Hi, my name is Christine and I am going to tell you a few things about myself and how I found being an e-learning MSc student.

I live and work in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland which makes attending any ‘face to face’ training difficult both in time and cost. Having a small population means we have a small hospice(!) but still have to satisfy the national standards for a specialist palliative care service. These standards state that the lead palliative nurse should be educated to MSc level, hence my decision to undertake the course. A colleague had already started the MSc in Palliative Care with Newcastle and recommended the quality of teaching material and accessibility to me. I have been fortunate to be funded by my employer, along with some tuition fee grants from Help the Hospice. My employer also granted me three paid study leave days for each module.

It took me a few modules to get into the swing of e-learning and time management, or, being honest, to discipline myself to work steadily rather than panic and cram into last few weeks. It’s amazing how interesting the ironing and hoover become when an assignment is due….! I found that when I needed to concentrate and when working on assignments that I achieved more by coming in to the small library that we have at work and treating the time as ‘work’.

E-learning is definitely about getting out what you put in. The tutors are mostly helpful but don’t have a crystal ball or mind reading capacities so we students have to be proactive in contacting them. Discussion boards are interesting and as you progress you often find that others are following the same path as you and you develop a ‘virtual bond’.

It’s hard work juggling full time work, family and study but now I am, hopefully, finished I can say it’s worth it. Mind you two months ago, when in the midst of dissertation angst, I was saying to my colleagues, “Don’t ever let me say I’m going to study something again!” However, much to my surprise, I am already missing the learning so might be looking for something else to study sooner than I envisaged.

I can’t decide whether to attend the graduation. It would be great to meet those I’ve got to know virtually in the flesh but time, distance and expense might outweigh other considerations.

If you are dithering about starting and reading this to help you decide I can say it has been a positive learning experience even the modules I felt were way beyond me, like Genetics. I find that I have retained more than I expected and able to apply the learning in lots of aspects of my work. Try and persuade a colleague to do it with you, it was definitely beneficial to be able to talk coursework through with others.

Christine- MSc Palliative Care Student (soon to be graduate!)