I can't believe that it is nearly three weeks since I wrote a post for this blog. I seem to have been so busy that there are not enough hours in the day for me to do all the things that I both want and need to do.
My first crochet course has been completed and everybody enjoyed themselves including the solitary gentleman who had been booked onto the course by his wife an avid knitter. we certainly had a good time because as 8.30 arrived each week nobody could believe that we had been in the classroom for two hours; the time having flown so quickly. The best thing about as far as I was concerned was that I seem to have included the right amount of work in each class so when the second course, which is also fully booked, begins on Thursday evening I won't have any preparatory work to do; everything is ready for me to pack in my bag on a Thursday morning ready for when I set off to the shop in the afternoon. A third course has already been put up on the website and is starting to fill up so it seems that we have found a real gap in the market.
At the hostel where I am living my handwriting skills have been put to use writing the Christmas cards that will be given to each of the residents of the various hostels/bedsits that the company has in the area. I've also written all the Christmas cards for the professionals and suppliers and later this week I will be given the list of staff for whom Christmas cards are required. I haven't even thought ab0out writing my own Christmas cards but as I am going to send handmade cards I can't do anything about it until I have bought the bits to make the cards. That is a job for this weekend.
However, while the cards are not made and written, the presents are nearing completion. I have made lots of scarves, mittens, and some shawls so everybody is getting something handmade this Christmas. I have one scarf that will be finished tonight and one more to make. I should be able to get that started this evening and then work at it during knitting group tomorrow evening. It's a pattern that I have already completed twice and it is a lovely one to make with lots of beautiful lacework on it. I'm hoping that this scarf will be finished this weekend or the beginning of next week so that I can concentrate on knitting a couple of jumpers for myself; and with the way that it has got so cold over the last few days I am definitely going to need them.
This afternoon I went to visit the building site that is my new home. Some of the flats on the top floor are approaching completion and hopefully the rest will be completed in the next month. Once all the flats have had their kitchens and bathrooms completed and it is just a case of furniture to be moved in, I can go and visit again with a view to picking which flat I want. I'm going to have to sit down in a week or so and make a list of things that I want to buy to make whichever flat I choose into my home.
I have so many things going on in my life these days that I have had to buy myself a new Filofax to keep a check on everything. I have a diary that is filling up by the day and it doesn't seem to be letting up. I can honestly say that I have not been this busy since I had to give up work and I think that I am going to have to start thinking about what I am going to do in the New Year. Hopefully things will have calmed down a bit and I can think about getting back to studying with the Open University. I have to admit that I do miss the studying and it would be nice to get back into it again.
Showing posts with label Open University. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Open University. Show all posts
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
OU Students Likely To Be Disadvantaged
I sometimes wonder what planet our politicians, especially this government, are on, as they seem to be living in a totally different one to me. Some months ago it was announced that government funding would no longer be given to universities for students who were studying for an equivalent or lower qualification (ELQ) than one that they already held. The Open University was particularly concerned about this because many of its students do indeed fall into this category and they felt that if their funding was cut then the cost of OU courses would have to go up. Because of this they started a petition to 10 Downing Street expressing concern about these plans and as both a graduate and a present student of the OU I was more than happy to put my name to this petition.
Today I have received an email from 10 Downing Street, as will all the thousands of others who signed the petition, linking me to the Government's response to this petition.
It seems that our pleas have fallen on deaf ears and the Government is hell-bent on making things as difficult as possible for OU students, which is rather sad as Labour were responsible for bringing the OU into existence in the first place. The Government's argument that it will allow more students to receive funding support for their courses (ie lower course fees) is undoubtedly flawed, for how can they guarantee that the funding will indeed go where it is intended. There are apparently something like 6 million adults in this country who have A-Levels or their equivalent but have not got higher qualifications and the reply says that they should be the ones to receive the support that this change in funding will allow. It believes that this will allow a larger number of mature part-time students to be supported. I think that they are wrong.
I had no A-Level equivalent qualifications when I began studying for a degree. In fact, that is one of the major benefits of studying with the OU, there are no significant educational requirements needed for you to become a student. Another benefit is that its courses and qualifications are structured to allow their students to continue working at their full-time job while studying for a degree, and that is what I did.
