Hi
I started doing the Oxford Distance Learning course and quickly realised it wasn't for me.
The course was then (2007, no idea if this has changed) completely paper based. You had to transpose your progress test answers onto an email for them to mark...when they got round to it.
Compare that to the Bristol.gs course which I changed to last year ( I had to suspend my learning for family reasons for a long while). The course is PC based (with paper notes too) and the progress tests are just like the real exams (but harder!) with instant feedback and results sent directly to the school.
Also, the OAA are perhaps too good. Very much an authoritative text, but they go beyond the learning objectives in my opinion, i.e too much fat. The Bristol.gs material is lean, with lots of helpful exam-proof hints on how best to understand and remember various concepts.
I just got my first round of exam results back..91% average, so it worked for me.
I am comparing the current Bristol course with the OAA course as of 2007, so this may not be a fair comparison I hasten to point out.
Hope that helps, feel free to PM me if you need any more info.