Interactive Design Institute

I'm planning to study the same course! I had a chat with their Admissions team, who were surprisingly knowledgeable about the course, and slightly guarded about who they let on the course - which I took to be a good thing. I have a similar background to you - BTEC A&D, then went in another direction; I'm also very keen to get into something creative, having been away for so long. I want to study for personal development, not the piece of paper at the end of the course (although that will be helpful in being taken seriously!), and as I'm unable to (financially) go into full time education, IDI makes sense. Of course, there are no part time GD courses in London at the Foundation level up, so IDI are also my only option. FYI - if needed, you will be able to take a student loan to cover the course fees from October, but not before then (changes in uni fees have changed the student loan structuring from Oct only).

I have major concerns about them though - I can't find any meaningful reviews from students (outside of the IDI website), and am still very unsure about distance learning with a subject like this - I'm incredibly worried about how this will restrict the teaching. I'd love to hear the views of any of the more senior members of this forum on this.

So, to answer your question - can't give you any meaningful advice, but I think I'm going to take a punt.
 
ThreeFallingDucks: I'm so pleased i'm not the only one looking into these courses! as you said, I can't seem to find any external reviews from students either, which does worry me somewhat considering the course definately is not cheap!

I am also extremely worried about the distance learning and having no hands on feedback from the tutors, although the administration team said that once a message is posted online we should get a reply within 24hrs which isn't too bad. Plus if the full time hands on GD courses are anything like my BTEC ND, I would spend more time at home getting the coursework done than being in class with the tutors anyway!

Like you, this really is my only option as I can't afford to financially be out of work, so this course in theory is ideal for me! no travel costs, no accomodation fees.. get to complete the work as and when it suits, I guess I'm just slightly wary of how much I will actually learn as like you I am mainly doing this for personal development.

Another huge bonus from this is that we would get an Official University of Hertfordshire Certificate in GD After just the first year PT (which won't mention Online/Distance course anywhere on it!) A Diploma after the 2nd year PT, and a BA Hons after just the third! which to me explains why the course fee is pretty high.

Like you, I think i'm going to take the plunge as the timing seems right, and see where it takes me!

Good Luck! :icon_biggrin:
 
Trudy,

I agree with you on the coursework comment - a couple of friends have recently finished degrees (going to uni a few years later than most) in art based subjects, and they seemed to spend very little time actually going in, so hopefully that means that IDI courses aren't too different to non-distance courses. Still a gamble though, but as with you - lack of better alternatives...

The certification is great, and I do like the idea of having some kind of qualification after the first year and second year, before getting the degree. I haven't asked them yet, but I do wonder if due to the UofH certification, we will have access to the D&AD course membership that Herts has; I doubt it, but it would be kind of nice to try to get a bit closer to UofH whilst studying with IDI. Same goes for their degree show - I wonder if we will be able to mix in with the UofH one. I really hope so, as it seems to be an important part of getting started in this world; but I doubt it (I'm not a glass half-empty person - I'm a glass half-full (of poison) person).

When are you planning to start the course?
 
I'd never even thought of that! I have phoned the admissions team on this and they said that we wouldn't have much contact with UoH, we would be quite seperate as IDI students, and due to there being lots of international students we wouldn't get to participate in their degree show etc. Nevermind.. She did say that our work would be exhibited online and we would get the opportunity to chat with other students and enter comps etc. The course itself has to meet the UoH requirements and all the work is graded through UoH, but that's about it (quite an important part though!). OH, we would have use to the UoH studynet where we can get our hands on books and reference tools - handy!

Another worry of mine was would I get necessary training in Adobe Creative Suite, which we do! there are video tutorials and reference docs etc to specifically help us create the work we need to, which is great!

I'm going to be sending my payment today to ensure I get it in before the early payment fee deadline (Monday) to save myself £600, to start this coming June - getting very excited now!

How about you, when do you think you will be starting? :icon_biggrin:
 
Nice one for calling! Shame about the show, though not unexpected. Good to hear about UoH studynet.

The Adobe training has been a thought of mine too, so that's good to hear - you can get tutorial vids online easily enough, but it is good to have someone to throw questions at. Just need to find the cash to buy CS now!