One of the reasons that the OU has so many successful graduates each year is because it offers a cost-effective way of gaining a third-level qualification. However, this change in funding probably means that it is going to be more difficult for me to continue studying with the OU. I am unable to work at the present time because of the depression and anxiety from which I suffer. Unfortunately I can't get any support in the form of benefit payments because I receive payments from pensions that I paid into, and widow's pensions in respect of my husband, that put my income above the level at which benefits can be paid, but are low enough to mean that I am one of the people who have been adversely affected by the removal of the 10p tax rate.
I worked for more than 30 years for this country, two thirds of the time as a member of the Armed Forces, but now I find that this country is doing nothing for me. I suffer from ill-health through no fault of my own, and the one thing that helps to maintain my sanity is likely to become priced beyond my reach. When will this government stop meddling in things that work well?
Today I have received an email from 10 Downing Street, as will all the thousands of others who signed the petition, linking me to the Government's response to this petition.
It seems that our pleas have fallen on deaf ears and the Government is hell-bent on making things as difficult as possible for OU students, which is rather sad as Labour were responsible for bringing the OU into existence in the first place. The Government's argument that it will allow more students to receive funding support for their courses (ie lower course fees) is undoubtedly flawed, for how can they guarantee that the funding will indeed go where it is intended. There are apparently something like 6 million adults in this country who have A-Levels or their equivalent but have not got higher qualifications and the reply says that they should be the ones to receive the support that this change in funding will allow. It believes that this will allow a larger number of mature part-time students to be supported. I think that they are wrong.
I had no A-Level equivalent qualifications when I began studying for a degree. In fact, that is one of the major benefits of studying with the OU, there are no significant educational requirements needed for you to become a student. Another benefit is that its courses and qualifications are structured to allow their students to continue working at their full-time job while studying for a degree, and that is what I did.
One of the reasons that the OU has so many successful graduates each year is because it offers a cost-effective way of gaining a third-level qualification. However, this change in funding probably means that it is going to be more difficult for me to continue studying with the OU. I am unable to work at the present time because of the depression and anxiety from which I suffer. Unfortunately I can't get any support in the form of benefit payments because I receive payments from pensions that I paid into, and widow's pensions in respect of my husband, that put my income above the level at which benefits can be paid, but are low enough to mean that I am one of the people who have been adversely affected by the removal of the 10p tax rate.
I worked for more than 30 years for this country, two thirds of the time as a member of the Armed Forces, but now I find that this country is doing nothing for me. I suffer from ill-health through no fault of my own, and the one thing that helps to maintain my sanity is likely to become priced beyond my reach. When will this government stop meddling in things that work well?
Friday, 4 July 2008
Bad Days and Worse Days
Like anyone who suffers from depression, my life isn't always a bowl of cherries. I don't have good days and bad days, rather it's bad days and worse days, but every now and again something happens that lifts my spirits and I feel as though life is worth living after all. And the strange thing is, it can be very little things that make the difference.
I've been going through a really bad period just recently, and while I'm not out of the woods yet, I am managing to hang on in there and I am aware that this feeling won't go on forever. Trying to find things to do that allow me to keep my mind active, but that don't require too high a degree of concentration is always a bit of a problem, and when I can get back to studying is always an indicator that things are improving. And I am just getting to that stage at the moment. After a couple of weeks where I have been wanting to write an essay for the TMA for the Open University course that I am doing at the moment, but have been totally incapable of doing anything about it, I am finally feeling as though I can have a go and hopefully write something of which I can be reasonably proud.
I first started studying with the Open University just over a year after my husband died. His death was very sudden, and somewhat unsurprisingly I started to suffer from depression. A year after my husband died I had to go into hospital for major surgery, and it was about this time that two very important people in my life, my GP, and a very old friend and work colleague, both suggested that I ought to find something to fill the empty hours in my life. Now I'm not sure what these two splendid chaps had in mind (probably flower arranging or learning a language perhaps) when they made their suggestions (they both spoke to me within a couple of days of each other) but doing a degree with the Open University was not quite what they envisaged. For some reason while I was lying in my hospital bed it seemed to me that this was the most obvious thing in the world.
The OU proved to be a lifesaver for me. I had a demanding job with a lot of responsibility and having something that I could turn to for a change of pace helped me to get through the empty evenings. Forcing myself to get into a routine of coming home from work, quickly getting myself an evening meal, and then sitting down for a couple of hours with the books became a way of life, and one that I shall never regret. Sometimes the completion of the TMAs (tutor marked assignments) was a problem and I had to ask for a deferment of the submission date from my tutor, but I usually managed to complete them on time. At about the time that I completed my BSc (Hons) I had to give up work on medical grounds as my depression had got much worse, I was suffering increasingly from severe anxiety attacks, and I had lost all confidence in my ability to do anything and everything.
