NEWS & VIEWS
August 2014
Tales of Achievement
Graduate Stories of Studying Psychology
The Open University Psychological Society
www.oups.org.uk
Supporting Psychology Students since 1974
What
does
OUPS
do?
The role of the Open University Psychological Society (OUPS)
is to advance public education in psychology amongst
members of the Open University and elsewhere who are
taking, have taken, or are preparing to take courses in
psychology or cognitive psychology subjects with the Open
University or elsewhere. The management of the Society is
carried out by members elected to the Executive Committee
who are unpaid volunteers.
OUPS CONTACTS
PRESIDENT
Dr. Lilli Hvingtoft-Foster
Tel. 020 8203 0260
Lilliroaringlion@yahoo.co.uk
PUBLICITY & MARKETING
TEAM
Abigail Robins
abigailrobbins@outlook.com
VICE PRESIDENTS
Dr. Richard Stevens
Shenelle Turnbull
shenelleroney@mac.com
Prof. Fred Toates
Open University
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
Tel. 01908 653323
F.Toates@open.ac.uk
Student Support Officer
Janet Simpson
Tel. 01296 580748
janetsimpson17@yahoo.co.uk
CHAIR
Dr. Alan Pechey
alan.pechey@gmail.com
VICE CHAIR
David Clarke
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SECRETARY
Denise Ward
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WEBSITE OFFICER
Paul Reid
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March Weekend
Dr. Alan Pechey
alan.pechey@gmail.com
May weekend
David Clark
Clarkedavid1@hotmail.co.uk.
01723 341908
Summer weekend
Denise Ward
Tel. 020 8876 9803
DeniseMWard@aol.com
NEWSLETTER EDITOR
Lorna Rouse
oupseditor@gmail.com
Revision weekend
Evelyn Slavid
EVSLAVIDOUPS@aol.com
PUBLICATIONS OFFICER
Jane Barker
Jane1_barker@yahoo.co.uk
OUSA Liaison Officer
Abigail Robbins
abigailrobbins@outlook.com
OUPS 1974-2014
Contact times:
Monday
9.30 am to 12 pm
Thursday
6.00 pm to 8 pm
Saturday
4.00 pm to 7.00 pm
REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE
WEEKENDS OFFICERS
TREASURER
Alex Sandham
Finance@oups.org.uk
2
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR
Irene Baumgartl
OUPS, P.O. Box 986
Bromley
Kent BR1 9LN
Tel. 020 8315 0049
info@oups.org.uk
Alison Bravington
regions@OUPS.org.uk
LONDON REGION
londonloups@googlemail.com
07905 312841
NORTHERN REGION
Alison Bravington
YorksLancsOUPS@hotmail.co.uk
SOUTHERN REGION
Vanessa Jones
soupsevents@gmail.com
OUPS CAMBRIDGE
Lorna Rouse
oupscambridge@gmail.com
OUPS SCOTLAND
Shenelle Turnbull
oupsscotland@gmail.com
News & Views August 2014
CONTENTS
Pages
4
Editorial
5
Memories of Studying Psychology – David Matthew Glynn
6
LOUPS Day Conference & Course Overview Day Advert
7-9
Experiences of a Mature Student at the OU – Emel Soylu
10
Worried About the Exam? OUPS September Revision Weekend
11
Statistics and Research Methods Workshops Advert
12-14
Cognitive Column
15-21
The Open University, Psychology and Me – Julie L. Birch
22-23
Some Reflections On The Changing Face of Psychology – Richard Stevens
24-28
What Rob Taught Me… (and a few others too) – Angela Thompson
29
SDK228 Springboard Weekend Advert
30
September Revision Weekend Advert
31-34
Abilities, Disabilities & Possibilities – Laura Tan
35
OUPS Cambridge Evening Talk – Working Memory and Classroom Learning
36
Mental Health & Wellbeing – OUPS Cambridge Day Conference Advert
37-39
My OU Journey — Louise Beaton
40
Consolidation and Inspiration Weekend March 2015 Advert
41
Revision Weekend May 2015 Advert
42-45
Graduation, ceremonies and the end of a journey… - Red Anderton-Tyers
46
OUPS North DD307 Overview Day Advert
47-50
National Events Booking Form
51
OUPS Events Calendar 2014
Copyright 2008 by OUPS. News and Views is published by the Open University Psychological
Society, P.O. Box 986, Bromley, Kent, BR1 9LN. News and Views is available by subscription
and is circulated to members of the Society. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without permission. The views expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the
views of the Society. To subscribe call the Business Administrator on 020 8315 0049 or
write to P.O. Box 986, Bromley, Kent, BR1 9LN.
News & Views August 2014
Celebrating Achievement
3
FROM THE EDITOR
FROM
THE
EDITOR
Lorna Rouse
Welcome to the August edition of News &
Views, celebrating success with
inspirational stories from a range of
recent OU Psychology graduates.
This summer’s recent conference
included some fascinating and
thought-provoking talks from brilliant
speakers brought together by
Vice-President Fred Toates to examine
the provocative question of whether the
new neuroscience is a friend or foe. The
conference raised some fundamental
questions about methodology,
possibilities and limitations of
neuroscience, as well as some tricky
moral and ethical issues arising from
neuroscience and the application of its
findings. In the next edition of the
newsletter you will be able to read an
overview of these talks as well as
member and speaker perspectives on the
topic.
The weekend was a special one for OUPS
and the 40th anniversary celebrations
brought the bonus of a birthday party
with an entertaining after dinner speech
by Professor Neil Frude. It was great to
speak to two former newsletter editors,
finding out about similar and different
challenges they faced as well as picking
up some tips.
4
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The wealth of contributions I received
meant that when putting together the
commemorative edition of News & Views
I faced the unusual problem of having too
many articles! The current edition is
therefore a collection of the stories
received from recent graduates charting
the highs and lows of their OU journeys
and ultimate achievements. Many of our
members will have taken part in recent
graduation ceremonies, an uplifting
experience captured here in her article by
Red Anderton-Tyers who provided the
cover pictures for this edition of the
newsletter.
Continuing the Anniversary theme, OUPS
Vice-President Richard Stevens charts
landmarks in psychology over the 40
years since OUPS began.
Plans are well underway for future events.
The next OUPS national event will be the
September revision and SDK228
springboard weekend and you can find
details of this weekend, regional activities
and national events for 2015.
Looking forward to the 2015 conference
on learning disabilities, we also have an
article from Laura Tan on her recent
Master’s project about supporting
students with exceptional abilities and
co-occurring learning disabilities.
If you have any thoughts on the articles
from this edition, feel inspired to write
about your own degree or postgraduate
experience or would like to comment on
the recent conference topic of the new
neuroscience friend or foe, please do
contact me at oupseditor@gmail.com.
News & Views August 2014
GRADUATE STORIES
Memories of Studying
Psychology
By David Matthew Glynn
I was asked to write a short piece on my
experiences of studying psychology with
the OU and what I’d like to write about is
a wonderful tutor and human-being
Arthur Brown who was my tutor for my
first course of study with the OU in 1997,
D103. D103 was an introductory social
science course and its purpose was to
introduce and prepare students for the
degree in psychology.
I had left school in 1983 and had taken
part in no academic study since my
school days. I left school with literacy
difficulties and had been diagnosed with
mild dyslexia. I found the demands of
D103 very challenging, the material
fascinated me but I was lacking basic
literacy ability which made the course
seem like pushing a very large bolder up
a very steep hill.
employer to contact him. Eventually, he
caught me on the phone and convinced
me to continue with my studies, which I
did, which led to me passing the course
and thus putting myself in a position to
start the degree.
Although, I passed the course I realised
my literacy skills were lacking and would
not be adequate to get me through the
degree programme. With this insight, on
completion of D103 I signed up for two
years of one to one basic literacy skills
with the VEC. Arthur also gave me a
personal reference which aided me in
securing employment with a mental
health organisation.
With work, my
literacy ability improved to a standard
where I felt confident to continue with my
OU studies and in 2008 I qualified with a
2:1 (Hon) psychology degree.
The day I received my results from my
last course with the OU programme I was
out walking with my dog in a local park
and to my amazement, who did I bump
into but Arthur. I was overjoyed to tell
him the good news and I thanked him for
all he had done for me. I remain truly
grateful to Arthur and the OU for making
such a profound difference to the quality
of my life. Arthur saw a potential in me
and with his persistence and nurturing
skills he made it possible for me to live
my dream and I remain extremely
grateful to him.
Three quarters into the course I bowed to
the challenge and gave up studying.
I was in a terrible place at that time and
my failure really knocked my confidence.
Arthur rang my job and my home but for
two weeks I ignored his calls.
He
persisted and left messages with my
News & Views August 2014
Celebrating Achievement
5
REGIONAL EVENTS
6
OUPS 1974-2014
News & Views August 2014
GRADUATE STORIES
Experiences of a Mature
Student at the OU
By Emel Soylu
I studied psychology in Turkey around the
early 80s as a second degree. My first
degree was in Applied Linguistics. One of
the subjects of the Programme was
Psycholinguistics* and I fell in love with
the subject. Around that time I was
working as a linguist at the National
Language Authority preparing specialist
dictionaries; among them were a
Terminology of Psychiatry and a
Terminology of Psychology. All these led
to a growing interest in psychology,
particularly Psycholinguistics. However,
Psycholinguistics was a PhD Programme
and I had to study Psychology to progress
towards it. Following painful entry exams
on six psychology subjects and
News & Views August 2014
methodology and statistics, I managed to
get a place in a Clinical Psychology MSc
Programme. I had to study harder than
the others as they had studied
psychology for four years at the
university, whereas I self studied by
reading text books in my free time, whilst
working full time. This is how I gained the
self-discipline and motivation, which is
required for distance learning.
Also being an English Language teacher
was very helpful as the language of the
Programme
was
English.
Many
psychology graduates struggled with that.
But we found a way out – we were a
group of eight people. When we were
given chapters and chapters of material
to read, we would split the texts
according to individual abilities; a couple
of days later we would meet at one of the
member’s house to exchange the
knowledge we gained. This also allowed
us to exchange views, discuss, debate,
dispute, all of which led to an improved
level of critical thinking.
When I got my degree as a Clinical
Psychologist, I came to a crossroads;
whether to continue on the path I started
and apply for PhD in Psycholinguistics or
accept the offer from the University
Hospital where I had been practising for
a year at the psychiatry department. Fate
had other plans for me. For family
reasons first I moved town, then moved
country, settling in the United Kingdom.
I faced the same crossroads in the UK
too; should I continue studying or work?
Celebrating Achievement
7
GRADUATE STORIES
As I had a one-year-old baby, I thought
combining work and study wouldn’t do.
I wasn’t aware of the Open University
then, so opted for work. During my
Master’s study, I worked part-time as a
journalist. I had language skills. I was a
teacher and translator. I could use those
skills. On the other hand, psychology was
always a driving force for me. Yet, I did
not feel confident enough to pursue
psychology. I was trained as a
psychoanalyst and I felt my spoken
language was not good enough to
understand English native speakers
during counseling. Also I had no clue of
how the NHS or academia worked on the
area of psychology or clinical psychology.
So the choice was towards languages
and journalism.
I got a job at the BBC and that was it.
I was a researcher/monitor/journalist for
16 years. Is there such a thing as a 16year-itch? There was one for me. I was
volunteering for a charity at the
foundation stage. Later I became one of
its founders. Here, I found the
opportunity to get back to psychology. It
was obvious that I could not do this
straight away. Firstly my degree was too
dusty. Psychology had progressed a lot
since 80s. Secondly, if I wanted a
position anywhere as a psychologist, I
had to get accreditation from the British
Psychological Society.
After 20 years in the UK, I was now a bit
more informed about the education
system and the field of psychology. I was
also aware of the Open University and I
8
OUPS 1974-2014
knew that I could do my accreditation
through distance learning. I approached
the OU and to my dismay, I learned they
could only transfer 75 credits (out of
280) that I gained in Turkey and I had to
take six compulsory modules. Well, that
was that and in September 2011, at the
age of 56, I enrolled in the BSc Honours,
Psychology Programme at the OU,
starting with two modules; Educational
Psychology and Social Psychology.
Student Services warned me that these
might be a bit too ambitious to start with
and advised to start with one Level 2
module. I was so overconfident. I thought
that as I had done this before, I could do
it again easily. I had my first shock when I
got 45 per cent from my first TMA in
Social Psychology. I knew the subject so
well. So where did I go wrong? Well, first
of all, my language was “too journalistic”
according to my tutor. Twenty years of
journalism both in English and Turkish
language had to have some effect!
Secondly, my overconfidence worked
against me. I wrote the essays in short
breaks, while others spent ages, in
making draft after draft. Unfortunately, I
did not have the time to write drafts.
Working full-time and studying two
modules worked against my study. The
result was low marks. The exams were
the worst with just 8 days in-between; I
had to prepare for two exams. A horrible
experience!
Still, this did not stop me doubling up my
modules the following year, as the clock
was ticking and I wanted to finish my
News & Views August 2014
GRADUATE STORIES
studies before I was 60. But the work
was too hard, as I had to do two
residential weeks one after another Exploring Psychology and Cognitive
Psychology, which required writing two
hefty reports following the residential
weeks. It was the busiest time of my
study, if not my life. But I had learnt my
lesson from the first year. I was now able
to use the invaluable tutor guidance;
corresponding with them regularly,
asking anything that I did not
understand, as well as attending all
tutorials. I also established friendships
with fellow OU students both online and
in real time. This allowed us to exchange
information and meet to study together.
Best of all were the OUPS events. The
first year I was overconfident and
thought I could to without them. The
second year the driving force was to
learn well as well as improving my marks.
To achieve this I knew that I had to try
different ways. I saved for several
Overview Days and Revision Weekends.
These events were extremely useful in
allowing me to acquire a much needed
community spirit as well as an
information gathering exercise. I met so
many people who were from different
backgrounds
and
had
different
experiences. These days also helped me
to meet more tutors, some of whom were
previous OU students and some were still
studying at the OU. I became more and
more proud of being part of a community
like the OU.
News & Views August 2014
I graduated in October 2013, received
my degree in April 2014 and I am now
accredited as a psychologist by the BPS, I
can confidently say that if it wasn’t for
the OU and its community (fellow
students, tutors and the support
workers), I could never have got this
accreditation. I would also like to say to
any new comers: Do not try to show off
what you know, as you may intimidate
those who don’t know as much as you
do. Do not hesitate to show what you
don’t know, as if you don’t ask, you won’t
get the answers. And remember, all your
fellow students are people like yourself,
people who are trying to juggle their daily
lives (work, children, care responsibilities
etc.) and their study. We are all in the
same boat, so please support each other
and let others support you.
Emel Soylu, BSc Hons, Psychology
* Psycholinguistics or psychology of
language is the study of the
psychological and neurobiological factors
that enable humans to acquire, use, and
understand (Science Daily, http://
www.sciencedaily.com/articles/p/
psycholinguistics.htm accessed on 12
May 2014).
Celebrating Achievement
9
NATIONAL EVENTS
Worried About the
Exam?
OUPS is here to
help
Revision Weekend DSE212; DD307 and
DD303
5th-7th September : Warwick University
This offers an intensive weekend (a total
of nine 90 minute sessions) for each of
the above courses. It will cover the
revision of course material and themes,
practice in exam questions, revision and
exam techniques and more! Many
students feel it helped them to achieve a
higher grade than they expected. Each
course has a team of experienced tutors,
including chapter authors and exam
markers, so they are ideally placed to
help you understand what is needed to
achieve a good mark.
For more details go to http://
www.oups.org.uk/component/content/
article/16
SDK228 Springboard Weekend: 'The
science of the mind: investigating mental
health'
This weekend school is intended to give a
very gentle ‘hand-holding’ guide to the
course SDK228. It will introduce some of
the more accessible parts of the course
as well as some of those likely to give
trouble (based on past experience). It will
look at some of the broad over-arching
themes of the course such as the
biopsychosocial perspective. It will give
signposts as to how to approach the
chapters and how to be critical of them.
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OUPS 1974-2014
The tutors for the weekend are Professor
Frederick Toates and Profesor Neil Frude,
who were both involved in the
development of the course and also
course authors.
It is ideal for anyone about to start
SDK228 but will also be of interest to
anyone who is interested in mental health
issues but is not planning to study the
course.
For more details go to http://
www.oups.org.uk/component/content/
article/57
Feedback September 2013
Revision
‘Very helpful – I had a light-bulb moment
and now feel very clear about the
weekend.’
‘Yet again, another very useful OUPS
weekend – great tutors who could explain
complex ideas in simple terms –Feel very
prepared for revision now.’
Tutors very friendly and approachable.
‘Attending this revision weekend has
totally boosted my confidence level for
the exam.’
SDK228
‘I definitely think it was beneficial in
getting a head start on the module and
for reassuring me that I have chosen the
right module this year.’
‘Very clear and informative, engaging.’
‘Fred and Neil were excellent – delivered
material in inspiring ways – thoroughly
enjoyed the talks.’
News & Views August 2014
NATIONAL EVENTS
News & Views August 2014
Celebrating Achievement
11
COGNITIVE COLUMN
Cognitive
Column
Dr Peter Naish
August 2014
These Newsletters seem to be coming
thick and fast! I feel as if I’ve written
three Cog-Columns back to back, but it’s
no doubt increasing age making the
weeks slip by ever faster. I have spent the
last three weeks Course Directing (or
Module Directing as it is now called) the
DD303 Residential School at Sussex
University. It’s a surprisingly demanding
role, but very rewarding and enjoyable.
The students were delightful, as were the
tutors in my team, and also the weather.
The latter gave me the chance, on our
Tuesday afternoons off, for some lovely
walks on the Downs, and some of the
more energetic students and tutors
bravely kept me company – it was a
fifteen mile route.
Summer Schools offer a good opportunity
for the occasional intellectual debate.
12
OUPS 1974-2014
The tutors and I got onto the subject of
freewill which, if you’ve read many of my
Columns, you will know is a topic that
fascinates me. In some circles the issue
is quite contentious, but I was interested
to find that almost every tutor took it as
read that there could be no such thing as
freewill, and that our sensations of
deciding and choosing are illusory.
I suppose people with a background in
Cognitive Psychology are likely to find this
a natural position to adopt. There were,
however, a couple of tutors who kept
quiet in the discussion, then admitted to
doubts later. They were able to go so far
as accepting that our brains control our
behaviour, but they were unable to
abandon the feeling that there was
freedom of choice in selecting that
behaviour. The problem with that line is
that the choosing process is also
conducted by the brain; “My brain made
me do it,” became a frequent excuse for
the remainder of the Summer School!
I think it follows from the above line of
reasoning that, unless a person has
significant brain dysfunction, whatever
they do or feel must be a natural process
of the brain. If we are surprised by
people’s behaviour it shows only that we
are ignorant of the factors operating in
their brain; it doesn’t mean that
something odd is going on inside their
heads. I find that residential schools are
not merely places where I can assist
people with their work; there are also
those who come to seek help for personal
issues that are troubling them. They
often use phrases such as “I sometimes
News & Views August 2014
COGNITIVE COLUMN
think I’m going mad,” or “I know this
sounds weird.” I always reassure them
that they are not going mad and do not
sound weird; their brain is merely doing
what any brain would do in those
circumstances.
Of course, the
‘circumstances’ include all the things that
have happened to them up to the
present. Although people such as my
‘freewill tutors’ are ill at ease with the
concept that we are slaves to that
remarkable organ between our ears, an
acknowledgment of that fact can make it
far easier to be accepting of others and
also of ourselves.
A particularly
encouraging factor is that brains are very
malleable, so, if a person’s brain has a
processing
style
that
leads
to
unhappiness, there is no reason to
suppose that the situation must always
remain the same. That’s what therapy is
all about: changing brains.
Residential
schools
form
little
microcosms, very insulated from the
outside world; at the end one returns to
reality, and is amazed to discover
everything that has been going on.
Notwithstanding this, over the last few
weeks the enormity of what was
happening in the World could not fail to
penetrate the Summer School screen;
wherever one looks there are people
behaving ‘weirdly’ in the worst possible
ways imaginable. It’s hard to understand
how people can behead others, for the
unforgivable crime of being members of a
different sect of the same religion as the
executioners. Similarly, it is incredible
that, day after day, a superior military
News & Views August 2014
force can rain death upon innocent
women and children. Nevertheless, I do
not imagine that the brains of the
perpetrators are fundamentally very
different from my own; their behaviour is
‘natural’. I mentioned a Column or two
ago that part of what is achieved by
civilisation and education appears to be
the overruling of natural instincts; I gave
xenophobia as an example. The problem
with this is that the processes of
civilisation have an arbitrary quality.
Evolution is not arbitrary, it inexorably
moves toward characteristics that
maximise the chances of genes being
passed on; the fact that modern Western
societies condemn sectarian violence is
an arbitrary development, although I have
to say (as a biased insider) it does seem
like a good development. To some Arabic
groups it doesn’t.
How should the rest of the ‘civilised’
world respond to all these troubles?
Certainly not by beating one side or
another into submission.
Violence
de-civilises, breaking down the thin veil
that keeps the natural instincts in check,
while they themselves become more
vigorously expressed.
Moreover, not
forgetting that the brain’s current
response is coloured by all its
experiences to date, we should note that
the violence wreaks immeasurable
damage upon the minds of a generation
of children, with who knows what
consequences for the future. The West
went into Iraq and Afghanistan, and they
are both a mess. They stayed out of
Syria, and it’s a mess. Neither of those
Celebrating Achievement
13
COGNITIVE COLUMN
strategies works and nor do the collective
admonitions of the Pope, the Secretary
General of the United Nations and the
so-called leader of the free World (a
concept as unbelievable as free will). Of
course their voices carry no weight - their
offices have been proven impotent or
worse too many times in the past. We
must hope that things are becoming so
dreadful, and on such a large scale, that
people with intellectual and moral rigour
will come in humility to seek solutions,
rather than having the usual suspects
riding in on their arrogance to impose
them. At the same time, I fear that while
the World can appoint the likes of Tony
Blair as a peace envoy there is little hope
that anything very much will change.
Returning to more parochial matters, for
many of you the next OU landmark will be
the exams. I do hope the revision and
the exams themselves go well. How
much to revise? I was marking an exam
once and came across an answer with a
delightful misquotation: The whole is
greater than some of its parts.
Presumably then some parts are actually
greater than the whole. If that’s true of
the course text, some chapters will tell
you more than the whole book – those
are the ones to concentrate on! Perhaps
I will see some of you before the exam, at
the OUPS Revision Weekend. I shall look
forward to a nice chat and I promise to
keep off politics – unless that’s what you
want to talk about!
Very best wishes,
Peter
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OUPS 1974-2014
News & Views August 2014
GRADUATE STORIES
The Open
University,
Psychology
and Me
By
Julie L. Birch
My journey with psychology started at
sixteen. I had to decide which subjects to
study at sixth form. I’d chosen Geography
and English as these were my best at
GCSE but I needed a third. My form
teacher suggested psychology. He said
I’d probably like it. He was wrong. I loved
it! Learning why people behaved as they
did was fascinating and the experiments
were all really interesting. That was the
beginning. That was twenty-two years
ago.
At the end of my school career, I did what
was expected and applied to university.
My vocation aim was to be a primary
school teacher, however to do this I
needed to study a national curriculum
subject at university. I didn’t want to
endure English or Geography as I wanted
to continue exploring my new found
subject of psychology. So at that point in
my life I gave up on my prospective
teaching career and applied for
psychology degrees, not really knowing
where that might take me. As it was, at
eighteen, I didn’t pass my A’ Levels
(achieving an N for psychology). So, I
accepted I wasn’t clever enough to study
higher education and went into the real
News & Views August 2014
world of work to
experience instead.
gain
some
life
Even with my N grade years behind me,
as an adult I still found myself thinking
about psychological concepts. Day to
day, I found myself taking an interest in
people; why they do what they do. I’m
also interested in counselling which has
strong links with psychology and it was
through completing a counselling course I
decided to continue studying as an adult.
A friend told me about the Open
University and how I could apply for a
degree and funding.
I work in a
secondary school as a Behaviour Mentor
and therefore my annual income was just
below the eligibility limit which meant I
could apply for funding for course fees
and a grant. I’m a single parent in receipt
of working and child tax credits, which
also meant I would get help with financial
assistance. I instantly knew if I was going
to study anything at higher education it
would be psychology.
I applied with trepidation, thinking, ‘What
if I’m not clever enough to do a degree?
What if I fail again, like my A’ Levels?
What if I’m wasting everyone’s time and
money?’ Once I understood that each
year was a separate module, I realised I
could learn at my own pace, I could try it
on for size. The first year’s module even
offered a qualification in its own right. I
didn’t tell anyone I was studying for a
degree in that first year; I just said I was
doing a course. It gave me an out. If I
couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t have to say I’d
failed a degree, I could just say I’d done a
course for a year, whatever the outcome.
The
first
module
was
called
Celebrating Achievement
An
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GRADUATE STORIES
Introduction to the social sciences:
understanding social change (DD100). I
was advised to do this for my level one
module as a starter into psychology (and
studying at this level). Attending the first
tutorial was exciting and scary. There
were a dozen people sitting with folders
and pens and books. They all looked
really intelligent and appeared to know
what they were talking about. I was just
getting to grips with it all and felt like I
barely understood it enough to write an
essay, not nearly enough to have a
conversation.
I just kept quiet and
listened! As the year went on less people
attended the tutorials. By the last one,
there were three of us. One student,
Robert (who is now a really good friend)
was also beginning the psychology
degree, so from then on, we did the
modules together. He became my ‘study
buddy’ (person to revise, stress out and
cry with, but also drive to summer school
and party with) throughout the rest of my
OU journey! I passed the first module
with an overall continuous assessment
score of 75%. I was over the moon and it
gave me the confidence to move on.
The next module Exploring psychology
(DSE212) was great.
I remembered
studies I’d covered at A Level and
revisiting them was wonderful. My tutor
was excellent and thoroughly prepared. I
always felt I was learning at her tutorials.
The exam was terrifying. I hadn’t sat one
since I was eighteen and all my
insecurities about failing came back to
haunt me. On the morning before the
exam I sat in Roberts’s garden,
discussing our options if we failed. ‘Could
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OUPS 1974-2014
we possibly re-take it? Maybe they would
let us if we’d done okay on the
assignments?’ I shouldn’t have worried,
the feeling after the exam was fantastic,
a sense of absolute relief. I thought I’d
answered all the short questions correctly
and hoped I’d done okay on the essays. I
actually got my result the day before
summer school. A distinction! 81%! I
didn’t know how I’d managed it; I just felt
my luck was changing.
Rob & Julie
My result gave me a much needed
confidence boost and helped me enjoy
the
Exploring
Psychology
project
(DXR222) module at Bath University. My
time at an actual, real university made
me feel like a proper student; it gave me
a connection to the often-talked about
‘brick universities’ that students and
tutors frequently discuss. I was part of
something that, from the age of eighteen,
I thought I’d never do, something I
believed I’d missed the boat on. It was
liberating to not only be there studying
real
life
psychology,
conducting
experiments and attending lectures in
actual lecture halls, but also meeting
people who were interested in the same
subject as me. People from many walks
of life, different countries and cultures, all
wanting to study this amazing subject.
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GRADUATE STORIES
(And many working in applied psychology,
in one form or another).
Most people, when I talk about
psychology, either think it’s psychobabble
or get scared because they think I’m
analysing them!
This included the
‘engineering boys’, studying a completely
different subject, mostly scared because
they thought, as psychology students, we
could read minds! So that was fun, too!
Speaking with other students and tutors
at summer school (hearing about their
lives and their careers) was fascinating
and they were interested in talking with
me about what I do.
There was also the selfish aspect, a
whole week of me time! I’m a single
mum to a young son (who, by the way,
absolutely loved a week’s holiday at his
Nana’s while I was away and wasn’t at all
worried about where I was or missed me!)
So being in student accommodation for a
week, where I didn’t have to cook, clean,
wash up, or be responsible for anyone
apart from me… was wonderful! It gave
me the experience of being young again.
