The OU announces it is to stop offering PGCE and PGDE qualifications from...
From a press release issued by the OU today: The Open University (OU) is to withdraw from the PGCE qualification that is available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the associated PGDE...
View ArticleThere’s gold in them thar hills
As I wrote just before Christmas, I’m now working my way through the second module of the Occupational Psychology MSc – Personnel Selection and Assessment. I also appear to be on track as far as my own...
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OU student numbers 2008/09 – 2012/13
Overall student numbers have fallen by 16.4% in a year. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
View ArticleInformation for prospective OU students outside of the UK & Ireland
If you’re thinking of studying with the Open University, but don’t live in either the UK or Ireland, you may be interested in this recently launched website for prospective students from the rest of...
View ArticleComing up for air
The problem with writing a blog, particularly when it concerns your study plans and ambitions, is that it creates hostages to fortune. For example, in December I wrote the following words: As an...
View ArticleTuition fees. Again. Sigh.
If the university tuition fees regime introduced by the coalition: Turns out to have little or no beneficial effect on the amount that has to be paid out to HE institutions from general taxation,...
View ArticleFrom personnel selection and assessment to ergonomics
Last weekend saw me submit the second and final assignment for the Personnel Selection and Assessment (PSA) module. I can’t say that I’m sorry to see the end of this module (I’m not!), but I’m...
View ArticleOccupational psychology course conference – looking forward
I’m pleased to report that despite my struggles with the library website last weekend, the book I ordered duly turned up. Having just taken a quick peek it seems rather useful, so I suppose I’d better...
View ArticleOccupational psychology course conference – looking back
Before I talk a little about my experience of this year’s course conference, here’s my recommendation to future students: If you’re able to attend, then do so! It was a very interesting and useful two...
View ArticleA bad day for “open” fanbois
In software: Public urged to reset all passwords – due to the critical two-year old flaw in OpenSSL. One of the many unsubstantiated claims surrounding open source approaches to software development is...
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Weird stuff I do on my course number 94 …
… spend a Saturday morning cleaning the inside of my car (for appearances sake, you understand) and then taking photographs of its controls and displays for an assignment I’m writing. I hadn’t noticed...
View ArticleWord count woes
One of the reasons I’ve been a little quieter on here than usual is because I’ve been devoting most of my efforts to the first Ergonomics module assignment. The deadline passed a little earlier on...
View ArticleFollowership
Now that the first Ergonomics module assignment is out of the way and I’ve made a reasonable start in planning how I’m going to tackle the second, my thoughts have turned to my main study task for...
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Real World Research
I’ve been fortunate to have been spending a few days on the other side of the planet – Maui, to be precise. As tempting as it was, my notes and books didn’t stay at home in rainy Derby and have...
View ArticleGood news – OU psychology MSc courses to get a reboot in 2016
Good news reaches me from the Open University. After a gap of several years, the foreseeable future has arrived and there are now plans to offer three different masters qualifications in psychology...
View ArticleTuition fees. Again. Sigh. Redux.
Back in March I asked a number of questions in response to a post on LibDemVoice about tuition fees. Today, Paul Walter writes a similar article but does a much, much better job of defending the...
View ArticleMcNamara’s fallacy – some more problems with measurement
Earlier on today, I was reading through Bernard Bass’s 1995 paper from Leadership Quarterly (*) and came across McNamara’s fallacy (**) for the first time. It argues that leaders taking account of...
View ArticleThe Psychology of Organising (myself)
Farewell ergonomics, hello dissertation proposal! At least, that’s what I started to write last Sunday evening, before realising that I also have Module 4 on The Psychology of Organising and two...
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An unexpected, but welcome present
Dear School of Psychology, Thank you very much for this unexpected, but very welcome present! I suppose I really do have no excuses left for not getting on with it now … This article was originally...
View ArticlePsychologists love electric shocks
The use (and pretend use) of electric shocks in psychological experiments has a long and disturbing pedigree. #117144602 / gettyimages.com Perhaps the most infamous (pretend) use of electric shocks are...
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