Academics
How online study works
The question a programme page never answers: what does a week actually look like, and can you fit it around the job you already have.
A typical week
Four things you do, in your own order.
Study is asynchronous by default. Material is released, you work through it when your week allows, and deadlines rather than timetables set the pace.
Read and watch
Each course releases its material for the week: recorded teaching, readings and worked examples. Recorded sessions can be watched at any hour, which is the whole point when your tutor is eight time zones away.
Take part in discussion
Most courses run a written discussion that counts toward participation. This is where an online course either has a cohort or does not, and it is worth treating as real contact rather than a box to tick.
Attend live, where a course sets it
Some courses hold live sessions. Where they do, the times are published before you enrol so you can check them against your working day, and they are recorded for anyone who cannot attend.
Submit assessed work
Assessment is continuous rather than concentrated into one final examination: assignments, projects and written work through the term, each with published criteria and a deadline.
Your workload
How much time it takes.
This is the number that decides whether you finish, and we intend to be precise about it. A credit hour has a defined meaning in United States higher education, expressed as hours of study per week over a term, and a programme's total workload follows from its credit count.
eLadder's credit values and term length are being set now. As soon as they are, the hours per week for every programme appear here and on each programme page, so you can plan your year against a real figure rather than an estimate.
When you get stuck
Studying alone is the risk, not the format.
The reason online students withdraw is rarely the difficulty of the work. It is that a bad month goes unnoticed because nobody sees you not turning up.
- Academic staff are reachable for questions about the material, in writing and in scheduled hours.
- An adviser is available for anything that is not about a specific course: workload, sequencing, or a term that has gone wrong.
- Technical support covers the platform itself, so a broken submission is not your problem to solve alone at a deadline.
- If you stop participating we contact you, because the most common reason a student disappears is something in their life rather than a decision to leave.