Study Support

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 works and the way studying is conducted. Over the years I’ve gradually improved my skills and although I’m certainly a long way off being a first class student I consider myself pretty adept at constructing arguments and writing a semi-decent essay.

However, there’s one aspect of being a student that no matter how hard I try I just simply cannot wrap my head around and frequently stumble on – referencing. I. Hate. Referencing. I really thought I’d cracked it last year, albeit via a cheat’s method. MS Word has a referencing tool so I got the hang of it and thought all my woes were solved, but feedback from a tutor set the record straight -it doesn’t actually present references in the strict Harvard style required by the OU.

Back to square one, and it’s now causing problems with my MA. Durham University uses Harvard style referencing too and MA study requires a lot more independent reading in terms of journal articles etc so I REALLY need to get the hang of it once and for all.

'It’s a truly comprehensive guide to citing references of ANY description – including Twitter, blogs, pieces of artwork – you name it!'

Now I’m obviously not the only one struggling with accurate referencing - and please do speak up if you’re in the same predicament as me – because on my StudentHome page I’ve spotted what could end up being my salvation. Check this baby out!

It’s a truly comprehensive guide to citing references of ANY description – including Twitter, blogs, pieces of artwork – you name it! It’s probably been there for donkey’s years but there’s just so much information available on the OU site it’s easy to miss things like this. This could be my saviour and help me once and for all get the hang of referencing.

All I need is exactly what it offers – an example of how to do an in-text citation and an example of a full reference, but when it’s not simple thing I’m referencing I get really confused. For my last essay I was trying to reference a website and got ridiculously muddled up with how to cite it properly – do I include the full URL or just the home page, do I put the date the webpage was created or the date I accessed it. There are too many variables for my feeble brain to cope with, especially when it’s just been frazzled with epistemological and ontological theory.

I have a TMA due in this week. It’s a level 3 crime module and I’ve been doing some additional reading for it so I’ll specifically ask my tutor if I managed to do my referencing right.

For any new students out there I would strongly urge you to have a gander at that page. My studying ‘career’ would have been far simpler if I had gotten to grips with referencing right from the start but alas, my intellect obviously doesn’t stretch that far.
 

The Government has launched a new information initiative to help prospective students in their decision-making about what and where to study.

From this Autumn, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the UK are required to include Key Information Sets (KIS) – the new set of standardised statistics for undergraduate qualifications – on their online qualification pages.
 
KIS was launched by Business Secretary Vince Cable who said:  “Applying to university is a big decision and we want to ensure that all students, whatever their background, have the key facts at their fingertips to help them make the right choice for them. The introduction of the Key Information Set represents a major step forward for students, their parents, and their school and college advisers.”
 
KIS draws on statistics from the National Student Survey (NSS), Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey, and information directly from institutions, and covers areas including satisfaction with specific qualifications and support, accreditation of courses, and employment and salaries of students after graduation.
 
Key Information Sets across all HEIs and qualifications are held centrally on HEFCE’s Unistats website to enable prospective students to compare institutions – a selection of the statistics will be embedded on HEIs’ websites using a ‘widget’, which will draw data directly from, and link, to Unistats. The widget was released on 27 September and HEIs have until 31 October to add it to their online course pages, which the OU has already done.
 
You can see an example of how KIS appears on Study at the OU here, by scrolling down the page. KIS is for UK students and will be visible to those selecting a UK nation state in the drop down under ‘key facts’.

More information about KIS can be found on the HEFCE website.
 

The Open University outperformed all other universities to be highest rated in overall student satisfaction in the National Students Survey 2012 – a great start to the new academic year. The OU was the highest rated in this category out of all universities and appears behind three small specialist HE institutions in the rankings*.

The OU received an overall satisfaction rate of 93 per cent from students in the UK – a score it has consistently achieved for three years.

The Open University in Scotland and The Open University in Wales were both highest rated among universities for overall satisfaction and in both nations the overall satisfaction rating for the OU increased by 1 per cent on last year. In Northern Ireland the OU has been rated in the top two for student satisfaction in HE institutions since 2005 and appears behind a small HE institution, St Mary’s University College, Belfast.

