International Foundation Group

Don’t expect that online studying is the same as sitting in a classroom or lecture theatre: it cannot be and it isn’t. Some things are lost but many others gained. What can be lost is that easy sense of collegiality. Exchanging social media contacts isn’t the same as sitting down and discussing, arguing, and laughing face-to-face. Then you have the opportunity to observe and be observed in ways a small online screen cannot yet reproduce. Collegiality is certainly important. Building and sustaining contacts can help you through the complexities of tutorials and the tasks set. You can replace these online and replace them more dynamically and effectively than in the classroom. Study PhD courses online can be challenging but equally, it can be rewarding. The biggest problem produced by the online study is not so much the absence of real physical contact so much as the belief that something is absent. The fear that online study is intrinsically second best, that anything learnt is somehow