Studying with us

How does distance learning work at Catherine College?

A special feature of our courses is that they are undertaken in collaboration with other women. You will never be alone or isolated in your learning experiences.

Furthermore, the courses use interactive and problem-solving methodologies that enable you to take charge of your own learning and to discover things for yourself. In so doing, women invariably find that they learn more easily, more enjoyably, and more deeply.

When and where do you study and interact in our courses?

During a typical week, you will study when and where you please--in your home, at a local library, in an internet cafe. As you study, you will be interacting with the material and, in a typical hour, posting five of your hunches, new ideas, conclusions online. After each posting, the reflections of your learning partners scattered around the world will then open up before you. Then the fun begins. You get to interact with their mind bending ideas just as they will get to interact with yours in a few hours or days.

In the best of classrooms, everyone has something to teach and everyone has something to learn, including the professor. The most critical role that the professor plays is often to make a safe place in her classroom wherein women can find their true voices and to express them freely. The bonding that takes place in the virtual classroom must accordingly be joined with a shared sense of respect and mystery in the face of co-learners struggling to become their authentic selves even when they have for so long been beaten down and forced to adapt roles that conceal their true voices.

During a typical week, some event closes off the lesson. In Women Writing for (a) Change, this consists in a 90-minute chat room filled with shared readings, reflecions, laughter, and tears. In other courses, this event is a 45-minute exchange with your chosen Learning Partner at your kitchen table, on the telephone, or in our prepared chat rooms. We are currently preparing to upgrade our chat rooms to allow for audio and visual exchanges.

Meanwhile, every course has a highly qualified facilitator/tutor who is ready (a) to respond to your inquiries, (b) to assist you in expanding the skills that you set out for yourself at the beginning of each course. Our facilitators allow themselves to be known and interact with your posts as you go. More importantly, they listen carefully to your struggles and difficulties and know how to guide you to overcome any hurdles you may be experiencing along the way.

Why do women come to our College?

Catherine of Siena College is not a terrestrial university. It offers online courses that are selected to give women the knowledge and confidence they need for leadership tasks.

Women study our courses for different purposes:

• they are pursuing an academic study but feel that their own college or university does not offer the specific courses they need;
• they are already involved in a career for which they seek additional insights & skills;
• they belong to movements that further the position of women in society or in their religious denomination;
• they pursue a personal interest and want to expand their minds.

They choose one of our courses because they know that we select our courses for their quality of content, their dynamic potential and wide international appeal.

Men too enrol in our courses to improve their knowledge about the social, cultural and religious position of women, particularly if they feel called to help women achieve their rightful ambitions. Our male students, however, know that they should respect our unique focus on the situation of women.

With no upper age limits and no previous qualifications required, we attract a broad mix of students from many countries which adds a powerful element to the interactive methodology that we employ.

How you study

Most students are part-time and work from home or wherever it's convenient. Our unique method of study - a combination of personal work, group discussions through message boards, correspondence with your tutor and occasional chatroom encounters - means that you can set your own timetable around the way you live.

We are slowly building up the range of what we can offer:

• At the moment we offer single courses that stand on their own.
• For successfully completing a major course or cluster of smaller courses we provide a certificate.
• We are working to obtain full accreditation so that completion of our courses would count to acquiring a BA or MA qualification in our own terrestrial college or university.