My studies with The Open University

I am a dental hygienist and writer and also teach an online university program. It is great, it doesn’t feel like work. I am enrolled in F81, MA/MSc Open because I want to be a better educator. I studied dental hygiene at the Royal Dental Hospital in London and completed my BSc in Oral Health promotion and a postgraduate certificate in mentoring with a US online university.

Last year I completed  H880: Technology-enhanced Learning: Foundations and Futures, and plan to commence EE814: Addressing Inequality and Difference in educational practice in October.  During H880, I initially feared that I was not as clever as I thought: it was extremely hard work and I wondered if I had made a mistake by putting myself in at the deep end because I had never studied with the OU before, but my marks were OK, thank goodness.

I decided to study with The Open University for a few reasons:

1. I have been familiar with The Open University since its inception, and met several OU students who enjoyed their studies immensely, most were school teachers.
2. The MA/MSc Open seemed to be the best fit for me as an educator of adults and healthcare practitioner with varied interests.
3. The fees are a bit lower than most masters programmes I have considered, even though my fee is higher, as I am no longer a UK resident. I now live in Canada.
4. I have benefited from the flexibility of online learning and also learned a lot from my classmates on the forums. If there are any lurkers out there, I strongly recommend participating!

I am now retired from clinical practice after almost 40 years and want to continue my professional growth as an educator and enhance the learning experience of my students.  I have no intention of retiring. I want to write a book and have been working on and off on a pop science book for years. Most writer’s workshops are geared to writers of fiction. I would love to join a workshop for non-fiction writers and welcome any advice.