Going back to school

[selenay]

I've been thinking about studying again for a long time, and with all the things that have happened and changed over the last six months, now seems weirdly like the right time.

I know, middle of a global pandemic and I decide to go back to university. Never let it be said that I make sense.

Signing up for an entire degree for six years feels like a huge step and I'm not even sure about whether I can handle the workload, so I've decided to take a baby step. See how I adjust to studying in general and also get a better feel about how I'll do with humanities studies instead of STEM.

Oxford University Continuing Education department run various short courses. Some of them would usually run with weekly in-person classes, but even those have now moved to a virtual meeting space. But some of them are totally online and always have been, including the one I've decided to do.

So I've signed up and paid my course fee.

For the winter term (i.e. from late Sept to early Dec), I'm going to be doing a history course on the making of modern Britain, from the 18th century to the 21st. It sound really interesting, covering some things I've never learned about (American and French revolutions!), and importantly it's an intro level course so it will cover some of the basics. Such as note taking, essay writing, evaluating historical sources, and other useful thing. It's been almost twenty years since I formally studied history and I feel like I need those skills refreshed.

It should be around ten hours of work a week, with two essays to submit, so it gives me a chance to see how well I do at committing to some regular study time.

If I emerge from it itching to do more and confident that I can manage a slightly higher workload, then I can apply for the February start for the OU's history degree. They've rebuilt the course in the last couple of years and there's a lot of stuff in it that I'm excited about.

If I emerge vowing never to study again, at least I'll know.

So I guess I'm going back to school for a while :D

Comments

[radiantfracture]

Sounds like a great idea!

[selenay]

I've got nothing to lose by trying this, so it's hopefully a good idea!

[princessofgeeks]

What a great idea!

[selenay]

I'm hoping it is!

[netgirl_y2k]

That's awesome, dude! Good luck!

[selenay]

Thank you!

[raven]

Good luck!

[selenay]

Thank you :)

[beccaelizabeth]

📖🤞

[selenay]

😁

[katlinel]

That sounds a very interesting course! Good luck with it!

[selenay]

Thank you! I'm excited about the course, I think it will be interesting and good to get a new perspective on some things.

[jesuswasbatman]

Hope you enjoy yourself!

[selenay]

Thank you!

[nic]

That's awesome!!!

I went back to school after ~20 years to get my MBA and I absolutely loved it. I told myself I was only signing up for 1 semester at a time and could quit any time I needed to, but to be learning again was so good for my mind. :)

[selenay]

I keep telling myself that if I go for the full degree, it's the OU so I can take a break whenever I need and the world isn't over if I need a year off at some point. But I'm looking forward to stretching my mind in a different way from what I do at work.

[bookmonster]

I'm excited for you!!! I was so close to doing a History degree and it's still something I miss so feel free to tell me about what you're studying!!

[selenay]

You're going to learn so much vicariously. SO MUCH.

[rmc28]

Oooh, I hope it goes really well for you. And I think you've chosen a sensible approach to testing the waters first. Also your course sounds really interesting.

(I did my OU degree over six years, starting approx a dozen years after finishing my Cambridge one. It ate my life, especially in the last 18 months or so, but I'm glad I did it. Happy to nerd out about it any time if you are interested. I still have a learning bug but I'm sating it with FutureLearn, Babbel & Duolingo these days - less deadline pressure!)

[selenay]

I'll take you up on the nerding out :D

I did my first degree, in IT, through the OU in four years - two part-time, two full time. I do remember how exhausting it was a times, but I'm also excited about seeing what it's like doing this in a totally different discipline!

I'm also pottering about with Duolingo and FutureLearn, but oddly that's what's got me interested in taking my studies a bit further at last!

[lilacsigil]

That sounds very cool! Good luck!

And you're not the only one doing it - my sister-in-law lost her job at the start of the pandemic so she's now doing her MA in Translation while things are quiet on the job front.

[selenay]

I have a feeling there are probably a fair number of people deciding to study right now for various reasons. My job is stabilising and I don't see myself needing to retrain, but I'm not commuting and I've suddenly got a lot of free time on my hands that's likely to keep being free time. In a lot of ways, I can't see when I'll have a better opportunity to do this before I retire.

[soupytwist]

I did an English degree with the OU! I LOVE THEM, they are so good, so if you do like the modern Britain course and decide to go further, I am super happy to tell you as much as you'd like about my experience with that!

[selenay]

I did my IT degree with the OU! They're fantastic!

But happy to nerd out about the OU anyway :D And it's going to be so interesting to be with the OU in a completely different faculty area! And my degree finished fifteen years ago - I'm excited to see how things have changed since then. If you've got any perspective on how things are that's more recent than my experience, I'm all ears.

Back when I did my degree, half the courses had embraced online living and everything was eTMAs and online learning spaces. And the other half hadn't, which made submitting course work for a C++ course really weird 😂

[soupytwist]

Oh I didn't know that! (Or if I ever knew it, I clearly forgot!) That's so cool. I loved them a lot more than my brick and mortar uni - not that that was a bad experience exactly but I never felt supported at all, the OU was so much better at explaining what they wanted and how you could ask for help if you needed it.

All my OU was eTMAs - we had seminars in person, but even though you teeeeechnically could send in something on paper they clearly only had that as a last-ditch accessibility option for the holdouts. I am trying to imagine submitting C++ coursework that way and boggling!

[selenay]

Submitting C++ coursework through the post was...interesting. And I always wondered how on earth the tutor managed to mark it when he was getting us to print out the programme code on paper for the small apps we were building. It was a weird time.

My final project had to be submitted with snail mail, too. Two bound copies. The appendixes were 200 pages of Java code. It was a ride!

But yeah, I did a year at bricks and mortar uni and felt so much more supported at the OU. It also suited me better not having to force myself to go out there and pretend that I was happy and comfortable with the whole student life experience. I'd probably manage that better now, but I was such a shy and withdrawn person during my first attempt at uni and it didn't suit me at all.

I was much better with the OU format in every way.

[walkthegale]

Oh awesome, what a great idea! Good luck with it!

[selenay]

Thank you!