Open degree on the OU

[awesmum]

I have previously studied psychology on the OU and have credits to transfer over to an Open Degree and am thinking Engineering because of my career.
Has anyone got an Open Degree. Are there any downfalls or negatives having an Open Degree rather than a named degree.

[titchy]

I think as long as you don't need a specific degree for your career they're great. So if a vague knowledge of Engineering is all you need go for it!

[awesmum]

Thank you for the response. I have until August to decide so will do some serious thinking and have a chat with my boss. I want to improve my abilities and grow with the company so a specific degree isn't the bed all and end all. But if I need a new job it may have an impact.

[lastminutetutor]

Would you be able to transfer any of your modules to a combined sciences degree www.open.ac.uk/courses/qualifications/r28 some of the modules are psychology ones which you might already have done. Only the OU offer an open degree and if you are fairly sure you want to stay in sciences a science degree might be more marketable. Without the level 1s you might find later modules harder if you don't have the previous experience. Some skills will be transferable but others might be harder to acquire.

[awesmum]

Yes I can transfer 120 credits. I work in engineering and have for 10 years, so hope that would give me a good basis of knowledge for further along.

[lastminutetutor]

What I mean is that some of the psychology degree modules are named in the combined sciences degree so rather than transferring to a general open degree you could transfer to a combined sciences degree so which might be more marketable in the future. For example E102, DD210 both count as named modules, plus each level you have a free choice of any module so that could be DE100. Have a look at the link above and see whether any of your existing modules are named.

Although open degrees can be good for some people, some modules do build on other modules so unless you try to follow what would have been the logical order you can come unstuck in terms of grades. It sounds as if you will have the domain specific knowledge to go in at level 2 to engineering, but even if you do the combined sciences degree I would try to take most of your modules from what would have been the engineering degree so you get that coherence rather than zipping around the degree. Sometimes I have students on the combined sciences degree who have studied completely different early modules and at first they struggle with the different expectations of another discipline.

Alternatively have you got any other engineering qualifications (HND/HNC etc) as the degree for engineering says that you can transfer those in too. This might mean that you could complete the named degree and enable you to be accredited. I think that as you have a clear idea of what you are wanting I would be inclined to consider starting again.

Open Degrees can be great but they will not tick the box for any jobs requiring a science degree. Be careful not to focus too much on what you would lose (a year's fees) compared to what you might gain - a more marketable degree in your area of work. You can usually change your degree later on, so you could start down the combined sciences route and if towards the end you want to get the engineering degree, go back and add a level one - it is not unheard of for students to do that. I would have another discussion with the SST and maybe also request a careers advisor session.