Our online pre-sessional courses will develop your academic language and prepare you for your degree course. Our online courses offer the same high-quality experience as our on-campus courses. Read on for information about:

• Interactive live sessions
• Contact with teaching staff
• Attendance monitoring
• Engagement monitoring
• Overseas access
• Time zone differences
• Assessment
• Hardware requirements

Interactive live sessions

In virtual classes, you will be taught live by an experienced teacher. Your class will consist of up to 16 students, but you will do many tasks in smaller groups.

You will collaborate with your classmates in real time. You will be able to send messages and files, interact via audio and video link, and work in groups on shared notebooks. 

Contact with teaching staff

During live sessions, you will get individual attention from your teacher.

Outside of class time, your teacher will provide regular feedback on your work. You will also have weekly live progress reviews with your teacher.

Attendance monitoring

We will monitor your attendance of the live daily sessions. In these sessions, you will get to know your teacher and your classmates.

Engagement monitoring

Each day you will add work to an online portfolio. Once a week, you and your teacher will review your portfolio. Together, you will discuss your engagement and development.

Overseas access

The online course will be accessible from everywhere, including China.

Time zone differences

We will consider time zones when timetabling classes, so a time difference should not affect your studies. For students in some time zones, live sessions may run in the evening.

Assessment

Your online portfolio will be assessed on an ongoing basis. This ongoing assessment will help you learn and develop.

You will also be assessed on your participation in a ‘problem-based learning’ group task. This task will involve reading, presenting ideas and evaluating each other’s work.

At the end of the course, as your final assessment, you will give a video presentation about your development.

Hardware requirements

For this online course, you will need access to a laptop or computer with a camera and microphone. Your mobile phone or tablet will not be suitable. You will also need access to reliable internet with enough bandwidth to connect to live classes.