Profiles of Successful Students
The Graduate Centre for Applied Psychology (GCAP) is designed specifically for students who enjoy and may also require the level of independence and flexibility associated with taking courses at a distance.
The programs are ideal for professionals who are actively engaged in their own careers and are seeking learning opportunities that they can fit into their current schedules and timelines. Courses are offered in a way that allows students to choose when and where they engage in the study process. The program is also designed to encourage students to integrate their learning into their professional lives through work-based assignments and applied projects. It offers a viable alternative for those living outside major university centres.
While designed with the flexibility to allow students to continue working and to avoid relocation, graduate training requires a considerable time commitment. Students in this program can expect to spend a minimum of 15 hours per week on each of their graduate courses. This estimate is consistent with on-campus graduate programs in applied psychology. Where students in this program will save valuable time is in travel to classes, distance access to library resources, and so on. For students with limited experience using advanced technologies, the time commitment may be a bit heavier at the beginning.
Innovations in learning technologies offer students many opportunities to interact with faculty and peers through online discussion forums, posted presentations, and informal chat lines, as well as face-to-face encounters at weekend schools and summer institutes. However, much of the time, students find themselves at home or work linking into the course they are currently taking and working their way through the study process on their own. They need to purposefully schedule study time into their daily routine without the structure of physically attending a class at a particular time.
While it certainly offers students a more flexible learning environment, distance education is not for everyone. The types of independent learning activities involved in online courses require a high degree of self-motivation and self-responsibility. Successful students are likely to be motivated to learn on their own, able to manage their time without much external structure, and committed to persevere in spite of other demands in their lives.
You are encouraged to think carefully about your suitability for distance education before you apply to this program.
Page last updated: October 7, 2008 @ 09:27:29 AM
