Here are some comments from current users of Webucate:
"The e-group link is really useful and I've made good use of it (although admittedly more as a lurker!)
All in all I am really glad I did consider this course."
Stephan Phillips, Director of Advertisement Sales, Eastern Counties
Newspapers Ltd. (a student on an MSc programme)
and here's a follow-up from Stephan)
Yes, I've stopped lurking for a minute.
During the whole process lurking on the egroup has given me a lot of
encouragement, and Lynn, my tutor has been really excellent, using just the
right skills to help me and coach me to achieve the next stage. Without
her support it would not have happened.
I did hit a block and nearly gave up, but am through it now, and looking
forward to getting the project completed, whatever the outcome.
A colleague at work is 3/4 way through a PhD, and has stopped for 4 months. He's
hit a block, and I'm busy trying to persuade him to keep going. He doesn't have
the support mechanism that this group gave me, so thanks for all the
encouragement, because without it I would not have gone as far as I have.
I think you can't do this type of study in total isolation. You need people who
know what you are going through, or at least a knowledge that other people are
going through what you are!
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again, hopefully with those funny hats
and coats. (at the graduation ceremony - editor)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tony Snowdon:
"The first weekend was very good, but the experience of then being
thrown straight into an assignment was traumatic; not having a semester to work
up to it. Having said that I should have expected it !
Come the second weekend, I think I was shell shocked, and poorly prepared having
spent so much stressful and perhaps poorly directed effort on the first
assignment. Perhaps a week between handing in and the next residential might
have been in order.
Having said all that, ''I am now 'into' the second assignment and a lot more
focused and organised, and really enjoying it''. The residential weekends are
great, if a little frenetic, and I feel that we have a great group - students
and lecturers, not forgetting all at MDC.
Networking is starting, I sense that the support will be brilliant, and
potentially even better than seeing one's tutor once a month for half an hour
! I have perhaps been cynical about distance learning in the past, feeling
that I might feel too remote and not too motivated, but things just seem to be
warming up.
If you (MDC) offered another residential weekend, I think that I would be the
first to accept. I think that the communication aspect is crucial, to help pull
everyone along, and if anyone struggles for short periods, it is important that
they can share experiences with the rest of the group, to help get them back on
track."
Tony Snowdon, Marketing Director, FTL Seals Technology
'Since we introduced the ecommunity aspect through Webucate, the results and
particularly the retention rates have been spectacular'. Frances Clarke
(Education Programmes Manager)
'Webucate is just what we have always needed to keep a disparate group of
busy executives on track to complete their degrees. It's particularly
important where delegates are based in various countries in the Gulf region, and
don't physically meet each other very often.' Rob Rice Managing Director
of Middle East Consultants Ltd
'Our results on the MSc in Marketing part-time programme have been much much
better than the university had any right to expect. We think this is
largely due to the mutual support structures that are provided by the e-group
function within Webucate' Robin Croft Head of Marketing, the Business
School Glamorgan University
