Carrie on being a student
In a twist without technology
Oh how studying has changed over the past decade eh. My first OU module was done by reading textbooks, listening to tapes, watching videos and hoping that my paper submission TMA would reach my tutor by snail mail before the deadline. My latest module is entirely online (with the exception of one textbook which I also received in PDF) and of course TMAs are now eTMAs and have to be submitted via t’internet. This is great. The technological age does indeed shine and is the most useful tool...
Help me decide what to study next
There’s just not going to be enough hours in the day for me soon. There’s already about eight too few for what I’d ideally like to be doing but the situation will worsen come October. Despite finishing my degree now I’m already sort of regretting the path I took with it. I so loved the idea of being able to study whatever subjects I wanted and have ended up with a degree made up of a level 1 Soc Sci, levels 2 & 3 Philosophy, level 3 Soc Sci and 120 transferred...
Variety is the spice of life
Writing for Platform is fairly easy in that I’m writing about my own experiences. If something’s happened to me during the week or if I’ve had a moment of contemplation, I write about it. Job’s a good ‘un. I think because I’ve found it so easy I’ve managed to convince myself that all writing is easy too because I’m now the culture writer for a new online mega-blog website called Brew Drinking Thinkings. A few months back I happened to notice that...
The opportunity to knuckle down with study?
So. What can I write about today? Oh I know, how about GORDON’S NEW JOB! Yep, the lucky sod that he is managed to get a new job within a WEEK of finding out that the shop he worked at is closing down. Now I personally think that’s absolutely incredible considering the small yet competitive industry he works in twinned with the rather sparse availability of jobs in general at present. He gave his weeks notice and began his new job on Tuesday 26th. The slight...
I've been a student blogger for a whole year!
Hey, I just realised that it’s been just over a year since I was invited to be the student blogger here on Platform. It’s amazing what’s happened in the year since then. For one thing, Platform has let me stay! Here I am, a year later, still blogging! I absolutely love it too, I love the comments I get on my posts and am always thrilled at the intelligent and courteous way in which my readers (ooh that sounds funny) debate and discuss subjects which...
Studying makes you fat
Studying makes you fat. Fact. Or at least studying has made me fat. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. In the first week of 2005 I joined a well-known slimming club which you might say was to help me ‘watch my weight’ because I had reached the heaviest I had ever been. I was mortified when I stepped on the scales and saw 12 stone 3 pounds, but by Easter I had managed to shed enough to see me just under 11 stone and I felt great. Then I took up mountain biking...
People can slate the OU all they like but I tip my hat to them
I’ll not go into a long winded post about the fee announcement last week. It’s pointless. Everyone knew it was coming and everyone knew it would have to be sort of in line with the percentages other unis have put their fees up by, so in that sense the announcement came as no surprise. What DID come as a surprise was my own personal reaction to it. I knew the fees were going up, of course I did, it’s pretty much all OUSA and my fellow OU students have talked about for months...
If I was a rich girl...
£161 million, eh. That’s 161 with 6 noughts after it. Wow. We can only dream what it must be like to have that kind of money, but the couple who won the big Euro Millions jackpot now know first-hand. I have to admit to never having played the lottery regularly. Once in a blue moon I’ll put a line on but put it this way, Gordon and I have been together for over four years and we bought our first-ever ticket together for the Euro jackpot last week. It...
Keep calm and carry on - but I feel devastated
Well. Bugger. That’s put a right spanner in the works hasn’t it. My other 'arf just found out that his boss is closing down the shop he works at in October. This is quite devastating for a number of reasons. For one, this is Gordon’s dream job – his single biggest hobby is mountain biking so he’s one of those really lucky people who gets paid to do his hobby. How many people can truly say that I wonder? The trouble is that there are a very limited number of jobs...
Almost a postgraduate, but it still helps to go back to basics
I never had the opportunity to get to know any of my grandparents, the only one still alive for any portion of my life was my Nana (mother’s mother) who passed away when I was about six so I never really got to know her very well. Even if I DID know her, I doubt I would’ve tried to teach her how to suck eggs. Well that’s the saying isn’t it? Something about teaching your grandma how to suck eggs? Well anyway, now that I’ve finished the...
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…