The survey, produced by HEFCE, was completed by more than 23,000 OU students with 23 questions on how they rate teaching, learning and student resources.

Martin Bean, Vice Chancellor of the OU, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that our students have given us this accolade. Their responses show that The Open University’s combination of flexible study, world-class teaching and individually tailored support, backed by 6,500 associate lecturers, continues to provide students with the best possible experience of higher education."

For the first time, students were asked about their student union. OUSA achieved a satisfaction rating of 58 per cent, ranked 114 out of 154 in front of well-known campus-based Universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and Liverpool. OUSA is focused on improving this result year on year and are working closely with the University to raise awareness and meet the needs of OU Students. Visit OUSA’s website to read their response to the result.

In the video below, Wales' Minister for Education & Skills Leighton Andrews offers his congratulations...

Find out more:

• National Student Survey 2012

* The OU is the highest ranking university for overall student satisfaction; St Mary’s University College, Belfast; Guildhall School of Music & Drama; and Courtauld Institute of Art do not hold university status.

On Student Finance Day 2011, and with student fees and loans high on the agenda for those considering university, Platform caught up with some prospective students via Twitter to find out how fees were influencing their decision-making. One year later, ahead of Student Finance Day 2012 (20 September), we caught up with them to see how they’re getting on now...
 

Name: Alexandre L Costa
Age: 35
Location: Luton

Are you starting more study this Sept/October? If so have your course books arrived?
Yes. I am starting in October the S104 (Exploring Science) and S155 (Scientific Investigations). The material for the S104 arrived about a month ago and I have already started studying the first book.

How has flexible learning worked for you this year?
Flexible learning has worked great for me and I attribute it to the way the course material was planned and the tutors. The tutors have been instrumental in my experience. I was booked on to the MST121 (Using Mathematics), but after an evaluation the tutor suggested I took the MU123 (Discovering Mathematics) first to brush up my skills, and I was able to switch courses in time.
How did you find adapting to studying whilst also working part/full time?
It's been a very easy transition. I was worried that I would not have the discipline, but the way the course was laid out made it very easy to get into a routine of studying the units and working on assignments.

Have the changes in fees affected your studies at all?
I qualified for the transitional arrangement and continue with the pre-2012 fees, which for me has been a great help. The combination of financial support, OUSBA loans and transitional fees made it possible for me to continue with my studies.

Any other thoughts?
I have only praises for the way the courses are planned and the level of support and service I have received from The Open University.  I have my studies planned and set out until 2016, and I feel very confident that I can achieve my goals based on my current experience with the OU.

Name: Mrs Claire Siciliano
Age: 28
Location: Welwyn Garden City

As yet I haven't signed up for a course, I have been a little too busy with work and I've had to pay for other unexpected expenses which has had to put back my plans too, as well as not being sure of where to start or what to do first. It's something I'm still thinking about , but as yet I haven't had the time or money to take it further.
 

Happy Student Finance Day 2012, a national day dedicated to explaining the changes to student finance in England.

The event is headed by consumer campaigner Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com and follows last year’s campaign which sees universities, schools and colleges in England working together to ensure prospective students, their parents, teachers and the media all understand the new student finance system in England – and to flag up that university study remains affordable.

Martin said: “The myths and misunderstandings of wider society about the new system are still out there. So we need to continue to shout loudly ‘you can go to university’ for the next student intake.

“Part-time study could be a more attractive option for some still wavering about whether to go to university. Part-time degrees also give people more flexibility to allow them to study and hold down a job at the same time.”

Lucian Hudson, Director of Communications at the OU, said: "The way students will pay for their education in England has undergone massive change and we are getting behind Student Finance Day to clarify just what this means. The biggest change is that new part-time students will not have to pay fees upfront as, for the first time, many of them will be eligible for the Government’s student loans.

“In addition, The Open University still has its own unique OUSBA credit system in place which enables students to pay their fees in instalments, and on a module-by-module basis, throughout the course of their studies. And we continue to work hard to support those from disadvantaged backgrounds to access higher education; for students in England with a household income of less than £25k and who have not studied at university-level before, we have our Access to Success Route to help take their first steps at university.

“The OU specialises in being flexible and providing students with the same flexibility to pay the costs of their higher education. We recognise that in the new fees world providing students with as much choice and indeed clarity on that choice is key to helping them make crucial decisions about their future.”

 

 

While Student Finance Day focuses on the different funding options available to students in England, the OU has students right across the UK and internationally.

More information on the financial options available outside of England is available on our Ways to Pay page.

Last year, Platform spoke to prospective students Claire and Alexandre who were thinking about and planning for OU study. While Claire is still mulling over her options after a busy year, Alexandre is enjoying his first science courses towards a BSc (Honours) in Natural Science.

Useful links

• Student blogger Carrie Walton on why study doesn’t have to be expensive
• Find out how new student Tracey is managing her finances
• Open University ways to pay
• Open University Student Budget Account
• Four easy steps to register for an OU qualification
• Financial support for study - Access to Success
• Student Finance 2012 website
• Part-time students’ guide
• Study with the OU
• Student Finance England’s, studying part-time
• Student Finance Day 2012 on Twitter – follow @sfdEngland2012 for updates or #studentfinanceday2012 or #OU_finance
• Try the part-time student finance calculator (below)

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 actually get to ‘study at your own pace’. Well, not really anyway. You still have a schedule to keep to in that you have a TMA due at regular intervals so you don’t get to slack off for a couple of months if you want to. I’ve made the mistake countless times of letting my efforts slip and it does you no favours.

3.    It’s the UK’s best kept secret. Most of the time, if you tell someone you study with the OU they’ve either studied with them before or at least know someone who has, but every now and then you’ll come across someone who hasn’t even HEARD of the OU. Clearly they’ve been living in some parallel universe and have only just transferred here. Either that or it’s one of those things that you only know about if you’re somehow involved.

4.    You get to choose where you graduate. You’re not tied down to your home town as a graduation venue so you can make a real trip of it and graduate at any of the available ceremonies. Even though I’m a Geordie born and bred I’m choosing to graduate at Manchester in October because it happily coincides with the start of my holidays, so I get a night in my favourite English city before zooming up to the Scottish Highlands for a week of being eaten alive by killer midge.

5.    Offer an inch and by the time it’s used, you’ll want to give a mile! The OU are ridiculously keen for their student body to be involved in every possible aspect of the running of the university. Whenever you offer your services they make you feel so valued and important that you just want to offer more and more. Let me tell you, it’s so interesting being involved in the inner workings too, I strongly suggest you get involved in some way.

6.    Despite not being a traditional campus-based university, the OU campus is the nicest I’ve ever seen. Unique buildings, modern facilities, incredible sculptures set among beautiful landscaping and best of all – squirrels, lots of squirrels. If you ever get the opportunity to visit the OU campus in Milton Keynes, snap it up because it’s really well worth a visit. (Pictured is an aerial view of the OU campus in MK)

7.    OU students ain’t what they used to be. Before I started studying with them, I thought the OU was the reserve of fuddy-duddy tweed-wearing elbow-patch sporting men who already had doctorates and just studied for the fun of it (or ‘cos they were so boring they had nothing else to do), but it’s becoming a much younger university with the average age of an OU student now at 32 (crikey – that’s my age!)

8.    It’s really easy, if you want it to be. Studying isn’t hard and I mean that honestly. It’s a chore, and there are times I just really can’t be bothered to spend a few hours with the books, but once I get into them and get into the swing of it I really enjoy the process. I’ve yet to study a module where the books aren’t engaging and interesting and I’ve yet to sit down to a TMA and think “what the hell is it asking me to do?” Starting off down the study path is scary, no doubt about that, but it’s fun and easy as long as you WANT to do it.

9.    Having an OU qualification is like wearing a ‘superhuman’ badge. People/employers/peers seem to treat you with a different kind of respect knowing you studied with the OU. It’s a completely different ‘oh, that’s interesting’ when you say you’re an OU graduate. Probably because you’ve taken the road not typically travelled and done it yourself. Respect compadres, respect.

10.    It can be addictive. REALLY addictive. Just sayin’.