logo
Teaching and Learning
Studying Effectively
   
   
  

Distance Learning

The University of Nottingham welcomes distance students on a variety of mainly postgraduate and professional courses including Healthcare, English, Brewing, Education and Tourism and Travel Management and many more. We value our distance students, who are provided with wide a range of interactive online learning materials and collaborative activities via our online learning environment. It’s a great opportunity to study at Nottingham whatever your circumstances and wherever you live in the world.

If you are unable to attend on-campus for reasons of geographical distance, disability, commitments to work or family, or a busy lifestyle, online learning is flexible enough to provide you with anytime anywhere access to learning materials and support for your studies at times to suit yourself. Some programmes may involve essential or optional short residentials, and others are conducted entirely online.

A range of support is provided, from our excellent IT infrastructure and quality of teaching to the specialized tools used to create the materials and the administrative support for all distance students through their programmes. Students are supported to use technology, there is no need to be a technical “geek” to take part. You can also benefit from peer support in a variety of ways.

        Making learning fun

Managing your learning at a distance

Careful planning and the ability to manage time and workload are particularly important when you are balancing full-time or part-time work with a home life and your studying. However, you are not alone. We believe good communication is vital to the distance student experience. We recommend you make the most of your contact with the programme administrators and tutors to answer any questions or help solve any problems you may encounter. You can also talk to other students whether through discussion forums, chats or web conferences in the learning environment or via social networking.

To get the most out of distance learning, you will need to be committed and self-motivated. Distance learning programmes are set up to provide you with a variety of learning opportunities but the more you engage with the materials and learning opportunities available the better you will do and the more you will get out of it. In the majority of cases you are not expected to study alone but to interact with others to benefit from collaborative and shared learning. 

 

 Related Links

For me the most important fact is that Distance Learning provision is made available at all. I think it an essential form of learning in an age when many people who seek to extend their education to MA level have a number of time-consuming commitments and cannot make regular appearances at tutorials at often quite distant universities. The University of Nottingham is to be congratulated in their development of distance learning courses.
 

Paul Hill, Student, MA in Systematic and Philosophical Theology

Technical tips

  • Have as good a broadband connection as you can afford and is available to you
  • Keep your software up to date, updating where possible your operating system, browser, browser add-ins (such as Flash viewer, Java or Adobe PDF Reader) and word–processing software (free or open source software can often be used)
  • Where possible have access to a second computer in case of a breakdown of your primary machine, e.g., work, a friend, a library or internet cafe
 

Teaching and Learning Directorate

The University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

telephone: +44 (0) 115 846 7206
fax: +44 (0) 115 951 4159
email: teaching@nottingham.ac.uk