Go The Distance: BBC Learning English and Open University show how to be a distance learner

BBC Learning English and The Open University have joined forces to launch a free 10-week course which teaches those for whom English is not their mother tongue how to be a distance learner.

Published: 9 October 2017
Go The Distance provides distance learning students with a comprehensive toolkit of information, skills and strategies, as well as language knowledge, to help them succeed
— Catherine Chapman, Series Editor, BBC Learning English

A fun and free resource, Go The Distance was conceived, designed and built by the BBC Learning English team of experts. It provides the users with the skills and knowledge they need to participate successfully on a distance learning course. 

Go The Distance is produced in partnership with The Open University, the largest academic institution in the UK and a world leader in flexible distance learning. The new course is primarily aimed at young adult non-native speakers of English - and anyone interested in lifelong learning. Mixing animation, video explainers, student documentaries, and in-depth academic writing support, Go The Distance is an innovative and engaging new approach to discovering everything one needs to know to be a successful distance learner.

Catherine Chapman, Series Editor, BBC Learning English, says: “It's been great to build on our successful cooperation with The Open University to create this course. Go the Distance provides existing and would-be distance learning students, wherever they are in the world, with a comprehensive toolkit of information, skills and strategies, as well as language knowledge, to help them succeed at all stages of their learning - from choosing a course to sitting their final exams.”

The Open University has nearly 50 years’ experience at the forefront of distance learning. David Hann, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, and Anne Wesemann, Lecturer in Law, at The Open University and Lead Academic Consultants for the series, welcome the opportunity to share The Open University’s knowledge with the BBC’s global audience.

Anne Wesemann comments: “Education should be accessible to all, and this collaborative course is a great start in helping people make the first step into distance learning. It offers such a diverse range of guidance and advice that it will be useful and inspiring to both new and experienced distance learners.”

Go the Distance is broken down into five categories - one to engage with every weekday:

  • Monday: Student Life - short documentaries, each featuring a real distance learning student. We see them at work, rest and play as they make their learning experience part of their lives. The students talk about various aspects of distance learning, such as academic writing, critical thinking or social learning, explaining the challenges they have faced and how they have overcome them. Each episode ends with inspirational messages about study-related achievements, personal goals, plans and ambitions.
  • Tuesday: Academic Insights - short interviews with distance learning tutors as they share their top tips for students who are doing, or thinking about doing, a further education course by distance, be it researching and writing assignments, finding and using source material, social learning, exams, time management or project work.
  • Wednesday: Study and Exam Skills - short, entertaining animations designed to help develop study skills for distance learning, including quoting, paraphrasing and summarising, critical thinking skills, listening and note-taking.
  • Thursday: Academic Writing - a guide with an emphasis on the English language skills needed for further education, whether face-to-face or by distance. Topics include academic vocabulary, essay structure, writing in online discussion forums, the language of academic argument and more.
  • Friday: Digital Literacy - a video guide to best practice in participating in distance learning in the digital age. Popular BBC Learning English presenters, Sian and Tim, guide the viewer through the world of digital information, online forums, safety and security, study tools, communication portals, storage options and much more.

Go the Distance is hosted on BBC Learning English website where new material will be posted each weekday of the 10-week course, after which the complete course will be available on demand. The course will also be promoted on the BBC Learning English social-media channels on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

BBC Learning English is a world leader in using international broadcasting to teach English and is part of the BBC World Service.

Notes to Editors
BBC World Service delivers news content around the world in English and via more than 30 other language services, on radio, TV and digital, reaching a weekly audience of 269 million. As part of BBC World Service, BBC Learning English teaches English to global audiences. 

The Open University (OU) is the largest academic institution in the UK and a world leader in flexible distance learning. Since it began in 1969, the OU has taught more than 1.8 million students and has almost 170,000 current students, including more than 15,000 overseas.

The OU has a 42-year partnership with the BBC and has moved from late-night lectures in the 1970s to co-producing around 35 prime-time series a year such as The Hunt, Exodus: Our Journey to Europe, Full Steam Ahead and The Big C and Me On TV, and Inside Science, The Bottom Line and Thinking Allowed on Radio 4.

LN

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