Frequently Asked Questions about studying with OTTI

There are no compulsory live sessions, so there are no set times to be in a classroom with a group of people. All of our online courses are run asynchronously, which means that the Course Participants access the material at different times. A course may have people taking it from all over the world so synchronous sessions aren’t generally possible. In some courses your tutors may arrange one or two optional synchronous sessions once the course has started. These are voluntary and will be recorded and available exclusively for the participants to watch within the duration of the course.
No. Although our courses are asynchronous, they are cohort based, not self-access. We run them in lockstep with cohorts who go through the course step by step together, as such it is impossible to take someone on to a course after it has started.
We don't set a deadline for applying to the courses, when we have 12 participants who have paid, then the course is full. Online applications close the Wednesday before the course starts, however please get in touch with ihotti@ihworld.com for late availability. To apply for the course, you must fill in the application form on the specific course information page, which we then check for your suitability.
The courses are part time, so you should expect to spend 5-10 hours per week working on the course material. It is best if you log on to the course every day, to contribute to the forums and complete the tasks set by the tutors, but when you choose to do this is up to you. Each week there is a portfolio task that will often require research or classroom practice.
We avoid setting specific reading lists for courses as getting hold of books in some locations can be both tricky and expensive. As such our courses are built with their reading texts in them. Depending on the course there might be several for you to access during the course, and for some modules there are bespoke pre-reading and accompanying tasks. When relevant a module will also suggest further reading should you wish to explore an area in more depth.
Typically, we run our courses with a maximum of 12 students in each group, with up to 2 tutors to support the participants. In courses of high demand we may extend this to 18 people and 3 tutors.
We run our courses using a learning platform called Moodle (you can find more information here: https://moodle.org/) where you will access all the necessary materials for your course. All you need to study the course is a computer with internet access
Each course has its own requirements for success. However as a rule of thumb there are three areas that contribute to course success. An overall attendance and contribution to the weekly tasks of 80 percent, completion of a portfolio of assessed work and a final assignment.
International House is one of the most respected and widely recognised teacher training establishments in the world. We ensure we maintain high academic standards, and the quality of service delivery, both in face-to-face and online courses. All of our tutors are well-trained and highly qualified.
For the majority of our courses this is between one to two months after the last day of input for the course. We have a rigorous assessment and moderation process in place to maintain the high level of quality on the courses. At the end of the course you usually have 2 weeks to complete your portfolio, which is then assessed by your tutor. After this it is passed on to the Assessment Unit for moderation. The CAM and OCYLT courses are further moderated by Cambridge.