Any experience of Open University out there?

[Raistlin]

Hi Guys,

I'm moving to a new job soon (as some of you may already know) and there is a slight chance that I might be able to persuade my new boss to pay for an OU course or similar (probably something like "Business Management with Information Technology" if such a beast exists).

Does anybody have any experience of the whole OU thing?

Can anybody recommend any similar type courses (along the lines of what I've put above) that might be better / cheaper / more useful?

Cheers.

[Raistlin]

Nobody? WoW :D

[paulyoung666]

Nobody? WoW :D


dont look like it :erm: :D , anyway , the job i am doing now is totally alien to me :disturbd: , i was wondering about the ou for some sort of degree course myself , the only problem is i would need to convince work of the benefits they would get from it :D :D :D :D

[Chris W]

my girlie is doing an open university business studies degree atm, what sort of information are you looking for? Cost? amount of time required? quality of teaching? etc etc...

[ikthius]

I never done OU, but I did do Computeach, which is a computer distance learning company.

ik

[Raistlin]

my girlie is doing an open university business studies degree atm, what sort of information are you looking for? Cost? amount of time required? quality of teaching? etc etc...

Yeah, all of the above really.....

I know that cost is dependent on the individual modules that you do, but some idea of what the standard of the course is like, along with any ideas she can give on what sort of time I will need to find to be able to complete it (how much time does she spend studying etc each week) would be really helpful.

Thanks.
__________________

I never done OU, but I did do Computeach, which is a computer distance learning company.

ik

Are they any good? How does that work then? Take it that they just send you out the stuff that you need to be able to do the coursework?
Any idea how much it all costs?

Cheers.

[ikthius]

Are they any good? How does that work then? Take it that they just send you out the stuff that you need to be able to do the coursework?
Any idea how much it all costs?

Cheers.

well they are a bit..... I class them very expensive.
starting at £3500 per course, they teach you
Programming: java, C, C++, C#, VB, VB.NET, Javascript (ok not technically an all powerful language) and the likes
Datbases: oracle, sql
Windows: 2003 server
Networking
CIW: for webdesign
etc

well they put you where they think you will be strongest, but a lot of students are complaining that they are very weak in some courses and would be stronger in other courses, if you want to change your course you may haver to pay extra, up to another £2000.
You have to finish the course within 2-3 years otherwise you will incur penalties, e.g. you pay 5% of the current fees per quarter, so can be expensive.

Your course material is sent out to you so that you can work at your own pace, if you have any queries you can contact them either by phone or email, email is best you can describe your problems, and get a good answer to help explain why you are not understanding it, so that it helps you to help yourself.

there are normally 5 stages, stage 1 is IT fundamentals, e.g. how a computer works.
Stage 2 is starting you off in your chosen field, in my case Pascal to teach me programming
Stage 3 is the start of your chosen field, in my case Java
Stage 4 is more in depth of your chosen field.
Stage 5 is added extras, in my case HTML, Javascript & CSS

you have to go to the computeach head office for exams, which can be expensive, because it is in Dudley, in the west midlands.

if you fail an exam, you pay for another exam, but then you verify with receipts that you did the exam and they will re-emburse you.

I found that they help very well when you understand it, but if you really cannot get something they tend to not help as much. with teh exception of my last stage the tutor for Javascript & Css was brill, and at the 5 day course, I got a new lease of life for it.

I would only recommend it if you are seriously needing to get taught, if you can teach yourself then you can do the courses for much cheapness (as in free) from the net, and buy your exams yourself, you could save yourself lots of money, but if you want an institution to tech you then I would recommend them.

once you have goot to stage 4 you have the opportunaty to speak to Software profesionals, who end up helping you get a job, they are not a job agency but close to one, they do a CV for you, help you prepare for interviews etc.

I have finished my course, and to be honest I am glad to see the back of it, but I would learn something again, but I want to play with what I have learned and make up a portfolio, so I am currently re-doing my clubs website.

if I could afford to leave work and start afresh I would go to normal uni, but I can't.

ik

[Raistlin]

Thanks for that Ik, great post - most appreciated :tu:

[ikthius]

thanks raist, but to be honest just telling it how it is.

ik

[Chimaera]

I've done an OU course! :LOL:
It was only a basic one 'Openings' or something it was called - just to see if I was capable of doing degree level study. You were awarded 10 points for completing it and had to reach a certain level of competency before you got your mark (an honours degree is 360 points!) That one cost about £60 I think, it was supposed to take me about 5 hours a week for 18 weeks (although in practice it was often less).
However a year ago I started a degree course and it was MUCH harder - for the first course I studied alone with the help of a tutor on the phone (he was excellent) but the second course involved going to a local college one evening a week and LOTS of study in between. And of course all the TV programmes you tape (or watch!) at unearthy hours of the night, video and audio tapes that they supply plus endess books etc - all very good!
If you go to the OU website (http://www.open.ac.uk/) you can find out about all the courses they offer and costs, I think there is also an area of the site where you can look at your 'spare time' and see if study can be fitted in. Sadly I gave my course up due to family commitments (poorly Mum) but who knows I may well go back to it one day.
I would recommend study with the OU, they have been running the courses long enough. :)

[Seti]

The OU Is fantastic. The resources such as First Class, a sort of usenet for the students, is a good source of help as are your tutors and fellow students. It is very time consuming but if you like learning it is great fun. There are lots of beneiftis to taking an OU course one being its a good thing to have for employment as it shows your employer that you can study alone.

Go for it. It's fun a LOT cheaper than computeach and it's accessible.


Sian

[Raistlin]

Sorry to dredge this one up again, just a quick question this time.....

If I do an OU degree and get a BSc Honours, does that entitle me to use the letters after my name?

In other words, can I be "Raistlin (BSC(Hons)"?

[Chris W]

Sorry to dredge this one up again, just a quick question this time.....

If I do an OU degree and get a BSc Honours, does that entitle me to use the letters after my name?

In other words, can I be "Raistlin (BSC(Hons)"?

yes

[Croker]

Hi Guys,

I'm moving to a new job soon (as some of you may already know) and there is a slight chance that I might be able to persuade my new boss to pay for an OU course or similar (probably something like "Business Management with Information Technology" if such a beast exists).

Does anybody have any experience of the whole OU thing?

Can anybody recommend any similar type courses (along the lines of what I've put above) that might be better / cheaper / more useful?

Cheers.

I did ones ages ago

my one piece of advice is to make sure you don't go for a course "too high"
e.g. when I did it there were 3 levels. 1, 2 & 3

1 was easiest, 2 intermediate and 3 the advanced

I started at level 3 and was not advised this was not a good idea until a couple of months into the course :dozey: