AA302 Composition to performance course Options

[Clarimoo]

Yes...it has completely destroyed my plans too. Now I'll never get that diploma because they've discontinued it, I'll never get my degree because there's only one level three music course and you need at least two. Actually I'm having trouble finding the enthusiasm to write the final three essays for the course I'm on (A224) because, well, they've pulled out all the rugs and I'm thinking I could better spend my time practicing than writing essays for some qualifications that I'll now never ever get. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Tenor Viol]

Yes...it has completely destroyed my plans too. Now I'll never get that diploma because they've discontinued it, I'll never get my degree because there's only one level three music course and you need at least two. Actually I'm having trouble finding the enthusiasm to write the final three essays for the course I'm on (A224) because, well, they've pulled out all the rugs and I'm thinking I could better spend my time practicing than writing essays for some qualifications that I'll now never ever get. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Have you spoken to the head of music to see if there's something in the pipeline? We had the same problme when AA302 and 314 were discontinued at he same time. 302 was revived....

[Clarimoo]

I have heard rumours that there is something in the pipeline for 2015. I can't organise my whole life round a rumour though.

[Flossie]

Sadly with the change in funding (I'm not doing a course at the moment) I can't afford over two thousand to do the revised AA302 to get my Dip Mus. They dropped AA302 and AA314 the year after I did A214. A lot of us wrote to the Vice Chancellor about the policies of the Dean of the Arts Faculty and formally complained - he left some months later, but the damage had been done. There was a fallow year with no level three music courses then that abomination A317 appeared, which I refused to do. Given that OU courses usually last 12 years and A317 has lasted about 5 says it all.

Good luck anyway!

AA317 is the best OU I course I've done. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif) It may not have been to your taste, but that didn't make it a bad course. It was dropped because the smaller departments are only allowed to run one module at each level. English and History are allowed more because they have had more students.

If you did a course last year then you are still okay for the transitional fees. You don't need to be doing one this year. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

It's a shame, I really wish there was still another level 3 music course as I'm struggling to find another level 3 course to finish my Humanities degree with that I actually want to do - I'm currently planning to do a Religious Studies module but the one I was planning is being replaced with another similar course (a la A214-A224) so I have to wait and see if it's still something I want to do. I am very excited about level 2 music technology though, that combines my two favourite things in the world. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I can't make any promises about accuracy, but someone posted this on the current AD317 (Religion Today) course website:

A332 'Why is religion controversial?'.
This new third level course is first presented in October 2013 (although you can register on it from February 2013). It is centred around the study of religion and controversy. You would study various controversial figures (well-know and less well-known), religious controversies in history and politics, various key debates and concepts (including the 'new atheism') and also look at the future shape of religious practices and beliefs.

I've been told there should be more information available in a couple of months. I'm planning to do 2 out of A217, A224 and the new A332 (plus AA100 which I haven't done yet).

[Tenor Viol]

My problem with 317 was that it was brought in and replaced both 302 and 314 (which wasn't its original intnetion). It has no requirement to even have to read music. Had it been an alternative level 3 music course to one that was more substantially musicology/music history based etc I would have no problems with it.

Work issues mean that I've not done a course for two years, so I'm not eligible for the transitional scheme. So, I have to do another 4 courses to complete my degree and current costs puts that at GBP10,000. In theory, I retire in 2019/20 - do I want to be paying off a student loan into retirement?

[gwyntdi-enw]

This is a subject on which I could go into rant mode. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Yes, the UK has a very proud tradition and history of what used to be called liberal arts education - i.e. learning that was aimed at "self-improvement" (the Victorian ideal) and not necessarily for any other reason. There were two reasons behind this: one was that it was deemed a beneficial thing for people/society in its own right (people/society would improve by improving the general levels of knowledge/learning, it was the mark of a civilised society etc); that it might lead to better things.


We need to restore the Victorian idea that studying something for no other reason that the love of learning is a valid reason and a mark of a civilised society.

I did warn you about the rant (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I do so agree with everything you've said. I was lucky enough to be able to get my MEd with the OU a few years ago now, but things were changing even then and I've had nothing but negative comments from local employers, who suggest that it was pointless as it "doesn't qualify you to do anything". The number of times I've been told I "should" have done NVQ2 instead because it's a "real qualification" are enough to make the blood boil! And at the same time as adult education is now vocational or nothing, schools are being told to ditch the vocational courses and get back to "traditional" subejcts. I too could rant on this for hours!

[Tixylix]

I was lucky enough to be able to get my MEd with the OU a few years ago now, but things were changing even then and I've had nothing but negative comments from local employers, who suggest that it was pointless as it "doesn't qualify you to do anything". The number of times I've been told I "should" have done NVQ2 instead because it's a "real qualification" are enough to make the blood boil! And at the same time as adult education is now vocational or nothing, schools are being told to ditch the vocational courses and get back to "traditional" subejcts. I too could rant on this for hours!

Well done on getting your MEd, I aspire to having an MA one day and stuff what anyone else thinks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) One of the disability advisors at my previous uni applied for a job and got turned down because she didn't have an NVQ level 2. She had an MA in counselling and 15 years of experience in the field but she didn't have the NVQ they wanted so they wouldn't take her on. Their loss, she is the most fantastic support person I've ever had.

I know many people of my age (mid-20s) who are recent graduates and so disaffected with learning because they don't have any concrete career path in front of them at the end of it so they feel like they've wasted their time. This applies to people who've done 'proper' subjects and subjects which prepare you for a specific field as much as people who've done less career-specific subjects. Yesterday's XKCD comic was on this subject and made me giggle (though music isn't on there, someone on Facebook commented that music is important because without it we wouldn't be able to sing the song.) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)