Carrie on being a student
Trying to get my head around referencing...
The blogs page on Platform introduces me thusly - “self-confessed education addict Carrie Walton knows pretty much everything there is to know about being a student”. In the two years since I started writing this blog that has never failed to amuse me because whilst in a sense it’s true, in another sense it’s hilariously inaccurate. I’ve been an OU student for nine years now and have witnessed an incredible change in the way the university...
The day I graduated
So you all know by now that I pretty much live in the 11th hour. Well, my graduation was no exception – I rocked up in Manchester at about 11.30am, quickly parked up along Deansgate and raced along to Long Tall Sally practically bursting through the door in blind panic. “Can I help you?” says a nice polite woman, clearly bemused at my fluster. “I’m graduating in less than four hours and I really DON’T need to look like this!” I...
I graduate on Friday!
I graduate this week. Oh god I feel so detached from that statement it’s unreal. I feel detached from it for a number of reasons, firstly is that I still don’t really believe that it’s happened. I started studying so very long ago now that the beginning of my studies seems utterly divorced from where I currently am with them. It seems odd that the actions of a 23-year-old me have anything to do with the event the 32-year-old me attends on Friday. Secondly, is that it doesn...
Confessions of a student: I did a really stupid thing last week...
I did a really stupid thing last week. It’s something I’ve done before but it’s not something I’m proud of and it’s not something I wanted to do again – I didn’t start my TMA until the day before it was due. When I say ‘start my TMA’ that includes the studying required for it. And when I say ‘TMA’ I should really pluralise it because there were two TMAs I did this for. Oh God I know, I know, I’m...
10 things you should know about the OU
1. It’s YOUR university. I’ve studied at campus-based uni as well as the OU and I have to say the OU feels far more like it’s all about me. Campus-based uni can feel a bit ‘us and them’ meaning there’s a definite line between students and academics but that line at the OU is beautifully blurred. Many of the OU staff are students themselves so the feeling of mutual respect and appreciation is far greater. 2. You don’t...
How can education ever be a waste?
I often listen to the radio in the car when I’m tootling about between sites at work, and due to my general apathy towards a lot of chart music I tend to opt for the likes of Radio 4 or Radio 2 to keep me amused. I only ever grab snippets of programmes but I love catching bits of Jeremy Vine or You and Yours. As I begin writing this it's A Level results day so take a wild guess at what a main topic of conversation was on most radio programmes? Yeah – A Level results and university...
The studying Olympics...
I’ve hit what I lovingly refer to as the ‘mundane middle’. I’m slap bang in the middle of a couple of modules and the excitement which fuelled me at the beginning has disappeared but the anticipation of finishing hasn’t yet kicked in. I’m just stuck in this inbetweeny phase where studying bubbles away in the background but somehow isn’t of such great importance as it was or soon will be. I suspect that part of this is due to my workload seeming quite...
Additional reading: how do you do yours?
How many of you do extra reading relating to your module material? I freely admit I’ve never really done much myself due to my somewhat lackadaisical approach to studying anyway. I’m usually rushing around at the last minute trying to read the material provided by the OU which doesn’t leave me any opportunity to benefit from additional reading. It’s not so much that I don’t want to do any extra reading and my bookshelf is certainly...
The A-Z of studying with the OU
A – Access to all! Anyone can study. This is the glory of the OU and in fact it’s the founding principle. You need no previous qualifications and get expert assistance to help you settle in; you don’t have to be academically minded to start studying, I sure as heck wasn’t. B – Believe that you’re capable. When I first started out with the OU I mistakenly assumed I would manage fine and I got a rude wake-up call. It took me a heck of a long time to realise it...
I'm a psychology student!
Here’s four words I’ve always wanted to be able to say – “I’m a psychology student”. Something about psychology always fascinated me when I was younger. Similar, I suppose, to the way that philosophy did. Much as I enjoy science and empirical proof, I love those subjects where interpretation is subjective and so changeable. I loved studying philosophy, hard as it was, for the fact that I could read something by Descartes and legitimately question his work (...
About Carrie Walton
I dropped out of school at 17, halfway through my A Levels and got a job. I’ve worked full time ever since, but when I reached 23 I enrolled with the OU and started on a journey towards the degree I’d never stopped wanting. In 2009 and aged 29 I realised I didn’t want my journey to end and formulated a new plan which includes a masters, a PhD, research and whatever else I might be able to cram into a journey now held under the umbrella term “lifelong learning and ongoing self-improvement”.
I finished my BSc (hons) Open in December 2011 by which time I'd already started on an MA in Social Science research at Durham University with a view to doing a doctorate in the not too distant future. The OU isn’t getting rid of me that easy though, I've already signed up for a BSc (hons) in Criminology and Psychological Studies and I plan to keep studying with them for as long as grey matter will allow me to, it’s all part of my never ending lifelong learning path.
Alongside studying, I work full time for a building contractor in the North East of England as a Liaison Manager. Working is a means of affording and appreciating the things I really enjoy; mountain biking, hiking, theatre, gigs, cinema, eating out, writing, the list could go on, I just like doing things. In whatever spare time I can muster after that, I volunteer for OUSA and am a school governor.
My name is Caz (or Carrie) and this is my journey from dogsbody to doctorate…
