Online and Distance Education

The Postgraduate Certificate in Online and Distance Education from The Open University offers the unique opportunity to study the theory and practice of online and distance education through modules created by experts from the Institute who are reinventing digital learning through the innovative use of new media and technologies.

Key features of the course

– Designed to meet the needs of practitioners using new technologies in their professional context
– Deepens your understanding of online teaching and learning, and learning that blends face-to-face and distance education
– Encourages you to link your studies with your own practice throughout
– Relevant for non-practitioners with an interest in online learningThis certificate is the first stage of a study programme that progresses to a postgraduate diploma and finally a masters degree. You can step off at any point, or study the whole programme.
Career relevance

Workplaces and work roles increasingly involve media-rich and technology-enhanced forms of learning, professional practice and personal development, often summarised in the term ‘elearning’. Accordingly the experience of achieving this certificate has proved vocationally relevant across a wide range of occupations and locations, from managers in business organisations, teachers of languages, consultants, trainers and teachers at any level of the education sector.

Each module in the Postgraduate Certificate in Online and Distance Education requires study using a range of tools and learning environments. Consequently you will improve your personal skills in using these tools and this makes a positive impact on your own practice. You will experience the implications of learning technology choices made across a wide range of contexts and organisations, both formal and informal. You will advance not only your skills of selection and design of technology, but also your understanding of how technologies engage learners and how they can be evaluated and developed on a continuing basis.