I can imagine how the thrill of uni’ life
takes over when you’re just entering
adulthood. The tutors were incredible,
too, so enthusiastic and knowledgeable.
I was in awe of most of them, hearing
about their research and theories.
Summer school was emotional; all day
working, attending lectures and tutorials,
fitting in lunch and a quick chat with
classmates, then evening lectures and
listening to the tutors for another couple
of hours, before the night life and
spending the rest of the evening with your
new-found best friends, drinking and
News & Views August 2014
chatting into the night. It’s like Big
Brother; you’re thrown into a university
with strangers and get to know them
quickly because you spend every waking
moment together. Tiredness kicks in
about halfway through the week (you’re
running on adrenalin until then!) Then
they give you an afternoon off to recharge
before you’re back doing it all again the
next day, but mostly everyone wants to
escape for a few hours and explore the
city, or drink!
The end of the week was sad; leaving my
new friends I spent all week getting to
know, possibly forever. On the way home
there was a traffic jam. The main road
out of Bath was closed; my satnav kept
telling me to get on that road. I didn’t
know how to get home and I didn’t have a
road atlas. I was frustrated and so
exhausted from my week away that I just
sat in the car… and cried! I scored an
acceptable grade 3 pass on my summer
school module with 62%. I’d put so much
work into it, but I gained much more than
the score and credits for this module. I
experienced something I never thought I
would.
After summer school I needed to do a
short course for fifteen credits. I chose
Applying psychology (DSE232) as I loved
the idea of reading about how psychology
is applied in real life. This course was
fascinating as I learned a lot of
interesting things about autism, stress,
telling lies and relationships (which apply
to my job in school with students who
have behavioural issues). I really enjoyed
this module and I’m sure it had
absolutely nothing to do with the fact
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17
GRADUATE STORIES
there was no exam at the end! I was
happy with my Grade 2 pass of 70% and
really enjoyed the practice of writing
professional letters and reports.
In the next module I started exploring that
old grey matter known as Brian, or at
least that’s what I typed a few times in my
assignments!
Biological psychology:
exploring the brain (SD226) was one of
the toughest modules of my degree. I
chose to do this one before Child
development because I expected it to be
difficult (I’d read the reviews) and I’d
have a module to look forward to
afterwards. I assumed I wouldn’t enjoy it,
but it was one of the best parts of the
whole degree! The links between the
brain (biology) and the mind (psychology)
were really interesting. It took lots of
reading, and was frustrating reading
things over and not getting it. However,
the feeling you get when suddenly it just
clicks into place is amazing. Suddenly it’s
like, ‘Oh, that’s what they mean, I get it
now!’ I had an outstanding tutor on this
module who could explain terms and
concepts really well, which helped, she
really knew her subject! I was ecstatic
with my result, a distinction with 86%.
On telling my son the next course was
Child
development
(ED209),
he
responded it might be useful for him.
I
agreed it might and asked him, “Would it
be okay to conduct psychological studies
on you?” He answered, “Yes that’s fine
Mummy as long as you don’t have to take
my head off!” The module wasn’t quite
as interesting as I’d thought, a lot of the
studies were on babies (eye movements
and such), however, I did learn quite a lot
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OUPS 1974-2014
about my tutors’ children that year! I
wonder if they realise they’re her
participants and the basis for several of
her lesson plans?!
I also enjoyed
answering a SEEN question in the exam.
I chose psychology and education, as it
was very relevant to what I do in my job in
school.
I also attended an OUPS revision
weekend at Warwick. There was much to
learn in this module and I thought a
weekend away to study might be
beneficial. I’d read on the OU forums
about the OUPS and how there were a
handful of funded places for people in my
situation. I managed to get one and I had
an amazing two days and met lovely
people. Again, being at a real university,
(if only for a weekend) made me feel like
a real student. It was interesting to see a
different university too and their
stationary shop is incredible!! I even felt
a bit like a celebrity spotter meeting the
amazing Professor Frederick Toates, who
until then I’d only known through his
work! The revision weekend paid off, I
gained a distinction on this module.
Stepping up to the level three module
Social psychology: critical perspectives on
self and others (DD307) was demanding.
You know the saying don’t be fooled by
first appearances? Well this is applicable
to this module! When the course books
arrived, I thought they seemed lovely. I’d
grown to love the excitement of the
delivery of new books. There were only
two, ‘Would there be more delivered
later? No just these two! Maybe they’re
expecting us to read them twice’, I
thought? Some experiments we had to
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GRADUATE STORIES
critique I remembered from school and
found them interesting, some of it was
really hard to understand and get your
head around the concepts. During this
module I got to choose what I wanted to
research and write my project on (I
looked at positive aspects of becoming a
mother and how this affects identity).
This was the best part of the course. I
loved the interviews and analysing the
transcripts, I was researching something I
had chosen rather than what I had been
told to investigate!
About three weeks before the exam I
sustained a knee injury playing netball
and couldn’t walk for three weeks. I was
signed off work and told to rest. I was
hobbling with crutches and couldn’t drive.
Mmm what to do, ‘Oh yes… revise!’
Although I did get some stick from
students and colleagues saying that I’d
faked a knee injury to get some extra
revision time!
At the start of the exam I was desperate
to turn the paper over to see if the
chapters I’d chosen were there. The
invigilator came over and, in a quiet and
delicate voice, said, “I can see you’ve got
a stick!” She then asked me if I wanted
to be nearer the toilet. I politely declined,
thinking ‘I don’t want any special
treatment. I’m going nowhere until the
exam is over!’ I was happy to get a grade
2 pass for this difficult module.
The final module Cognitive Psychology
(DD303) I’d chosen to do last because I
thought it would be demanding and it
involved a compulsory summer school. I
thought of it as a treat to end my degree
as I had enjoyed the previous one.
News & Views August 2014
I loved this second summer school as
much as the first, if not more, because I
knew what to expect.
I wanted to
appreciate it as much as I could and
attend all the evening lectures, which I
did. The tutors were incredible; mine was
only in her twenties and was already a
Doctor! At this level we could design and
conduct our own research, analyse the
results and write up our own projects.
This was an amazing experience, so was
taking part in other people’s research.
Walking around the university grounds
and reading signs for ‘Psychology
Research Labs’ made the authentic
student experience real. It made me feel
like a proper student.
I suspect none of the other students
knew how much it meant; to go away to
university. It meant I’m not too thick, it
meant I got to experience something all
my mates did years earlier, something I
thought was completely out of reach,
something I would never get to do
because if you don’t go to uni’ when
you’re eighteen you’ve missed the boat.
Well, the people I met at summer school
proved to me I hadn’t missed the boat
and I could still have that experience,
even if only for a week (a week was
enough, trust me!)
The run up to the final exam was the
most stressful time of my life. I found
myself crying on the way to work most
mornings, just thinking about the end. It
was a combination of worry about the
amount of information I needed to
remember and the stresses of thoughts
like ‘This is my final exam and could
determine my degree classification’. I
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19
GRADUATE STORIES
didn’t want to mess it all up at the final
hurdle. I had come such a long way and
spent such a long time doing this. It had
become such a huge part of my life and
had taken up so much time and energy. I
would bite people’s heads off if they
kindly asked me, “How’s your revision
going?” or, “When’s your exam?” I didn’t
want to talk about it. In hindsight I was
also a little sad (unconsciously of course)
that it was all coming to an end and, once
the exam was finished, I would have no
more OU work, no more reading, no more
TMAs.
The day of the final exam had arrived. I’d
spent the last few months revising,
reading, drawing mind maps and sticking
them all over the walls in my house applying the psychology I had learned
along the journey, mnemonics and
memory retrieval techniques.
I
embarked on the now familiar but
uncomfortable drive to the examination
centre with Robert. We tried to support
and encourage each other but the
stomach churning was overwhelming. My
worry was there was so much to know I
just might open the exam paper and not
be able to answer all three questions. I
had revised as much as my brain would
possibly contain. Once inside there was
the customary waiting around, check your
name on the list and go to the toilet, until
they let you into the examination hall.
Finally they let us in. I found my seat and
tried to get comfortable. The paper was
there on the desk. I was desperate to
open it and look; I just wanted to know if
my chosen chapters were there.
“You may begin”. I opened the paper and
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OUPS 1974-2014
read each question. ‘Yes! I could answer
them!’
As I scanned through each
section, I found a question I could
answer. I had spotted a familiar name,
phrase or word. The chapters I had
revised had come up! Tears started
rolling down my cheeks. ‘Get a grip’, I
told myself. ‘You have three essays to
write’. I composed myself and started
scrawling. Two hours and thirty minutes
later, the invigilator said, “You have thirty
minutes left”. At this point I had a
complete meltdown; it wasn’t just thirty
minutes of the exam left, it was thirty
minutes left of the last six years of my
life. It was half an hour to finish off this
essay and I had so much more to cram in.
I panicked. My writing turned to scribble.
It was like I suddenly realised this was the
end. I rushed that last half an hour and
was in tears when they said, “Time’s up,
pen’s down”. The invigilators must have
thought I’d done really badly.
In
retrospect it was the emotion of it all.
They were happy tears, tears because I’d
finished and had been able to answer all
the questions. I could barely speak to
anyone on the way out!
Since I started with the Open University, I
haven’t looked back once! I’ve loved
every single minute of studying
psychology. It hasn’t been easy; I’ve had
to fit it around my full-time job in a
secondary school and my responsibilities
as a parent. I’ve studied late into the
night after a day at work and in the half
term holidays; I’ve been seen sitting at
the back of my son’s karate class or
swimming lessons reading psychology
books. When I’ve had an assignment
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GRADUATE STORIES
due, I’ve put a DVD on for him so I can
write it (I’ve learned to concentrate with
Power Rangers on in the background!)
