About Distance Education at UNSW @ ADFA

When we started

Distance Education has been offered by UNSW @ ADFA since 1996 and began with a three year pilot program in the Master of Defence Studies. Since these early days distance education at UNSW @ ADFA has grown and now encompasses more than 50 subjects a year and attracts between 250 and 350 enrolments each semester and covers most of the post graduate degree programs on offer at the University.

Why we do it

Distance Education allows you to study for your degree in a way that suits your work and family commitments. This flexibility enables you attend classes on campus if you are able or study entirely online in the comfort of your own home (depending on the nature of the courses you select).

What will happen

About 4 weeks before the semester commences you will be sent your course materials. These may include a course outline, learning guide, CD's or DVD's, a bookshop order form for your textbooks and information on how to access the online learning resources available in the Academy Library or within the course site on WebCT.

Your learning materials may also be supplemented with online discussions, telephone conferences (teleconferences) or weekend residentials depending on the subjects you are studying.

Being realistic

As an off campus student you have a few extra responsibilities to manage along with your learning.

You may also face a number of challenges when learning as on off campus student but it pays to be clear on what we expect of you and what you can expect from the Flexible Learning Team.

You will also get more out of your courses if you understand how your lecturer is thinking about course design.

Tell us what you think

We love getting your feedback about your experiences as an off campus learner and every semester we will invite you to take part in an online survey to express your views. The survey is completely anonymous and you can't be identified in any way at all so it is a great opportunity to tell us about your likes and dislikes, what worked and what didn't work with complete frankness. You will be able to read the results of current and past surveys and we plan to let you know about the ways in which your feedback had improved our services for off campus students and affected course design.

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