"Distance Learning" Degrees?

alyth

Errata wrote: »

Agree with Linz and Eamon. OU is by it's very nature distance learning and employers would understand that. OU requires commitment, tenacity, self-direction - all things that appeal to employers. Some of the material can be basic, but the trick is - as with all degree work - to read around the sugject as much as possible. It is possible to get through solely on the course materials, but one's own research and broader reading is always profitable.

I started a 60 point level one course in Feb as a precursor to my BA in English with the OU. I'm almost at the stage of giving up on it, in fact I'm off to college in 6 weeks to do an access course to get me to uni. My OU tutor has done everything possible to discourage me from doing outside research, by that I mean she wants the essays, etc to be done only from the OU textbooks, and quite frankly that's the one part that I have struggled with - i want to do outside research, i find once I've read something in the textbook I was to do off and do further research and incorporate that into my essay, and I was marked down for my last essay for doing this - my tutor specifically mentioned that I should be using only the OU text.

I also find the OU forums to be totally above my head, I'm not by any means thick but the postings on my course forum seem to be from another planet, it's like people try to out-do each other intellectually-wise. I'm extremely disciplined and love the studying but it's trying to get 1000 words from a short chapter that's killing me, I would like to use outside research, maybe it's just my tutor, i did a 10 point last year with the OU on Leonardo da Vinci and used lots of information not provided by the OU and did fantastically well on that course!

Errata

The important thing with any degree is to 'feed the beast' That is
1. answer the question, not the question you want to answer, or the question you think it should be but the question that's been set.
2. reference lots of stuff from the course materials, then you can sneak in a couple from your own reading as 'on the other hand Fred Bloggs in blah blah suggests yada yada. Tutors who aren't familiar with a reference may not have time to check it out but the odd couple of sensible references would be accepted if the rest of the work was referenced from course materials and of a good standard.

Can only suggest you break 1k words into chunks, intro, arguement and analysis, summary.

UnoriginalGuy_2

Thanks for the replies thus far. It has been a useful thread

cazziebo

Alyth -sorry your OU experience hasn't been that positive. I've done a few years with the OU and been lucky enough to have had only two bad tutors in that time. Sounds like you've got one of the lazy ones. Most have been really pleased to see any research and reading outside of course texts.

I do know exactly what you're saying about the forums! I found it a bit of a forum for show offs and wannabee teachers' pets.... I would find it completely demotivating that people were quoting stuff and writers I'd never heard of... Ha - usually me that ended up with the distinctions though! :A

Hope you get on better with the access course.

I do think the OU is great for distance learning in terms of materials and support. I'm working with a few bricks and mortar universities just now on putting together what would be a part time/distance learning post grad course. They really don't appreciate the difference between students who attend daily with access to resources and those who have to rely almost solely on provided materials.

alyth wrote: »

I started a 60 point level one course in Feb as a precursor to my BA in English with the OU. I'm almost at the stage of giving up on it, in fact I'm off to college in 6 weeks to do an access course to get me to uni. My OU tutor has done everything possible to discourage me from doing outside research, by that I mean she wants the essays, etc to be done only from the OU textbooks, and quite frankly that's the one part that I have struggled with - i want to do outside research, i find once I've read something in the textbook I was to do off and do further research and incorporate that into my essay, and I was marked down for my last essay for doing this - my tutor specifically mentioned that I should be using only the OU text.

I also find the OU forums to be totally above my head, I'm not by any means thick but the postings on my course forum seem to be from another planet, it's like people try to out-do each other intellectually-wise. I'm extremely disciplined and love the studying but it's trying to get 1000 words from a short chapter that's killing me, I would like to use outside research, maybe it's just my tutor, i did a 10 point last year with the OU on Leonardo da Vinci and used lots of information not provided by the OU and did fantastically well on that course!

DebtSniper

alyth wrote: »

I also find the OU forums to be totally above my head, I'm not by any means thick but the postings on my course forum seem to be from another planet, it's like people try to out-do each other intellectually-wise. I'm extremely disciplined and love the studying but it's trying to get 1000 words from a short chapter that's killing me, I would like to use outside research, maybe it's just my tutor, i did a 10 point last year with the OU on Leonardo da Vinci and used lots of information not provided by the OU and did fantastically well on that course!

One thing to bear in mind is that students have to manage their own time and work at their own pace. I often found other students steaming ahead with the coursework and discussing Assignment 3, when most of us were still struggling with assignment 1! But they may have been cramming in as much work as possible before outside commitments, such as children's school holidays, for example, curtailed the study time available to them. Of course, some were just showing off!

Many of my courses split their forums into assignment-specific sub-forums, so that students could focus on the materials that they were currently studying.

Your tutor does sound a bit of a lemon, though.

Hermia

alyth wrote: »

My OU tutor has done everything possible to discourage me from doing outside research, by that I mean she wants the essays, etc to be done only from the OU textbooks, and quite frankly that's the one part that I have struggled with - i want to do outside research, i find once I've read something in the textbook I was to do off and do further research and incorporate that into my essay, and I was marked down for my last essay for doing this - my tutor specifically mentioned that I should be using only the OU text.

I did one module at the OU and had the same problem. I always thought doing research is an important part of doing a degree (that is one of the skills employers seem to value in graduates) and I just couldn't understand why it was being discouraged. Surely it can only be a good thing if someone wants to read around the subject. I mean, how can you find out what really interests you if you don't ever venture outside the text book?

alyth wrote: »

I also find the OU forums to be totally above my head, I'm not by any means thick but the postings on my course forum seem to be from another planet, it's like people try to out-do each other intellectually-wise.

I wish the forums had been like that for my course. Mine just seemed to be full of very thin-skinned people. I was studying psychology which is obviously a subject that inspires a lot of debate, but I found that a lot of people on the forum did not seem to understand the rules of academic debate. People seemed to take a lot of offense if anyone tried to challenge their ideas and start a debate. I posted one very polite message on the forum asking whether anyone else was concerned that we were not being encouraged to read around the subject. I was inundated with some quite nasty messages from people telling me that they had 8 children and a disabled granny to look after and couldn't possibly do that as they didn't hours of free time on their hands like I obviously did! The venom was amazing. I couldn't believe they way people were misinterpreting my comment. I also wondered how these people were going to survive in the workplace considering that (i) there is a lot of competition for jobs in psychology and (ii) it's normal for other psychologists to assess and criticise your work.

I do think the OU is a marvellous thing, but I wish wannabe students could perhaps be given a read-only log-in so they can have a look at the site and forums.

eamon

For those that have experienced difficulty with the OU you need to understand its history. The OU was set up to allow those amongst us that wanted to study to degree level but for a variety of reasons were unable to do so on leaving secondary school at 18. Cleverly a decision was made to base assignments & exams on the provided course materials. Therefore if you live on a small Scottish Island you will have exactly the same information available as somebody else that may live in central London. You don't need access to vast libraries and thats the whole point of the OU "enabling access to higher education". The same basic principle remains today. By all means do extra reading if it gives you more knowledge/understanding but it won't give you more marks unless its useful in answering the assignment/exam question.