Distance learning courses, any good?

[Happy82]

I am looking at learning some new subjects while at home (going to college/uni is not possible due to having a young son) and was wondering what the likes of Stonebridge, openstudycollege etc are like?

There are mixed reviews, but I don't know whether the bad reviews are due to vindictive individuals (most are on the Netmums website) and whether the good reviews are due to people thinking "Woooo I have a distinction!" and not questioning the quality and value of the course.

Also, how much value is there in an NCFE qualification? Is it pretty useless? Or does it hold a similar ranking to an NVQ or similar? Most of the info I have found is from the above colleges so not sure on how much truth there is in what they write.

Thanks in advance

[Ineedonenow]

What is it that you want to study and at what level?

[Happy82]

Not too sure yet, was thinking of doing something that would interest me such as sports nutrition but was also looking at something that'd be useful like accounting.

[rog007]

What you study and with whom must be dependent upon what you ultimately want to be; what is that?

[Happy82]

I am happy with what I do at the moment, but thought I'd try and study something of interest or possibly something that could be useful for the future in case things go tits up.

[RB Will]

Have done 2 Open Uni courses where I was sent text books and materials. I worked through them by myself but there was a tutor to call if I was stuck then after a few months you had to do an exam again in your own time.
These were just courses that made up part of a degree though so didn't get a proper qualification from it. I just wanted to do them so I could understand my work a bit more than what A-Levels taught me