{"id":29930,"date":"2025-12-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/?post_type=oasis-news&p=29930"},"modified":"2025-12-11T09:58:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T01:58:39","slug":"can-you-really-study-online-and-get-the-full-uni-experience","status":"publish","type":"oasis-news","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/oasis-news\/can-you-really-study-online-and-get-the-full-uni-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Can you really study online and get\u00a0the\u00a0full\u00a0uni\u00a0experience?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reading time: 3 minutes<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you really study teaching online and still get the full uni experience? Shannon, a Bachelor of Education student, proves that you can! Having spent two years studying on-campus in Perth before returning home to the regional city of Geraldton, she now balances work, study and enjoying time with friends and family while completing her degree online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision to leave Perth wasn’t easy. Shannon struggled with the feeling that returning to her hometown equalled failure but, after making the jump, it was clear how excited her tight-knit community was to have her back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen I came back, I realised how great it was to be in Geraldton. I had job opportunities, family support and friends\u2019 support. It just worked perfectly.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And this is the biggest benefit to studying regionally; because Perth is so big, it can be a lot harder to find stable jobs and placement opportunities in the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving\u00a0connections\u00a0in the community\u00a0was\u00a0so helpful.<\/em> All\u00a0the teachers that I worked\u00a0with always said,\u00a0\u2018Let me know if you need a hand, we are more than happy to proofread something or just give you some ideas.\u2019<\/em> I might not have gotten that if I was living in Perth.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having already started working as an education assistant while studying, Shannon was able to try out placements both at her home school and at others in the region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI loved going on my placements. You’re taking all your knowledge and doing the practical application in different schools and really seeing how they operate. And it’s nice to give back to my own community and be able to support students who really need it.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although balancing work with study and placements can be tricky, Shannon found a good rhythm fitting study in after school or on the weekends, using a good at-home set up with her laptop and some monitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn’t have set days where I’d go and study. I just had my objectives of what I needed to do, in order of importance, and then I would tackle everything as quickly and best I could.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And despite struggling at first with the workload and lack of face-to-face class time, Shannon\u2019s transition from studying on campus to online turned out to be smooth. Between online discussion boards, live Collaborate sessions, Facebook groups and organising calls with unit coordinators, she found there’s a lot of different supports in place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt’s\u00a0not just you on your own. There’s\u00a0always\u00a0the\u00a0opportunity\u00a0for you to\u00a0go and visit\u00a0Curtin to attend sessions in person.\u00a0I kept\u00a0all\u00a0the friendships that I made in Perth, so I still had people in my units who I could ask for help.\u00a0And on top of that, my results were better when I started studying online!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

With her final placement complete and a full-time teaching job already lined up, Shannon\u2019s journey shows that studying online from Geraldton is not only possible but totally worth it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019re a regional student facing a similar decision, Shannon has three pieces of advice for you:<\/h4>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0Follow your heart.\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\u201cYou\u00a0have to\u00a0do what’s right for you.\u00a0Depending on the person you are, it can still be a\u00a0really fun\u00a0journey doing\u00a0uni\u00a0online.<\/em><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0Be self-motivated.\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\u201cYou’ve\u00a0got to be motivated enough to push through even when there’s challenges.\u00a0By having a community that supports you, it makes it a lot easier.<\/em><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0Don\u2019t\u00a0let\u00a0study\u00a0take over your whole life.\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\u201cMake sure\u00a0you’re\u00a0prioritising the rest of your life. \u00a0I’m\u00a0grateful for the time and the effort that I put in but, looking back, I wish that\u00a0I’d\u00a0spent more time with family and friends instead of going,\u00a0\u201cOh, I need to study.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n


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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shannon\u2019s journey from Perth to Geraldton is one of choosing what truly matters to you.\u00a0After swapping the calm coastal lifestyle of her\u00a0hometown\u00a0for the\u00a0adventure of studying on-campus in Perth, Shannon returned to Geraldton to\u00a0give back to\u00a0her supportive\u00a0community. | Reading Time: 3 minutes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4478,"featured_media":29933,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"6315,5297,5547,7758,7440,14605","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_oasis-categories":0,"footnotes":""},"oasis-categories":[141,250],"class_list":["post-29930","oasis-news","type-oasis-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","oasis-categories-online","oasis-categories-student-profile"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1-1000x500.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Christina","last_name":"Ryan","display_name":"Christina Ryan"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 05:22:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"oasis-categories","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news\/29930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/oasis-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news\/29930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"oasis-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-categories?post=29930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}