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Being in a job where I need to respond to I.T. problems, no matter what time of day
or night they arise, it was important to me to have a University that was available to
me 24 hours a day.
I also have a young family, my kids are aged 8 and 5, and they want to spend as much time
with their dad as they can -- so it was equally important that I found a University that allowed
me to pick up and put down my studies whenever I needed to.
The Roehampton Online experience gave me just that. The whole learning experience is designed
to be as intuitive and flexible as possible.
As soon as I log into the online campus Inspirenet I have everything I need at a click of a button.
Inspirenet takes aspects of social media and mixes it with academia. I have my own personal
profile page, where I can share articles and post other items of interest to fellow students,
or follow peers, which is a great way to meet and share diverse experiences with people
from all over the world.
One of the things I like best about this is that it makes it really easy for students
to help one another. Just by posting a quick comment in Inspirenet I can get advice or
feedback, which really makes me feel a part of the community, versus studying on my own.
My student support network is also very active in Inspirenet. Each week they post helpful
tips and advice to help keep moving forward. They also post articles and skills units in
a Blog section, such as improving academic writing, these are designed to help me in
areas related to my learning.
I can also access my support network, and fellow student through the chat function.
So if I have a quick question or just want to catch up with someone, I can get a response
right away.
Inspirenet also allows me the opportunity to create and join groups, which can be created
by programme of study, country or region and even which soccer team I support.
The fact that I am able to access Inspirenet on my laptop and tablet is great. As it means
those hours I spend on the train commuting to and from work, are time well spent studying.
Thus my tablet and my laptop act as my text book and University all rolled into one.
I can easily download all the learning resources in the classroom navigator. The navigator
allows me to see exactly where I'm at in my current course, monitor my progress, access
my group discussions and the media content. It's all there at the drop of a hat.
Contact with faculty is also very regular - they're consistently providing useful information
and providing feedback in the classroom.
I'm already thinking about what comes next. I really want to do a PHD, and I hope that
when the time comes I'll be able to also do this online with Roehampton, because I know
with this University and Inspirenet I can achieve that while keeping all the other parts
of my life in balance.