in the world
- Strong online communities formed with your fellow students and personal tutors
- Easy access to a vast array of study resources, such as e-journals and e-resources
- No exams to sit – you are assessed through the submission of assignments and occasionally time-constrained (online) tests
- Access to the same full range of BU services that any full-time student would be entitled to (careers advice, student counselling service, membership of the Students’ Union etc.).