Whew! Yesterday I finished my first year in the Master of Arts in Professional Communication program at Royal Roads University.
It's been a heck of a ride so far, and I've been really enjoying it. The combination of a three-week on-campus residency at the beginning of each year followed by online distance learning has been working well. While the online system of team and classwide discussions, email and chats has been productive and stimulating, I'm really looking forward to my second residency in October.
Learners are told to expect 20 - 25 hours a week of reading, researching, discussion and paper writing while they are in the program, and I think that's a pretty fair assessment. Some weeks the load is lower and some weeks higher, but it likely balances out in that range. While I've greatly enjoyed the classes, I'm looking forward to a break!