The earlyh payment discount is pretty substantial, so I'll be going for that too, but I won't be starting the course until October. Please let us know how you get on in the first term, I'd be keen to read about it. Are you taking the course part time, full time, or fast track? I think I'm going to try one level at fast-track, and see how it goes - if you don't take any breaks you can earn the degree in two years. That said, it'll be tough to do the studying justice whilst working.
 
I'll be doing the course Part Time, I figured 15 hours a week is definately enough on top of 40+ hours of work - 30 hours a week would be near on impossible! Yes i'll definately keep you updated, you may even catch me up and overtake me if you'll be doing fast track! Good luck with it, i'm very excited to get going with it now! :icon_biggrin:
 
Trudy,

If you get a sec could you give us a quick update on how the start of the course is going, please nicely? I think there are a few of us on here that are planning to start in October, so it would be good to hear your views. Or, if it's not good news (and as you don't have the most anonymous of user names!) feel free to create a new user called 'ThatDamnedIDI'. We won't tell them it's you...

Cheers,

Dan
 
Be careful!

trudy.collins said:
I am considering taking this online Graphic Design course through the Interactive Design Institute. Does anyone have any knowledge of this, reviews or experience that they would kindly share?

Graphic design degree courses - UK university degree - graphic design

Many thanks in advance :icon_smile:
Click to expand...

I enrolled last year and half wished I hadn't.

Only half because the course was good. IDI are unbelievable. Poor and patchy feedback - I waited a week for feedback once and it wasn't helpful. Files that I uploaded were lost - I wasn't the only one.

The most worrying though is this: It feels like they set you up for a fall. You do the work, send in the assignment, ask for feedback, don't get any then fail the assignment. Frustrating - and then they charge you another £1000 to retake the assignment!!!

I know 4 others who've had the same experience as me.

Proceed with caution. I decided not to continue with them and they are now trying to prosecute me for the rest of the years fees!
 
ThreeFallingDucks said:
Trudy,

If you get a sec could you give us a quick update on how the start of the course is going, please nicely? I think there are a few of us on here that are planning to start in October, so it would be good to hear your views. Or, if it's not good news (and as you don't have the most anonymous of user names!) feel free to create a new user called 'ThatDamnedIDI'. We won't tell them it's you...

Cheers,

Dan
Click to expand...

Hi Dan

I would say that it is a little early to give thorough feedback, however my experiences so far are that the tutors and team at IDI are lovely, very understanding and helpful. The course itself I find very good, interesting and the assignments are very clear to understand. The website is laid out very well I would say. Here is a link to an induction video which will give you a good idea of the layout etc. I believe they had given it a re-vamp before this semester, so hopefully the missing files issue julesbending mentioned is no longer a problem, I so far haven't come across any problems of this kind.

IDI Induction Video - YouTube

I hope this has helped!
 
So how is it?

Hello, I'm currently looking into starting this course and would appreciate any feedback you have on it? How's it going? Do you feel like you're learning enough? Do you know how successful graduates have been in finding work? I really want to do it but am dubious about parting with so much money when there's so little response from other students online - any info would be very gratefully recieved!

Thank you
Kate
 
If you can't afford to go to a traditional university full time, and are desperate for a degree, IDI is fine. I've been with them for a couple of terms, and it's good, but if it were possible I'd leave it for a traditional uni in a second - it becomes clear that being surrounded by other students and physical work is important, so it takes a lot of discipline to do it in a virtual environment. It's also very difficult for them to give you any support outside of the course as students are all around the world, so don't expect industry links etc.

The course and tutors are good though - it starts slow (I'm bored as hell at the moment) but I'm only in the first-year and looks like it gets quite a bit more in-depth as we go on. Tutor support can be very good - you get as much as you ask for, but again, it's all by written messages, you won't ever speak to or see your tutor. I've had tutors from Edinburgh, Derby and Hertfordhire Unis, and they've all been top.

If it's a choice of IDI and a full time brick university, then go with the latter. If that choice isn't yours then IDI is a very good plan B.

PM me if you have any questions; happy to help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top