Even though there have had to be
sacrifices, my son has had weeks and
weekends at his relatives (which he’s
loved). I’d do it all again. Although I’ve
spent a lot of time studying while my son
was young (and trust me I’ve felt guilty
about this) I believe I’ve given him a great
work ethic. He sees me studying and
sees how worthwhile it is and hopefully it
will pay off when he’s older. He will go to
university, I’ve told him that!
At the end of November 2013 I received
a text from Robert telling me the results
were out. I quickly logged onto my Open
University homepage to get my result and
degree classification. I was alone, at the
computer. I felt sick logging in. I kept
thinking, ‘Even to have got this far is an
amazing achievement’. Six years ago I
didn’t even think I could complete the
first module never mind carry on and
achieve a degree. Twenty-one years ago,
that young woman who failed her
A
Levels told herself she wasn’t clever
enough to go to university. Well, this was
it, the culmination of six years; the
chance to heal the eighteen year old
young woman who had failed her
A Levels. I typed my username and
password. My hands were shaking. I
scrolled with the mouse and hovered over
module result. I had worked out (as I
think everyone does when they get to a
certain point) that if I achieved a
distinction for my final module result, in
combination with the previous module
results, I would be awarded a First-class
News & Views August 2014
Honours. I paused. This is it, prepare
yourself. I told myself, ‘It doesn’t matter
what the result it is, as long as it’s a
pass’. I clicked… There it was in red.
Distinction! I was ecstatic! I’d got a first!
I will actually graduate in June 2014.
I will be 38! So I have a couple of months
left until it’s really all over, but you never
know, I hear the Open University are
looking at a psychology masters over the
next couple of years?! I will be eternally
indebted to the Open University and the
Open University Psychological Society for
the funding which has enabled me to
complete my degree and change my life
forever. Plus now I have my degree I can
pursue my original career aim of
teaching. There are also so many people
who have been supportive; family, friends
and colleagues. I would like to thank
them all for the love and support they’ve
shown me over the last six years. I also
want to tell all the people, who like me,
think they can’t do it or they’re not clever
enough… YOU ARE!
Celebrating Achievement
21
METHODS
SOME
REFLECTIONS
ON THE
CHANGING
FACE OF
PSYCHOLOGY
By Richard Stevens
Psychology is a discipline with changing
fashions and orthodoxies. How has it
changed during the 40 years that OUPS
has been going?
In many respects, psychology has
remained much the same, in others it has
undergone radical change. When I was a
student, behaviourism was the vogue.
Methodology dominated content.
Behaviour was considered a product of
environmental influence. It was
considered more important that a piece
of research fitted natural science criteria,
regardless of how trivial it might be. The
methodological tail wagged the
psychology dog. By the time that OUPS
was founded in 1974, the dominant
paradigm had become experimental
cognitive psychology. Methodology still
remained dominant and still does for
much of psychology but it began to be
applied to the study of the way we think.
What we have seen in particular during
the period in which OUPS has flourished,
is a gradual broadening of the theoretical
base for psychology. The OU Social
Psychology courses with their emphasis
on a multi-perspective approach to
understanding behavior and experience
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OUPS 1974-2014
have been one of the groundbreakers for
this.
Early on, for example, what was known as
ethological psychology (the study of the
behaviour of organisms in natural
surroundings) was only regarded as of
peripheral interest. And in psychology
more generally, the idea of instinct or the
biological control of behaviour was
heresy. In the lifetime of OUPS, we have
seen the rise and increasing acceptance
of evolutionary psychology which has
transformed our understanding of why we
behave as we do.
In the sixties and seventies, humanistic
psychology also began to have influence
in some parts of psychology. Although as
a movement it was relatively short-lived,
its influence has remained with us - both
in clinical and health psychology, and also
in the interest in well-being and personal
development that has been taken up by
positive psychology.
Psychoanalysis has had varying fortunes.
For many if not most Psychology degree
courses it has been regarded as
irrelevant because of its lack of a
scientific base. But it stubbornly refuses
to go away. It has also featured in OU
courses and its concepts and ideas still
underpin a lot of clinical practice if not
research.
Social constructionism is premised on the
idea that what fundamentally underpins
what is it is to be human are our social
practices and the way we talk about
things. This was once the province of
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METHODS
literature and some aspects of sociology.
In the last years of the twentieth century
and the first years of this, it began to
impact on psychology proper (and began
to feature in OU courses). Again, though
like humanistic psychology, it may well be
that it’s influence as a major paradigm
will be short-lived while a residue will
remain.
Perhaps the biggest change in recent
years and perhaps now the most
influential of all the paradigms has been
the rise of neuroscience. Many hopes
have been pinned on the potential of
brain scans, for example, for revealing
what is going on in the human mind. And
some have presumed that if we can
understand the physiological and
biochemical processes within the brain
then we will solve the secrets of the
human mind. Whether or not this promise
can be fulfilled was the theme of the
OUPS conference at Warwick in July of
this year. On the positive side, it was
argued that neuroscience does hold great
promise as a means of understanding the
biological basis of behaviour and mental
states, in terms of which parts of the
brain do what. It has already proved its
worth in terms of techniques for the relief
of distress in patients suffering pain and
Parkinson’s disease, amongst other
conditions. It has also given some insight
into the possible nature of conscious
awareness of those in so-called
vegetative states. However, some
delegates argued that its claims have
been exaggerated and a more balanced
approach is needed in which traditional
News & Views August 2014
psychological methods have an important
place.
Although there has been scientific
progress to greater understanding in
specific areas of psychology like
neuroscience, it still remains an open
question how much of the varied
phenomena of human experience can be
effectively subjected to the methods
which have proved so successful in the
physical sciences. The human mind,
while premised on a material base, is
different to matter. It is comprised of
meanings and symbols which require
their own kind of understanding and
investigation. What psychology still lacks
is a framework which can link and
interface the very different attributes and
aspects of being human.
Dr Richard Stevens, who is currently a Vice
President of OUPS, was previously Head of
Psychology at the OU. Richard was one of
the first members of the Open University
Psychology Department, joining from Trinity
College, Dublin where he was previously
Lecturer in Psychology. He has been active
with OUPS since it was initiated in the early
1970s. He was Chair of the first Social
Psychology course at the OU (D305),
contributed to all but the most recent of the
Introductory courses in Psychology and the
Social Sciences Foundation courses. He
has been an active tutor for many years at
OUPS events and has organized and
chaired several of the General Conferences
including those on Consciousness, Key
thinkers in Psychology (‘Mindshapers’) and
the Psychology of Well-being.
Celebrating Achievement
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GRADUATE STORIES
What Rob taught Me…(and a
few others too)
By
Angela Thompson
Rob Wilde
(This piece was under construction as
part of the 40th Anniversary of the Open
University Psychological Society-OUPS,
when news arrived of the death of Rob
Wilde and so it is a celebration of a
remarkable tutor, an exemplar of all that
was good about the Open University and
Psychology and the key lessons he
taught me and others)
It was a typical winter’s night, windy, cold
and a smattering of rain at a very
uninspiring and relatively deserted
training centre located in the low end of
Coventry. It was also the first tutorial of
the Exploring Psychology module, the
start of the potential psychology degree.
The room was spartan, tables functional
and organised in a wide horseshoe. We
were a motley crew, eyeing each other
up, including amongst us a fork lift driver
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OUPS 1974-2014
(who later went on to get a first class)
and one who was already in possession
of a Doctorate and was working
simultaneously on qualifying as a
personal trainer (she later got a first, the
personal training qualification and got
me a lot fitter as well). There were an
assortment of women (with and without
partners), mums with the full range of
children in ages, with and without
educational and health complications,
dads working and not working, the odd
grandparent, professional and
aspirational. In short the full cast for a
comedy or serious drama, and over time
we had both.
Rob was a George Smiley type of chap
(the chief protagonist in John le Carré’s
Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy), one who
could pass you anonymously on the
street but with the same forensic sharp
intellect and the wisdom of people his
alter ego possessed. Rob was in the
words of my husband a quiet man of
deep knowledge. Maybe that is the first
lesson, others don’t need to be told how
good you are, they will find out soon
enough if you really are that good. If not
it’s best to watch and learn. It is possible
to discover more by listening to the
answers to well-formed questions than
maybe initially appreciated. This was not
a difficult lesson to realize, he valued
questions that were genuine and
challenging as well as the simple and
basic. He once commented that he liked
the obvious questions, they were often
the ones people wanted to know but
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GRADUATE STORIES
were too afraid to ask.
Lesson two: psychology (and its students)
makes progress through asking the basic
questions as well as some of the more
complex ones, but you do need to ask
them! Grandstanding I doubt would have
got far with him, fortunately we all
understood that, we understood he really
was that good even if the group was
unaware for most of the module that he
was the former Head of the Department
for Psychology at Coventry University. The
environment with its harsh neon lights
and basic set up may have been a
compromise, but we all rapidly realised
there was not going to be anything
second best about the acquisition of
knowledge. This was a degree of exacting
standards and excellence and we had to
work for it. We may have arrived as a
motley crew but if we wanted that degree
we had to earn it, with anonymous
markers of unseen exams to impress as
well as the tutor marked assignments by
him.
