Before enrolling onto a course and studying online, it’s important for you to check your course and the qualification you are wanting to gain. When on the internet, it’s very easy to be caught up with a fancy website and promises of the world when it comes to online learning, but then actually, what you get or the qualification you gain are worthless.
Open College frequently has enquiries from students who have enrolled with other online learning providers only to find that their ‘Accredited Level 3 Diploma’, is worthless and doesn’t actually offer what they need. Worse still, some students enrol onto courses only to find the quality and delivery of the materials is terrible and they have wasted their money. So we’ve written this helpful guide on things you should check before enrolling on a course to try and help you get the course and qualification you want.
First thing to check before enrolling onto an online course would be the knowledge of the people providing the course to you. So get in touch with the online learning provider and ask questions, ask how the course is studied, what the learning outcomes are and what you should expect or look out for when studying the course (e.g. examinations at the end).
Once you have contacted the online learning provider, you should have a bit more of an idea of if they actually know their courses and qualifications and whether the course you are looking at is going to provide you with what you want and need.
If you’re looking for a qualification, you need to be careful and ensure that the final learning outcome of your course is going to be a qualification and not just an ‘endorsement’. That’s not to say endorsed courses are not worthy of study, but if you’re looking to get into university, then the chances of the uni accepting an Endorsed Level 3 in place of a BTEC or A-Level is next to nil.
Before enrolling, it’s vital you do your homework on the Awarding Body for the course, if they are one you have never heard of and don’t seem to be mentioned on Government websites or UCAS, then again, chances are they aren’t an officially recognised Awarding Body and so you’re wasting your time and money studying the course.
Once you have fully researched your options and the courses you are considering enrolling onto, then you can take that leap and begin your educational journey with confidence and enjoy the learning process. If you need any help or advice from Academic Experts, get in touch with the Open College team for a chat.