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Education/training

Experts agree: The place to begin is with the students themselves

Choosing a continuing education course

The GTA boasts four universities, half a dozen colleges and perhaps a score or more private schools. Separately, they offer would-be Continuing Education students courses in everything from accounting to zoology. Combined, their program lineups would make even a CSI investigator shake his head and wonder where to start.

DAVID CHILTON -- Special to the Toronto Sun

[ 2007-09-07 ]

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According to the experts, the place to begin is with the students themselves. They must first ask what they actually want from a CE course. Are they taking a course out of personal interest? Because they want to advance their careers? Is their boss leaning on them to learn more so they can contribute more? Clarity, in other words, is key.

Anita Shilton, dean of Continuing Education at Ryerson's G. Raymond Chang School, says she sees a lot of potential students come to the downtown university for academic advice from professors and co-ordinators of the programs at the school. They can help them choose the right course, offer them overviews and explain course pre-requisites.

"I would say our advice goes from the strategic to the operational," Shilton says.

Marilynn Booth, director of Continuing Studies at U of T, takes a similar tack. She says her staff will ask would-be students about their goals, whether they are social, career-oriented or tied to further education, and direct them appropriately. However, it should be noted that Continuing Studies at U of T does not offer university credit courses.

Once they've figured out what they want to study and why, the experts say the next step is choosing how. Most CE and CS are still offered in class, although online learning is becoming more and more popular, and even good, old-fashioned correspondence courses -- delivered and returned by good, old-fashioned snail mail -- are still available in some instances.

Jeanette Barrett, dean of the Schools of Career Development and Continuing Education at Durham College in Oshawa, cautions that online learning is not for everyone. Students need to be motivated and remain motivated, Barrett says. But, if they suspect that they need the structure of a set time and place each week, then of course in-class study is the better option.

HYBRID TREND

Interestingly, and although online study has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, Booth suggests the trend in CE/CS learning is a hybrid of online and in-class. That may offer some easing of the educational isolation many online students report -- and a little discipline for anyone inclined to backsliding.

Next, there's the difficult question of when CE/CS students should take their courses.

At one time, part-time education was at night -- right after work, in fact. That's all changed now and schools offer classes at night, during the day and on Saturdays and Sundays. Irrespective of when the student chooses to attend class, Shilton offers up a warning about the time involved: "I can't tell you it isn't a jolt for some people."

And, since time is the one commodity there's never enough of, it's worth checking to see how long a school stays open for. At Ryerson, the Chang School operates 12 months of the year.

Last, but definitely not least, are fees. Students should look into the subject because, part-time or not, they may be eligible for OSAP and bursaries to ease the financial burden of their pay-as-they-go studies.

QUICK FACTS

- Durham offers courses in Oshawa, Whitby, Uxbridge and Ajax-Pickering.

- Some 84% of Chang School students are working adults.

- U of T's Continuing Studies offers between 400 and 500 courses among its St. George, Scarborough and Mississauga campuses.

- Most CE/CS courses begin the second and third weeks of September.