Like Smiley, Rob was a revolutionary in
disguise. He had the appearance of
unobtrusive conventionality but on a
regular basis the Course/Module party
line was covertly put to challenge; but his
opinion was always well hidden, though
he was not a blank wall. He was
immensely proud of his family and had
us all in stiches laughing as he explained
‘flashbulb memory’, an account that
involved, his wife, Princess Diana,
something about stairs and I think
marmalade. He was not a teacher who
News & Views August 2014
advocated, so as a student you could not
write to his preferred position, rather he
expected you to develop a critical stance
which was anchored in evidence. We
didn’t know the term critical reasoning,
he just modelled it and we learned, and
maybe that was the most important
lesson he taught, to think for yourself. It
is the key to success and freedom. Rob
seemingly valued those independent
thinkers no matter how taxing they were.
Throughout his feedback (which was
extensive, full of dry humour as well as
serious comment) and in every session,
as well as providing explanation, he
challenged the assumed accepted
accounts, even those embedded in the
module text books. Like gentle pebbles
thrown into a pool they would be lobbed
into a discussion with a phrase such as
“do you really think….?” and then he
would ask for your reasoning. However
this was reasoning with a difference, it
was about respect for the knowledge
earned by others and the limits of its
claims, it was about becoming an
independent thinking psychologist.
That tolerance of independence
extended to supporting students when
they questioned some of the basics. I
remember getting into a debate by email
and phone (he was very good at support,
many commented on that) about
conducting a Stroop test (where lists of
words such as ‘green’ are printed in
contrary colours such as orange ink, and
the task is to state the colour of the ink),
a common enough test in psychology
Celebrating Achievement
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GRADUATE STORIES
departments and available on the
internet. For this part of the module we
needed to recruit a sample of the public
and run the test and control as part of
the induction to experimental psychology.
I was questioning the ethics of
conducting this study which may
generate feelings of ‘ill at ease’ because
it is quite difficult to override reading the
word in favour of stating the colour. He
reflected back how it was important to
listen to personal concerns, to listen to
the self when things are causing
discomfort, he also noted that simply
because something had been done
previously did not necessarily make it
right, but he also asked me how I could
mitigate the potential effects, how the
concept of harm was broad and complex
and the challenges posed by knowledge
production when working with people.
Finally that I needed to address this in
the write up. The ability to empower a
student was demonstrated just in this
simple event.
For a person such as myself who has
dyslexia and all the subtle as well as
obvious challenges that come with it as
part of their profile, the most difficult
lesson was learning to read and write. I
had not actually appreciated prior to the
course that I could not really read; it is
amazing how far one can get without it,
but also how it limits life and opportunity.
Writing, or inability of, I already knew
about…. The Open University was a
remarkable place for students such as I,
books ring bound so they were flat, came
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also as audio versions so I listened and
read, technology such as Dragon Dictate,
was also helpful, and for me tinted
lenses did reduce the fatigue and
gradually for reading I became
reasonably proficient - after a fashion.
However the writing bit… that was
something I had to master and reach the
standard. It was not going to be enough
that I had good ideas and understood, I
needed to meet the same standard as
everyone else; writing really was a
challenge.
That I can write this is largely down to the
fundamental foundation work Rob did.
Later tutors built on this work and
enabled me to develop an academic
voice [in chronological order the
Exploring Psychology project team at
Bath Uni 2008, Sue Neiland
(Developmental psychology), Hazel Hart
(Biological psychology), Lyn GullimanTurner (Critical Social Psychology) and Liz
Blagrove/Alan Pechey (Cognitive
Psychology) Cognitive Psychology project
team Sussex University 2012] but the
key was the initial foundations. Rob said
it took three attempts by him to get
through to me. He secured some
additional writing tutorials and took me
to task (he had done something similar
for others in need of direction). I needed
to understand what a reference really
was; the famous quote was a question by
me “What exactly do you mean by a
reference Rob?” Back came the reply,
”Ah that is a problem if you don’t
understand that”. What I learned, it was
News & Views August 2014
GRADUATE STORIES
not cherry picking bits of the work of
others to support your predefined
argument (a politician’s or poor
academic’s approach) it was genuinely
engaging with and describing (in the
words of the Exploring Psychology
module team: conflicting, complementary
and co-existing) work of others and
allowing their ideas to drive your own
thinking. I learned about the importance
of focus; his face was a picture when I
showed him the mind map of a question
he had set me. It literally spanned, albeit
in large print, a couple of metres. The
comment from him “now I understand
the problem” was a significant
understatement. So through questioning
he got me to identify the important
essence of the mind map and how to
structure the question, to define and
describe, to use illustration appropriately
to evaluate and suggest directions for
the future. I learned the role of a tightly
worded introduction that covered all of
the above and of an effective conclusion.
What I learnt was that it is only possible
to write clearly if you have thought
through your ideas clearly and stick to
the point. This was exemplary teaching,
he made me do all the work and I
learned. Others had tried to
communicate this in the past when I was
failing, but he was the one that actually
analysed the problem and explained it
all.
For all his students who came to
tutorials, which were in general well
attended (given the time and location an
News & Views August 2014
achievement- for those in prison Rob
went out to them), Rob put effort in. He
did edited notes for us on a CD disk so
we had something to work with for exam
revision, but also as a model of how to
make notes. There was no PowerPoint, it
was him, us, a flip chart and sometimes
projected images. A few years later at the
residential summer school, a group at
lunch were discussing tutors (as
students do). It turned out 3 of the 6 of
us had been taught by Rob in different
years. There was unanimity on how good
he was, and how his support had been
valued when circumstances were
challenging. He went well above and
beyond the requirements of the job and
was committed to the principle of The
Open University and protecting its
reputation, only those who met the
standard passed. He had from what I
recall little time for dumbing down and
the business drivers impacting on
education. This was an important lesson,
the need to maintain clarity on your
standards, to seek out and to emulate
the best you know in your own work, not
necessarily doing what is expedient, but
to be realistic as well, pragmatism is
important.
I am not sure how he would have viewed
the financial changes to Open University
funding and fees, but I think he would
have ruefully noted that a key proportion
of the women (including me) and some
men sitting round the table on the
winter’s night in 2007 would not be there
today. £15,000 is too high a personal
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GRADUATE STORIES
and family price to pay for a chance of
freedom and the associated health
benefits for many of us round that table,
and I think that would have been a
source of disappointment to him. He was
proud of his former students and used
their stories to encourage us. He had a
knack of talent spotting (unconventional
prospects) both in the main job at
Coventry University and the Open
University, hooking people up and
allowing them to show what they had.
Perhaps this was the last lesson, there
are many ways to shine, but allowing
others to do so is the rare gift of the truly
great, and I hope in the fullness of time
all of those lessons he taught me (and
others) I will be able to apply in my work
as a psychologist. I (and my family) and
undoubtedly others were indeed lucky to
be taught by Rob, and like all good
teachers his teaching lives on through
contributing to the changed lives of the
person who was the student and those
around them. In the end I suspect that
would be the thing that pleased him
most about his time in education and in
particular the Open University, that his
legacy is a living one.
Angela Thompson
Angela Thompson went on to achieve a
1st Class BSc (Hons) Psych (Open)
degree and is currently on the MSc by
Research/PhD programme at the
Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement
Research Centre , Coventry University on
a fully funded scholarship.
In memory of Rob Wilde (1948-2014)
former Head of Psychology, Coventry
University and Open University tutor and
examiner who passed away 23rd May
2014.
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News & Views August 2014
NATIONAL EVENTS
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News & Views August 2014
RESEARCH
Abilities, Disabilities and Possibilities
How do you support students with
exceptional abilities and co-occurring
learning disabilities?
By Laura Tan
The great thing about studying
Psychology is that it really is incredibly
diverse. It’s difficult to think of many
other courses where you can literally
learn about the influence of dance on
improving life for Parkinson’s Disease
sufferers, then walk straight into another
lecture on theories of offending and end
the day with a lab about how to conduct
the Stroop Test and the automaticity of
language processing. I had always been a
bit of an all-rounder at school so deciding
on one subject was quite difficult for me.
However, studying such a multi-faceted
discipline as Psychology meant that I was
able to pursue many multiple interests at
the same time.
One of my areas of interest was
education and more specifically, gifted
and talented education. I worked on
Gifted and Talented master classes while
I was a Student Ambassador at the
University of Hertfordshire and felt that
this was highly rewarding as it helped
raise their aspirations. I was saddened to
find that many had circumstances e.g.
low income background, a learning
News & Views August 2014
disability, English as a second language,
which made them doubt whether
university could ever become a reality for
them. I knew that I wanted to find out
how these students could be better
supported. For my placement, I opted to
assist in one of the top performing
schools in Cambridgeshire and during
this time, was able to conduct interviews
with students on the gifted and talented
register about their academic and social
experiences. These interviews were short
but did shed light on the sorts of things
that they felt were important to their
success; good teachers, a strong and
positive school ethos, supportive families
and I enjoyed hearing their stories.
Running in parallel to my interest in
education was a strong interest in
learning disabilities. I was able to study
them during several different modules,
some which looked at dyslexia and
autism in terms of their biological causes
(Brain Disorders), some which looked at
them
more
developmentally
(Developmental Psychology) considering
interventions which may help to break the
relationship between learning disabilities,
bullying and mental health conditions.
