Short answer first: distance study in New Zealand means learning online in your own time around a few fixed dates you cannot move. Massey University runs more than 1,400 courses online through its Stream platform, records its live online classes, and makes some courses depend on in-person contact workshops. Open Polytechnic courses have no scheduled online classes, but its supervised exams happen in person at a venue near your home. Otago teaches distance papers too, with residential schools of 2 to 5 days for some. On money, StudyLink usually limits part-time students to a loan for course fees.
This guide covers teaching, workshops, exams, placements and money at the three providers, as their pages state them in September 2026, then shows how to build a week when no timetable does it for you.
Who teaches by distance in New Zealand?
Open Polytechnic is built entirely around distance teaching, Massey says it has taught by distance for over 60 years alongside its campuses, and other universities, Otago among them, offer some papers that way. The three differ mostly in pace: Massey and Otago follow university semesters, while Open Polytechnic courses start through the year and run for a fixed number of weeks.
- Massey University teaches more than 1,400 courses online. Its study online page says New Zealand citizens and residence class visa holders can study online from New Zealand or overseas, and so can international students living outside the country.
- Open Polytechnic designs its programmes for distance only. Its distance learning page says most courses run entirely online in iQualify, supported by Course Facilitators and Student Mentors, and that a few add printed materials or are paper-based.
- Otago's distance students are often postgraduates. The University of Otago's distance learning page says a large number of them study at postgraduate level, taught through a learning platform, web conferences and, for some papers, residential schools on campus.
If you hold a student visa and live in New Zealand, Massey allows up to 25 per cent of your qualification online and asks for at least 45 credits on campus each semester; the visa rules are in our guide for international students. If you are coming back to study as an adult, the guide for mature students covers getting in.
How does a week of Massey distance study run?
Everything sits in Stream, Massey's learning platform, which opens to you 2 weeks before your course starts. It holds recordings of classes, reading lists, articles and notes, the dates for assignments, tests and exams, and the forums and chats where students and lecturers talk. What changes from course to course is how much happens live and how much happens away from home.
- Live online classes are recorded. Massey says you can join online classes and tutorials at their scheduled time, and if you cannot, they are always recorded for you to watch later.
- The mode tells you what happens away from home. Massey's course planning page defines distance and online courses as study in your own time with possible in-person contact workshops of usually 1 to 3 days, and fully online courses as ones whose workshops, if any, are short and online. Both may still have an in-person exam.
- Massey expects 10 to 12.5 hours a week per course. Its workload page puts a 15-credit single-semester course at about 150 hours in total, and a full-time load at four courses, or 60 credits, a semester.
- Most contact is written. Massey's distance study guide warns that face-to-face contact may be rare or absent, and that lecturers can check whether you open the resources and join the discussions.
Read each course's mode and workshop details before you enrol, not after the first email. Two 15-credit courses already make a 20 to 25-hour week, which is a solid part-time job on top of whatever else fills your days.
What are Massey's contact workshops and block courses?
Contact workshops are the in-person part of some distance courses, held in several main centres around New Zealand. Block mode is a different arrangement: the teaching happens in person, packed into full days instead of spread across the semester.
- A compulsory workshop is a condition of passing. Massey's contact workshops page says so directly. If you cannot attend, ask the course coordinator for an exemption before you enrol, or choose a course whose workshop is recommended or absent.
- Recommended workshops are optional and can disappear. You will not fail for missing one, but Massey cancels them when too few students register.
- You cannot choose the place, and you pay to get there. Most workshops are on a Massey campus and some elsewhere in New Zealand. Travel and accommodation are yours to organise and fund, though a hall of residence may have rooms when the workshop is on campus.
- Block mode means compulsory full days. Massey describes block courses as all-day attendance of at least 6 hours over blocks of usually 5 to 10 days, with the rest of the material online.
Put workshop dates in the calendar at enrolment and check that two courses do not clash, which Massey asks you to do. Employers and whānau need notice for days away. Massey also says students living overseas should enrol in courses with compulsory workshops only if they are prepared to come back for them.
How does an Open Polytechnic course run?
Open Polytechnic works without scheduled online classes. Each course has a start date and an end date with assessments due in between, and you work through the online material week by week at times you choose. The structure comes from due dates, not from a lecture room.
- Courses last from 8 to 52 weeks. Its course dates page lists durations of 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 32, 33 or 52 weeks, and for most programmes applications close two weeks before a course starts.
