Open University > Yay or Nay?

Reply 120

laalNick

15

Original post by RhaegoTarg

Hmmm...The ignorance is strong in this one.

Educate yourself, you must.

^best reply!^

Reply 121

Bloodrose

7

Original post by laalNick

^best reply!^

Somehow managed to be more coherent than the comment that it was posted in response to as well, despite being written in Yoda-speak.*

Reply 122

laalNick

15

Original post by Bloodrose

Somehow managed to be more coherent than the comment that it was posted in response to as well, despite being written in Yoda-speak.*

Arrr yes but then Yoda is wise!

Reply 123

TeddyBear86

17

I personally think it's great if you like being isolated and prefer just to do the degree and that's all.

Access to HE in Social Work

BSc Health and Social Care - pending

Reply 124

Bloodrose

7

This shower of bastards has just let me down for the second year in a row. I have just received a notification from them that my module result that was due by next week will now be subject to a delay of another 6 weeks. They did exactly the same to me last summer and when I questioned it that time they said that it was a very rare and unusual occurrence and that it would not happen again.

They are completely and utterly useless and I can't honestly understand why anybody would ever recommend them or consider using their services at the rates they charge today.*

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 125

darthpoik

I loved the OU as it provided a way for people to get a proper degree flexibly. Although there was lots of debate on this issue, I had done a so-called proper degree and ranked the OU equally and in some cases better. Recently it has taken a turn for the worse to the extent where I feel it non longer can be held anywhere near the status of a degree from a university. Firstly it has stuffed in lots of social stuff, wikis and the like. It has turned its course materials into ebooks and web pages.
On the face this is not necessarily a bad thing but it is the way this has been done. Courses that have a wiki requirement ensure that the students are writing the course material, which also could be arguably beneficial but the distinction is that there is no option other than to improve the course material as this is how you are marked. Not on your understanding of the subject but your improvements to the wiki. This is the case as the questions are subject unrelated "How does your work improve the wiki" etc etc.
Also ebooks are not the way to learn effectively. Online pdfs are beneficial but ebooks are useless outside a novel. Why? This is due to the inherrent ability of the brain to remember patterns. The ebook/webpage re-renders the page differently in different circumstances, which stops the ability of pattern recognition. I can go back to old school text books 20 years ago and know where pieces of information are in it.

Coupled with their complete lack of acknowledgement that they are going down this path I cannot recommend them to anyone.

Reply 126

darthpoik

I loved the OU as it provided a way for people to get a proper degree flexibly. Although there was lots of debate on this issue, I had done a so-called proper degree and ranked the OU equally and in some cases better. Recently it has taken a turn for the worse to the extent where I feel it non longer can be held anywhere near the status of a degree from a university. Firstly it has stuffed in lots of social stuff, wikis and the like. It has turned its course materials into ebooks and web pages.On the face this is not necessarily a bad thing but it is the way this has been done. Courses that have a wiki requirement ensure that the students are writing the course material, which also could be arguably beneficial but the distinction is that there is no option other than to improve the course material as this is how you are marked. Not on your understanding of the subject but your improvements to the wiki. This is the case as the questions are subject unrelated "How does your work improve the wiki" etc etc.Also ebooks are not the way to learn effectively. Online pdfs are beneficial but ebooks are useless outside a novel. Why? This is due to the inherrent ability of the brain to remember patterns. The ebook/webpage re-renders the page differently in different circumstances, which stops the ability of pattern recognition. I can go back to old school text books 20 years ago and know where pieces of information are in it.Coupled with their complete lack of acknowledgement that they are going down this path I cannot recommend them to anyone.

Reply 127

Yellow 03

15

Original post by darthpoik

I loved the OU as it provided a way for people to get a proper degree flexibly. Although there was lots of debate on this issue, I had done a so-called proper degree and ranked the OU equally and in some cases better. Recently it has taken a turn for the worse to the extent where I feel it non longer can be held anywhere near the status of a degree from a university. Firstly it has stuffed in lots of social stuff, wikis and the like. It has turned its course materials into ebooks and web pages.
On the face this is not necessarily a bad thing but it is the way this has been done. Courses that have a wiki requirement ensure that the students are writing the course material, which also could be arguably beneficial but the distinction is that there is no option other than to improve the course material as this is how you are marked. Not on your understanding of the subject but your improvements to the wiki. This is the case as the questions are subject unrelated "How does your work improve the wiki" etc etc.
Also ebooks are not the way to learn effectively. Online pdfs are beneficial but ebooks are useless outside a novel. Why? This is due to the inherrent ability of the brain to remember patterns. The ebook/webpage re-renders the page differently in different circumstances, which stops the ability of pattern recognition. I can go back to old school text books 20 years ago and know where pieces of information are in it.

Coupled with their complete lack of acknowledgement that they are going down this path I cannot recommend them to anyone.

