Open University Degree Programme

I have to confess, I didn’t know much about the Open Degree Programme from the Open University, until Martin Weller asked if we could help capture the visual essence of it to help get others up to speed. 

At its inception, 50 years ago, the Open University in the UK only offered an open programme. Think of the broadest collection of modules that could be put together to form a degree course. Think of each person, charting their own course. Of course, this appeals to me (Bryan) greatly – following the path of greatest interests, rather than my own academic journey which seemed much more like the path of least resistance…

As usual, we had an open facilitated conversation lasting about 90mins with the team, which was recorded so as to go back through the conversation to hunt for visual clues, chiefly metaphors and humour.

Brave

Undertaking a degree programme requires bravery, but being able to follow your interests requires even more.

Paths of Greatest Interest

During our conversation, one of the team mentioned the “tree of possibilities” when considering all of the possible paths through an Open degree course.

The Rebel Degree

Another phrase that was used in our conversation to describe the people who favoured a more flexible degree structure was the “Rebel”…   

And Finally

It’s always helpful to listen out for an off-the-cuff comment that resonates with the others on the video call…