Going the Distance to Reach the Dream

Yuri Cabrera is an aspiring film director and screen writer, studying Film Production with a minor in Sociology at UBC. Yuri spends his days shooting films for class and independent projects, working, and studying. He admits he has a busy schedule, which he does his best to balance. Yuri’s films are comical and magical, but always have an element of realism. Yuri posts his films on a personal film website, Yuri Kookaburra. The fine balance between reality and magic, which Yuri strives for in his films, can only be achieved with a lot of time to reflect, draft, and shoot. That is why distance education works for Yuri – the more time he has, the more well-planned his shoots can be.

For Yuri, the distance education format has allowed him to achieve a balance between all his daily activities. “As a Film Production student,” states Yuri, “my schedule is so busy, that last semester, no matter where I tried to fit in a class, it just wouldn’t work. I had no free mornings, no free afternoons, and no free evenings.” The distance education option allowed Yuri to fit in two classes, where he would not otherwise have had the time.

Discussion Boards

Yuri has taken two distance education courses: FIST 332: Studies in Genre or Period: Irish Cinema and Culture, and SOCI 430B: Perspectives on Global Citizenship. He was able to apply credits for both courses towards his Film Production major and Sociology minor. He found that both courses were based around a lot of discussion. “Basically, you would do the assigned weekly readings, and then post your thoughts, opinions, what you found interesting, and why you found it interesting on the online discussion board.” This course format was very effective for Yuri, who finds that he “learns best through back and forth discussion.” Although the instant response from fellow students or the course instructor may not always be there, Yuri finds that the discussion format allows people to think and reflect more before they post their responses. Yuri felt that he learned a lot from the other students via the online discussions, and that he himself was motivated to think carefully and critically before posting.

FIST 332: Studies in Genre or Period: Irish Cinema and Culture

With his background in film production, Yuri found that he “absolutely loved” FIST 332, a course which has helped him with his major. By allowing him to “immerse [himself] in the cinema of a different culture,” the course led him to a deeper understanding of the way cultures can be represented by cinema. “Cinema is tied to culture,” states Yuri. “In order for cinema to appeal to people, it has to be culturally intelligible, so one really gets an insight into the culture of a country through studying its cinema.”

Yuri notes that the Irish Cinema and Culture course was essentially a historical look at Ireland through the films. He enjoyed the fact that he was encouraged to think of the films in terms of narrative and film direction, while simultaneously learning about Irish history. The content of the course really engaged Yuri. Learning about the colonization of Ireland by England, for example, changed his ideas about colonization. “Before this course, I had always had the perception that colonization was something that Western counties had done to non-Western countries. It was fascinating to learn about a Western country colonizing another Western country.”

Based on his experience with FIST 332, Yuri feels it is a misconception that distance education does not allow for enough personal interaction. Yuri found that, in fact, he gained a lot from his interactions with the course instructor. For example, Yuri wanted to get the perspective of a film studies expert on the film script that he was developing for one of his Film Production classes, so he emailed the course instructor. Yuri found that the course instructor provided him with a lot of great feedback and insights on his script. By the end of the course Yuri felt that he was leaving with a film script that was “further developed” as a result of the insights he gained and the interactions he experienced in FIST 332.

SOCI 430B: Perspectives on Global Citizenship

Having attended an international school in the Philippines, which really emphasised the concept of global citizenship, Yuri was very conscious from a very young age of understanding the world through a global perspective. Yuri states that nowadays, “people locate themselves socially and culturally, but not nationally; the world is becoming more close-knit and a certain mindset is required to adapt to that.” Among Yuri’s favourite film genres are the film narratives and documentaries. Being able to participate in a class with the theme of global citizenship allowed Yuri to explore different stories from around the world that he may one day combine with filmmaking to shed light on important issues. SOCI 430B allowed Yuri to re-immerse himself in this global perspective, while at the same time, it also allowed him to fulfill credits for his Sociology minor.

With Yuri’s busy schedule, the distance education format has worked well for him. Yuri was able to take advantage of the flexible learning format, while completing courses that helped fulfill his degree requirements.