Computing and IT through OU (Open University)

Hi everyone!

I was just wondering if there was anyone out there that is taking or has taken the Computing and IT course at the OU (Open University). I have seen some review already on here and they were dated, to say the least. I just wanted to know what other peoples' perspective was about taking the course? I'm thinking about taking the course this year 2018 October time

Many thanks!

I worked with lady who did the course. Do you have any other viable options, like going to technical college part time to do an HND/Foundation degree?

I mean I could go go College part time but I didn’t want to long it out a lot

To be blunt: The Computing degree modules aren't really as useful as modules other CS degrees offer. I worked with a lady who did the degree, and they didn't help her progress in her IT career and she didn't really use any of what she learnt on the degree. She did get an offer to do a masters part-time at a RG uni, which she went for but then struggled despite getting a good 2:1 at the OU. The degree hadn't really prepared her properly for post-grad at a bricks and mortar. That was my experience by proxy with the OU Computing degree.

Doing a uni degree part-time at a university would be a better bet. If you feel that might be too much effort or take too long, do a HND/Foundation degree first. You can land a decent tech job with a foundation degree. I had a friend who got a job right off the back of a Foundation Degree in Software Engineering with a large multinational company.

Yeah it's a great course.

What will your specliase in? There is the computer science pathway, the software development pathway, networking, web technologies pathway.

First year I did maths, networking and programming.

They give you electronic assignments to do as well as essays.

Tutorails are online and sometimes at a college in the evening or on the saturday.

I mean I would rather just do it full time to be fair. Would be a little easier and I could focus my time and effort on getting the best grades. I was just worried about my income on a month to month basis

What unis had you looked at if you were thinking of doing it full -time degree? I could think of about 7 or 8 unis that offer part time CS degrees. I've seen people get 1sts while studying CS part time (at Ulster) and working full time, so it is possible. There are also "Earn as you learn" schemes some tech companies do, where they pay for your degree and you work for them while you study.

Quite simply, what you do outside of uni is what matters too.

Code some projects, some web apps, video games, software etc in JavaScript, Java, C# and put in on Github.

Would you say it’s possible to get it done if you had the determination?

Oh of course. And I wouldn't worry too much about grades. If that is the case, to to a technical college, do you HND/Foundation degree then get an entry in to a degree with that root. When you think about it, time will pass anyway, so you may as well be working towards your education. Even if you go a path less travelled, you'll still end up at the same place.

I'm currently on the OU computing and IT course. I'm doing it part time (6 years) and almost finished my second year. The 2 years I have done so far have been a very gentle introduction to IT so if you have any experience with IT (like, any at all) you will most likely find it a bit boring and tedious. There are a few pros and cons about working with the OU:

PROS:
+ Work in your own time so you can take breaks and catch up as needed.

+ It makes you much more self motivated as the structure is very loose.

+ No prerequisites, you can literally start from scratch without having to retake your A-levels, which is handy if you're older.

+ You can do it from anywhere. everything is online so you can literally do this course anywhere with an internet connection.

+ The OU online library is insanely good! My other half often used my library instead of the manchester met library for her assignments.

+ You tend to specialise in a specific area. I have a friend that did a computing degree at a brick university and he had a basic understanding of everything but no in depth knowledge of anything, a "jack of all trades" so to speak. Having an in depth, specialised skill set makes you much more employable than being a jack of all trades.



CONS:
- There is no community feel, you won't make any real connections with other students. The facebook pages and whatsapp groups can be OK but the community is generally pretty toxic. Some people like to boast and a lot of people like to complain about the people who like to boast, so it gets pretty tedious.

- As mentioned above, it can be pretty tedious if you know anything about the subject already.

- If you can't motivate yourself, you're going to struggle and will potentially drop out. OU has the highest drop out / fail rate of any university.

- Getting any meaningful assistance from your tutor is a non starter. The course is basically; "here you go, learn this and submit assignments for marking"

- Most students don't feel like they've got any value for money. The course is literally just there online and is reused for years and years on end. Sure you might get a few books and some free software like microsoft office etc. but other than that it's pretty much a rehash of the last 10 years.

- Outdated, I noticed you mention this one. Yes the stuff can be outdated. They can update the modules from time to time so if you're lucky you might get a new one. If you're unlucky they might replace a module you were looking forward to in the coming years.




All in all, I would probably pick the OU again if i was to start over, simply because of the convenience. I simply cannot afford to leave my job and go to a brick university. If I did have the option, I would rather to go to a physical university.

Hi everyone!

I was just wondering if there was anyone out there that is taking or has taken the Computing and IT course at the OU (Open University). I have seen some review already on here and they were dated, to say the least. I just wanted to know what other peoples' perspective was about taking the course? I'm thinking about taking the course this year 2018 October time

Many thanks!

Did you take the course? Just wondering as I am thinking of doing it myself this year....