Too busy to do a degree? Think again.

Matt Bower lectures online to students enrolled in the Graduate Diploma of Information Technology.

With a full-time job, a husband, kids, and a home to run, Sharon Peterson’s life was already pretty full. So an online IT degree was the perfect fit.

The prospect of taking up postgraduate study seemed a distant goal for Peterson until she discovered that it was possible to upgrade her existing information technology skills and formalise her qualifications by enrolling in the online Graduate Diploma of Information Technology offered by Macquarie University’s Division of Information and Communication Sciences.

Already working in information technology creating databases using Microsoft Access, Peterson says that while she acquired most of her IT skills on the job, she was keen to expand her knowledge.

“I had felt a bit restricted so I wanted a broader view of my capabilities in programming and if I decided to move on to another job, I’d have the paper to say that I’m IT qualified and not just self-taught,” she says.

Peterson says she had investigated what was being offered elsewhere in the way of postgraduate IT courses.

“It would have been four nights a week and so I would not have been home until after 10pm,” she says.

Clearly, such a schedule would have been difficult to maintain, but then Peterson discovered Macquarie’s online Graduate Diploma in IT.

The benefits of learning online

She says she is pleased with her online experience so far although initially, the continual workload was a bit of a shock to the system.

“But once you get used to it, it’s quite good. I have more control and it keeps you moving,” she says.

The program consists of eight units which students access using the WebCT portal. It features tools such as voice annotated multimedia desktop recordings, audio-PowerPoint style topic overviews, online quizzes, and a virtual classroom with interactive chat, streaming camera and voice, file transfers and screen sharing. She and her fellow students can watch their lecturers demonstrate a particular problem or exercise in real time online. All work is graded and feedback is given. 

Peterson is taking two classes this semester. If she continues at the current rate, she should be finished within two years. She says she likes the way the classes are structured - there are deadlines to meet every week, assignments to complete, quizzes to take and discussions to participate in. But Peterson says the biggest advantage to the online class is being able to come home from work to concentrate on her studies and still sit down with her family to dinner in the evening.

“You’ve got the advantage of being at home while you are doing the class so if anything dramatic happens at home, you can still attend to it,” she says.

A course designed with students in mind

Lecturer in IT at Macquarie, Matt Bower, who teaches one of Peterson’s classes says the online program is designed to meet the needs of student like Peterson who, because of their busy schedules, need to learn in their own time.

“You do the exercises for the week then come together once a week for two hours online. It’s a more compact approach. Students don’t waste time in hours of lectures on material that can be more efficiently learned independently, like declarative or factual knowledge.”

For more information, contact Matt Bower at matt.bower@mq.edu.au More information about the Graduate Diploma in Information Technology can be found at www.ppdp.mq.edu.au/degree_programs/grad_dip/

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