Distance learning has come far since the days of late-night TV lectures. We speak to students who have turned their lives around from the comfort of their homes

Win your Future: Study for free at the Open University

Andrea Goldshaw gets up at 5am, studies for three hours and then goes to work. She is in the second year of a law conversion course with Nottingham Trent University studying under its distance learning programme, an option that allows her to get to grips with the subject in her own time at home. It’s hard work combining study, paid work and motherhood, but Goldshaw* has a very personal reason for wanting to change career.

Until a few years ago she was a teaching assistant, living with her husband and children in Wales. “I was a victim of domestic violence, fled my home with my children and ended up in a refuge,” she says. “I didn’t qualify for legal aid so I self-litigated in the case against my husband but was given some crucial pro bono legal advice. Now I want to become a lawyer specialising in domestic violence and child contact – but my real desire is to give pro bono advice so that I can give back what was given to me.”

Goldshaw completed her early childhood studies degree while in the refuge and then got a place on the Nottingham course. She now earns an income as a part-time Freedom Programme facilitator, working with women experiencing domestic violence as well as working as a debt counsellor. “Distance learning has been really hard in many ways, but because I’m passionate about what I want to do, that has kept me going,” she says.

Goldshaw’s circumstances might be an unusual motivation to study, but her drive and commitment to change her life are common among those heading back to university or college in their 30s, 40s, 50s and even older. The vast majority of those studying through distance learning have financial and personal commitments and cannot afford to give up paid work to study on campus.

The Open University is probably the best known name in distance learning, with 256,000 students worldwide, but it is not the only institution to offer degrees that can be completed at home. Most campus universities now offer at least some element of distance learning on a selection of courses, while others, such as the University of Liverpool, have developed postgraduate courses that involve no face-to-face interaction at all.

“We are at the stage now where we are a serious player in total online learning,” says Alan Southern, director of e-learning at the University of Liverpool. “On some courses we have introduced some face-to-face contact, but our courses are predominantly built on the premise they are 100% online.”

Further education opportunities are also available via distance learning, most notably from e-learning organisation Learn Direct but also from organisations such as Montessori, which has recently launched a distance learning website for those wanting to train to be a teacher.

“We wanted to make our teacher training accessible for more people,” says Montessori’s Amanda Gilchrist. “We get a lot of mums who discover Montessori through their own children but we also get quite a lot of people who want to change career from things such as the law or banking, because they want to give something back.”

The idea of “giving something back” is a typical motivation for those returning to education. After the near collapse of the UK banking system and the subsequent economic downturn, newspapers and websites were rife with stories of redundant or soon-to-be-redundant bankers turning to teaching and other caring professions.

Christina Lloyd, director of teaching and learner support at the Open University, says that over the years there has been a noticeable trend towards people using the university’s courses for a change in career or career progression, rather than studying for personal development or interest.

“The average age of Open University students has dropped,” she says. “It used to be mid-40s to 50. Now students are typically in their mid-30s – which makes sense when you think that career change is a strong motivating factor for taking a course.”

Michelle Virtue and Vincent Fernandez have very different stories to tell, but both were driven by a desire to move into more people-focused careers. Virtue, 42, had worked in banking for 16 years when she took redundancy and turned to the Open University to study health and social care. “I am more of a people person and decided that my place was helping people to make the most of their life,” she says.

She is a single mother, but with the help and support of her mum, managed to juggle running a home and looking after her daughter, with sticking to a strict routine to complete her assignments. Now she manages a sheltered scheme for her local authority.

Fernandez went straight from school into his father’s profession of mining, but had to leave after 28 years because of a spinal injury. “I had been involved in training people on site and I got a buzz from imparting information and seeing that used – and I knew I wanted to continue that somehow.”

He saw an advert for Learn Direct, and went to one of its centres. “I was trembling like a kid when I went in, but they stuck with me and I did four certificates in maths and English.” He is now a teaching assistant at his local school, working primarily with children with emotional and behavioural difficulties and is considering studying psychology online in his spare time.

