{"id":20078,"date":"2022-01-18T07:01:42","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T07:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=20078"},"modified":"2022-01-18T07:01:42","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T07:01:42","slug":"nhs-worker-by-day-student-by-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/student-stories\/nhs-worker-by-day-student-by-night\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS worker by day, student by night"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to choosing a career or a qualification, why not have the best of both worlds? That\u2019s exactly what Open University Psychology<\/a> student Joe Acaye, 23, decided when choosing his next step after college.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad is a retired NHS psychiatrist and the whole field of mental health intrigued me,\u201d explains Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started searching for universities with Psychology degrees accredited by the British Psychological Society, but I didn\u2019t want to give up my job. I like the independence working brings you and working full time and going away to university isn\u2019t feasible. At first I thought, I\u2019d have to choose one or the other until my dad suggested I look up The Open University.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flexibility to earn while you learn <\/strong><\/h3>\n

One of the best bits of studying part-time is that Joe can continue gaining hands-on experience in the NHS as a Pharmacy Assistant \u2013 all while working towards his dream job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to become a clinical neuropsychologist,\u201d says Joe. \u201cThat\u2019s a mouthful of a title, but it\u2019s a psychologist that specialises in identifying and treating illnesses or injuries that affect the brain or central nervous system. I want to go as far as possible, like my dad\u2019s done in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s commitment as an OU student is something he believes will set him apart in years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy studying with the OU, people at work see how determined I am and how disciplined I am. Even though I am working part time, I\u2019m still in a job which is fairly intensive. Working on a critical care unit and other wards, I can still come into work for up to 10 hours, go home, and still do some coursework and submit an assignment. So I would hope my future employer can see how dedicated I am, because I was able to work and study at the same time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cPeople sometimes ask me how I balance it all and I just think of where I want to be and of my dad, who is a doctor. He\u2019s had to work at high intensity for a great amount of time before he retired. So I draw on that wisdom of \u2018soldiering on\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support every step of the way<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s a balancing act that is possible thanks to Joe\u2019s incredible support network who are always looking out for him \u2013 quite literally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a very close supportive group of friends,\u201d says Joe. \u201cI have a board with loads of pictures of all my friends in my room so whenever I just want to have a study break, I look up at it and I think, \u2018I can’t slack off because my friends are looking down on me!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s parents are also hugely supportive of his studies, whether it\u2019s his dad discussing Joe\u2019s latest assignments, or his mum bringing him food to refuel when he\u2019s been at his desk too long.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents are very encouraging. When I chose the OU, my dad reassured my mum that it is a valid route. Yes, it\u2019s going to take longer because I\u2019m studying part time, but three extra years is nothing really because I\u2019m now at the halfway stage, which is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve never looked back\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Joe admits that before he became an OU student, he never realised just how much support he\u2019d receive from his tutors and fellow students:<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far my journey has been amazing. My first-year tutor helped me loads. I think my first TMA (tutor marked assignment) score was 55%. I was fairly gutted, but without me having to do anything my tutor reached out to offer me support. From that 55%, I got 65% and then towards the end of module I was scoring 75%. And my grades have just been increasing for all the modules.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a journey that is showing Joe just what he\u2019s capable of. For anyone else needing some motivation to go after their goals, Joe had the following advice:<\/p>\n

\u201cDo it! I\u2019ve never once questioned my decision to study with the OU and never looked back. It\u2019s the best choice I\u2019ve made so far. It\u2019s a new way of studying that a lot of other universities are trying to adopt, but the OU has been doing it for over 50 years while everyone else is trying to catch up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019d say to potential students is choose the OU because they\u2019re masters of distance learning, they know what they\u2019re doing, and you\u2019ll be in safe hands.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Joe\u2019s top study tips <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Joe also had the following study tips that have him helped in his OU journey so far:<\/p>\n

1. Plan ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joe likes to get a head start on his modules by reading through his textbooks as soon as they arrive. He can then see exactly what\u2019s coming up and plan accordingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlanning ahead for each module is a massive game changer. By knowing what I need to study and looking ahead, I can think, \u2018that subject is a bit tricky, so I\u2019ll give myself some extra time to work on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Try the \u2018paragraph a day\u2019 method<\/strong><\/p>\n

When assignments seem too massive, Joe breaks them up into bite-sized pieces to ward off writer\u2019s block.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my first year I came up with the saying \u2018a paragraph a day, keeps the anxiety away\u2019. So on one day I will focus on writing the introduction, then on another day, I will focus on gathering references and writing the next paragraph.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Keep all your materials to hand<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a kind of \u2018Control Centre\u2019 where I study, keeping the books I\u2019ll be using for the entire year on my desk. They never leave, they\u2019re always there. I also have my iPad where I take notes so that all my references are easily searchable later on.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Get creative with note taking<\/strong><\/p>\n

With a lot to balance, Joe uses this digital notetaking technique to help him quickly get back into the \u2018zone\u2019 when studying.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I average like 12 pages of notes per chapter. It\u2019s crazy but that\u2019s been a game changer since I entered my second year. I now take notes on my iPad, which means I can write as much as I want and can just search for words or specific topics later on. It means I don\u2019t have to spend time hunting for an hour for a reference as they\u2019re all in the same place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be coming in from work and get lost thinking of what I need to do next. So I\u2019ve adopted a super organised way of taking and storing my notes. It helps to focus me, so I know where my attention needs to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Introducing a new photo series of OU students<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Joe is one of four students featured in a brand-new partnership between The Open University and Alamy, which aims to increase authentic representation of Black and Asian distance learning students. Find out more about this campaign here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to choosing a career or a qualification, why not have the best of both worlds? That\u2019s exactly what Open University Psychology student Joe Acaye, 23, decided when choosing his next step after college. \u201cMy dad is a retired NHS psychiatrist and the whole field of mental health intrigued me,\u201d explains Joe. \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1525,1640,1643],"class_list":["post-20078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home","tag-ou-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}