Week Seven
http://www.open.ac.uk: The Open University
This is the only fully-dedicated to online learning university in the United Kingdom. They around 150,000 undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate students. Nearly all of the students are part-time, 70% of the students learn alongside full-time work. A positive of Open University is that 10,000 of the students have disabilities, learning online means that these students can learn from the comfort of their own home, without travel. Unlike other unversities, no previous qualificiations are needed, however, the student must be over sixteen years old. A third of the students have lower qualifications needed than needed to enter other universities, this gives a variety of students to better themselves. The students learn through a variety of mediums such as tv/radio/internet/printed materials.
Like alot of distance learning programmes, the OU started alot earlier than originally thought. The university started in the 60's, growing extensively in the 80s. There are debates as to whethr this type of learning can be described as a "real univerity", Iain Macleod MP called it "blithering nonesense" in the 60's. Now a days, the OU qualifications are recongnised by other univerisities, and more importantly, by employeers.
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I think some of the ideas about a degree from an OU not being a "proper degree" have not yet completely disappeared. Conversations with peers have suggested to me that this misconception is still in people's minds, which is a shame as it underminds the opportunity for flexibility that such a programme can offer.
ReplyDeleteIn a society where the majority of us now have access to the Internet, the service the OU provides seems invaluable, and like a constructive use of the technology we have avaiable to us at the moment. And perhaps most importantly, providing an alternative to the flaws of traditional education in that no previous qualifications are needed. Therefore if someone were to have been let down by the schooling system, they are able to nonetheless gain a degree through a more flexible system provided through the OU. Cyber-topian. :)
There are also a lot of people who think media isn't a 'real degree' :p
ReplyDeleteI think the important thing is wether or not employers value these degrees....does anyone know how employers feel about OU degrees? I'm not sure. But like Kayley, definitely find peers not respecting them as 'real' uni degrees.,
Employers like OU degrees because they show that the graduate has tenacity and personal motivation. The academic content is vastly respected by employers and academics alike -because it's so public.
ReplyDeleteNo mumbled personal opinions masquerading as teaching there!