Hi all, has anyone done one of these courses from ICS? Was on the site yesterday having a nose and although the courses arnt cheap they look quite good, id love to do something like this, as i dont think i could go to proper college (due to personal reasons) theres a couple im interested in that i think i could benefit from :) Just wondered if anyone had any experience of doing one of these and what you got from it :)

I looked at these courses but I thought they were too expensive, although I'm sure they would be good.  Have you tried phoning your local college or university because quite often they do distance learning and you can do all the work at home and just send in assignments to be assessed by tutors.  The fees are a lot less than private courses and you can sometimes get discounts on the fees if you are receiving any benefits.  Some courses are free for disabled people.  Also worth phoning your local council as they will have an adult learning programme which might have something to suit you.  These courses will definitely cost less than private ones.  Worth a phone call anyway and good luck :)

CG

Thanks very much, Im sort of in the sticks and the nearest decent college that does the courses im interested in, im sure dont do home courses, but il send them an email to make sure, i must admit i did have to look twice at the price! lol

Be careful!

I have heard good things, and bad things about these courses, and some what reluctantly, agreed to my OH signing up for a skillstrain/schiedegger course...

IF you haev to pay up front. Dont do it.

Some of them need a LOT of badgering to send you the next part of the course as you complete the previous one... do a search for forums sthat discuss these courses and see what they say.... with the skillstrain one, they sent a salesman round to our house, very double glazing!!!

Em

Thanks, what do you reckon on the ICS ones? They have got forums on there for support and advice from others on the courses and also tutors, but you have to be registered to go on them and that. Im waiting for an email back from a college to see if i have any alternative options :)

I have done a lot of distance study, although not with ICS. First you need to check that the courses are approved by the appropriate body, otherwise they are not really worth the paper that they are written on. Secondly you need to find out as much as you can about the support provided, most reputable collages will let you view chat groups and speak to existing/old students. It is also useful to look at their drop out rates, these will often be quite high but will also reflect the support and quality of the course. Thirdly you need to sit and think about how exactly you are going to fit the study in to your life. Three or four hours a week may not sound very much but you do need to decide that you will say dedicate sunday mornings to study, plus there may well be background reading, where you will fit that in (and if you will have to pay extra for the books). Finally you need to satisfy yourself that there is someone who is reasonable accessible and qualified to speak to from the collage when you get stuck. Trust me there is nothing worse than sitting for hours or days stuck on one issue that you just cannot get to grips with.

Distance learning is not an easy option but it can be very rewarding. I studied with the OU for 10 years and finally got a masters degree, which I had always wanted but my family could not finance when I was a teenager.  Above all do something that you will enjoy :)

Thanks Bluebell, even though its not me who will actually be paying for these courses, i still want to make sure that their worth their price, i have a lot of spare time, so thats not a problem (how sad am i?) lol Heres their site, if anyone fancies a nose -  www.icslearn.co.uk