That's useful to know. Generally the OU has had a very good reputation over the years and I have always had it on my mind as a "possible" when it comes to postgraduate study, but lately it seems that there are a lot of people who are frustrated by it. The subject-unrelated questions and the ebook format for course materials sounds really disappointing.

Reply 128

G-cia

Just to add to that: what I realised from completing my first year at The OU is that one has to work harder to achieve a grade A in comparison to some of the brick universities....that is you have to score 85 and over to get an 'A' at the open university while at conventional university A's are achieved through scoring 70s and over....

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 129

Bloodrose

7

Original post by G-cia

Just to add to that: what I realised from completing my first year at The OU is that one has to work harder to achieve a grade A in comparison to some of the brick universities....that is you have to score 85 and over to get an 'A' at the open university while at conventional university A's are achieved through scoring 70s and over....

That is absolutely true. At a brick university my final dissertation would have earned top marks and I know because I work at a brick university and therefore showed it to some contacts who deal with submissions every year.*

Depsite that, the OU hated my work and thought that it was crap so my hard efforts proved to be a complete waste and all I ended up with was a 2:2 for the module. The real problem is the lack of accountability with the OU though. Their word is final on everything and they hide behind emails, letters and their student charter. They also flat out refuse to justify any of their decisions whereas they expect you as a student to justify every little thing.

That is one of the main reasons why I would never recommend them to anybody. *

Reply 130

BigV

9

Original post by Bloodrose

That is absolutely true. At a brick university my final dissertation would have earned top marks and I know because I work at a brick university and therefore showed it to some contacts who deal with submissions every year.*

Depsite that, the OU hated my work and thought that it was crap so my hard efforts proved to be a complete waste and all I ended up with was a 2:2 for the module. The real problem is the lack of accountability with the OU though. Their word is final on everything and they hide behind emails, letters and their student charter. They also flat out refuse to justify any of their decisions whereas they expect you as a student to justify every little thing.

That is one of the main reasons why I would never recommend them to anybody. *

I'm not trying to excuse the bad experience you had but what I can say from my own experience is that brick universities and even colleges can behave in the same way.

General policy in HE is that appeals about grades are not allowed and "academic judgement" is always final. So unless there is a procedural technicality you can appeal you are generally screwed if the tutor making your work doesn't like it or you. Many of them don't even use double blind marking any more and if you raise a complaint they will also hide behind bureaucracy. And it doesn't necessarily get any better if you study post grad either.

Reply 131

Luke7456

20

I am more concerned with the standard of the degree, than the potential employment prospects afterwards. Autistic spectrum etc I don't want to derail, but just to say that I do not have a positive expectation of employment.

For long periods of my life, I have supported myself with online activity whilst not been employed. Online Poker, Occasional exploitation of sports betting, (sports betting will usually have negative expected value but sometimes generous promotions or mistakes allow you to hedge for an assured profit)

I wont derail there either just to say don't get too excited it was a living wage I was not with high rollers in Vegas etc.

I did that with only a GCSE in maths and I suddenly thought what could I do with a degree in the subject working for myself? so I decided to go down that route and have recently started A level study.

Now I do have some really bad experience with academics, basically I did a Degree in accounting and finance from a polytechnic. I got a 2:1 and at the time considering I got by with 6 hours of study a week I just thought I was something special.

When I came to employment no luck, when I started studying A level maths I was in for a very rude awakening, the A level maths was harder and involved more work then my entire Degree!!!

An immediate response might be to assume that maybe I was just not that good at maths, I entertained this notion by asking multiple former
course mates who had done A level maths. They all concurred A level maths was more work and harder then the degree. So employment aside, when we break it down my Degree is worth less than an a Level. I do not ever want to repeat that mistake.

It is easy to think you understand something and not actually understand it, especially with maths.

I want to actually have the skills to solve problems and relate them to real world problems, to understand how to apply it to unfamiliar settings and to be able to use this to think and solve problems in my personal life and self employed work or actual employment. I need to gain an actual
understanding of the material and not just rote learn to pass an exam.

I want to know where to place the open university in terms of how challenging its standards will be how in depth the course will be and how much material they will cover. I do not want to sound like a snob (though I always likely will) but after my experiences with my first degree and that I am making a lot of sacrifice (plan to just started) to get the funds grades and understanding to do go further in studies, I really want to make sure that I do not repeat the same mistakes of doing a sub par degree.

Open university is highly respected by employers Irrelevant to me I am unlikely to get employed. open university has higher standards or more,
depth then universities? which ones? polytechnics don't really count for me. I would like to know how they compare to Russell group universities and Oxbridge etc.

Oxbridge is probably irrelevant because I am probably not getting in their regardless, but it still helps to know where OU ranks in comparison.
It is not really fair to expect them to meet Oxbridge standards but I need to know they meet Russell group universities.

I mean for maths btw I read that OU is good for certain subjects just it seems hard to place them for mathematics.

