{"id":20084,"date":"2022-01-18T07:00:42","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T07:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=20084"},"modified":"2022-01-18T07:00:42","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T07:00:42","slug":"distance-learning-works-even-miles-away-in-the-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/student-stories\/distance-learning-works-even-miles-away-in-the-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Distance learning works \u2013 even miles away in the lab\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geochemist Ali always knew he wanted to study science, but it wasn\u2019t by design that he studied with The Open University in Scotland<\/a>. When Ali realised he could apply his learning direct to his job \u2013 and right away \u2013 the OU turned out to be the best possible choice for his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to go to university,\u201d says Ali. \u201cWhen I moved back to Scotland from Pakistan, I did Scottish Highers and I got very good grades. I applied for university and then got all the offers but I couldn\u2019t afford to pay the tuition fees without any support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disappointed that things hadn\u2019t worked out as he\u2019d planned, there was no giving up on his dream. By taking an apprenticeship at a local university and signing up for an HNC in biological sciences at his local college, Ali felt that he was at least going in the right direction.<\/p>\n

On finishing his apprenticeship, Ali was offered a full-time technical post. \u201cI had some financial responsibilities as well,\u201d Ali explains. \u201cI couldn\u2019t just leave everything and go to university from scratch and become a student at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as determined as ever to get a degree, Ali assessed his options.<\/p>\n

Family endorsement<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cMy dad had already \u2018done\u2019 Open University back in his time, so he\u2019s quite fond of the OU already,\u201d says Ali.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure at the very beginning if I could do everything remotely as I\u2019d never seen anyone do such a thing. I\u2019ve always seen people study the traditional way and go to a physical university.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the idea of the OU was a bit daunting,\u201d he continues. \u201cBut because my dad was speaking so favourably about it, especially the course content, I thought I would give it a try and see how that goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ali knew that having his family onboard from the outset would be a huge advantage:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Open University is a family effort. It\u2019s not a one person thing, you need support from other people and I was lucky that I had that support from my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overcoming reservations<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When Ali started to find out more about the OU, things began falling into place. He could transfer the credits from his college course, which meant he didn\u2019t have to start all over again. Government funding was available to cover his OU tuition fees. And he liked the flexibility of the BSc Honours Open Degree<\/a>, where he could choose the modules that were most relevant for his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cPicking the OU was a no brainer for me,\u201d Ali says. \u201cI loved the course content and the books that came through my letterbox, and that they were available virtually too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI could study on my phone or with my books, there\u2019s multiple ways of sitting the same content and I didn\u2019t have to attend lectures in the morning. The OU fitted in very nicely with my routine and with my work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impressing his employers<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cI basically studied in evenings and during weekends and at work, during lunchtime and other times when it wasn\u2019t busy. My employer was quite in favour of me doing that. So that was a good thing, that they valued it and they thought that it would be good for my career progression and for them as well. They saw that I would be able to gain my qualification and increase my knowledge and skills through the degree program.\u201d<\/p>\n

After he graduated, Ali\u2019s OU studies made a good impression on his next employer too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were impressed not just with the degree,\u201d says Ali. \u201cBut because I had demonstrated that I\u2019m able to work full time and study full time and manage everything that comes along with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the real advantages of an Open University degree is that you can apply the learning almost immediately in your job, if you\u2019re working,\u201d says Ali. \u201cYou can\u2019t always do that if you\u2019re doing a degree and then coming out, getting a job, and waiting until then to apply your knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supported distance learning works<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While the remote aspect of OU study was one of the things Ali was most sceptical about at first, he was soon reassured.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tutors were fantastic,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were there to support you whenever you needed. In some courses there was more contact with fellow students than others, especially when you had group exercises in later modules.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a challenge obviously because everyone was working in their own time and not everyone was going to be available when you needed something. But I think it was a good challenge to experience and overcome. It prepares you for real life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ali\u2019s now putting this experience into practise as he works in a laboratory on research projects with scientists all over the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe collaborate with people in the USA and Japan, and everyone is working in a different time zone altogether,\u201d he says. \u201cSome are eight hours ahead and some are seven hours behind us, so not everyone is going to be there at the time that you\u2019re going to be working on that project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough doing the OU\u2019s online group experiments you do develop that communication skill set that is useful for you in real life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Remember your goal\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ali\u2019s OU journey has helped him to get where he is today \u2013 but he admits, it wasn\u2019t always easy. He has the following advice for anyone needing a little extra motivation:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to remember your end goal. Have that in the back of your mind all the time, because you will be tested throughout your degree \u2013 your skills, knowledge and resilience will all be tested. Remember, it\u2019s achievable. You can do it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Introducing a new photo series of OU students<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Ali 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 .<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Geochemist Ali always knew he wanted to study science, but it wasn\u2019t by design that he studied with The Open University in Scotland. When Ali realised he could apply his learning direct to his job \u2013 and right away \u2013 the OU turned out to be the best possible choice for his career. \u201cI\u2019ve always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1525,1640,1643,2115,2146],"class_list":["post-20084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home","tag-ou-news","tag-stem","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20084","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=20084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}