Tertiary and Continuing Open Universities

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Caesar

Caesar

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Mar 3, 2005
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I'm planning on going back to study whilst continuing to work fulltime. One of my options is to do a postgrad qualification that's semi-relevant to my career path (such as an MBA), but I'm also thinking about doing a bachelor degree in a completely unrelated field. Has anyone done studied though OUA and can tell me what it's like?

I'm not particularly interested in marketability because I'm doing it mostly for interest's sake - I enjoy my job but I miss studying and learning. I'm mostly wondering how people have found it in terms of workload etc. whilst juggling a career (and potentially a young family, if it comes to that).
 
If you're working full time/have a family or both, then Open Uni is the way to go. I've had friends do online study and will swear by it and if you already have a qualification then supplementing it with another degree from Open Uni will look really good in your personal qualifications.

Whilst im not doing an entirely online course, this semester I was doing two wholly online units through Deakin University as part of my on campus course. Its very easy to fall into the trap of not doing any work because there is nobody there to push you to get it done. I can imagine that working full time and with a family, that could be amplified moreso because you probably at times can struggle to find a spare moment to sit down and study.

If you're interested then definitely do it. Just be careful not to fall into the "Ill do it tomorrow" trap that comes with online study because its very easy to fall into.

Best of luck with your course. :thumbsu:
 
I'm two years into three degrees with OUA. I'm currently studying Bachelor of Arts (Internet Communications), Bachelor of Arts (Professional Writing) with Curtin University and Bachelor of Business (Marketing) with Swinburne University.

From my personal experience I have and quite often do vouch for OUA. The degrees are the equivalent to the degrees studied on campus - often even using the same lectures. However, it does depend largely on the type of person you are. As TigerGlory suggests that "do it tomorrow" trap is a huge one. If you're self-motivated then you'll find that it's a winner. However, if you're anything like my partner, who works as a government department nurse/administrator and decided to study BoA (Ancient History) as a personal interest and took two units (the equivalent of full time study given OUA offers four study periods (exam week = week 1 of the following study period) and wasn't motivated due to work stress so did everything last minute and found the experience extremely stressful then you may want to avoid it.

As far as the units themselves go they are run by the individual universities. I've found that my Curtin experience has been a real joy while the Swinburne one made me almost tear my hair out. In the two years I've studied the three degrees I've completed units with half a dozen (or more) universities. Last study period I had a bad experience with MQ and thus far this study period (I'm doing another unit with them for the writing degree) it's been better. Griffith in most people's experiences are awful. I did an assignment with them where I had interviewed AFL journalists (Herald Sun, Slattery Media Group, The Age, etc.) as well as the AFL Players Association and while the interviews were outstanding the assignment dictated that I didn't write my final part of the essay until after receiving the original feedback for the previous essay (which was the first part of the final essay for the unit). Our study group (the entire class) didn't receive feedback until two days before the final assignment was due. MQ was the same last study period for philosophy.

However, having criticized them enough I do have to suggest that the positives far and away outweigh the negatives. I'm going to complete three degrees within three and a half years at the age of thirty two when otherwise I would never have been able to get a degree. To see that sporting stars such as Jimmy Bartel and others (I've personally completed a group assignment with an A League player and the daughter of an Australian rock'n'roll icon) have shared similar experiences to what I have adds support to distance education through OUA.

I invite you and anyone else interested in distance education to join a Facebook group "University Coffee Shop" which has over 300 members with the vast majority doing some form of OUA study. You can find it here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/133022790099435/

As far as the particulars that you want to know - as I said previously about my partner, it depends on your motivation level. Most people love it but those who aren't motivated seem to be the ones that will drop out. By the sounds of it, you're motivated to study for genuine reasons so it could be something that really appeals to you. I've handled writing professionally (albeit from home) and building a strong relationship (met, fell in love and moved in with my partner since starting OUA) rather well. My tip is to find something that you truly care about and give it a crack.

Good luck.
 

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I'm interested in studying a postgraduate degree either in the second half of this year, or at the start of next year.

This feedback in this thread is gold, and is much appreciated. The question I ask is, essentially, what are the mechanics of studing a degree with OUA? How does it work in relation to lectures and tutorials and exams? Do you have to be available at certain times of the day or certain days of the week? Can you work pretty much autonomously?
 
