Open University

#2 daughter is not the only higher-education student in this household. I've been enrolled with the Open University since 1990, when I gave up work after she was born and needed some academic stimulus, which, fulfilling as they are, babies just don't provide.

I had already ticked off some boxes about ability issues; you know the sort of inner dialogue: "I bet I couldn't pass my driving test/A levels again if I had to do them nowadays". To test that theory, and with nothing to lose after all, I tried both, and passed my Advanced Driving Test a week before she was born (highly scary), and A-level Psychology the following year. Thus encouraged, I moved on to a more ambitious "I bet I couldn't get a degree again if I had to do it nowadays", and signed up for the OU's Science Foundation Course, which was quite a big deal as I had previously taken no science subjects, even at GCSE (they weren't compulsory in those days). Having done Maths, Music and German at A level I felt I needed some science to round off my education, but the prospect of doing a university year 1 level course in it was daunting to say the least. A year and much perspiration later I got a distinction and was hooked; OU study is a lot like Blip in that respect, albeit much much harder.

This journey has not progressed smoothly. I started with a Psychology foundation course and then the modules required for a named degree in the subject (most OU degrees just state Open, as they can be made up of any combination of subjects). It's really not easy to study in isolation, with 2 (by then) small toddlers and 2 older children to ferry around to school, music lessons, clubs etc., and the confidence issue cropped up again. Deadlines for assignments are very tight, and I started to get stressed about meeting them and whether my work was up to scratch, rather than enjoying the courses for themselves. A pattern started to emerge: I'd complete 90% of a course with good grades and then bottle out just before the physical exam (in a huge hall with 100s of other OU students) and withdraw from the course. To date I have done this 7 times! After a break of 6 years I was tempted back into study by the wonderful short (3 month) courses the OU provides, all with no external exam and with online assignments instead - no stress about postal disputes or catching the last post on the day before the deadline. In this way I have enjoyed such delights as Web Design; Malicious Software Combating; Robotics; Fiction Writing; and Digital Photography. I also completed a year's course in Spanish, which had a "live" aural exam online, a seriously scary experience. There was a virtual waiting room for students about to do the aural, and I got chatting to a guy who was sitting in a hotel room in Singapore at 4am his time, waiting to speak in Spanish to the examiner! OU is similar to Blip in this way too; members are from all over the world. I started a handful of computer and software courses but they brought on the sort of headache I used to get in my IT job so I dropped them in favour of more mind-expanding stuff.

As you see from the eclectic nature of my OU career, I do change direction a lot, not focussing on one thing but wanting to try everything. The OU lets you do that, unlike traditional universities. The downsides are: no freshers' week; no company of fellow students; no real support in a face-to-face way; and most significantly I'm not a teenager anymore (except in my mind of course).

The box pictured contains the resources for the latest course, which will last a year, and I've put off opening it until #2 D was safely despatched off to uni. Today I shall open it. Wish me luck!