I have always felt privileged to work in roles where I am learning all the time.
If you are any good at all, you know you can be better.
I first applied for the MSc Digital Education (MSc eLearning as it was then called) a few years ago. I had been working as an eLearning content technician for Citizens Advice Scotland, and subsequently as an instructional designer for ICAS – the professional body of CAs. I seemed to arrive in the world of eLearning by accident, rather than design. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh with an MA in History of Art and English Literature, I worked for a project within Queen Margaret University providing training for Arts professionals in Scotland. After a few years I then joined a small and vibrant design and multimedia company called 59 Productions. Now in my 30s and no clearer as to what I wanted to do to earn money, I stumbled across the eLearning opportunity at CAS. Having experience in both training provision and design suddenly made sense!
So, here I am, with several years experience of working in the field of eLearning and I want to learn more. And the next logical step seems to be to go back to School. I was excited to be awarded a place on the Master programme at UoE but a bereavement meant I decided to postpone my place. Fast forward a couple of years and I now have a child and a new job as Learning Technologist for Edinburgh College of Art at the University of Edinburgh. Time has never been such a valuable commodity. But I hear of a bursary for 60 credits towards the same Masters programme I previously applied for. And I hear of colleagues who are planning on applying too. I decided that there will always be reasons as to why it isn’t a good time to commit to further study. But a better reason why it is. Because I love learning. And, despite having doubts about whether I am still capable of writing an academic paper, I am excited about returning to academic study nearly twenty years after I last experienced it.
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