The technological revolution has also made distance learning increasingly accessible and the materials more diverse. Gone are the days when most materials were printed and students tuned in to late-night lectures on television. Today, Open University students are still taught through printed materials but these are backed up by audio CDs, video DVDs, and online resources. The university even has its own channel on YouTube and students can download their materials from iTunes and listen to them on their MP3 players. Technology has also changed the nature of contact between students and their lecturers, as well as their peers.

“Students can now have realtime interaction with tutors via live online conferencing,” says Lloyd. “It’s quite a bit more sophisticated than Skype. Lots of people can log in at once and a tutor can see who wants to ask a question when a marker appears against that student’s name.”

This sort of technology has meant that courses such as those at Liverpool can dispense with human interaction altogether. However, most courses require, or at least strongly recommend, some sort of face-to-face contact.

“Most students want face-to-face contact and they are often surprised at how much difference a weekend of contact will make,” says Shane Russell, programme leader for the graduate diploma in law distance learning course at Nottingham Trent. “Students do miss out on certain things that come with a campus-based degree, but you have to do what is practical and fits in with your circumstances.”

In common with other higher education students in the UK, one of the hardest things to manage for those studying via distance learning is the cost, with undergraduate and postgraduate courses typically costing around £15,000. The vast majority of those going down this route are studying part-time and, up until this coming academic year, there have been no loans for fees for part-time students. From August this year, with tuition fees rising, part-time students will have access to loans that they will need to pay back only when they are earning a certain amount.

Many of those taking postgraduate, professionally focused degrees such as those offered online at the University of Liverpool are either working in professions where they are paid well and can afford to fund their study, or are part-funded by their employers. Others, such as Goldshaw, rely on a combination of bank loans and strict budgeting. “You have to be practical with money and very disciplined so that studying is affordable,” she says.

It’s not just money management that requires discipline for those studying from home. Distance learning requires real discipline in time management and, often, an understanding partner.

Kate Bressner, who studied for a life sciences degree with The Open University, and subsequently switched her career in business management to become a medical science researcher, says discipline was key. “You have to really plan your work. I studied from 8pm until 10pm or 11pm every evening at one point. Luckily my husband had also studied through Open University and so was very understanding and supportive.”

While this sort of discipline, not to mention the loss of social life and family time, can be gruelling, The Open University’s Lloyd says it really pays off. Employers do notice.

“In the past people were unsure about studying through The Open University because they weren’t sure about the university’s credibility,” she says. “Now we are getting excellent feedback on the calibre of our students and our degrees. Students are particularly praised for possessing great time management and self-motivation. These qualities can really make someone stand out in a competitive employment market.”

*Name has been changed

Problems at work? Need advice? Our agony uncle – and readers – have the answers

I’d like to go part-time, but how do I best raise it with the company?

I work for a media company in a business development role; the company has just been taken over and is now debt free with a seemingly more positive future. But the department I work in isn’t making a great deal of money and there could be casualties on the horizon – although I’m not privy to that information. I have been making money for the company, albeit less over recent years.

I’d like to go part-time to allow me to study and develop in other areas. My query relates to the way to go about it: Do I wait for the first quarter figures this year (when they may be looking to make savings)? Do I wait until a possible redundancy is on the table (I’ve been at the company for around seven years)? Or do I casually raise it and say to my boss, “If you need to make further savings before any redundancies, perhaps, for some, there could be a shorter working week”?

Jeremy says

This, as you clearly recognise, is a tricky one. When companies have to make payroll savings, they usually think first of making redundancies – it seems altogether cleaner and neater than keeping on the same number of people, but putting them on to shorter working weeks. And when considering redundancies, they naturally first consider those whose contribution they least value.

I’d be wary of raising part-time working now – however casually. Nobody enjoys making people redundant, so it would be only human if your boss were to see your question as evidence of a degree of half-heartedness on your part, and therefore justification for putting you on the vulnerable list. Once that’s happened, of course, there’s no going back. I think you’d be wiser to wait and see. If redundancies are made, and you’re among them, you’ve nothing to lose by then suggesting a shorter working week, instead. If you’re not among them, the conclusion must be that you’re relatively secure, so you’d be risking little by raising it.

