How Our Courses Work
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A hybrid model
Maryvale built its method on distance learning, modelled on the Open University, so you can follow a full course while keeping your work, family and other commitments. Most of your study is done from home, with course materials and online resources, set alongside time on site at Oscott for lectures, seminars and shared prayer. The mix gives you the freedom of distance learning with the depth that comes from meeting your tutors and fellow students in person.
What a typical term looks like
The rhythm is steady rather than hurried, designed around real lives.
Work through the coursebooks and set readings at your own pace, guided week by week.
Join live sessions and reach lectures, databases and resources through the virtual learning environment.
Gather at Oscott for a residential weekend (once to twice per year) lectures, seminars and discussion.
Complete the essays and reflections that carry your learning and form part of your assessment.
Learning online
Between residentials, your study runs through the virtual learning environment. It holds your coursebooks, recorded lectures and reading, alongside academic databases and current research you can consult at any hour. Live tutorials and lectures bring the group together on screen for teaching, questions and discussion, and the same space gives you IT guidance and the links you need to keep moving through the course.
Time at Oscott
Residential weekends bring students to Oscott for lectures, seminars and discussion with specialist staff, and for the chance to meet the people you study alongside. They are also time to use the library and bookshop, walk the gardens and pray in the restored Chapel. Each course sets its own pattern, usually a small number of weekends across the year, and where travel is difficult these can often run online.
Supervision and assessment
You are supported throughout by specialist tutors who guide your reading and mark your work. Assessment is built into the course rather than bolted on: essays through the year, shorter reflections, and an examination or oral defence depending on the level of study. Research degrees are shaped around a supervisor and a dissertation. The aim is steady progress you can see, with feedback that moves your understanding on.