Start Learning - Distance Learning Experts

5 Great Reasons to Learn by Distance

1.    Flexibility: You can study when you want, fitting learning around your busy schedule. It can be impossible to arrange time off from a job to study, particularly if you are looking to change careers or build up a new skill. It can be equally hard to fit the school run, feeding and playing with your kids around rigid college hours. Distance learning lets you pick when you will study - so you learn when you have time.

 

2.    In your own space: Distance Learning lets you pick where you want to study too. We have student that do all of there studying in lunch breaks and others that replace a couple of hours of TV each week with study sessions instead. The key is you choose where you study! At your desk at work, in the living room at home, in your bedroom or even in the bath. (Study materials can get a little soggy!)

 

3.    Start when you want: Traditionally learning has set term times and start dates. We operate a roll on roll off methodology. This means you can start whenever you want. Learning is best when you are passionate – we let you strike when the iron is hot.

 

4.    Take as long or as short as you need: If you want to race through your course that’s fine with us! Just increase the number of hours you are prepared to study each week. If you have struggled with a subject before take your time and make sure you don’t move on until you are ready! No one is going to rush you on before you really understand.

 

5.    Study what you love: With over 150 courses, there really is the right distance learning  course for the right person! If you are not sure what will work for you, give us a call on 08000741222

Dr Doom – How do we prepare for the future!

Dr Faber is one of the few experts who predicted the 1987 stock market crash as well as the current recession, so his view of the future is a particularly interesting one.  Speaking at the beginning of the week to a number of investors he made some fascinating warnings.

The first centred around economic instability not being the only major factor and reminding his audience that if their was another major war many business would cease to function.

He asked fund managers what would happen if the internet stopped working or mobile phones were cut off. He went as far to say that fund mangers should consider buying houses in the countryside to avoid attacks on cities.

He also asked some interesting questions about wealth – What assets can you carry with you if you could?

Although these are spine chilling warnings, they do bring up some really interesting points about businesses and people becoming very reliant on the status quo. In a situation like Dr Faber was describing all you have left at the end is yourself and your skills. Which is why investing in yourself with distance learning is such a good idea.

Studying courses like Plumbing, Management and Electrical Installation by distance learning gives you skills which will always be in high demand and will always be yours! Making you more employable whatever happens in the world.

 

How can we combat Bullying!

Bullying can be one of the most negative experiences in someone’s life with over 25% of people who were bullied in childhood saying they had suffered long term harmful affects lasting into adulthood. Over 31% of children have experienced bullying and a further 7% believed they were discriminated against. Bullying can happen to someone at any age and in the work place as well as in school.

Bullying in the workplace can have particularly negative connotations and many people feel they are picked on because they are weak. On the Life After Adult Bullying website they remind us that this is not always the case, it can be simply because you are at the wrong place at the wrong time, you are good at your job, you are popular, you have exposed the bully’s fears, you get more attention or you having a distinctive set of values.

In the work place unacceptable behaviour can be overlooked because people in senior positions are just ‘directive’, know what they want, or as in the case of Gordon Brown believe they are too passionate. Sometimes this can be known as HIPPO (Highest Paid Persons Opinion) and it can feel impossible to get across your opinions or to be treated with even basic levels of respect. The reality is that bullies seldom realise they are bullying and will excuse their behaviour with any number of weak excuses.

Start Learning passionately believes that all bullying should be tackled and that no body should be made to feel afraid or have their self respect taken from them.

Distance Learning can be a revelation for people who have suffered in classroom environment with bullying and other anti social behaviour, finally they have the chance to learn in their own time without any other pressures or fears.

For those that want to be able to help people who have experienced bullying then a course in NLP or CBT will give you the skills to help people overcome their past experiences and move on to a happy healthy life.

Do childhood ambitions really impact on your life?