But one thing I urge you to do. When putting your case, you’ll be tempted to emphasise the advantages to you: more time to study and develop your life in other directions. You must also have a strong argument that such an arrangement would be in your company’s interest, as well. You must be certain that your role can be as effectively carried out in four days as in five – and be seen to have thought it all through with great conscientiousness.

Framed properly, and that means assessing the implications through your company’s eyes as well as your own, your request doesn’t have to imply any lack of commitment on your part.

Readers say

• I wanted to go part-time for a variety of reasons, and the general reaction from management was negative. Part-time work was seen as OK for women in admin support positions, but not for men in professional roles (yes, this was only a few years ago in the UK – and yes, I did sometimes think I’d woken up in 1973). After some arguing I was allowed to go part-time, but it became obvious that any thought of career progression was out of the question.

A subsequent workplace (where I was a contractor, not an employee) was making cutbacks, and they sent a message to all staff inviting volunteers to reduce to part-time/ taking a sabbatical before they started seeking redundancies. My own employer simply imposed short-time working on everyone. CatfordCat

• Even if the company had a rigid plan for the next nine months (unlikely), you just don’t have the information to second-guess what moves it will make. What you do have is clarity about what you would like for yourself, and provided you have a reasonable relationship with your boss, you should share this with him and see where it goes. You have been making money for the company, and should be well thought of, which is a happy place to start. Mudmaid

• I am a new father and tried going part-time but was rejected as it did not suit the business. Before and after my application, mothers who applied on the same grounds were accepted. Fathers for justice! Barryislandbartos

I feel I’m missing out, but if I quit I’ll be letting down my team

I work for a media company in a business development role; the company has just been taken over and is now debt free with a seemingly more positive future. But the department I work in isn’t making a great deal of money and there could be casualties on the horizon – although I’m not privy to that information. I have been making money for the company, albeit less over recent years.

I’d like to go part-time to allow me to study and develop in other areas. My query relates to the way to go about it: Do I wait for the first quarter figures this year (when they may be looking to make savings)? Do I wait until a possible redundancy is on the table (I’ve been at the company for around seven years)? Or do I casually raise it and say to my boss, “If you need to make further savings before any redundancies, perhaps, for some, there could be a shorter working week”?

Jeremy says

Your problem, as I understand it, is this. You’re senior enough to be part of the team charged with turning your agency round; but although you don’t say so explicitly, the fact that you’re dissatisfied with the progress this team has made clearly suggests that you have doubts about the its composition and leadership. You feel you could make a greater contribution, learn more and progress more quickly, with different people, somewhere else.

If that’s your frame of mind, it may not be a constructive act of loyalty for you to soldier on. Turn-around teams need to be united and committed. If it’s not already apparent to the rest of your team, your dissatisfaction with the progress of the office and your role within it, soon will be. The chances are that, quite unintentionally, your continued unenthusiastic presence might actually do more harm than good.

So I think you should make an internal decision to go – and not just for your own sake. You’re disinclined to move to a rival agency and start all over again, and you believe you’ve chalked up some reasonable credit with your existing company. You say there are parts of that company that are among the best – and certainly more flourishing than your present office. So you should certainly – and discreetly – sound out your chances of an internal transfer.

When doing so, however, be careful to construct a valid reason for wanting to transfer that isn’t dependent on criticism of your present team. That would be an unforgivable farewell present to your former colleagues and is, in any case, unnecessary. Be aware, however, that even a tentative enquiry of this kind can lead to unintended consequences. If your standing within the company isn’t quite as high as you like to believe, you might well find yourself having to look outside.

Readers say

• None of us has a crystal ball, and while I can well understand your loyalty, if a year or two more won’t change things dramatically, why hang about? Equally, if you are close to the original goal and an award is on the horizon, stay, as it will make you much more appealing to future employers.