Upon applying to study for a Masters in
Social and Developmental Psychology at
the University of Cambridge, I knew that if
I was going to be serious about trying to
get a place and more importantly, if I was
going to do well during this degree, I was
going to have to write the mother of all
research proposals. It had to be
something which I could be really
passionate about and enjoy investigating
for the best part of a year. That’s when I
decided to look at the 1-2.5% of the
population who not only fall into the
‘gifted and talented’ category but who
also exhibit a learning disability e.g.
dyslexia, dyspraxia or Autism Spectrum
Disorder. While these groups are typically
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RESEARCH
thought of as disparate groups, students
who belong to either/or category actually
have a lot in common. For example, they
are both more likely to be bullied and
both are more likely to have heightened
anxiety. So what about students who do
belong to both categories?
From the literature, I was startled to find
that only 5% of the literature in the area
was actually empirical (Lovett & Sparks,
2011). While many recommendations
had been written, this area was actually
highly under-researched. For those that
had researched this area, very few had
used qualitative methods. This puzzled
me as, in my opinion, interviewing people
about their experiences (especially when
you want to ask them questions of a
sensitive nature e.g. about bullying and
anxiety) is a brilliant way of finding out
what is and what isn’t working. There are
things I found out that a.) I wouldn’t have
thought to ask on a questionnaire or
b.) even if I had, that the people wouldn’t
have given away about themselves via a
self-report questionnaire. There are some
things so private, so part of ourselves
that they can only really be revealed
through establishing trust with a real life
person rather than circles on a page.
Another problem with research in this
area was that sample sizes were rarely
over 3 or 4 participants perhaps due to
the amount of time that interviews take
up as well as geographic regions making
it difficult to find participants. I was very
lucky to have good links with schools and
to be researching in Cambridge, that’s for
sure!
I e-mailed various SENCOs in local
secondary schools as well as the
Disability
Departments
of
local
universities to try and recruit participants.
I managed to talk to 18 lovely students in
the end; 12 were at university and 6 were
at secondary school (mean age = 21
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years). All of the students were very able
although their specific subjects of high
ability really did vary. The most common
areas of high ability were social sciences,
languages, mathematics and drama.
Eight of the students had dyslexia, three
had dyspraxia, three had both dyslexia
and dyspraxia and the remaining four had
Autism Spectrum Disorder. I used a semistructured interview schedule which I
devised myself although it was loosely
based on a number of questionnaires
that I adapted for British students. I
asked questions about extra-curricular
activities, friendships and bullying
experiences, social support (family,
teachers, mentors, technology), future
ambitions although other topics came up
too. I spent a very long time transcribing
each and every interview, some of which
were over 1 ½ hours long and then began
coding using a process known as
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
I actually really enjoyed coding as I love
analysing language and it was great to
see patterns emerge despite the students
coming from different schools and
different backgrounds. I’ve included
some illustrative quotes below (page 38)
which show the eight themes which were
generated: everyday life, extra activities,
family and friends, wider support such as
teachers and technology, identification,
underachievement, anxiety and depression
and coping and awareness.
I always had in mind that my Masters
research had to be meaningful. It’s a pet
hate of mine to attend seminars where I
feel the speaker is more interested in
boosting their own ego and getting out
publications than advancing science. I
think if you’re going for applause rather
than the cause then social science
shouldn’t be what you pursue. For me, I
wanted to further our understanding of
what can be done to address societal
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Celebrating Achievement
33
RESEARCH
issues such as widening participation in
universities and reducing the prevalence
of mental health conditions.
From my research, I was able to see that
schools mere miles apart provided very
differently for this group of students.
More consistency between schools and
universities is needed in terms of the
extra-curricular activities they provide to
not only boost and challenge, but to
improve the areas of relative ‘weakness’.
The interviews also highlighted that more
awareness of learning disabilities is
needed in schools and universities to
prevent bullying. In particular, while most
agreed that autism is now more widely
understood, dyspraxia is still a bit of a
mystery to many, with even teachers
saying they were unsure how to deal with
students who exhibited such symptoms.
For those who had a dual diagnosis of
dyslexia and dyspraxia, the students felt
that dyslexia was much better identified
and handled. Having said that, many still
see it as ‘poor reading’ and fail to
empathise with other impairing aspects
of the disorder such as disorganisation of
thought. Much of the Disabled Students
Allowance can be used to fund
technological support and my research
really opened my eyes to the sorts of
things that students are entitled to.
However, while there was much offered,
many of the students said they had not
used things like speech-to-text software
to help with typing assignments but would
have instead have benefited from more
human support such as a mentor or
specialist tutor.
Another interesting point of discussion
was about the future, about ambitions,
hopes and concerns. Students with
dyslexia were unsurprisingly nervous
about the written part of the applications
but felt that they were more at home
during interviews when they could
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articulate themselves verbally. Help for
such students may come more in the
form of assisting with personal
organisation and meeting deadlines as
they quite enjoyed the social aspects of
applying. Gifted students with ASD found
interviews
and
securing
personal
references difficult therefore help with
these aspects may improve students’
prospects as well as happiness.
For anybody that’s considering a research
project, bear in mind that you should be
trying to study something which you are
passionate about, that you know
something about or have some
experience of. I would advise anyone
considering postgraduate study to get in
touch with potential supervisors early, to
run your ideas by them and get help on
how to conduct the all-important
literature review and to get advice on
what methods will help you find the
answers to the questions you can’t wait
to investigate. Many of the skills that I
utilised to complete my Masters research
were developed during my undergraduate
degree; things like interpersonal skills,
presentation skills, organisational skills
so do always consider what skills you
have and which ones you’d really like to
develop. Lastly, whether it’s dance, inside
the mind of a murderer or the good old
Stroop, bear in mind that Psychology is
diverse and while there’s so much we
know about what it is to be human,
there’s still so much behaviour that is yet
to be explained, and you could help do
just that!
Laura Tan became an Associate Lecturer
with the Open University in January and is
thoroughly enjoying it! Her background is
in P s y c h o l o g y a n d h e r i n t e r e s t s
include learning
disabilities,
mental
health issues, bullying as well as
educational technology.
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GRADUATE STORIES
My OU Journey
By Louise Beaton
No one tells you when you start studying
with the OU that it is addictive. Like so
many others I came to the OU only
intending to do one module. I ended up
staying for nine years and twelve
modules.
For me, it was a combination of reading
Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly
Everything” and having friends who I
knew were studying with the OU that
kicked started it all. I realized that there
was so much I didn’t know about science
and it seemed like a good way to learn
more. I had studied part time before,
gaining a professional qualification, so I
knew that I could manage it while
working full time. In 2004 I started my
first module; S103 Discovering science. I
really didn’t know what I was letting
myself in for as it included physics,
biology, chemistry and geology. As well as
quite a lot of maths. The latter made me
realize that I if I wanted to keep studying
science I would need more maths. I am
News & Views August 2014
still not quite sure what came over me,
but I next signed up for, and passed,
S151 Maths for science.
I realized that if I was going to keep
studying I really need to be able to get to
tutorials. This was a key motivator in
helping me finally pass my driving test,
shortly after turning 30. “Just one
module” then turned into another
science module; S250 Science in
context, which lead onto S204 Biology
and then a residential SXR270
Investigative biology. This was a little
more exciting than I had planned on as it
finished just as the floods of 2007 took
hold and it took me two and a half days
to get home as our train station was shut
due to being completely under water.
Huge thanks to my parents at this point
for driving to Birmingham to come and
get me when we discovered there would
be no trains for several days at least.
I had slightly more time to revise for my
first exam with OU than I had bargained
for as I was made redundant for the
second time in my career three weeks
before the exam. I started a new job a
week before the exam…which I passed,
despite a lot of nerves and a total lack of
affinity with biochemistry!
But what does this have to do with
psychology? Well, I realized at this point
that I was racking up quite a few points
with my modules and it wouldn’t take
that many more for this “one module” to
become a degree. I realized that if I
added psychology modules, then it could
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37
GRADUATE STORIES
grow up to be a Life Sciences degree. I
started
with
DSE212
Exploring
psychology which I really enjoyed. The
timing at this point becomes a little fuzzy,
but at some point I had a chat with the
careers advisors and was advised that if I
wanted to go further with psychology,
such as becoming a lecturer or going into
research then I would really need the
named psychology degree. That would
mean not just two years to do the level
three modules, but going back and doing
two more level 2 modules too... Well, I
really enjoyed my psychology modules,
and really felt this was for me and that
this could be a good career change, so
away I went.
However life is rarely that simple. I
started my first psychology module in
2007, shortly after the aforementioned
change of job. In 2008, two days before I
was due to go on my first psychology
residential, I was diagnosed with
pneumonia and I spent the week in
hospital instead. Complications led to a
repeat stay in September and major
chest surgery early the following year.
Recovery was slow and painful, but I kept
myself occupied with a 15 point
psychology module (Applying psychology).
This could be done at a pace slow
enough to match my recuperation. I also
returned to work, gradually increasing my
hours.
I was just starting to get somewhere near
full time hours again at work in early
2010 when I was diagnosed with
depression. In the space of that year my
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house was burgled, my relationship of
almost twelve years ended and I was
diagnosed with chronic pain following my
chest surgery.
During this time I completed the first of
my third level psychology modules
(DD307 Critical social psychology) and
the online version of the psychology
project that I had missed due to my
alternative vacation in the local General
three years before.
I started to learn to live alone again, kept
company by my study companion; my
cat. I used to refer to her as my furry
paperweight as the minute I put my study
stuff down, she would curl up on it and
go to sleep.
I had moved onto DD303 Cognitive
psychology and studying gave me
something to focus on while everything
else seemed to be unravelling around
me.
Sadly my cat passed away a week after
the residential part of DD303, three
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GRADUATE STORIES
weeks away from her 19th birthday. The
DD303 textbook is very thick and she
seemed to think it made a great pillow.
