Online course at Oxford University

[zannette]

Yes, shipping costs are the real downside. I live in Greece now (UK expat) and there are lots of things I can't get here, and postage certainly puts the cost up. Books are expensive - even greek ones, and there are few english books available. I still read a lot, in fact I have more time now I am retired. Betterworld have now decided to give 'free' shipping. This means that the weight of the book has been considered in with the price. they do have regular sales, and I have found them to be very efficient. The books I get from them still work for their living as I pass them on to friends here, and put them in a charity book sale too.
The course fees for OU are high. I worked all the time I studied with them but tried to cut costs on the extra books.

[millymcb]

I like to get my books (2nd hand) from here www.abebooks.co.uk
Not sure what the overseas charges are but they do have sellers in both USA and UK (and possibly elsewhere) so might be useful.

Carole - my course is at a local college but they do them all over the UK at Further Education Colleges, and also private one week courses. This is the course (details from the awarding body that all colleges have to follow)
 http://www.cityandguilds.com/45858.html 

UK Government have made this the recommended minimum qualification people should have if they want to teach adults, do training sessions etc. it then grows the the certificate (1 year plus teaching 30 hours a week) and then the Diploma which I think is qualified teacher status - although I could have got that wrong. I am just doing the first "preparation" course for now. I can't see me getting the 30 hours a week of teaching I would need to do the next one

But it has been very interesting - all about planning sessions to include interesting activities, writing a schemes of work (for a course over a number of weeks) and how to do an individual lesson plan with a breakdown of activities within the session. Plus lots of the usual stuff about diversity and health and safety of course

I will be doing week 7 next, then in week 9 I have to do my 30 minute teaching session, then it ends on week 12.

Milly
Milly

There are distance learning courses but I don't know how the teaching practice session works in that case

[carmay]

Yes, shipping costs are the real downside. I live in Greece now (UK expat) and there are lots of things I can't get here, and postage certainly puts the cost up. Books are expensive - even greek ones, and there are few english books available. I still read a lot, in fact I have more time now I am retired. Betterworld have now decided to give 'free' shipping. This means that the weight of the book has been considered in with the price. they do have regular sales, and I have found them to be very efficient. The books I get from them still work for their living as I pass them on to friends here, and put them in a charity book sale too.
The course fees for OU are high. I worked all the time I studied with them but tried to cut costs on the extra books.

I just checked out Betterworld and ended up ordering a book on genealogy and another on British History. They were both in the Bargain Bin section so I got them for $3.98 each    That's quite good!

I can imagine you run into the same problems getting books in Greece as we do here in the US. I have been looking at a number of online courses at Oxford, and have started trying to find the books. Most I did manage to find on Amazon.com, but a couple I had to go to Amazon.ca (in Canada) or Amazon.co.uk (in England). But I figured if I got the books used now, then I could start reading them to see what the course would really be about before I spent the money on the class itself. And it also wouldn't be a large layout of monies to buy the books when the courses started.

From now on, I will check Betterworld first though as I like the idea that some of the monies go to charities. Oh, and I too pass on my books that I no longer want. Our local library accepts donations. If they don't have a book in circulation, they put it there. If they do, it goes into the book sale, and whatever monies they get for the books goes to buying new materials for the library. Our local library has Ancestry.com, so I figure that my donations help to pay for that

Carole

[carmay]

I like to get my books (2nd hand) from here www.abebooks.co.uk
Not sure what the overseas charges are but they do have sellers in both USA and UK (and possibly elsewhere) so might be useful.

Carole - my course is at a local college but they do them all over the UK at Further Education Colleges, and also private one week courses. This is the course (details from the awarding body that all colleges have to follow)
 http://www.cityandguilds.com/45858.html 

UK Government have made this the recommended minimum qualification people should have if they want to teach adults, do training sessions etc. it then grows the the certificate (1 year plus teaching 30 hours a week) and then the Diploma which I think is qualified teacher status - although I could have got that wrong. I am just doing the first "preparation" course for now. I can't see me getting the 30 hours a week of teaching I would need to do the next one

But it has been very interesting - all about planning sessions to include interesting activities, writing a schemes of work (for a course over a number of weeks) and how to do an individual lesson plan with a breakdown of activities within the session. Plus lots of the usual stuff about diversity and health and safety of course

I will be doing week 7 next, then in week 9 I have to do my 30 minute teaching session, then it ends on week 12.

Milly

There are distance learning courses but I don't know how the teaching practice session works in that case

I have also bought books at abebooks through Amazon.com. They often list their used books there and their service is quite good. I've also gotten a few through bookdespository.com. They also have excellent service, although they do not have used books. At this point, I'm going totally for used books to save money. I was going to get a Kindle or a Nook, but I find that often those ebooks are a LOT more than buying a used book. And I guess I'm still rather old fashioned and I like to curl up on the couch with a book where I can write in the margins and underline facts that I might want to go back to once I have to start writing papers on these topics

Carole

[carmay]

Well, I did it!!  I just registered at Oxford University for their online course called "Using the Victorian Census". It starts April 27 so that gives me some time to start reading the book. Then when the assignments come up, I can just re-read those sections    It's a ten week course and for the duration I have free access to Ancestry.co.uk, so I'll be spending a lot of time trying to find out more about my family members.

I'll let you all know how it goes

Carole

[millymcb]

Welll done.. hope you enjoy it.

I would be very interested to know how you get on.  I am having trouble imagining just how an online course wit "online discussions" might work.

Milly

[carmay]

Welll done.. hope you enjoy it.

I would be very interested to know how you get on.  I am having trouble imagining just how an online course wit "online discussions" might work.

Milly

I have taken other online courses and the discussion work the same as they do here. Everyone logs on at times that are convenient for them, and you participate the same way you do here.

I have ordered my textbooks. I managed to find used copies on the internet, so I saved a bit of money. I have decided that I will put aside two hours per day to work on the course material. I am going to go to the library every day so that I have no distractions. They have a quiet section which happens to be near the genealogy books, so I'll just stake out a space there every day. I've taken all the junk off my old laptop so that I could use it for my courses. Then I'll just copy the files to my iMac when I get home

Carole

[millymcb]

Did my half-hour teaching session today - part of the assessment for my evening course.

I did "Beginners Famiky Tree Research - getting to know the census" and I quite enjoyed it. Thought my mind would go blank and I would forget what I was supposed to be saying - but it actually went quite well and the class seemed to stay awake so that was good.
Only a couple of assignments to do and one last lesson and that will be it.  12 weeks has gone incredibly quickly.  Now I'm wondering what else to do - it has been quite good to stretch my brain a liitle.

Milly

[carmay]

Congratulations, Milly! I bet you were terrific!     There is nothing like getting up and talking about a subject that you love.

I know how you feel about wondering what to do next. I was at that point as well, and I had taken everything at the local colleges that interested me. That's when I went looking on the internet and found Oxford's continuing education courses. I start my class on April 27 They also have courses at the University of Dundee that look good, so I may take one of their courses in the fall.

There are a lot of opportunities out there, Milly. Just find things you love and keep learning   I had a teacher once who used to say that you had to learn one new thing every day

Carole