The bottom line is that anyone that has clearly left a task unfinished and bolted, doesn’t win any popularity contests with future employers. Loyalty – as you have said – is important, especially in this market. ExBrighton Belle

• In my experience, at least, advertising agencies tend to include a disproportionate number of highly-competitive people who have rather large (albeit often undeserved) egos, coupled with questionable morals and a tendency to move quickly from job to job because they constantly crave recognition, status, etc.

If you’re uncomfortable working in such companies, perhaps you should consider whether it’s the industry you should be changing, rather than just your job. I would also advise against convincing yourself that the grass must be greener elsewhere – you may receive better pay/benefits but would you be any happier if, when it comes down to it, your issue is with the industry, rather than your company? SmartBananaGal

For Jeremy’s and readers’ advice on a work issue, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@guardian.co.uk. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or reply personally.

Moderating discussion forums is about more than being an internet policeman, says Dawn Kitchener. There are dark times, but plenty of laughs too

A vase containing two red gerberas sits on the window sill of Dawn Kitchener’s home office. Behind the half-open slatted blinds, in the streets of Shepperton, south-west London, it’s a cold, still morning. But on the laptop in front of us, an animated bulletin board discussion about dangerous dogs is rising to the boil.

“Michelle you are speaking a load of crap excuse the language!!” one poster writes. “I have a staff and she is the most lovable dog I know! By suggesting staffies need to be seized will only heighten illegal dog breeding … Grow up woman, and think about what you write!” Another poster adds: “All I wanna say is that it’s not the dogs it’s their bloody owners look at these gangs just have dogs 2 attack people and they just hav [sic] a fine instead of going 2 prison.” The laptop chimes soothingly as more and more comments appear on screen.

Kitchener observes this robust exchange of views, hosted on the website of the ITV1 programme This Morning, with a mild detachment, knowing that before long she will leave an indelible mark on the discussion, even if none of her opinions will be on view.

“This one that says ‘crap’,” she explains, matter-of-factly, “I know I’ll just delete that straight away.”

As a moderator, it is Kitchener’s job to sanitise internet discussion threads on topics ranging from car dealerships to current affairs. Her employer, a company called eModeration, offers this service to some of the world’s best-known brands, all of whom wish to join in with the social media revolution without exposing themselves to unwanted reputational damage.

It is a role she has been in for around five years, taking her neatly from the early days of social media use to the current proliferation of online networking, a world in which Facebook and Twitter collectively reach 1.1 billion users. Not so long ago, most of Kitchener’s work would have involved intercepting comments on internet messageboards or forums before they could be seen publicly. “The nub of what I’m doing is making sure nothing libellous is said or illegal is posted,” she explains, “So obviously from that point of view, premoderated forums were much better. You could keep them quite safe, quite clean. And they would develop into real communities.”

Yet as she points out, sounding a little regretful, the social media explosion has moved things on. Comments now go up instantaneously and it is her job to remove anything contentious as quickly as possible. “Now people want responses straight away, don’t they?” she reflects. “Part of what I do is about managing that for clients.”

We peer at Kitchener’s special moderator’s view of comments, in which sensitive words are highlighted in red, such as “crap”, “teenage” and even “hun” – an abbreviation of “honey”, I’m relieved to note, rather than a reference to wartime Germany.

Quickly it becomes apparent that, in the squeaky clean corporate world, anything contentious gets removed without a second thought. Only occasionally does Kitchener need to exercise judgment. “Maybe the word ‘drugs’ has been highlighted and it might be fine,” she says. “But it might be that someone’s said, ‘Oh, one of the presenters looks like they’re on drugs today.’” Momentarily I find it difficult to shake this image. “Obviously we’d have to remove that,” she says firmly.

While most of her work is taken up with weeding out mild offence, there are also times, especially on a topical discussion show like This Morning, when the conversation can take a darker turn.

“It really depends on the news,” she says. “If something happens and gets featured on the programme, you might get lots of racist comments coming in, for example.”

