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Q: Is it possible to do an online degree course while working full time?
Was thinking of doing an online course from a foreign uni while keeping my full time job here. Is this possible or will the online course demand too much of my time? Anyone with experience doing online courses?
11 years 49 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
Depends on your definition of 'full time'.
As a teacher at university, I was 'full-time' while doing less than 20 hours per week. So, doing my MA online was pretty much a breeze.
Depending on which uni you're going to do it through, you'll may have different schedules. I did mine through Australia, which meant my semesters were different to here... keep an eye on that, as you may end up having assignments due when everyone else is out partying... :(
Similarly, like any person doing study while working, remember that you're about to lose your free time for the good stuff!
If you're not too fussed about how long it will take you, stick with just the 1 subject per semester. OTOH, if you are a teacher (at a uni), you'll easily be able to do 2 (perhaps more - if you're knowledgeable in the subject - or disciplined) subjects.
What Pogger said about books is definitely NOT true (all the time!) I was able to get my textbooks from Abe's books pretty quickly to here in China, and often with free postage. Though, obviously, the kindle or ebook option is good! if you can do it...
Before you go too far into it, check out assessment requirements. I didn't need any invigilation, so it was easy to do my pieces. However, it if's more 'serious', you may need to appoint an invigilator and all that jazz.
Course prices...??? Completely depends on your citizenship, and what uni you're looking at! For the courses I was looking at in Australia, the international student price was maybe only 1.3x the price of domestic students (ie, one-third more).. so, it all depends! (and, of coruse, what course you're doing... mine was Applied Linguistics).
Lastly, consider - do you want to go further into a PhD? If so, they will expect that you've done some research. If you're doing a straight coursework masters, then you'll need to do some research and publishing on your own! (some courses offer mixed - partly coursework, with a large-ish research component... 8000-20000 words).
Shining_brow:
Actually, the books I was getting were from the US, UK etc - NOT from Australia (much cheaper than buying from there... because the book needs to get shipped TO Australia, THEN from there to here... expensive!!)
True, though, about the time! So, plan well in advance for what you want, and need, to do and get!!! I had to drop a subject cos I couldn't get the textbook in time :( Next time around, I new at least 3 months in advance what the textbook would be, and ordered it well before the semester started...
