A convoy can only go as fast as the slowest ship.  The open university
courses are not only written for the slowest ship, they're written for
one that's severely retarded, and one that hasn't even left port yet.

When you go for the induction meeting,  usually a couple of weeks
before
the course starts, you're warned that's there's a lot of hard work and
a
lot of material to work through.  But it's not until the course
actually
starts a couple of weeks later, that you begin to realise exactly what
they were talking about and what you've let yourself in for.

If the reading material was direct and too the point, it  would be
easier to get through and could be interesting.  But it isn't.  It gets
on a number 68 bus and goes all round Chalk Farm. Then not content with
that little diversion it gets on a number 157 and goes all round
Crystal
Palace before it finally gets to the point.

Words like: Padded, Long Winded, Bloated, Tedious, Frustrating and Mind
Bendingly Boring come to mind.

When you actually start the course, the material starts to arrive
through your letter box.  What starts off as a trickle, soon becomes a
flood, and you simply can't keep up with it.  Eventually you have to
hire a skip to cart it away.  What could easily be written in just a
few
pages, thus keeping it manageable,  is  padded, bloated and extended to
fill a telephone directory size manual  (if you're doing computer work,
the software you're provided with is usually obsolete and wont run on a
modern computer, and would be completely useless in the real world
where
you're expected to be using it).

Then of course you begin to realise what you were being told at the
induction meeting.  How much hard work it is and how dedicated you have
to be to finish the course. What they were saying about the amount of
material to get through and how you have to be so determined to finish,
only now begins to make sense and you can see what they were actually
getting at.  And what a fool you were for letting yourself in for so
much aggravation.

As soon a you realise what you've let yourself in for, your immediate
reaction is to call it a day and cancel the course, thus saving
yourself
from months and months of unnecessary drudgery. You can't. They've got
that one covered too.  You still have to pay, whether you like it or
not.  There's no way out.  You're in.  And pay you will.

Be warned.  If you're a complete idiot, then the Open University is for
you. Anyone with reasonable intelligence, look elsewhere.

wrote in message 
news:1138495796.034947.58560@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
>A convoy can only go as fast as the slowest ship.  The open university
> courses are not only written for the slowest ship, they're written for
> one that's severely retarded, and one that hasn't even left port yet.
>
> When you go for the induction meeting,  usually a couple of weeks
> before
> the course starts, you're warned that's there's a lot of hard work and
> a
> lot of material to work through.  But it's not until the course
> actually
> starts a couple of weeks later, that you begin to realise exactly what
> they were talking about and what you've let yourself in for.
>
> If the reading material was direct and too the point, it  would be
> easier to get through and could be interesting.  But it isn't.  It gets
> on a number 68 bus and goes all round Chalk Farm. Then not content with
> that little diversion it gets on a number 157 and goes all round
> Crystal
> Palace before it finally gets to the point.
>
> Words like: Padded, Long Winded, Bloated, Tedious, Frustrating and Mind
> Bendingly Boring come to mind.
>
> When you actually start the course, the material starts to arrive
> through your letter box.  What starts off as a trickle, soon becomes a
> flood, and you simply can't keep up with it.  Eventually you have to
> hire a skip to cart it away.  What could easily be written in just a
> few
> pages, thus keeping it manageable,  is  padded, bloated and extended to
> fill a telephone directory size manual  (if you're doing computer work,
> the software you're provided with is usually obsolete and wont run on a
> modern computer, and would be completely useless in the real world
> where
> you're expected to be using it).
>
> Then of course you begin to realise what you were being told at the
> induction meeting.  How much hard work it is and how dedicated you have
> to be to finish the course. What they were saying about the amount of
> material to get through and how you have to be so determined to finish,
> only now begins to make sense and you can see what they were actually
> getting at.  And what a fool you were for letting yourself in for so
> much aggravation.
>
> As soon a you realise what you've let yourself in for, your immediate
> reaction is to call it a day and cancel the course, thus saving
> yourself
> from months and months of unnecessary drudgery. You can't. They've got
> that one covered too.  You still have to pay, whether you like it or
> not.  There's no way out.  You're in.  And pay you will.
>
> Be warned.  If you're a complete idiot, then the Open University is for
> you. Anyone with reasonable intelligence, look elsewhere.
>
I take it that you had a bad experience with the Open University then!  I've 
had 4 years studying with the OU and had no problems myself.
BTW you can cancel the course and get a refund which is in indirect 
proportion to when you cancel after the start date.
Which course did you sign up for then?

In article , Robbie Mayhem 
arobzREMOVETHIS@lycos.com wibbled... 

> I take it that you had a bad experience with the Open University then!  I've 
> had 4 years studying with the OU and had no problems myself.
> BTW you can cancel the course and get a refund which is in indirect 
> proportion to when you cancel after the start date.
> Which course did you sign up for then? 

I suggest the best tactic with trolls is to ignore them? :-)

Suzi
(another satisfied OUer)

wrote in message
news:1138495796.034947.58560@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> A convoy can only go as fast as the slowest ship.  The open university
<sniperazoo to conserve bandwidth>

May I be so bold to ask what course you followed?
Surely being so simple did you complete it?
If not how come?

Joe Rat

markbellavista wrote:
> Be warned.  If you're a complete idiot, then the Open University is for
> you. Anyone with reasonable intelligence, look elsewhere.

Considering that you(?) posted this same thing over three years ago do you
think it's possible that OU has improved since then, if it was as bad as
you say at all?

If you want some reliable statistics on how the OU performs see
http://www.tqi.ac.uk/, in some respects the OU outranks some of the UK's
top Universities such as Cambridge and Oxford.

Minnie Goodsoup wrote:
> markbellavista wrote:
>> Be warned.  If you're a complete idiot, then the Open University is
>> for you. Anyone with reasonable intelligence, look elsewhere.
>
> Considering that you(?) posted this same thing over three years ago
> do you think it's possible that OU has improved since then, if it was
> as bad as you say at all?
>
> If you want some reliable statistics on how the OU performs see
> http://www.tqi.ac.uk/, in some respects the OU outranks some of the
> UK's top Universities such as Cambridge and Oxford.

I'm on my first 10 point course, enjoying it immensely.
Course material is just right, quite a bit tougher than I've done before but 
makes it a challenge.
Not had much through the door - occasional invites to local open days, thats 
it.

Well worth the money and good support. Even if I can't do the exact course 
I'd love to do.

Martin  <><