Reply 132

sputum

9

The subject matter of maths is challenging, From grabbing lecture notes and stuff we do pretty much the same things, there are different options at different places.

I don't think maths degrees fit into a ranking system as easily as you hope especially if you have no subject-specific requirements beyond 'a lot of difficult maths please.' The difference between two OU maths degrees can be huge and I expect this is the same for other unis.

Good luck whatever you choose. My selection criteria were heavily biased towards 'fits around work' and 'proximity to the sofa' (plus then-amazing prices and the pick of any undergrad module I fancied with no degree aim to bother with) which made things easier.

Reply 133

Luke7456

20

Hmm thanks for the reply I guess what I am getting at is depth. How to put this generally some universities ask for AAA+ and other universities ask for CCD. Now when comparing the students from the second uni to the first there will be four potential factors I can identify for the grade disparity.
1. Mitigating circumstances family life personal problems health problems etc
2. a lower standard of teaching
3. Just not that bright
4. did not work as hard

Now the problem is most students will fit into the latter two brackets, so if you go to a university that asks for CCD they have to cater to circumstances where students for the most part just are not too bright or just do not put the work in. you end up getting a degree that is about the same work it would take to do an a level where most of the students get drunk and play miniclip/facebook. they cannot set rigorous challenging course that requires lots of work because most of their students will fail. where as a university that asks for AAA will set a more rigorous program because most of their students will either put in long hours or are just naturally brilliant and need to be challenged.

I know that the advice is when you do a degree you should spend 40 hours a week and treat it like a full time job. Look I have been to a sub par university and believe me they are not doing anywhere near 40 hours a week. I pulled an all nighter with some of these students they spent hours talking **** browsing facebook watching youtube clips and pissing about there 12 hour all nighter probably consisted of 15 minutes of actual work and that is been generous and is also when they are going all out.

one example of stupidity was I started an assignment at 7pm and finished 7am the next day to be fair i worked flat out i got a strong 2:1 marked down from a first due to a referencing mistake. They got a third. they spent two weeks on it. you basically had to read 300 pages and write a 2000 word assignment I accept it is pushing it to leave it to the night before, but it should not take 2 weeks to read 300 pages and write 2000 words on it.

I guess the difference between the open university and a polytechnic is that despite the fact the OU does not ask for entry requirements, people who do their degree are actually looking to benefit themselves and not just go to uni because its the done thing and an extra 3 years before entering the job market. I would expect them to be tougher then a standard poly technic for that reason.

to give an example when you look at A level maths papers large parts of the question papers can be rote learned without understanding the material properly eg i could learn to pass the exam but have no knowledge or ability of how to apply it to real world scenarios or even that it could be. When you look at the step papers if you can pass those you will know what your doing with it. i read somewhere on here that some maths degrees can be rote learned so your memorizing a technique but not understanding it.

I think that for a degree to hold merit it needs to meet the following criteria,
1. someone in the IQ bracket of 115-130 should need to spend a 40 hours a week or more to get 2:1+
I know there are limitations of because someone may be brilliant and able to spend hardly any time and still do well and someone with an IQ of 85 probably wont get it regardless of how many hours they put in. But as a generic rule for the standard population hence why i define the IQ range
2.it needs to be tested in such a way that you actually need to understand the material and can't just learn simple tricks without understanding them or blag your way through it to get a good grade.
3. has real world applications.
4 decent support, eg if i get stuck or want to explore something further have regular contact i can go too, not something where I am limited to so much contact etc.

what I fear with the OU is that it will be a course I can just cruise through or one that does not offer decent explanations or examples, such as one particular textbook (I will never use that company again. )

Reply 134

JulesMan

Hi Weeves

I am currently studying with the OU, and will try to answer your question.

The OU was founded back in the 60's [I think] with the specific intention of allowing people who had not got good exam grades at school to study a degree and get better job prospects.

At that time University was seen as pretty elitist, and was not an option open to kids from "working class" families unless they were very lucky. The OU tried to overcome this and tended to attract older people, who had some work experience and wished to improve their lot in life [or just study something that was of interest to them]

It is, as far as I know [and I may be wrong about this] the only triple accredited university in the World that does not require students to have any previous formal qualifications,

From my own point of view, I am currently studying for a degree in Business Management, as is my son [I am 53, he is 27] I appreciate that it may seem unfair after you have worked hard to gain A levels etc that my son and I can get the same degree qualification without that hard groundwork. But, you need to be massively committed to the OU, you normally do it as a part time course, so it takes 6 years to get a degree, normally whilst holding down a job at the same time. You do not have the support of other students and tutors in the way that I understand you do at a traditional "brick" uni.

When independently assessed, the degree quality normally scores very high, although some employers look down on it this is generally through snobbery, and many employers look at the commitment required to get an OU degree as a major plus in your favour.

Oh and by the way, even though I got very few exams at school, I could spell mediocre by the time I left [Sorry I could not resist]