So I’m a student.
I’m now officially knee-deep in proper studenthood for the first time in 12 years. Back to the research, assignments, tutorials and choosing nice ring binders.
Of course this time around things are very different.
Last time, I began uni at the tender age of 18. I had no idea what I wanted or how to get it. I knew nothing about university being the first person in my family as far back as I can see to go to university. I did English and Philosophy to degree level because I liked them and that seemed a fair enough approach. I did an MA in English because I didn’t know what else to do.
When I studied, it was to do well in examinations rather than out of any great love or insight into the subject. Yet occasionally I got quite involved and tended to do well (my Masters thesis on how Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest influenced camp pop culture in the 20th century is rather fun; how many thesis get to squash Kylie, Frasier, Pet Shop Boys and Diana Ross tracks as evidence?).
This time round, things are quite different. It’s a subject I’m interested in, assessment is activity-based rather than silly exams, its about technology in education, it’s bloody expensive… but I’m finding it hugely interesting (to the detriment of flickr, last.fm, facebook and ze blog).
After a difficult start, the brain has kicked in, and I’m very happily spending a Friday night researching online (another big change from 12 years ago), contributing to the online forums (instead of face-to-face tutorials) and uploading podcasts and video podcasts as assignments. After only 8 weeks, I’m using what I’m learning at work (being quite vocal at meetings and seminars, filled with ideas to implement) and thinking that this lifelong learning lark is actually very blinking good.
I have nothing but praise for the Open University by the way (until I get a crap mark, and then I’ll hate them!). And I don’t have to go out with scruffy youth and drink cheap beer and cop off by default with the only other gay in the village.
Education, peeps, just do it!
Not the same thing, but related…I’m doing a wine course….I’m hoping for detention…..
I’m doing pottery just now. I feel very lowbrow compared to you. That doesn’t sound very nice. It’s not meant to be. I like being lowly.
Manuel, do you have sommelier aspirations?
André (if that is your real name, ahem!), do you have designs on being a potter like Turner Prize winner, Grayson Perry. I’m sure you have the frocks for it
Besta luck with it Enda… I may pick your brain before I reapply next year
With my next deadline approaching at lightening speed I’m finding it hard to muster as much optmism in education as yourself
Well done though!
No just want get Tuesday nights off work, and get paid for it….tremendous….only joking, we shall see where it leads…
hear, hear i say, this life long learner lark has got me big time, and i wish you all the best on your new endeavour. oh yes, that thesis you were talking about – where might i find a copy of that? sounds like a good read!! take care
No prob, Alan.
I oscillate, Conor. Hugely enthusiastic about parts of it and other bits are a bit meh. Overall good though!
Manuel, do you remember to spit? I recall a wine-tasting event that got rather messy as people felt that spitting the samples into bin bags was undignified. Heh heh..
Gosh, I’ll have to look that up! It’s floating around somewhere, Mykel. What are you studying?
hi there,
i had started post grad Law earlier this year but personal and work commitments meant that i was unable to continue, case of bad timing and something had to give; unfortunately the study lost out.
hi there,
i had started post grad Law earlier this year but personal and work commitments meant that i was unable to continue, case of bad timing and something had to give; unfortunately the study lost out. at the moment i’m learning web design through my work so that’s been pretty challenging but still have a strong desire to go back to uni. take care xx
sorry about the double posting, helpful kitten decided to play with the keys while i was in the middle of typing and managed to hit enter
have a good day
Hi M,
Looks like you had to make a realistic choice. Apparently the drop out rate in the OU is pretty high; people who just had no idea of how much commitment would be involved. You’ll find a better time.
And how fabulous that your cat is keyboard proficient!
Bet of luck and enjoy it. Take it from someone whose studies have wandered across disciplines, life-long learning is the only way.
Is that really you in the photo? The hair looks sorta familiar but a watch?
Nope, it ain’t me babe.
So which David are you? Obviously one who knows me well enough to know that I don’t wear a watch!
One from the distant mists, Enda. From a time when Mick’s poster painted corridor led to one of the more enlightened caverns, where discourse was encouraged, hope & puns thrived; a place where education was truly fun.
But I’m rambling, you know who I am
Eeek! Yes, I think I do now….
OMG…
“OMG”?
Not, sure, all that shocking?
Not, surely, all that shocking?
I’m very easily shocked when faced with my age.
All good with you?
Oh dear and you’re only…. shall I dig out the old photos to make it worse
Did you go through the whole Kinsella’s Mirror in February thing then?
There’s a couple of things some little, some large, that take from whole but on the whole, things are rather good. I think it was you that first introduced me to the phrase Karma and, in the main, I think the universe has been paying it forward on the good stuff.
So, in the colloquial; “Story bud? Howruse?”
Photos? There’s no call for that sort of threatening behaviour.
Fabtastic that things are good (the usual “I’m thirtysomething; of course I’ve been through some shit” notwithstanding). Things pretty nifty here too. I have dispensed with all vestiges of personal privacy and you can see what I’ve done, where I’ve been and what I’ve listened to for the last three years online.
Kinsella’s Mirror in February? I must refresh my memory on that, but how mad, to think about it now, that we were expected to comprehend that sort of material at that age. IN fairness to M Lally though, he made a fair fist of it.
Rightee ho, we’ll bury the photos for a more inappropriate time.
No, not great deal of the “I’ve been through some shit” really, others have had bigger crosses to bear… note the oblique connection to Kinsella’s observation.
I’ve dabbled in the blogosphere but been a little more cautious with my privacy – if I’m going to wear my heart on my sleeve, it’ll be on a face to face basis, not really comfortable about broadcasting it to an unseen public. As for what you’ve been listening too, I haven’t paid too much attention. It’s fair to say those difference will probably always remain
– my most recent purchases being Mark Ronson, The Beta Band, Jack Johnson.
I got a lot of the the stuff we did – maybe not the most dark chasmy stuff, but the basic stuff; anger, love, frailty, hope – they reached me. Big Joe did a good job too. Though let me tell you Herr Guinan, you have NO idea how lightly we got off by not having John GAA. I had him for my last year – what he did to language; it haunts me still.
Gawd, I ran into John GAA a couple of years ago. It was all rather odd. But that’s not for here…
Mark Ronson and the Beta Band are both somewhere on my hard drive. Jack Johnson’s a tad soporific for me though
“..that’s not for here” – intriguing.
Yeah, I figured the surfing guitarist wouldn’t be your thang. We like a bit of mellow. Chillis on the way to the beach, Jack apres surf.
Are you in California, David?
LMAO. Nope, and I’m not really much of a surfer – I haven’t taken the boards out of the shed in many, many months.