Immediately I think of the recent Stephen Lawrence murder trial. In relation to that, was it necessary to censor many comments on racist grounds? “I don’t know if you’d say a lot,” she says picking her words carefully. “For something like the Lawrence case we’d probably have around 1,000 comments during the time it was being discussed on the TV, and you’d get maybe a couple of hundred that contained something unacceptable. But you’d get loads of arguing as well, someone sticking their neck out and saying something and then getting loads of support for it.”

Often though, Kitchener points out, the most emotive topics have nothing to do with the news. One such example was a discussion about a man claiming to be “the vainest man in Britain”, and here she cannot resist wading in and offering her own two penneth: “He got masses of abuse, because British people just don’t like arrogance, do they? He was saying , ‘I can have any woman I like’, and people were going absolutely mad. That was probably one of the worst shifts.” She shakes her head and laughs. “People were going on about this guy and what they’d do to him.”

Her role in policing abusive posts goes no further than removing them and notifying the site provider that further investigation may be needed. Frequently abusive or baiting posters are warned and, eventually, have their accounts closed. “The problem with the internet is if you’re banned, you can just recreate another user identity,” she sighs. “That’s why you constantly have to keep on top of it.”

Crucially, Kitchener carries out all her moderating work from home. Prior to having children, she enjoyed a successful publishing career in London. But, as for many working mothers, child care and commuting became less and less compatible.

This led her to give up working altogether for a time, until a friend introduced her to eModeration. “They were looking specifically for a parent who could do five hours a week on a mother and baby site. So I thought that’d be perfect, just for a little bit of money on the side,” she recalls.

The arrangement suited her well: “I loved it, reading this forum for pregnant mums and being able to do it from home. My youngest was about two at the time and I didn’t really want to be working in town.”

Since then she has taken on more projects, fitting them around the needs of her three children, all of whom are now established at school. Stacks of board games on shelves and brightly coloured drawings on the walls offer evidence of their existence, but otherwise the immaculately tidy house (”only because I knew you were coming,” she insists) has a stillness to it that I find unsettling as one more accustomed to the buzz of an office.

I wonder if the anonymity and isolation can be lonely, but the solution, appropriately enough, lies in eModeration’s network of 180 or so other home-based workers around the world. All are connected to instant messaging, Skype and email, as well as via a virtual office called Campfire, and actively encouraged to chat and support one another as though in a regular office environment. “Here,” Kitchener points out, looking genuinely touched, “someone’s put up a message saying Happy Peanut Butter Day!”

The humour and mutual support of her virtual colleagues is needed for the times when comments turn to sadder subjects such as child welfare or suicide threats, of which she says there are an increasing number.

“I have had two or three commenters saying, I don’t want to go on any more,” she says. “We would immediately escalate that. There’s a procedure whereby we quickly flag it up to the client, so they can contact the user and get them some help.”

Clearly there is good reason for many comments to be removed, but there also seems to be an aspect of this electronic hatchet work that goes against the community grain to which many discussion sites aspire.

Kitchener’s anonymous interventions may, for example, be presented to by commenters without any explanation or context. One comment on her screen reads: “Why ask for our opinions if you’re going to delete them … how rude!”

Similarly, she says the hardest part of handling a suicide-related post is never knowing the outcome. “It does affect you,” she admits. “You’re just left there thinking, I hope that person is all right.”

The rotas of hourly shifts she works are plotted sensitively, giving moderators the chance to recover from potentially stressful projects by interspersing them with lighter-hearted ones. “I’ve never had to sit for eight hours reading really horrible stuff,” she says.

Still, it feels like the beautifully sunny children’s pictures around her workspace cast a light of their own on her desk. Kitchener thinks moderating, from a parental perspective, makes her more open minded: “You learn how to keep your kids safe. Otherwise, I don’t think I’d know what goes on.”

Warming to the theme, she sounds as if she might even be composing a comment of her own. “Once people are behind a computer, they can turn into monsters, saying things I don’t think they’d ever say in real life,” she says, before pausing to reflect. “It’s a different world. You just have to look at it like that, I think.”