Edited by Darren Menachem Drapkin, Monday 30 January 2023 at 18:37
.. it is the early 1970's, you and a few friends are discussing something new you have all seen on the telly - a lecture on thermodyamics and cosmology from the Open University. Some of your friends do not trust people who use words that take several goes to spell correctly, such as thermodynamics. Some, like you, have had academic yearnings re-awakened by broardcasters who do not talk down to you. You contact the address at the end of the broardcast and sign up.
Now it is the 21st century, rich people are taking space flights for fun, and computers, if you are patient with them, can give you a sensible reply to a spoken request. You are rich, because study and the organised thinking it engenders, make you more financially effcient. There is something you miss from all those years ago. Not cosmology, not thermodynamics, but the opportunity to present what interests you to ordinary people.
This is one of the reasons that academics need sabbaticals. One year in every 7 years an academic has to stop whatever they are doing, do without their university, and find something else usefull to do. It is not a 12-month long holiday, or should not be.
Why am I writing this, especialy why am I writing this on an Open University blog ? I am comming to the end of a BSc in computing and I am determined that it will not be my last degree. Also, I am slowing down in my studies at the moment and I find that when I need to write about one thing writing about another helps me.
Finally, if you are new to the OU and are puzzled by freshers week, don't forget to enjoy your life.
Picture The Scene.....
.. it is the early 1970's, you and a few friends are discussing something new you have all seen on the telly - a lecture on thermodyamics and cosmology from the Open University. Some of your friends do not trust people who use words that take several goes to spell correctly, such as thermodynamics. Some, like you, have had academic yearnings re-awakened by broardcasters who do not talk down to you. You contact the address at the end of the broardcast and sign up.
Now it is the 21st century, rich people are taking space flights for fun, and computers, if you are patient with them, can give you a sensible reply to a spoken request. You are rich, because study and the organised thinking it engenders, make you more financially effcient. There is something you miss from all those years ago. Not cosmology, not thermodynamics, but the opportunity to present what interests you to ordinary people.
This is one of the reasons that academics need sabbaticals. One year in every 7 years an academic has to stop whatever they are doing, do without their university, and find something else usefull to do. It is not a 12-month long holiday, or should not be.
Why am I writing this, especialy why am I writing this on an Open University blog ? I am comming to the end of a BSc in computing and I am determined that it will not be my last degree. Also, I am slowing down in my studies at the moment and I find that when I need to write about one thing writing about another helps me.
Finally, if you are new to the OU and are puzzled by freshers week, don't forget to enjoy your life.