{"id":38364,"date":"2017-03-30T13:46:40","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T20:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=38364"},"modified":"2017-03-30T13:46:40","modified_gmt":"2017-03-30T20:46:40","slug":"doctorate-distance-take-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctorate-distance-take-one\/","title":{"rendered":"A doctorate at a distance \u2013 take one"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"distancelearning\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I did my PhD by distance education. This wasn\u2019t terribly\u00a0common at the time I did it \u2013 but it wasn\u2019t all that unusual in universities that specialised in catering for remote, working or part-time students. However, the doctorate at a\u00a0distance\u00a0is relatively common now.\u00a0\u00a0As more and more people enrol in doctoral degrees, more also want to work with a supervisor and university that aren\u2019t on their door step. \u00a0And that makes it important to talk about what it means to do a research degree somewhere other than \u2018at home\u2019.<\/p>\n

A caveat. I generally don\u2019t write much about my own PhD much. N=1 and all that. \u00a0I prefer to use my research and teaching for the \u2018stuff\u2019 of this blog. But I\u2019ll\u00a0make an exception on this topic. But I do also\u00a0supervise doctoral researchers who don\u2019t live in my city and I read the research on distance education. \u00a0And\u00a0I am concerned\u00a0that\u00a0there is still not a lot of\u00a0discussion and writing about the PhD or professional doctorate by distance despite the increases in enrolment. What little there is comes largely from universities whose history is in distance provision. The doctorate by distance\u00a0is a topic that merits much more airing IMHO. I\u2019m particularly\u00a0keen to see more discussion\u00a0online about distant doctoral researchers as here, in the cloud, is where many distanced doctoral researchers hang out.<\/p>\n

So this is my contribution to talking more. Here are two things that I think are important if you are thinking about doing a doctorate in a university far, far away.<\/p>\n

(1) Think long and hard about how you will cope with distance education<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t choose to do a PhD by distance mode. \u00a0I wanted firstly to be at a particular university. I knew a lot of the staff and their work, and I knew that they would actively support the kind of research I wanted to do. But this\u00a0choice\u00a0meant that I either had to move states \u2013 not likely \u2013 or do the PhD remotely.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t afraid of distance education as I had previously done postgraduate taught courses in this mode. In reality, this kind of study was a good fit. But I wouldn\u2019t have chosen distance if the university hadn\u2019t been right.<\/p>\n

Distance education doesn\u2019t sit well with everybody. My partner for example did a postgraduate taught degree by distance and he found it enormously frustrating. He wanted more regular contact, and to be part of a supportive social cohort which had lively discussions. The online interaction he was offered seemed far too impersonal and, although he passed well, he didn\u2019t enjoy the experience. I, on the other hand, am a bit of an auto-didact. I\u2019m not worried about having to organise myself or live with my own thoughts. In fact, I rather relish solitary intellectual work. So, doctoral work by distance and I got on pretty well.<\/p>\n

If you<\/em> are considering a distant doctoral experience, it\u2019s important to think honestly about your own preferences and habits. If you find solitary work alarming or you have difficulty motivating yourself, then doctoral research may be tricky full stop \u2013 but distance education won\u2019t work at all, as it intensifies both isolation and the need for strong organisation and self-discipline. Or, if you are\u00a0like my partner \u2013 \u00a0the kind of person that does best when you are with other people, and when you are somewhere you can hang out in the library and caf\u00e9, catch your supervisor in the corridor, easily meet up with other doctoral researchers \u2013 then wandering lonely as a cloud through the\u00a0doctoral experience\u00a0may not be your best choice.<\/p>\n

If however you are more like me, and happy to get on with things largely by yourself, then studying\u00a0away from your university home base\u00a0can be a great option.<\/p>\n

(2) Choose your university carefully<\/strong><\/p>\n

I did my PhD at a specialist distance education university. Deakin University in Australia, like the Open University in the UK, supported its doctoral researchers very well. In particular:<\/p>\n