Has anyone done an ICS distance learning course? Do you think they sound good?

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I miss studying and I'm always looking for the perfect course for me to study next. I'm hoping to do something that I'll find fascinating and inspiring, and which will also possibly lead me to a new career. I keep seeing adverts (on TV and here on the internet) for ICS Distance Learning courses. (ICS stands for International Correspondence Schools). The adverts make it all sound really exciting, and give you the impression that doing one of their courses is a doorway to a great new future. The courses are flexible and they offer a mixture of academic, vocation and professional qualifications, and you can study all sorts of subjects. I'm very tempted by them, but do you think a distance-learning qualification is worth the paper it's written on? Some of the courses they offer don't seem to lend themselves well to learning by correspondence, like the classroom assistant course that I was considering. Wouldn't it be rather important to get some actual classroom assessment before being unleashed in a school? And wouldn't I get bored and maybe a bit demotivated with no classmates to talk to or to encourage one another along? It wouldn't be much like student-life as I've experienced it before... But on the other hand it is completely flexible, and with a young child this is rather a big consideration. Have you seen the ICS adverts? What d'you think? Have you studied with ICS or done a distance-learning course? Are you glad you did it, ...and did it lead to great things? If you're an employer would you think of employing somebody who did a distance-learning course? (If you had two candidates, one with a school-based qualification and one distance-learning, which one would you choose??) I know it probably very much depends on the course and job requirements, but I'd be interested in any views or experiences. http://www.icslearn.co.uk/