OU creative writing

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OU creative writing

Has anyone done the creative writing MA on the Open University?

Did it help you become a better writer?

Did it help you with getting published/making money from writing?

Has anyone found other online sources that would do this?

 

Hi Di_Hard, I did the Future Learn On Line Course. It's free...Here's the Link. It starts again in February.

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/start-writing-fiction

I did look into the OU Degree Course for Creative Writing  but it would cost over £17000.

 

Wow! That looks perfect - I'd never heard of it. Thankyou so much for letting me know, Jolono. Have just signed up :0)

 

This sounds very interesting. Unisa (University of South-Africa) offers all the usual degree qualifications and a number of other certificates are available also as correspondence. I studied up to an MSc and worked there for more than a decade. They offer some languages and up to doctoral level. I have thought of enrolling at the Open University. As far as I know there aren't any graduate courses in SA on creative writing. Unisa is a well respected international academic institution. The qualifications are internationally recognised.

Tom Brown

 

Thankyou for your suggestion Tom. My partner is doing an OU degree in computing and says there are students from lots of countries doing his course. If you want to do creative writing though, check out Jolono's link?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unisa is primarily a distance learning university. Of course these days with modern communication technology it works very well and yes there are many students throughout the world.

 

We have many students in prisons and in armed forces, everywhere and including very remote places. Nelson Mandela for example did his Law degree in prison on Robbin Island. Most students are employed so this is a way to study part time and tuition fees are affordable.

 

As far as student numbers go it is one of the Very largest universities in the world.

 

I'm just wondering about this “MA” of yours. A “Master of Arts” as a higher degree is a post-graduate qualification in SA and one must have at least an honours degree or equivalent enroll. The main component of a Master's would be a dissertation.

 

Also, to qualify for entrance to a bachelor (first) degree you must have an appropriate school leaving certificate. I believe it is not so for the Open University?

 

See you! Tom Brown

 

 

Hi Tom. You are right, I think most universities here expect you to have qualifications. I don't know about South Africa.The Open University is great though as you can sort of build up to degree level - that's what my partner did? He didn't get any exams at all at school, all his learning has been done online.  It is wonderful that such a thing exists, I can't see the government we have now creating it.

 

 

Good luck with this Di - I can see you're getting lots of advice. I think they do a taster course for free for the OU creative writing. Perhaps it might be worth trying that to see if you enjoy it?

 

Thanks Insert. I've said this before but the people on this site are AMAZING. I'm so grateful to have ABC

 

Hi Di - I tried year 1 of this MA and it was a waste of time and money for me. I've done other MA courses and loved the stretch and rigor, but this one I found demotivating and actually put me off writing. It may depend on the tutor you get - I know those who contnued with it got a lot out of it. Personally I'd rather spend my money on short courses like the Poetry School ones or do a face to face MA. On the positive side the course has plenty of good reading materials. I do like the OU and have done courses with them before - could be it's just not for me and will be perfect for you.  

There's a student facebook group that may be able to give you more on their experiences.

Thankyou Philip, that was very helpful advice, exactly sort of thing was hoping for, helped decide me to go for the course Jolono recommended

 

Ps thankyou for making me a close reader, feel proud :0)

 

I did creative writing and advance creative writing with the ou. the books are amazing and the support you recieve is great. Among other things I also did a masters in creative writing at Glasgow. All these things are superhelpful. I also got help from Carl MacDougall as a mentor. That was free (a kind of competition win) but these other things are super expensive. Uninversities can staff a course with a tutor and generate tens of thousands. Most universities do that now. And in the future, I guess, most universities will no longer need physical buildiings and halls of residencies. I guess what I'm trying to say is the more money you pay the better quality tutor you get. But you won't get much time, a fleeting amount. You will get worthless bits of paper and I'm not sure it does help you get published. Almost nothing does. What does work, I'm not sure. There's nothing new here, of course. Flannery O'Connor was debating many of the same issues of whether writing schools were a waste of time and money in the 1940s. And when she was promised a bequest to travel to Lourdes to cure her lupus she prayed she'd be published. So, my advice would be get all the expert help you can afford. But nobody will tell you anything other than read more widely and write, write, write.