In 1969, 14,000 11 year olds were commissioned to write an essay about their future ambitions by the Centre of Longitudinal Studies. The aim was to give a snapshot of the minds of children of the 60’s but now, in an exciting twist, researchers have approached the same people, at 51 years old, to see how their lives turned out.

 

There is a genuine correlation between those who are ambitious as children and those who achieve high levels of success. Woman already had an idea that they wanted more from life and many had career ambitions besides being a wife and mother.

 

You can read more about the lives of the authors here and see how their lives turned out compared to their ambitions.

 

Distance Learning is a great way to be able to achieve childhood ambitions while maintaining your career, giving you the time to pursue a long held interest like art history or criminology, or retrain for a new career in psychology or web design.

Will we be ready for 2012?

The Winter Olympics is now underway after a shaky start, but more than 75% of Canadians fear that the project will be over budget. This combined with a tragic death on the first day of the games proves that no matter how committed, an Olympic Games is not guaranteed success.

What can we do to make sure that we maximise the value of the 2012 London games, bringing long term benefits to the UK. Training is a really easy way to do this, you can see the benefit to your business straight away and it will mean you have a more profitable games. But you will also get the long term benefits of having a better trained workforce and more committed employees.

At Start Learning we saw an increase in demand for construction courses over the last couple of years in London as infrastructure preparations took place, and now that demand has really shifted to customer service and customer care.  We have also seen a increase in demand for IT courses particularly our CompTIA A+ course showing that the need to invest in IT is also increasing.

 

The Lions of Yorkshire

Doncaster is now home to 13 new lions after they were rescued from a run down Romanian zoo.

The north of England doesn’t boast the same warm temperatures as Africa but this pride of lions will be very glad to have grass beneath their feet after being rescued from a concrete enclosure.

In Doncaster the lions will have a state of the art lion enclosure in a seven acre compound all funded from a £150,000 appeal last summer.

The conditions the lions were in were so bad that four adult lions were squeezed into a 15ft by 12ft concrete square. To read more about the rescue click here.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Park still needs an additional £25,000 to fully equip the enclosure. You can find out more about them here.

If you are interested in animal care we have a range of courses covering animal behaviour as well as other skills like dog grooming (I wouldn’t suggest trying to groom a Lion). There are also specific biology courses including one focusing on Ichthyology.

The New National Trust

Are you in love with original features? Keen to restore property to its former glory? Then you will be happy to know that the National Trust are now completely reinventing the way people access their properties.

In some properties they will have "After The Party Rooms" which will look as through a party has just finished with left over glasses of wine and cast off coats.

You will also be able to sit on the furniture and cosy up to a blazing fire or try on some period costumes. This new approach to the National Trust is being piloted in Seaton Delaval.

The National Trust want the properties to become the hub of community life not just museums to a bygone age. Read more about their plans here.

If you fancy doing some restoration for yourself have you considered our Property Development course?

10 Questions to Ask Your Distance Learning Provider!

1.    Does my course have a Tutor?

Why Ask? Some Distance Learning providers sell courses which have no tutor support. In these cases you are essentially buying a book. Ensure that you are getting more than just this basic level of course. You want to be able to ask for help if you need it.

Ideal Answer:  Yes you have a tutor who is a specialist in their field.

 

2.    Will I have direct access to my Tutor?

Why Ask? Some Distance Learning providers will operate a call back tutor service. This means you need to call up customer service and arrange a call or email back. The problem with this is it can take a significant amount of time. And you may never receive that call or email back. In fact you are being kept at arms length from your tutor which is difficult.

Ideal Answer: Yes you will have direct access his/her email address or phone number will be included in your Welcome Pack

 

3.    Is my tutor paid per question or query I ask?

Why Ask? Some Tutors are paid per response, this means they are likely to give you feedback which would encourage you to log a new query or go back to them more often, rather than resolving your problem.

Ideal Answer: Our tutors are paid to look after our students not on the volume of queries they deal with.