The loss did not help with my worsening
depression, along with the realisation
that no matter how hard I pushed myself,
my stamina had never returned following
my operation and continued to cause
other health issues. This meant I was
forced to reduce my hours at work and
between this and the effects of my
medication I had to give up my job
altogether early the following year. I was
finally diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome earlier this year.
However, there was some light in the
dark; I got my best mark in the exam for
my essay on the effects of depression on
cognition, thanks to my own lived
experience. My mental health nurse used
to comment that I was never without a
textbook as I would read in the waiting
room prior to my appointments.
My tutor for my next module, SD226
Biological psychology was fantastically
supportive, once I had plucked up the
courage to admit the problems I was
News & Views August 2014
experiencing, and the OU themselves
were brilliant as they arranged a home
exam for my final module, ED209 Child
development, when I wasn’t able to
travel after our local exam centre was
closed.
I passed my final module and last year I
finally achieved my degree. I still hope to
continue my studies at a postgraduate
level, but this is currently on hold while I
try and improve my health. I have help
with this though, as I adopted a cat again
two years ago. She has no interest in
lying on my books however, she just
wants me to put them down and feed her
instead.
It wasn’t quite the journey I had planned,
or even expected, when I thought I’d ‘just
give a science module a go’ almost a
decade ago, but it has been an amazing
experience and allowed me to make
some really great friends and achieve
something that at times seemed
completely impossible.
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GRADUATE STORIES
Graduation, ceremonies and the end of a
journey…
By Red Anderton-Tyers, BSc (Hons)
I suspect that every Open University
student, regardless of all the many
memories inherent throughout their
degree, share two overwhelming
moments: the day the course books first
arrive and the graduation ceremony.
For me the day the text books arrived in
the post was the moment the course
became real. Without the experience of
inductions and first walks around
campus, meeting lecturers and fellow
students that other University students
have, the day the course books arrive is
the first moment that summons the
thought, ‘Am I actually doing this?’ That
wonderful moment of excitement and
trepidation, for me, was quickly followed
(as I flipped through the textbook) with
the nervous question of was I really up for
it, and would I ever actually have a
degree on the other side?
Most University students probably share
such trepidations – but I feel it may be
particularly true of OU students given the
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vast array of ages, circumstances and life
stories which bring individuals to the OU
– leaving the question of whether we will
be able to juggle all the life commitments
most of us began and ended our degrees
with.
I think many of us found it hard to see the
day when we would finally reach that
other momentous milestone: standing in
a gown on a stage, holding the proof of a
completed degree in front of friends and
family. I was well into my second year of
my BSc in Psychology before I even
contemplated going to a graduation
ceremony (a thought which at first filled
me with excitement and then nervous
anticipation at the idea of another new
experience to undertake, and was quickly
put aside again whilst I completed yet
another TMA…). For me, the sense of
accomplishment when the day finally
arrived was all the more profound for
remembering that precarious and rocky
starting point, and all the many hurdles
faced along the way. Perhaps this is why
these moments, which mark the effective
beginning and end of the degree
experience, make such a lasting
impression.
Yet many students are faced with the
question, ‘Is it really worth going to the
ceremony?’ For most, the ceremony
comes months after the degree results
are in and the certificate sent. Given the
nature of the OU and the huge disparity in
location amongst its students, the
ceremony often represents a long journey
and time spent getting to and from – and
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GRADUATE STORIES
with all our day to day commitments (and
future prospects of careers and further
study often underway) the question of the
importance of making the trip for a day of
cap-and-gowning leaves some students
uncertain.
These were all questions I posed myself
not long ago, as my degree results came
in in December 2013. I spent most of
my Open University career living in the
highlands of Scotland where even
tutorials were often at far-reaching
locations and became – like many other
OU students – profoundly helped by the
online structure of the course. More
specifically, I found the forums and
interactions available with other students
invaluable. I had the very good fortune to
share much of my degree courses in
common with the same group of students
(the uniquely self-dubbed ‘Kumquats’)
who were a constant source of support,
help and comic relief through the
sometimes treacherous waters of Child
Development, Biological Psychology, and
perhaps most of all – the gruelling
DD303 and Cognitive Psychology. By the
time my fourth and final year approached,
this group (and many others who had
come and gone along the way) were as
close as friends who lived nearby, and as
loved and respected as if we had been
sitting next to each other in lectures for
four years, rather than scattered all
across the country, having rarely (if ever)
met in person.
For me, this is what going to the
ceremony became about. Finishing my
News & Views August 2014
degree was a very important moment in
my life, and one that I felt I owed myself a
day of true celebration for. My graduation
day was a moment for me to feel that I
had genuinely done the work and
accomplished all that I had striven for; sit
back and revel in the accumulated
experience of those very difficult and
profoundly rewarding years. But even
more than that – I wanted to share the
day with the people who had truly helped
make that possible.
Red Anderton (left) & Carol Foy (right)
This, I believe, is something that is
important for most OU students,
regardless of who those people are who
helped them along the way. For myself, I
had some very impressive and helpful
tutors in my time with the OU, but it was
the individual students who I could reach
out to at one, two, even three in the
morning sometimes when I was certain I
had misunderstood the question after
having just submitted a final TMA, or
when a certain topic just would not
unwind itself in my mind and I needed
another’s thoughts on the subject. Even
sometimes getting on and explaining a
topic to others would suddenly make it all
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make sense to me, and for this I felt the
deep and profound need to share a real
moment with those students who had
become such a valued and real part of
my life.
Luckily a move to the south of England in
the final months of my degree made the
decision of where to go for my ceremony
a bit easier. The Barbican in London
seemed the overwhelming venue of
choice for students graduating with me,
and so it was that a number of us all
booked together for March 29th 2014.
In many ways, the few months which
preceded the ceremony led us all in our
separate directions, thinking about new
jobs, new work experience, applying for
postgrad studies - or just getting the
chance to finally clean our houses, spend
time with family or travel again. It was, in
actuality, the first time in four years I’d
gone more than a month or so without
speaking with this group every day, and
as the graduation ceremony approached I
relished the chance to catch up with
many of these companions with new
vigour.
The day was on a sunny weekend in
March – what better could be expected
from a graduation in London? A two hour
drive from Somerset found us on the
Tube in our finery and heading towards
the Barbican. If I am completely honest, I
had been so concerned with meeting up
with other students that I had all but
forgotten that I had to get up on stage,
and for a brief moment the size of the
venue reminded me what a great and
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distinguished moment this really was.
But the atmosphere was surprisingly
relaxed and jovial and, after getting my
seating assignment and putting the
(admittedly) very warm robe on, I found
the other students outside and, once
again - with their support - it suddenly all
became doable and a good laugh to boot.
The day was a profound experience for
me in the end. There was a deeply
important element of closure – of ‘we
really did it’ that resonated throughout
the venue as we took our seats in the
glorious hall and listened to the orator
discuss what we had achieved. As the
video played prior to the event beginning,
recapping life as an OU student, I think
we all felt a real sense of pride and
solidarity that we had actually completed
this – and we had completed it well. The
truth of all the little moments of TMAs
and late night studying, first moments in
exams and exaltation at results
resonated through us all, and our hands
tingled with numbed excitement as we
made sure we clapped our proud
enthusiasm for every student who walked
on the stage and received their degree.
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GRADUATE STORIES
Regardless of the degree achieved or the
student’s name, for those hours we felt
like a family – and we rejoiced for each
student who walked on the stage,
because every person there knew what it
had taken to arrive in that moment.
The day was not without a few tears,
either.
Fellow OU graduate Claire Bone, BSc
(Hons) remembered “I didn't think I was
going to get emotional at the graduation
ceremony, but hearing and identifying
with some of the experiences that other
OU students shared (such as TMA writing
through the night) gave me goose bumps
as well as making me smile. It was great
to hear the names of people I have met
or grown to know (through tutorials,
residential schools and also Facebook
groups) being called out on stage and
being able to cheer them on!”
For me, this opportunity was largely to
remind myself that I had really and truly
accomplished my degree – and it was
worth all the hard work and effort put in,
as well as a chance to share that
gratitude with the people who helped me
get there. Similarly for others it was
about sharing the day with family and
friends who had supported them at
home, who had taken on burdens (or
asked endless flashcard questions in
preparations for exams), to weekends
and holidays together lost to study, and
patience and support through many
difficult times. The feeling of sharing this
proud completion with the family who
believed in you was very prominent on
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the day. One fellow student, Justin
Barley, BSc (Hons), said “I found the day
to be an amazing experience for me and
my family. It was a chance to connect
with the closest people to me in
celebration of an achievement that I am
extremely proud of and I know they are
too. The ceremony made me quite
emotional as it brought closure to a roller
coaster of highs and lows - a journey that
involved many other people. The day
gave me an opportunity to reflect on the
support given to me over the years of
study from others - a joyous occasion all
round”
In the end, I could not be happier that I
had this day to look back and remember
all that came before it in a fantastic
moment of laughter and tears with the
people who were most important in
helping me get there. Whatever
questions students may have about
whether going to the ceremony is actually
worth it, I would say this to them: as OU
students, we often feel we are an island –
with only a lifeline out into the world of
psychology and learning and all that we
want to achieve in our future. But it is
rarely on our own that we actually achieve
these aspirations. It is with the help of
others - be it family and friends, fellow
students, course tutors or OU faculty that we find our way and complete our
goals. The degree ceremony, for me,
was a culmination of all of that – and to
realise the truth that none of us were an
island, but together made up the proud
and tenacious Open University Class of
2013.
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