Benefits of online learning

So, my name is Syeda Ra'ana Hussain. I come from Nairobi, Kenya, and I'm studying Paediatric Emergency Medicine online.

So I work in an accident and emergency department in one of the biggest tertiary hospitals in Nairobi. So we get a lot of casualties in, and it was just sort of natural to now look for a course that would help me to be better at my work, basically.

I chose the University of Edinburgh for several reasons. One, there are quite a few members of my family who've been through it. My grandmother was the first out of all of us to go to university there. And she was very keen that I somehow also go. And so when the online course came up, I figured it was just one of the things I had to do.

And so I got a lot of family support, of course, from that. So the really great thing about the Paediatric Emergency Medicine course is that there's so many things that can be applied practically. So every week, we're in constant communication with not only our lecturers, but also from people all around the world.

We get to discuss difficult cases if we need to. We learn about very rare things. We learn about very common things. And so you find that one week, if we're doing something like for example, surgical emergencies, the likelihood that the next week I'm actually going to be able to practically implement what I've learnt online is very high.

So I really enjoy that. I mean, convenience is a major key for online learning. Rather than having boring old lectures where you sit in a classroom all day. This is tailored to your needs.

I love that the University of Edinburgh provides us with a forum where we get to meet other people from such diverse backgrounds, which I don't think would necessarily be the case if we all came together in one place. But it's still nice to talk to somebody on the other side of the world, get their opinion on what to do.

I also love that we get access to our lecturers, pretty much anytime we sort of need to online. And again, in a standard university setting, that may not always be the case because there's strict office hours. But on online learning, those lines are sort of hazy. And so I got to meet a lot of people who I've just read about in textbooks, and now they're my teachers or now they're my colleagues. So it's very exciting.

And I think that the only way that can happen is online learning platforms. One of the major challenges I think anybody will tell you is work and study balance. It's a massive issue. The University really tries to help you. In fact, this term, we've even gotten a suggested reading schedule. So it's really nice.

It's an Excel sheet where they factor in your calls for you, birthday parties and things like that, and then try and tell you, "Look, in this week, you maybe need just 4 hours". So they break it down for you in manageable bite-sized chunks. So my advice would be: look at your schedule, see the places where you can fit it in. You'll be surprised by how much you can do if you just do a little bit of it every day, and just keep going. Keep going. It's completely worth it.