- Every course page prints a weekly workload. Open Polytechnic calculates it as credits times 10, divided by the teaching weeks and rounded up; its Introduction to Assessment course, 20 credits over 16 weeks, comes out at about 13 hours a week.
- Teaching weeks are often shorter than the course. For many courses the study guide follows the teaching weeks, which leaves time at the end for marking, extensions and exams.
- Some courses still meet in person. Contact classes, practicums, workshops, noho marae and exams can happen face to face, and the course page says so before you enrol.
- You supply the equipment. Open Polytechnic asks for regular access to a laptop or desktop computer and reliable broadband with a data plan.
Questions go to your Course Facilitator through the course's Talk channels in iQualify, and Student Mentors help with planning when you fall behind, according to Open Polytechnic's study planning page. Use both in the first fortnight; nobody takes a roll.
What does an exam look like when you study from home?
Online study does not always mean an online exam. Each provider draws the line in a different place, and the equipment and identification you need follow from where it falls. Otago, for example, seats its distance students at a local exam centre based on their semester address, which it says can mean a drive of up to an hour.
Massey: three kinds of assessment
Massey's online exam checklist lists secure assessments, held in person at a fixed time and place, on campus for internal students or near your term address for others. Time-constrained assessments open and close at set times in Stream, with a time limit and no supervision, and other assessments are run by your college. Your exam timetable in the student portal shows which kind you have.
When an exam is remote proctored, Massey's exam rules ask for a camera you can move to scan the whole room and desk, a microphone left on throughout, identity checks and a room scan before the start, and a private room with nobody else in it. You must stay in view, and phones, smart watches and unapproved AI tools are banned. Use a Windows computer or a Mac with a keyboard, and book a campus library room if home is too busy. If you are eligible, extra time or a reader can be requested through Massey's exams page.
Open Polytechnic: an exam venue near you
If a course has a supervised exam, Open Polytechnic's exam venue page says you sit it in person at an approved venue, the one nearest the home address it holds for you. The admittance letter arrives about three weeks before, and you have 7 days from receiving it to ask for another venue. A course that started on 6 July 2026 has its exam in the week of 19 to 23 October 2026; one starting on 2 November 2026 sits in the week of 16 to 18 February 2027. Open Polytechnic says the dates and times may change, so check the timetable before your course starts.
On the day, the exam day page asks for the admittance letter, photo ID such as a driver's licence or passport, and only the materials the letter allows. From overseas, you arrange and pay for a venue and supervisor yourself, approved at least 8 weeks before the exam week.
| Provider and exam type | Where you sit it | What to plan for |
|---|---|---|
| Massey, remote proctored | A private room at home or a booked library room | Computer with keyboard, broadband, a movable camera, a microphone, nobody else present |
| Massey, secure assessment | In person, on campus or near your term address | Photo ID such as a driver's licence or passport |
| Open Polytechnic, supervised exam | Approved venue nearest your home address | Admittance letter, photo ID, permitted materials only |
| Otago, distance papers | Local exam centre chosen by your semester address | Travel of up to an hour in some cases |
Which parts of distance study still happen in person?
Professional qualifications keep their placements, and practical courses keep hands-on time. These are the pinch points for anyone studying around a job, because the dates are fixed and the hours are full days.
- Massey's primary teaching diploma needs you in New Zealand throughout. Its Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching (Primary) page asks distance students to attend a compulsory five-day contact wānanga in February that includes a noho marae, and to complete at least 80 days in education settings, travelling up to an hour at their own arrangement.
- Open Polytechnic's early childhood degree has 120 days of practicum. Its Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) page lists five assessed practicums of 6 hours a day, five days a week, in licensed centres, plus noho marae from 8.45am on a Saturday to 11.30am on the Sunday.
- Otago's residential schools run 2 to 5 days. Otago says some distance papers need them on campus, and marks in its prospectus the papers that overseas students can take without attending anything in New Zealand.
- Travel usually sits outside the price. Open Polytechnic's programme cost for that degree leaves out travel to noho marae, practicum, workshops, labs and exams.
If you work, ask for practicum and workshop dates at enrolment and book leave then. A 120-day practicum at 6 hours a day, five days a week, will not fit into evenings, and it adds up to months of full days across the degree.
What does distance study cost, and what does StudyLink pay?
Tuition is priced course by course or programme by programme. Studying by distance changes some of the extras and, more often, how StudyLink classes your study, which decides what you can borrow.
