Open University. Am I mad? :p

dmg24

Phil,

Without wanting to turn this into a thread about you, your post count demonstrates that you can't have actually spent that much time on your studies!

redsquirrel80

tr3mor, if you're interested in Philosophy, it might be worth having a look at the Philosophy Pathways programme (can't remember the site but just google "Philosophy Pathways"). I've been considering doing this as I had to drop out of Uni due to personal problems, and have really been missing studying, but am not in the position to leave my job, and haven't found a distance learning degree that suits me at the moment. It looks quite good as it allows you to study at your own pace, which could be useful for fitting it round work, and it looks like you can develop the work in directions that interest you. It's not a degree (so depends if you're bothered about getting another degree qualification) but you do get certificates for each Unit you do.

Obviously I can't vouch for it as I haven't done it but thought you might be interested in having a look!

Voyager2002

A couple of points about the OU (which I know very well):

The teaching year starts in February, not October, so you would have a good few months to get used to working life before returning to study;

As for course material being "dumbed down", that is obviously a comment on Foundation level units. The OU provides distance learning material to cover the entire spectrum between Foundation (for people who have left school without any qualifications, not even GCSE) and MA /MSc level. They go to a great deal of trouble to ensure that they provide the necessary degree of difficulty at each level. Lecturers are trained to express themselves clearly, and there is an elaborate system of quality control to avoid presenting uneccessary difficulties to students.

Anyway, I would advise the OP to look at individual modules that are of interest, rather than signing up for a complete degree. And I would highlight some of the work in the Technology faculty, which looks at the economic and political issues around new technologies. Some post-graduate work in this area might be suitable.

studentphil

dmg24 wrote: »

Phil,

Without wanting to turn this into a thread about you, your post count demonstrates that you can't have actually spent that much time on your studies!

I struggled on for hours and hours and doing reading and work each week. I just posted here instead of going out and getting drunk and clubbing and wasting all that time like all you other students do.

nickyhutch

studentphil wrote: »

I struggled on for hours and hours and doing reading and work each week. I just posted here instead of going out and getting drunk and clubbing and wasting all that time like all you other students do.

Wasting time??! No, it's called "having a good time".

studentphil

nickyhutch wrote: »

Wasting time??! No, it's called "having a good time".

If other people can get good grades without studying and spending all day drunk then I should not be in for special criticism.

nickyhutch

Who said that just because they are out "wasting their time" they aren't studying too?

Oldernotwiser

tr3mor wrote: »

I was kinda worried about that. I don't know what level it would be aimed towards. Saying that, I'm sure I'd get out of it what I put into it. Slightly dumbed down might be a good thing too, considering I'd be working FT as well.

Does anyone know if it's possible to look at the resources before enrolling?

If you can find out where your local study centre is (probably your local FE college) you should find that all the course materials are available to you there so that you can see what's involved.

I think that you might find the level 1 courses quite unchallenging as they have to be accessible to people without prior study experience. The level 2 and 3 courses might be more interesting, although I do find that the OU doesn't always encourage you to read more widely than the set materials, which can be quite frustrating for an experienced student.

Although they don't offer PPE, you might be interested in a degree with the University of London External Programme which can be more flexible and challenging than the OU.

http://www.londonexternal.ac.uk/study_ep/index.shtml

studentphil

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

If you can find out where your local study centre is (probably your local FE college) you should find that all the course materials are available to you there so that you can see what's involved.

I think that you might find the level 1 courses quite unchallenging as they have to be accessible to people without prior study experience. The level 2 and 3 courses might be more interesting, although I do find that the OU doesn't always encourage you to read more widely than the set materials, which can be quite frustrating for an experienced student.

Although they don't offer PPE, you might be interested in a degree with the University of London External Programme which can be more flexible and challenging than the OU.

http://www.londonexternal.ac.uk/study_ep/index.shtml

I am not sure how happy the OU would be with being called not very challenge. They pride themselves on their world class courses. Maybe they don't encourage you to work outside the set materials because many students do not have access to a good library.

Oldernotwiser

studentphil wrote: »

I am not sure how happy the OU would be with being called not very challenge. They pride themselves on their world class courses. Maybe they don't encourage you to work outside the set materials because many students do not have access to a good library.

I appreciate that you have to be able to do an OU degree without access to an academic library but I have known of people who have had this access who have been discouraged from using the extra resources available. I also agree that the OU has an excellent reputation but that doesn't always tell the whole story. I specifically talked about the Level 1 courses not being challenging for an experienced student. These have to be quite accessible as there are no entry requirements for the OU so they cover some of the same ground as an access course would do. I think that a student who had gained a first from a traditional university would probably be bored stiff by a level 1 OU course.