Open Uni

Hello everybody,
I'm a full time worker who is attending an IT course full time in a not-so-good college, which I ve started in September. I was thinking to move my studies in direction of Open University, in order I don't feel I can attend my current course properly, whereas Open university may do it. But I want to know more about it, deeper and in a more personal view than what you can find in its website. I ve read many opinions but yet i'm not fully convinced. Does it worth? What do the employers see about a degree from there? Could it be a better choice than evening classes approach such Birkbeck? It is well supported? May it fit with a semi-newbie in this country with years of gap from proper studies? And might it give you spare time for yourself with 60-90 credits per year, especially knowing to have a fulltime job (teorically 40h, example)? Everything you could know about it (also and especially personal experiences) is welcomed. Thank in advance guys

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1

HJ M

I think my post from another thread is relevant to you:

In concurrence with what other people have said the OU degrees have no formal entry requirements (most of them), but they do build you from the ground up and get you to the same standard as anywhere else, if not higher. If it was a lower standard the OU would not be able to award degrees as there are benchmarks that every institution/awarding body needs to meet. As some other people have said some OU degrees are accredited such as the business degrees, the Law degrees were designed with the Law College and are a Qualifying Law Degree. Lots of big companies sponsor their employees to do OU modules (80% of FTSE 100 companies do it) which definitely counts for something and means that they must think it is worth it. I can name loads of organisations I have spoken to who love OU graduates for the quality of degree, the amount of determination it takes and the transferable skills learnt as well as knowledge from the degree. I spoke to some people from the armed forces and civil service at a careers day and they really loved the fact that I was doing an OU degree and said that they find OU graduates to be great employees. There are also employers who note themselves to be particularly keen to employ OU graduates/students from Barclays, Unilever, Waitrose, RBS, The Met Police, Tesco, NHS, Heinz, KPMG is a big one along with the FDM group, and plenty more. The quality of the study materials is outstanding with great tutor support, university support, interaction with other students and the ability to be flexible is all great. The variety of people who take modules is just brilliant, you don't find that anywhere else. Recently and 80 year old local Councillor got his degree as well as a 16 year old got his. The OU has now the largest amount of students in the UK aged between 18-24 which is larger than any other university which just shows how attractive OU qualifications are to people.

I think those who say that the OU doesn't give out 'proper degrees' are misguided and haven't looked into it properly. The quality of the degrees, the testimonies from students about how it helped them in work or a career or for just sheer enjoyment, the value for money, the support structures, quality of study resources and the amount of employers who want OU graduates and those who have employed OU graduates show how wrong those people are.

There are also a lot of videos on YouTube of people discussing the OU which you may find helpful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppnBA9ELXZQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGD6L-4yceY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWB9rlgMEE8

The regional centers also have 'libraries' of OU module material sorted by module so if you have an idea about what modules might constitute your degree it may be worth popping along to get more of an idea about the modules.

You could also join the FB for your degree area (these are unofficial and set up by students) to ask questions specifically about the degree and there are also module groups on FB (also unofficial) which can also be very helpful.

For IT you can also gain a level of membership of the British Computer Society depending if your module choices meet their requirements.

The great thing about studying flexibly (you do have to do a certain amount of hours a week, dependent on your speed and credits of the module, submit assignments on time ) is that you can take internships that suit the employer more etc.

For me (I am full-time with the OU) because I don't have to travel anywhere I save a lot of time as I live in a rural area and can take on other things that will give me experience.

(edited 10 years ago)

Open University

Milton Keynes

Reply 2

Fred8976

Thank you very much, you provided me such a good amount of information :wink:

i appreciated!
What do you mean with full time with OU? are you studying or working full time?
Do you know if an Open Degree might worth? I ve heard about and it looks like it may fit my needs,but I'd like to know more about....Do the employers look at that like a named one? 'cos I did not find a definitive answer about...I know those are question so based on personal views, but.....
Also,I was thinking how a session lab could work, seen there is no classroom
I also know I should search deeper inside the forem, but i'm feeling so lazy tonight :biggrin:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 3

HJ M

Original post by Fred8976

Thank you very much, you provided me such a good amount of information :wink:

I am studying full time, 120 credits (30 credits is ~8 hours) on Politics, Philosophy, Economics degree.

