I was confident when I wrote my first blog post about studying with the Open University that I would post regularly. Certainly more frequently than I have, as I have just checked, and yes, the first anniversary of that fit blog post is only a few weeks away!
The thing is, life, as it always seems to do, got away from me. I suppose, depending on how you look at it, this is actually a good thing. After all, I focused on my work instead of updating you on how things were going. But I made a commitment to you, and I should keep those commitments.
This year has been an unusual one. Not only for the peculiarity the world is currently in. I started my Open University journey with an Access Module, as many of you know. This is OU's version of an Access Course, but unlike most Access Courses, your future progress doesn't hinge on whether or not you succeed in this module. Instead, its function is to get you used to how you study on the OU, which, believes me, is very different to what OU call 'Brick Universities'.
OU has three different Access Modules. You generally study the one with the subject area closest to what you plan to study in the future. In my case, I have moved on to study BA (Hons) Childhood and Youth Studies. Therefore I chose the Access Module known as "People, Work and Society.". Which essentially, when it boils down to it, is the Humanities Access Module, the other two being Arts and Science.
When I last posted a blog, I was just a month into this module, and so, therefore, I was just about to complete my first of four assignments. I am glad to tell you that I did better than I expected on all my assignments for this Access Module! They went as:
Assignment 1: 82%
Assignment 2: 75%
Assignment 3: 85%
Assignment 4: 91%
I then had five mini online tests I had to complete, and on those, I scored:
ICMA 1: 80%
ICMA 2: 100%
ICMA 3: 85%
ICMA 4: 90%
ICMA 5: 100%
Due to the weighting of different assignments and the ICMA's only weighing a few percentages each, My overall score for my Access Module was 86%, which meant scoring a Distinction on my first go out for 16 or so years. Which I would never have imagined when I started back in February!
However, 2021 was a year for me that taught me never to get complacent.
When I started the Access Module, I applied for Disabled Student's Allowance, which provides equipment to support disabled students with their studies. Unfortunately, due to how OU works, I was not yet registered on a 'full course', so the application wasn't successful. I, therefore, waited a few months and re-applied in July. As with anything where you are effectively asking for free money or resources, there are many bureaucratic hoops of fire to leap through, so it wasn't until I was a good month into my current module that I got the ok to get some equipment; it then took another month or so to get what gear to be agreed upon. It was only in the last couple of weeks that these resources actually came into my possession. It took six months, almost to the day, to work through the DSA system from beginning to end.
But I got a distinction on my Access Module, so surely I would be ok without the equipment, and there is some truth to this. Thankfully the DSA process only influenced one of my assignments, and frustratingly I only got a 60%. It was still a decent pass, but when it is 15% less than the lowest mark I received in the earlier module, you cannot help but think you haven't done yourself justice.
The teaching methods are pretty different from my current module (Introduction to Childhood Studies and Child Psychology) than those on my Access Module. Whereas the Access Module was primarily online, this module was delivered mainly through physical reading material. This meant I couldn't use the skills I had learned on the Access Module as much as I thought I might be able to.
Anyone who knows me knows I am an avid reader of fiction, so it may come as a surprise that predominantly using reading material is an issue for me. However, I see reading fiction, non-fiction and reading educational material as flexing three very different muscles. It is also down to the size of text, the typeface used, and the colour and texture of the paper you are reading from dramatically affects your ability to assimilate information successfully. Therefore studying for this first assignment was a chore to get through. Plus, I had the extra stress of worrying about the DSA claim on my mind, distracting me.
Thankfully, due to my studies on the Access Module, I was keenly aware of what equipment would help me proceed. I am pleased to say the person in charge of suggesting the equipment to the DSA was pretty much in total agreement. So I was only turned down for one of the pieces of gear she had recommended (as I say, hoops), and so I am now fully equipped to continue forward. I do find myself, however, a couple of weeks behind in my studies. This is due to the delay in receiving the equipment and not knowing whether to persevere or wait until the kit arrives. I'm grateful that I have an understanding tutor on this current module who was willing to give me a two-week extension to get this assignment completed. I'm currently about 10 days away from the original deadline and have already written the first third of the assignment. Though it is never wise or easy to gauge how you are doing on an assignment (all you should do is feel you have put in your most excellent effort), I think this assignment should be up to the standard I set in the previous module. But as I say, I'm not going to rest on my laurels, as that could prove unwise.
I'll try and let you know when I get the following result.
In the meantime, thank you so much for reading and supporting me through this study.