My OU experience
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Why ? The first question to answer if you are thinking about doing some study with the Open University (OU), is why ? If you want to brush up a particular subject or interest then the OU is a fine place to gain that knowledge. If, like me, you want a qualification, then careful planning is needed.

I was first made redundant  at the age of 47, but I landed another job fairly easily. I have been made redundant twice more since. If I get an interview I tend to land the job, but I soon discovered that, snowed under with CVs, employers have to apply some kind of filter, and more commonly that filter is the requirement of a ‘good’ degree – a 2.1 or a First. That was my reason for study.

What? My next question was ‘what to study?’ I trawled the internet and gathered a lot of data as well as receiving the OU prospectus. From all this information I decided to ‘build a degree’ of the modules that interest me. Unfortunately many of my choices were being dropped as courses and so I had to revise my plans, ending up studying for an Honours degree in IT and Computing.

How? I would advise anybody thinking about OU study to read and absorb all the advice you can find. I took a short evening class that got me ‘back in gear’ for studying. Realising that my maths were not strong I chose two level 1 courses to polish up my maths. Level 1 courses do not count towards the final degree but don’t underestimate their value. I also took a level 1 course that was an introduction to engineering, but that was because it was an alternative to a required course module. Most named degrees list a number of modules that must be taken.

Having spent a great deal of time selecting my courses, I set about pairing a course that looked interesting ( and I thought, easy), with one I felt would be difficult. In this way I was able to spread 390 points of  study over 5 years. Do not make the mistake I made of assuming that some modules will be a pushover because of personal expertise – it might well be for you, but it didn’t work out that way for me.

I was amazed at the wide range of skills I acquired during my studies. My first hard lesson was in complacency – no Grade 1 pass for me on microprocessors despite the fact I have been designing them for twenty years ! ( That was my fault, not the OU’s). Learning to learn is as important as the subject matter itself.

How do you find the time ? Well that’s the big one. I drew up my study plan and was totally committed to it. For five years my study hours were generally, 7.30-9 in the morning before work, then 6.30-8.30 in the evening, Monday – Friday. Most Saturdays every Sunday afternoon, and usually a week cramming in the summer were also given over to study. Everything else went on hold. Its all about commitment. Some people will need less, others more, but you must plan for it, and then do it. It really is down to you.

The OU frequently says “study at your own pace”. Do not take this too literally. Various assignments that are part of every course must be completed by specific dates, and if there is an end of course exam it takes place at a specific time. Another side of this coin is that you may feel you want to get ahead of the material – your pace might be faster than the (excellent) provided study guide suggests. In some cases this is possible and you will get first class support from the course team, but beware of posting ‘advanced’ questions to the forums that may alarm others who are not working at the same pace, or worse, imply you ‘know it all’. Be tactful. On other courses I met strong resistance to any attempt to work faster than the course plan and this was frustrating. Because of my chosen workload my strategy was to get as far ahead as I could in one course and then catch up with another that was running in parallel. This was not always possible.

I missed a First class degree by one question. Previous knowledge is not always a good thing  and the question I scored NULL points for, was about an aspect of software that I do on almost every project I work on – a doddle, but I failed to grasp the formal name given to it by the OU and therefore did not follow the question. My fault. Golden rule, READ THE QUESTION! That was my problem area on day one of my study, and it still is !

Level 1 courses are really designed to help prepare you for the real thing, and even doing just one such module is invaluable, and often mandatory. The maths Level 1 courses that I took spanned ‘O’ level to just beyond ‘A’ level. The help you receive during level 1 courses is exemplary. Your tutor and own ‘councillor’ are always on hand. This eases off a little for level 2 courses, and to be honest, I found support in level 3 to be abysmal. In level 1 courses you may study with help from audio tapes, video tapes, TV programmes, CDs, text books, course modules and on line help. By level 3 I found this reduced to a book or two, and for my project course, almost nothing – you’re on your own. Do remember this is how it was for me, and do ask other students their views. By the way, the on-line conferences are a brilliant source of help and discussion so do not miss out on them! The evening and Saturday tutorials are also not to be missed. You benefit from face to face tuition and you get to meet some of the people on your course. I strongly advise you find the time for them.

This could too easily become a very long article about my study experiences with the OU, so I will cut it short. I have gathered the OU’s introduction notes about each course that I took, some of which have now been replaced, and commented on how I found the course in comparison to the OU description. This is my own view so do expect different opinions from other students.

To sum up then, this is how I went about study with the OU :
  • Research – find out how it all works (and costs!)
  • Follow the OU’s advice – talk to them
  • Decide my path
  • Choose my modules
  • Plan a timetable
  • Prepare the study area
  • Leave life as I know it ( for five years)

MY STUDY PLAN
Year Code Subject
 		Level
 		Points
2001
 MU120
Introduction to mathematics
 1
 30
2001
 T173
Engineering principles
 1
 30
2002
 MST121 Further mathematics
 1
 30
2002
 T223
Microprocessors
 2
 30
2003
 M206
Object oriented programming
 2
 60
2003 MT262
Putting computers to work (C++)
 2
 30
2004 T209
IT and communications technologies
 2
 60
2004 T396
Aritifical Intelligence
 3
 30
2005 M301 Software Systems
 3
 60
2005 TM426
The AI (T396) Project
 3
 30