Back in November 2002, in a business blog for my bank reflecting on my first year as a freelance, I revealed how my 300+ distance-learning students had become an increasing source of delight and inspiration as they battled their way through their respective courses.
They were based in more than 30 countries, from Armenia and Georgia to Japan and China, India and Pakistan, Canada and America, South Africa, Australia and the Middle East.
Many were multilingual and the sheer range of languages they had at their command was in itself fascinating - not just the main European languages, but Afrikaans, Arabic, Zulu, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Armenian, Welsh, Hindi, Punjabi, Yoruba, Polish, Sinhalese, Filipino, Swedish and Urdu - to name but a few.
They also came from all walks of life - proving, if nothing else, that writing for a living is one of those dreams shared by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people who may be less fortunate than journalists in terms of finding a job which gives them genuine career satisfaction.
They included bankers and accountants, teachers and medics, sales professionals and professors. Some worked in IT, telecoms and new media positions, others in secretarial or administrative posts. There were nurses and social workers, management consultants and business analysts, as well as housewives, students and the unemployed.
They were interested in anything and everything, from antiques to animal rights, from clubbing to raft-racing. And that's perfect, because it means many of them went on to find a writing niche with a specialist magazine or trade journal where their skills and interests were particularly relevant.
Sometimes the range in backgrounds, circumstances and interests seemed almost surreal, ensuring that opening assignments for marking was never boring. There was a missionary struggling to find any English speaker for miles around to interview for a feature other than her husband, and another from a prisoner in the Middle East who was reliant on the British consul for all communication with the outside world.
It meant the copy they produced for "live" news stories was always intriguing too, from court cases in China or Saudi Arabia to articles dealing with the problems faced by women farmers in South Africa or violent demonstrations against the president in Venezuela.
Their features would include fascinating titbits of information about hill-walking in Kygyzstan or the nightlife in Osaka; and best of all they were able to see their efforts paying off with bylines and commissions - for an Armenian website, or the Georgian Times, or the Jerusalem Post.
Over the years, my caseload of web marking has dramatically reduced, mainly to allow time for face-to-face postgraduate teaching, but the ongoing enthusiasm, determination and drive of those studying abroad, especially in countries where journalism is far from being a safe profession, make it hard to feel churlish about late-night marking and continue to provide a fascinating window on the world.
Some past students have also gone on to achieve significant writing careers - from the former policeman who became a crime correspondent in South Africa to travel writer Chris Ord (above, bottom), who went on to set up his own website - the travelrag.com - which allowed dozens of others to showcase their writing talent.
He went on to edit numerous specialist travel magazines, including Get Lost! (2004), Walk magazine (2006), Outer Edge (2008) and Trail Run magazine (2011), as well as having his travel stories published in titles around the world.
Another aspiring writer who has gone on to establish a strong web presence with his uncompromising blog is independent freelance video and print journalist Jason N Parkinson (above, top - see jasonnparkinson.com) who has worked as a freelance cameraman for AP, Sky, More4, Channel 4 and ITN, as well as editing his own documentaries.
Jason specialises in covering international political dissent, including G8 protest coverage, and worked with Mark Thomas on the Coca Cola investigations for Dispatches and investigating the activities of Shell Oil and Gas company in County Mayo, Ireland, exposing the pollution of the local water supply. He has covered the protests in Athens and political uprising in Cairo, EDL protests and other political protests around the world. He now contributes to reportdigital.co.uk, a video and picture library specialising in protest coverage.
PICTURE (above, top):
Many were multilingual and the sheer range of languages they had at their command was in itself fascinating - not just the main European languages, but Afrikaans, Arabic, Zulu, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Armenian, Welsh, Hindi, Punjabi, Yoruba, Polish, Sinhalese, Filipino, Swedish and Urdu - to name but a few.
They also came from all walks of life - proving, if nothing else, that writing for a living is one of those dreams shared by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people who may be less fortunate than journalists in terms of finding a job which gives them genuine career satisfaction.
They included bankers and accountants, teachers and medics, sales professionals and professors. Some worked in IT, telecoms and new media positions, others in secretarial or administrative posts. There were nurses and social workers, management consultants and business analysts, as well as housewives, students and the unemployed.
They were interested in anything and everything, from antiques to animal rights, from clubbing to raft-racing. And that's perfect, because it means many of them went on to find a writing niche with a specialist magazine or trade journal where their skills and interests were particularly relevant.
Sometimes the range in backgrounds, circumstances and interests seemed almost surreal, ensuring that opening assignments for marking was never boring. There was a missionary struggling to find any English speaker for miles around to interview for a feature other than her husband, and another from a prisoner in the Middle East who was reliant on the British consul for all communication with the outside world.
It meant the copy they produced for "live" news stories was always intriguing too, from court cases in China or Saudi Arabia to articles dealing with the problems faced by women farmers in South Africa or violent demonstrations against the president in Venezuela.
Their features would include fascinating titbits of information about hill-walking in Kygyzstan or the nightlife in Osaka; and best of all they were able to see their efforts paying off with bylines and commissions - for an Armenian website, or the Georgian Times, or the Jerusalem Post.
Over the years, my caseload of web marking has dramatically reduced, mainly to allow time for face-to-face postgraduate teaching, but the ongoing enthusiasm, determination and drive of those studying abroad, especially in countries where journalism is far from being a safe profession, make it hard to feel churlish about late-night marking and continue to provide a fascinating window on the world.
Some past students have also gone on to achieve significant writing careers - from the former policeman who became a crime correspondent in South Africa to travel writer Chris Ord (above, bottom), who went on to set up his own website - the travelrag.com - which allowed dozens of others to showcase their writing talent.
He went on to edit numerous specialist travel magazines, including Get Lost! (2004), Walk magazine (2006), Outer Edge (2008) and Trail Run magazine (2011), as well as having his travel stories published in titles around the world.
Another aspiring writer who has gone on to establish a strong web presence with his uncompromising blog is independent freelance video and print journalist Jason N Parkinson (above, top - see jasonnparkinson.com) who has worked as a freelance cameraman for AP, Sky, More4, Channel 4 and ITN, as well as editing his own documentaries.
Jason specialises in covering international political dissent, including G8 protest coverage, and worked with Mark Thomas on the Coca Cola investigations for Dispatches and investigating the activities of Shell Oil and Gas company in County Mayo, Ireland, exposing the pollution of the local water supply. He has covered the protests in Athens and political uprising in Cairo, EDL protests and other political protests around the world. He now contributes to reportdigital.co.uk, a video and picture library specialising in protest coverage.
PICTURE (above, top):
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - 05.07.08. A member of the Metropolitan Police Forward Intelligence Team attentively watches and make notes on freelance film and print journalist Jason N. Parkinson in Croydon, South London, England on Saturday 5th July 2008. Mr. Parkinson was covering an anti-G8 protest at the time. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is under pressure from the National Union of Journalists on police surveillance of journalists by the Metropolitan Police Forward Intelligence Team. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2008.
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