Open Degree is definitely worth it, but it depends what for. If it is for employment, you employer/future employer may want something specific. If you are looking for a specific career go to prospects.ac.uk and see what requirements there are for your career path and then see if you can tailor an Open Degree to it or find a named degree. If you can tailor the Open Degree to a specific career path then you should have no problems. As I said above 80% of FTSE 100 companies have sponsored staff with the OU which says a lot and the skills from your full-time job (even if they're just transferable skills such as teamwork, communication etc. should help set you apart). The Open University Careers Advisory Service also has an employer showcase of organisations who note themselves to be keen to hire OU students. In your case for IT there is Jagex (the company behind Runescape), Hyperknowledge (International software developer), CGI (Business and technology), Capgemini (International consultancy), technology and outsourcing) and those are just the companies that are directly related to IT. For example, Barclays, KPMG and RBS are also keen to hire OU students and big organisations such as these need highly IT literate employees. So I think you are in good stead with the OU!

Reply 4

Fred8976

Sounds like it may work...I am a bit worried about, but I hope i can get self-motivation and manageability throughout the way...
But, what about material provided and any lab work possible with Open Uni within IT and computer science fields....
I don't know if I have to decide my kind of degree (honours or normal) right at the beginning....
Ah might you know any information about dropping rate from OU corses? It would be a good additional information

Reply 5

Kate.

Original post by Fred8976

You do need to be able to motivate and organise yourself, or you'll struggle to keep on top of things.

Materials depend on the course. Most will have some books, usually provided in both physical and PDF form. They will also usually have a DVD with various activities on, sometimes videos to watch. Any software that you will need will be supplied (e.g. Netbeans with M362, BlueJ with M255, Sybase with M359) although often the software is free anyway in my experience. Modules usually have a mixture of online (in a chatroom environment, with voice and keyboards utilised, and often with a presentation to view too) and face-to-face tutorials, although face-to-face ones depend on the amount of people in your region on the module.

Not sure about drop-out rates, sorry.

Reply 6

Fred8976

Original post by Kate.

Thanks! Sounds like you are on it or just finished it. How did you find your course? were you working meanwhile? I just hope they give you support as much as they can before let you drop out....hope the first modules are something which allow you to get into more easily, then of course I do not expect to find only easy modules....just I am a bit concern about that :smile:

Reply 7

Kate.

Original post by Fred8976

I have technically got enough points to claim my degree now (which took me 4 years - 3 years of 90 points and 1 year of 60, I had some credit transfer too) but I'm currently doing one last module in the hopes of bumping my classification up to a 1st instead of a 2:1. I've found it OK to be honest, no real issues or struggles. I worked full time throughout the whole degree. I've never even really needed to contact my tutors to be honest so I don't really know about the support available. I did find the main IT level 1 modules really easy though (I did M150 and T175 which have since been merged roughly to create TU100), so if you already have some IT experience you'll probably be totally fine. The jump from level 1 to level 2 wasn't that bad in my experience, but the jump from level 2 to level 3 was much more noticeable.

Reply 8

Lorypop

Original post by Fred8976

Hi Fred - thought I could offer you a useful perspective as I currently do a 120 credit CertHE in the evenings with Birkbeck College and part time study with the OU.

I can't comment on how employers view the OU but I think the other posters have covered that. I far prefer studying with the OU: I can manage my time and study when I want. Juggling a full time job (40 hrs on a good week) with the OU was never particularly difficult - around assignments it gets busy, but there are quieter weeks when you can put more into your study.

At Birkbeck, I have never found this possible because the course is absolutely full on, all of the time. The flipside is I have covered far more content at Birkbeck, and in greater depth. Evening classes are exhausting though: it is incredibly difficult to find the motivation to drag yourself to class if you've already been at work for 12 hours! With the OU, the assignments are well spaced, whereas with Birkbeck it's a relentless run of assessments.

In terms of whether it's well supported, I think the OU is quite hit and miss - with a great tutor, it is fantastic and you have all the support you could want. Sadly, not all tutors are like that and some modules do leave you in the dark a bit more. It isn't like the support at a college like Birkbeck though, where you see the same tutors week after week and they know you a bit more.

If you feel you can be disciplined and motivate yourself to study, the OU is a fantastic option - but if you want a bit more structure then Birkbeck is probably the better option. Hope this helps. :smile:

Reply 9

Fred8976

Ehi everyone! I was out of internet for a while! :frown:

Thank you very much for the answers! :smile:

Actually I am still thinking also having some bad issue with my current job...I was thinking about how much tutors can leave you in the dark, when time of assignments comes....Definitely, the fear of not having enough support is my second biggest, right after my self-motivation issue, of course :smile:

Uhm even though you cannot attend classroom with other guys, you could arrange meeting by internet with the other student from same city/area...is it pretty active the students community?

@Lorypop
Indeed it helped, your useful comment is more than welcome and it gave me a little bigger view about difference between those two :smile: