Sam Marks, safeguarding education professional and 2015 MAODE graduate explains how she still uses what she learned in everyday practice.
Sam writes:
When I started my studies with the OU in 2011, I hated the e-learning my organisation provided and was determined to do better. I never imagined signing up to the Masters Online and Distance Education that I would still be actively using the skills I developed ten years later, supporting education professionals to deliver safeguarding lessons and training in their organisations.
My career path has always been very practical. I worked as a pub manager and area training co-ordinator, learning and teaching by doing for many years. When I then changed career to the charity youth sector, I applied these skills but needed the theory to help underpin and rationale my approach to training. MAODE gave me this. A core part of learning about what works in technology enabled education, was learning theory, and applying that theory to the context. This is something I still do now, for both online and offline education, and teach others too, so they have a good grounding in why we teach and train adults in the way we do.
It wasn’t just the theory which equipped me over the last ten years though. Through this Masters I got to be, and continue to be a real life networked practitioner, using forums, blogs and creative online tools to bring learning to life, support colleagues across the globe and keep myself up to date. The focus on accessibility and inclusion, has also help me train my colleagues to use in built accessibility features, and ensure our products provide equity of access.
Having MAODE on my CV has prompted discussions and opened doors for my work, and of course, when the pandemic came in 2020, I was already working online and able to help others to do the same. It really was the best decision I made, and the masters that keeps on giving.
Interested in finding out more about The Open University’s Masters in online teaching?
In 2023 we launched the OU’s new Masters in Online Teaching, an innovative postgraduate programme exploring the ways that new media, digital pedagogies and cutting-edge educational technologies can be used effectively and equitably, across multiple sectors, to engage diverse learners and meet their needs. The programme offers flexible study pathways featuring a choice of topics, study intensity and study timing, and the option to include credit from a select postgraduate microcredentials.
Find out more about the OU’s MA In Online Teaching here.