Dr Alison Le Cornu commends distance learning

I wonder whether you have ever known anyone working through a distance learning programme? As a teenager growing up in Jersey, I remember my parents talking about Jersey’s first Open University graduates in the early 1970s and their comments about how disciplined this handful of people had needed to be and how long it had taken them to get their degree. Little did I realise that it was to become not only my own profession, but also an important way in which I too would gain qualifications, knowledge and experience.

At one point in time I was studying for my Master’s degree in Adult Education by distance learning, while living in Spain, working through a module on that same subject. The bug had bitten me earlier, however, and I had already started to explore theology courses offered by distance learning while at theological college, and got involved in transforming lectures into a student-friendly style for the college’s own distance learning programme.
I was hooked!

Now, after nearly twenty years ‘in the business’, I still get a buzz, not only from studying at a distance myself, but also from seeing many hundreds of students take on and benefit from the challenge. Although the 1980s saw a burgeoning of distance learning programmes within theology, with many independent colleges and denominations developing modules and courses, this form of study has never been without its critics, criticism sometimes being levelled on theological grounds. How can such an individual and perhaps individualistic form of study cultivate the personal, team and community dimensions so integral to Christian life and ministry? How can it be used to help people develop in their life of faith and discipleship? Is it not just too demanding for busy people with busy lives? Are the levels of self-discipline and commitment required just too great for Mr or Ms Average Christian?

It is true that distance learning is not for everyone. But then, neither is full-time face-to-face study, especially for those who have already completed their first degree at the conventional time in their lives. Even the alternative of part-time face-to-face makes its own requirement of being willing and able to get to classes, and the accompanying commitment of attendance. Fundamentally, we have to recognise that fitting study into adult lives is never going to be easy. However, I do know that, for many, distance learning is not only possible but so enjoyable that it becomes one of their major hobbies.

It seems to me that theology distance learning has three principal strengths to offer. Firstly, it has traditionally been ‘open’, using the same idea of openness that characterised the approach of the Open University. So, recognising that many people mature as learners after their school years and that they may be highly competent in their field of work yet not have any academic qualifications, potential students are invited to get involved on this basis. That is not to say there are no entry requirements: far from it, especially in a programme leading to an award or degree when it is important to assess the likelihood that someone will be successful in a variety of ways, including the academic. However, institutions offering distance learning courses are usually willing to take both people’s prior learning and their experience into account and use those as foundations on which to build.

Secondly, distance learning takes into account the fact that adult learners have to fit study into a range of other activities. Many people have full- or part-time jobs, homes, families, church commitments and more which they have to juggle. Introducing study is one more component. So a prime need is flexibility. This comes in a range of forms but is usually associated with time and deadlines, beginning at the point of enrolment which can be at any time during the year (rather than fixed at the beginning of the academic year). Good programmes will balance flexibility with motivational factors, recognising that too much freedom will often mean that study goes to the bottom of the list of priorities. So allowing students to decide when they send in work for assessment, for example, is balanced by the fact that, if they take too long to complete a module, they will have to pay a small surcharge! Maintaining motivation when studying alone can also be a challenge and a programme’s support structures are important. Support is generally offered through (optional or compulsory) residential schools, contact with tutorial and administrative staff, and, increasingly, through contact with fellow students using electronic discussion boards and email. It can also be found in people’s home contexts and some people turn to house groups, ministers and friends for discussion and resources (Can you lend me a book on…?!).

People’s home contexts are the third major resource that makes distance learning a very strong option, especially for those involved in pastoral and teaching ministries. Study and learning are brought into everyday life, with all its messiness, and the one has to engage with as well as inform the other. There is little possibility of the learner remaining in a comfortable bubble, removed from the realities of people’s experience. For many, therefore, study material is an important resource that enables them to respond to pastoral and faith-related needs in an intelligent and informed way. This is not the only purpose it serves, however: personal nourishment is also important and this private study contributes to people’s own growth, helping to develop, shape and form their faith in a way which is meaningful and exciting.

I have been privileged to watch a lot of this happening to many, many people over the years. You could be one! I am sometimes asked to describe a ‘typical’ distance learning student and have to say that there is no such thing. Today, as the programmes originally offered through the Methodist Westminster College find their feet in the Wesley Centre as part of the ‘new’ Westminster Institute of Education. Students’ ages range from 19 to 76. Most are based here in the UK but our international profile is rising and we now have students in Alaska, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Belgium and beyond, with applications coming in from many other places round the world. There is a healthy Methodist presence, but these students are joined by people of all denominations and none, as well as by people of other faiths and none. All are invited to come to the campus twice a year for a post-Easter and a September school, which provide an opportunity for everyone to put faces to names and gives a motivational boost through face-to-face interaction, but the schools are not obligatory.

One factor which attracts students to distance learning is the wide choice of subjects and modules available and the programme structure which allows people to focus on those which most interest them or which will be of most use to them. Some choose to put a toe in the water first and sign on for just one module; others are bolder and commit to an award and a programme of study that will last between three and eight years. Lifelong learning then becomes a reality.

Why not ‘go the distance’ yourself? You never know, it might change your life…

Dr Alison Le Cornu is the Head of the Wesley Centre at the Westminster Institute of Education, Oxford Brookes University