Global Cultures MA graduate Jonathan Morley reflects on how studying online at King’s guided his next career step and strengthened his ability to drive meaningful change.
Through our King’s Digital online master’s programmes, you’ll not only receive high-quality teaching from global experts in their field, but you’ll also learn to challenge the way you think and push boundaries.
We recently spoke to Jonathan Morley, a Global Cultures MA graduate, about his decision to return to education at a crossroad in his career. Having originally studied Human Geography at university, Jonathan wanted to revisit academia to refresh and recontextualise his knowledge.
Read on for his reflections on the online learning experience and how it has helped him consider where he wants to focus next.
I’ve worked in numerous different countries and business sectors throughout my career, as well as being Chair for Positively UK, a charity dedicated to providing peer support for people living with HIV - one of my most rewarding roles.
The cultural impact of HIV/ AIDS has been significant, and the course reconnected frequently with this area. Going through the content helped me identify gaps in society where knowledge and action is required regarding HIV/ AIDS. This has spurred me on with the support I can offer in this area and in identifying potential for change. I’m currently thinking about the next step I want to take, and the knowledge I’ve gained from my master’s will certainly have an influence on that decision.
More generally, I felt the rust being kicked off the skills I’d originally learned at university. It felt a bit like going to the gym again when you haven’t been for a long time, and you discover muscles you’d forgotten you have!
I think it would have been helpful to acknowledge just how much the discipline of academic study has changed from when I first studied in the 1980s. For example, when I was originally studying for an assignment, there would be one or two books that you would access from the library and use to inform your argument.
Cut to today and every book, journal article, and pamphlet ever written is available online – it’s like looking through a telescope from the other end. Academia today is all about organising the breadth and richness of information available and working backwards to form powerful and original argument.
My advice would be to take some time reviewing how study has changed if you’re returning to academia after a long period of time.
My number one aspect of the online experience was the student body of which I formed a part. The programme’s positioning of having a student body drawn from across the globe was the most important thing to me in selecting this Global Cultures MA.
Within my cohort we had students from China, the Middle East, Africa, and North America. This allowed us to have multiple perspectives on the course content. In fact, the learning materials weren’t always as multi-dimensional and broad as the perspectives we had around the table, so my fellow students certainly added another element to my learning experience.
Thank you to Jonathan for sharing your experiences with us!
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