 

4.    Will I receive all of my materials right away?

Why Ask? Some distance learning providers will send out materials in dribs and drabs, this means you never have the whole course together to evaluate if you are happy with it.  It is important to see it all together to make sure you are happy with the content.

Ideal Answer: Yes you will get your entire course together – Probably the day after enrol.

 

5.    How long is my course supported for?

Why Ask? Some advertising by distance learning companies focuses on the amount of time you have to take that qualification where in reality you only have support for a certain number of months. You don’t want to have to study without support.

Ideal Answer: You have 12 months to complete your course. We will remind you every 3 months of when your end date is.

 

6.    Who is my course accredited by?

Why Ask? Some courses may not be accredited at all. This is actually okay if you know this and you are just interested in the subject rather than taking an exam. However if you are expecting a recognised qualification this can be a big shock and disappointment.

Ideal Answer: Yes the course is accredited you can find out more on our website.

 

7.    Do you run a customer satisfaction study? What are the results?

Why Ask? Many distance learning organisations don’t put the students at the heart of what they do. You want to know that the organisation values what its students think and feel and is prepared to act on any concerns.

Ideal Answer: Yes we run one every year. Last year we scored 8.4 out of 10.

 

8.    How can I get in contact with other students?

Why Ask? Some organisations maintain out of date student communities which are under used. It’s much better to have a managed study group list or access to other students via an existing social network like Facebook.

Ideal Answer: Yes you can leave your email address with me and we will set up an email study group with other people who are studying your course or you can join our facebook page.

 

9.    What type of finance do you offer?

Why Ask? There are three real finance options. The first is through a loan organisation – this means you take out a personal loan with a bank and they pay off the company. The second is that the organisation funds the finance themselves and the third is that you pay in full.  The issue with the first option is that you have little or no recourse with the company themselves if you are not happy with there service, as your payment arrangement is with the bank. The second option where the organisation funds the finance themselves means they are really strict about collection - you can fall into a debt recovery cycle after paying late just one time, you may also be cut off from your learning materials. If you have to pay in full this can be a problem if prices are high, but if they are affordable it is probably your best bet. You are in control of the relationship and you have no payments to worry about.

Ideal Answer: You need to pay for your course fees in full but we have kept the prices low and are happy to hold your space until you have saved for it.

 

10.   How many students do you have?

Why Ask? Some organisations can have tens of thousands of students a year for instance one supplier claims to have 65,000 students. That must be very difficult to service with a few members of staff.  You want to make sure you will have the personal touch.

Ideal Answer: We have around 10,000 students so we can always be there for you when you need us.

The Expenses Scandal Again!

A storm has kicked up around MP expenses as it is revealed that 390 MPs have to pay back expenses totaling more than £1 million. The severity has also been ratcheted up with 6 MPs waiting to hear if they will be criminally charged. Read more about the latest revelations here.

This has lead many to consider the make up of our government and question the status quo. Over the last couple of months we have seen more students studying for out A Level in Government and Politics. We think this is very much a response to the current climate. It seems that individuals really want to understand why we are in the situation we are in and how we can change it.

We have also seen a resurgence in interest in Economics as our A Level in Economics has also seen increased student enrols. Our students tell us they really want to understand the details behind the financial nightmare instead of being passive observers.

At Start Learning we encourage all interest in learning and understanding the world around you is some of the most valuable.

Dementia the Hidden Health Challenge

At Start Learning we are always horizon scanning, trying to work out what the biggest issues of tomorrow are so we can start training for them today.

A recent report by Oxford University has highlighted the growing cost of Dementia. Currently 820,000 people suffer from the disease and it costs the economy £23 billion a year, more than Heart Disease (£8 billion) and Cancer (£12 billion) put together.

However current levels of research funding do not reflect this with just £50 million a year for Dementia and over £800 million for cancer and heart disease.

Training is going to be critical to combat this problem and we need to start preparing now. Our course in Dementia Care is ideal. If you want a broader overview of the health industry then our Health and Social Care course may fit better.