Let's face it long flights can be a boring experience, aside from watching a movie, reading and sleeping there's not much else to offset the boredom. However, one airline Virgin Australia - has partnered with Open Universities Australia to offer passengers a chance to complete a range of short courses with a number of Australia's leading universities.
The Open2Study program provides travelers with a unique opportunity to maximize the time spent in the skies through learning, instead of 'burning time' on meaningless pursuits to pass the hours in the sky.
Although its possible for passengers to distract themselves for up to 400 hours in the skies by taking advantage of Virgin's in-flight movies, music, television shows and games, the airline believes study can be a much more compelling way to pass the time, and boost brain power.
Efficient in its delivery the programs condense the equivalent of four weeks 'traditional learning' into four flying hours. Those arriving at their destination under this time, are able to log in again to finish the course at a later date. The courses on offer are not officially accredited, however a Certificate Of Achievement is issued. The courses provide passengers with an opportunity to learn new things which in itself is beneficial.
According to the airline, since the programs inception in 2016, over 50,000 enrolments have been recorded with the provider - Open Universities Australia. Courses are accessed using the airline's on board Wi-Fi with the most popular courses on offer including;
- Foundations of Psychology
- Your Health
- Principals Of Project Management
- Food Nutrition
From August 2017 of this year additional courses are planned for passengers on subjects including;
- Astronomy: Discovering the Universe (Curtin University)
- Becoming Human: Anthropology (Macquarie University)
- Negotiation and Conflict Resolution(Macquarie University)
- Understanding the Origins of Crime (Griffith University)
Virgin Australia's General Manager of Inflight Experience, Tash Tobias said,
'We’re always looking at new ways to enhance our guest experience and we are pleased that our in-flight study courses have proved so popular'.
'Our guests will now be able to learn from eight, four-hour module courses offered through Open2Study, as well as continue to be entertained through our program of over hundreds of hours of movies, TV shows, music, playlists, audio books, podcasts, eReaders and games.'