Handy information, I've been considering going back and actually completing a degree for a while now, OUA seems like a good way of doing it - looking at Bachelor of Communications with Griffiths and Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy) with Macquarie. Bachelor of Arts (Professional Writing and Publishing) at Curtin is kind of interesting too, as is Bachelor of Behavioural Studies (Psychology) except for the Statistics study.
 
I teach OUA psychology units through Swinburne University. Would be happy to answer questions.

Most of our students have a very positive reception, so Wickzki's experience is dissapointing, though it is a different discipline entirely to what I am involved in, so I can't really give them a kick up the butt :p
 
Finished off a degree with OUA and enjoyed the experience. Loved getting all the material in one big hit so you can go through as quick as you want. Others in my course complained they felt like second class citizens in terms of treatment by lecturers and tutors compared with those studying on campus, but I didn't have those problems. Well worth doing.
 
Well, I've gone ahead and enrolled in 5 courses over 2 study periods for the Communications degree (apparently I need to complete 4 units as they are before applying for the Fed funded degree program), just to see if I'm still up to it. I'll then see where I go from there.

Question for anyone who can answer, is it possible to run like the average Uni double degree? ie do two degrees (ie the Communications and Arts Philo/Behavioural Studies) and have each set of core subjects count as electives for the other?
 
Caesar said:
I'm planning on going back to study whilst continuing to work fulltime. One of my options is to do a postgrad qualification that's semi-relevant to my career path (such as an MBA), but I'm also thinking about doing a bachelor degree in a completely unrelated field. Has anyone done studied though OUA and can tell me what it's like?

I'm not particularly interested in marketability because I'm doing it mostly for interest's sake - I enjoy my job but I miss studying and learning. I'm mostly wondering how people have found it in terms of workload etc. whilst juggling a career (and potentially a young family, if it comes to that).
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In my third year of part-time study with them right now. Finding time to study isn't too easy - I work full-time and now have a 14 month old daughter to entertain, but it's definitely manageable. Wish I'd started earlier, I'm finding it really enjoyable.
 
I'm doing subjects 15 & 16 out of the 24 required for my degree through OUA (Swinburne Bach of Tech (Information Systems). I also work full time. I've found you can do a maximum of 2 subjects per semester, but after a few semesters it gets draining and you need a break (either no subject or down to 1 subject). I don't have kids and can imagine that it would be a tough ask studying, looking after kids and working full time. I'll end up taking 4 years, maybe 4 years and 3 months to do all 24 subjects, whilst holding down a 40 hr a week job. I've had to take an annual leave day or 2 each semester either when a big assignment is due or for exam prep as well, so over the years my annual leave has been hit pretty hard.

It's a reasonably tough gig, but very doable. You need to spend at least a night or 2 each week plus weekends in order to keep on top of it though, and kiss your social life pretty much goodbye.
 
Samsara said:
I teach OUA psychology units through Swinburne University. Would be happy to answer questions.

Most of our students have a very positive reception, so Wickzki's experience is dissapointing, though it is a different discipline entirely to what I am involved in, so I can't really give them a kick up the butt :p
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Whoa!

What structures are in place?

I am interested in behavioral psychology (Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Bernays, Zimbardo, Milgram etc.)

Are they totally off campus?
 
bradrowe#32 said:
Finished off a degree with OUA and enjoyed the experience. Loved getting all the material in one big hit so you can go through as quick as you want. Others in my course complained they felt like second class citizens in terms of treatment by lecturers and tutors compared with those studying on campus, but I didn't have those problems. Well worth doing.
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They probably see you as putting them out of a job.
 
Hard_to_Beat said:
Whoa!

What structures are in place?

I am interested in behavioral psychology (Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Bernays, Zimbardo, Milgram etc.)

Are they totally off campus?
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There are a number of different units that are offered with the bachelor of behavioral studies program being quite popular. This program is an online equivalent to the on campus degree that is apac accredited.
 

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Currently doing full-time work (40-60 hours a week) as well as 1.5 x full-time uni (3 units in a study period of 13 weeks), and im going to get distinctions at worst, possibly all high distinctions (this includes a Mandarin subject). That was without any study leave.

If you are motivated, you can really achieve anything. I know Griffith University may not be hot stuff, but I've decided I like study/academics and want to continue on for a masters and hopefully a PhD one day.

But yes, you do kiss your social life goodbye. I imagine with children and full time work it would be tough going.
 

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