Years ago I did some techy post-grad stuff through the Open University. I seem to recall that it was a couple of hundred pounds, and my employer paid half I think. Anyway, long ago and far away.
But I still I had it in my head that the OU was set up to promote learning amongst "ordinary" people who wouldn't have had access otherwise, so I was pleased to discover they now have a whole bunch of things for free at
www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses?page=0
and any sane person won't be able to not find a winter project somewhere amongst the huge list, in my view.
Anyway, I picked a free one (which I shall probably do, only 15 hours, I can fit that in). It's part of a full module though, so I looked at that. Blimey spillikins! £2700 per module!! Whatever happened to the "accessible" ethos?
Last edited by: Crankcase on Fri 11 Sep 15 at 13:14
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I am the mailing list for this mob
www.futurelearn.com
I have done several free online courses - "Film making from script to screen" a computer security course, and a forensic science one.
Not professional qualifications of course, but none the less educational, entertaining and edifying.
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What a delightful little horror you are, Zero.
Ok, that's next winter taken care of too.
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>> free online courses - "Film making from script to screen"
That one worked.
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Interesting links, thanks. Will save them for a rainy day...
Last edited by: smokie on Fri 11 Sep 15 at 13:34
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Useful extra link. I have an OU degree and have done some of the FutureLearn courses too.
I imagine some of the OU free stuff finds its way into FutureLearn as well.
As regards the cost of OU qualifying courses, I guess they are going rates although one would need to compare them with those of full-time uiversities.
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I did my OU degree all of thirty years ago and at that time the overall cost was, IIRC, around £1,500 a year. Although I had previously had no grant-aided higher education of any sort the Somerset education authority declined to contribute a penny. I was lucky - I had a well-paid job, my wife helped me work part-time delivering leaflets, my trade union, the National Graphical Association of (my) fond memory, gave me a grant each year and the firm I worked for was very understanding about time off when needed.
I think there must, even then, have been a lot of people who would have liked to do what I did but simply couldn't afford to.
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I'd always had it in my head that it started out free, but I suppose that can't have been the case. £1500 sounds like a lot of money for 30 years ago.
Maybe the memory of bearded men standing in front of blackboards covered with arcane equations in a B&W broadcast at 5am just before a trades test transmission about a little boat girl in Africa has confused me.
And kids today think they have it rough.
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I did an OUBS MBA between 1991-94. The material, tutorials and residentials were overall excellent.
The self appointed arbiter AMBA withheld accreditation from the OU for a while on the grounds that a mainly distance learning degree wasn't a proper one. They changed that policy when accredited business schools started offering distance learning themselves.
One of my residentials was at Warwick. I saw some of their DL material and didn't think it a patch on the OU's.
Course fees at that time for the MBA were about £5000 in total IIRC.
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My memory may be a bit faulty, perhaps it was an average of around £1,200, including materials, summer school fees, etc. Still a lot of money for those days.
>>Maybe the memory of bearded men standing in front of blackboards covered with arcane equations in a B&W broadcast at 5am just before a trades test transmission about a little boat girl in Africa has confused me.<<
A bit of extra time awake after I'd just come in from an 11-hour late shift didn't make a lot of difference really. There was no choice for me - I couldn't afford the fees as well as the luxury of a video recorder. It was a real step forward for me when my little sister bought one and I could go to her place on Sundays to catch up.
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There used to be something called The University of the Air.
That was going to be free via radio broadcasts. What happened to it?
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That sounds like Harold Wilson's original plan for the OU.
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>> There used to be something called The University of the Air.
>> That was going to be free via radio broadcasts. What happened to it?
>>
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_the_Air_(TV_series)
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The Open University - Zero