- Massey charges distance students a lower services fee. Its non-tuition fees page lists 7.90 New Zealand dollars a credit for distance study in 2026 against 9.70 on campus, and 8.20 against 10.30 in 2027, charged on up to 120 credits a year and covered by StudyLink.
- Open Polytechnic prices some programmes whole. Its early childhood teaching degree is listed at 18,240 New Zealand dollars for domestic students, before textbooks and travel, and some single courses, such as Introduction to Assessment, show a domestic cost of zero.
- Part-time study usually means a loan for fees only. StudyLink's part-time page says part-time students may only get a Student Loan for compulsory course fees unless classed as full-time, which it calls Limited Full Time and grants with your provider's support for reasons such as a medical condition or disability.
- Full-time is measured in EFTS over weeks. StudyLink's EFTS page turns 120 points or credits into 1.0 EFTS, so a 15-credit course is 0.125, and a course of 32 to 52 weeks needs 0.8 EFTS to count as full-time.
- Full-time study opens the rest of the loan. The Student Loan page lists course fees, course-related costs of up to 1,000 New Zealand dollars and living costs of up to 333.48 New Zealand dollars a week. At 55 or older you can borrow for course fees only.
If you live overseas
StudyLink's overseas study page says New Zealand citizens living abroad may get a Student Loan and Student Allowance for a New Zealand distance course, with an overseas study form filled in together with the provider. Permanent residents living overseas cannot, a rule in place since 2017. Massey's compulsory workshops still need you in the country, and Open Polytechnic lets you sit an exam abroad only at your own cost.
How do you build a week without a timetable?
Distance study rarely collapses in one go. It slips a week at a time, because nothing in the diary stops it slipping. The answer is to put fixed blocks in your week and treat them as if a lecturer were waiting at the front of the room.
- Work out the hours from the provider's figure. Use Massey's 10 to 12.5 hours per 15-credit course, Otago's estimate of about 15 hours a week for an 18-point semester paper and 25 for a 30-point one, or the workload line on an Open Polytechnic course page.
- Fix three or four blocks at the same times each week. Put the longest straight after a class is recorded, so watching and note-taking happen together.
- Log in at a set time each day. Massey's guide suggests checking messages at a regular time daily and writing down every time you must be online for a compulsory session.
- Post in the forum before you email. Massey's guide suggests asking in the discussion forum first, so the lecturer answers once for everyone, and Otago lists forum participation among the things some papers assess.
- Keep a course calendar. Open Polytechnic suggests one with start and end dates, assessment due dates, workshops or exams, and your own commitments, pinned where your household can see it.
Keeping up with recorded classes
Watch each recording in the week it appears, with the slides open, and stop to write the few points that matter in your own words. Close it, and the next day answer questions on it from memory before you look back. Studying from recorded lectures covers the method in full. Here is one week built that way for two Massey 15-credit courses, about 21 hours.
| Day | Block | Task |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 7pm to 9pm | Course A: this week's recorded class and notes |
| Tuesday | 7pm to 9pm | Course A: readings and one forum post |
| Wednesday | 7pm to 9pm | Course B: recorded class and notes |
| Thursday | 7pm to 9pm | Course B: readings and one forum post |
| Friday | 12.30pm to 1.30pm | Messages, calendar and questions for the lecturer |
| Saturday | 9am to 3pm | Assignment work, one course at a time |
| Sunday | 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm | Recall practice from notes, then plan next week |
Where Notibo fits
Distance study leaves you with plenty of recordings and readings and little structure for turning them into revision. That is the step Notibo covers. On a computer it records a class or a call, or takes an audio file you upload of up to 50 MB, and returns a transcript and notes; flashcards and spaced repetition from a recording are Pro features. A recording can run up to two hours. PDF, PowerPoint and Word files, a study guide for instance, become notes and flashcards the same way.
In Chrome or Edge it can take the sound of a browser tab, and on Windows the whole system sound; Safari and Firefox give the microphone only, and no bot joins your call. Recording an online tutorial or a contact workshop needs the lecturer's and the other students' permission, and whether you may capture a university's own recordings depends on your course's rules. Files are stored in the EU and transcribed on US processors named in the privacy policy, and audio is deleted once the transcript and notes are saved. You get Pro free for 14 days, with 240 minutes of audio, and no card is asked for. After those 14 days the free plan gives 30 minutes of audio a month and returns the transcript and notes from it; Pro is 9.99 euro a month or 88.99 euro a year. The lecture recording page shows how it works.