Thinking out loud

I’ve long been a fan of the Internet and for many years now have used it not only as my primary method of communication but as my preferred medium for study, however over the New Year period my wonderful World Wide Web came crashing down around my ears when I lost my connection for nearly the whole month of January. As it happened I was between courses (though I did have some prep work it would have been useful to have access for) so the impact on my education was not as significant as it could have been, but it did make me stop and think. What if I had been mid course? I mean I’m not talking a couple days or even a couple of weeks without access here, but nearly four whole weeks. What if I had actually been on that web applications course that I’d thought of doing over the winter? Four weeks out of a twelve week course is a long time and the chances of being able to catch up are slim to none, even with a full 60 point course losing a month from it can have serious repercussions. And much as I like to think I’m an individual I appreciate that I am not unique. If I can lose my connection for so long then it can happen to other students too; which poses the question – what happens if a student can’t access their course materials for a significant period?

Can they change presentations? Can they plead special circumstances come exam time? Can they have their money back? The truth is there isn’t a simple answer to any of these questions (well apart from the “can I have my course fees back?”). It depends on the course, the time of year (in the sense of how far through the course you might be) and possibly it depends on which way the wind is blowing at the time – which on reflection is quite worrying. Now I’d like to make it clear here that I don’t have definitive answers to any of my questions because posing hypothetical questions to someone at the other end of the phone when the whole set up is designed to deal with concrete problems and situations is fraught with difficulty, and the while the person I spoke to did their best to try and help, the best they could come up with was that every circumstance would be taken into account should the need arise. Reassuring, but not definitive.

So should I be concerned? The university is making its continued push forward with the Virtual Learning Environment, more and more courses have at least an online element, and while I understand that I make my choice to study online completely voluntarily, the choice to do so or not is becoming more and more difficult for many as our university moves into its e-business/e-learning future. While I understand the arguments put forward about the university having to change and adapt if it is to survive in an increasingly competitive higher education market, I also know that in the virtual world as in the real one – life happens.