CloistersCloisters 10 - September 2006


 

Three Wishes - "Your wish is my command"

Noel Chidwick

What are the "Three Wishes"

We have a new kind of course available - The Three Wishes. You can join at any time, day or night, and begin learning straight away. All course notes and materials are available online, and there are learning activities for you to tackle. Each course has a support forum for you and other students. Best of all, you have the support of a genie - sorry, tutor - and you can ask up to three questions - the three wishes.

Why Three Wishes?

This is a new departure for us: we wanted to combine the spontaneity of the web ("I want to learn now!") with the support of a real live tutor, but how to do it? This is when we came up with our 'Three Wishes' model - a tiny course supported by a tutor.

A Three Wishes course is ideal for you if:

  • You want to learn something new, but don't have the time to take a longer course

  • You want to try an online course to see what it's like

  • You want to return to learning but you want to build your confidence

  • You want to do more than 'look it up on the web'

Your Tutor

You will have a tutor for your three wishes course, and they will be delighted to answer your questions and to give feedback on your assignments (activities). You can ask up to three questions to help you through your course, and your tutor will usually reply within a couple of days. Our tutors do not live inside the box and have lives outside the New Curiosity Shop, so please don't expect an instant reply. Each Three Wishes course also closes with a tutor-marked assignment or activity to provide feedback. If your tutor is satisfied with your efforts you will also receive, via e-mail, an attractive certificate to frame and hang on your wall.

Why not just surf the net?

Go ahead - type a word or two into your favourite search engine to find out what you want. You can find out a lot by surfing the web, but is that learning? All our Three Wishes course are written by experienced teachers and each course contain activities and assignments designed to test and reinforce your learning.

Resources

For a Three Wishes course all resources, notes and materials are usually available online as part of the courses. If your course has any special requirements you will be warned in advance - check the course information page. Your tutor may recommend further reading, but that will be in addition to the course. All our Three Wishes courses are available over the web - you just need a computer with an Internet connection.

How Long is a Three Wishes Course?

A Three Wishes course is a 'chunk' of learning, and should take you around four hours to complete. But you don't have to take it all in one sitting - you have up to a month to ask your Three Wishes and tackle any tutor-marked activities, and you will have access to your course and the course forum for a year from the time you join.

Pick a course now

We're testing the model with just a couple of courses:

Constellations of the NorthConstellations of the North - a painless introduction to astronomy that gets you out and looking at the stars

 

 

 

 

How to Learn OnlineHow to Learn Online - a confidence booster of a course to get you back into the ways of learning and to introduce you to the pleasures of learning online.

 

 

 

There are more to follow...

 

Tutor as GenieFind out more

To find out more about our Three Wishes contact us by any of the means available on the Contact Page.

Visit our Three Wishes collection and enrol on a course now.

Get ready to polish that lamp...

 

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