So you can probably understand why I am so concerned that now that I am not working I am having so much of a problem answering a reasonably simple question in approximately 1000 words including references (no chance of me being accused of plagiarism). Writing detailed reports of a technical nature was what I did when I was working, and being acknowledged as having a good command of the English Language, both orally and in writing, I seem to be making a mountain out of a molehill over this particular TMA. And what makes it all the more strange is that this is one of the OU's Openings courses, the simplest that they do, and I have previously done some studying at Master's level and got good marks for it.
So, as I said earlier, after a month or so of feeling absolutely desperate and having very little sleep, I am starting to feel a little more human again, and actually keen to get back to the essay writing and the book reading. So tomorrow is going to be a day of sitting in a comfortable chair (I think better that way) with pad and pencil and hopefully enough of my previous reading will still be in my memory and the essay will flow onto the page. After all these years I still like to sit down with a pad to write my first draft because I find that it suits me; I also find that I can write at the same speed that I think whereas I can type faster than my brain seems to put the words together.
And what has allowed me to turn the corner? I managed to have a full night's sleep. Yes, a full eight hours. No problems dropping off, no waking after a couple of hours sleep and then being unable to get back to sleep.
To paraphrase a song, "What a difference a night makes".
I've been going through a really bad period just recently, and while I'm not out of the woods yet, I am managing to hang on in there and I am aware that this feeling won't go on forever. Trying to find things to do that allow me to keep my mind active, but that don't require too high a degree of concentration is always a bit of a problem, and when I can get back to studying is always an indicator that things are improving. And I am just getting to that stage at the moment. After a couple of weeks where I have been wanting to write an essay for the TMA for the Open University course that I am doing at the moment, but have been totally incapable of doing anything about it, I am finally feeling as though I can have a go and hopefully write something of which I can be reasonably proud.
I first started studying with the Open University just over a year after my husband died. His death was very sudden, and somewhat unsurprisingly I started to suffer from depression. A year after my husband died I had to go into hospital for major surgery, and it was about this time that two very important people in my life, my GP, and a very old friend and work colleague, both suggested that I ought to find something to fill the empty hours in my life. Now I'm not sure what these two splendid chaps had in mind (probably flower arranging or learning a language perhaps) when they made their suggestions (they both spoke to me within a couple of days of each other) but doing a degree with the Open University was not quite what they envisaged. For some reason while I was lying in my hospital bed it seemed to me that this was the most obvious thing in the world.
The OU proved to be a lifesaver for me. I had a demanding job with a lot of responsibility and having something that I could turn to for a change of pace helped me to get through the empty evenings. Forcing myself to get into a routine of coming home from work, quickly getting myself an evening meal, and then sitting down for a couple of hours with the books became a way of life, and one that I shall never regret. Sometimes the completion of the TMAs (tutor marked assignments) was a problem and I had to ask for a deferment of the submission date from my tutor, but I usually managed to complete them on time. At about the time that I completed my BSc (Hons) I had to give up work on medical grounds as my depression had got much worse, I was suffering increasingly from severe anxiety attacks, and I had lost all confidence in my ability to do anything and everything.
So you can probably understand why I am so concerned that now that I am not working I am having so much of a problem answering a reasonably simple question in approximately 1000 words including references (no chance of me being accused of plagiarism). Writing detailed reports of a technical nature was what I did when I was working, and being acknowledged as having a good command of the English Language, both orally and in writing, I seem to be making a mountain out of a molehill over this particular TMA. And what makes it all the more strange is that this is one of the OU's Openings courses, the simplest that they do, and I have previously done some studying at Master's level and got good marks for it.
So, as I said earlier, after a month or so of feeling absolutely desperate and having very little sleep, I am starting to feel a little more human again, and actually keen to get back to the essay writing and the book reading. So tomorrow is going to be a day of sitting in a comfortable chair (I think better that way) with pad and pencil and hopefully enough of my previous reading will still be in my memory and the essay will flow onto the page. After all these years I still like to sit down with a pad to write my first draft because I find that it suits me; I also find that I can write at the same speed that I think whereas I can type faster than my brain seems to put the words together.
And what has allowed me to turn the corner? I managed to have a full night's sleep. Yes, a full eight hours. No problems dropping off, no waking after a couple of hours sleep and then being unable to get back to sleep.
To paraphrase a song, "What a difference a night makes".
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