The Open University Students Association (OUSA)
in the West Midlands

Information for Students

HELPING 'YOUR' STUDENT

A leaflet for partners, family, or friends of intending OU students.

To intending or actual OU students: Do please pass this text onto your partner, family , or friends. It's designed to help them help you in the most effective way and to tell them a little about what you will be doing as an OU student.

To the partner family or friends of an (intending) OU student: Thank you for taking a few minutes to read this. Our research has shown that the single most important factor in the success of our students is good support from their partners, families and friends. This leaflet is designed to tell you a little bit about what 'your' student will be doing and to help and encourage you to support them.

The start. Theoretically courses start in February but your student may be starting well before then. They'll get their first mailing of preparatory material in September-October and may be meeting their local counsellor in late November. So if there are any jobs needing to be done round the house it would be a good idea to get them done now - including bookshelves to help store all the materials you're going to have thudding through your letterbox!

Tutorials. There are regular tutorials, probably at the local Study Centre from February to October. Your student doesn't have to go to these, but they'll find the support and contact very helpful if they do.

Assignments. Your student will have four to eight assignments to do during the year. These are usually essays or reports (problems in maths) of up to 2000 words and are called TMA's which are Tutor-marked Assignments. Some courses have CMA's which are Computer Marked Assignments but these are generally not as important. TMA's are generally the focus of considerable stress both in doing them and then getting them back with the tutor's grades and comments. (One student in prison told me that opening a returned TMA was the 'scariest thing he'd ever done'. Since in a previous career he'd been pursued thro' the streets of London by armed police, I assume that opening the envelope is indeed likely to be stressful for more ordinary students...).

So your support and encouragement is essential - especially for that vital first TMA in March which is the biggest hurdle for any OU student.

Summer School. Some courses will have a one week residential Summer School in the period July to September (there is a choice of weeks), at a University campus. They run from Saturday afternoon to the following Friday and, according to course, will consist of lectures, tutorials, discussions, laboratory exercises and computing from 9am to 9pm for six days solid. There is precious little time for much socialising .

Summer Schools can be stressful for both student and those left behind. Children, housecare, jobs - all may have to be organised and students re-entering exhausted from their week of academic highlights may find it hard to suddenly readjust to ordinary life. Partners who have been looking after children may be tired too. Understanding may be needed on all sides.

Examinations. In October comes the most stressful activity of all - the final exam. Many new OU students won't have taken an exam for some years and may need extra T.L.C. over the revision period. In some regions there is an OU exam counselling service for students who find the whole business too stressful.

The results usually come out just before Xmas...!

and then... there is a short break (household jobs again?) until the whole process begins again the following February.

There are various problems that face any OU student but the most important are:

Time. A student on a standard 60 credit point course will be studying for 12 to 15 hours a week. This will be an average - some students may need more or less and it may go up near a TMA or the exam. Some students can study an hour or so here or there, others need longer blocks of time. Some students tell us that the time should be negotiated at the outset so partners and family know clearly what is study time and what is family time - you should decide together what is best for everyone concerned.

Stress. As I suggested earlier there are various stress points in the course such as TMA's where your support and encouragement will be essential. You could offer to read an assignment (that's not cheating) or make sure the children are out of the house at critical times.

Seeking help. Some students find it particularly difficult to seek help when they're stuck. Their local Tutor is there to help by phone or letter but your student may need encouragement to seek it. Remind them that that is what their Tutor is there for!

Motivation. At some point some students begin to wonder if it's all worth it. Your job will be to talk it through them and, we hope, put them in touch with their motivation again - if indeed it's right for them to carry on. Sometimes the right decision will be to drop out and that's fine. We don't see dropping out as failure and students are welcome to restart whenever they are ready.

Perhaps your support is best given if you see you and your student as a team. Your student may be doing the reading and writing but your role in the team is just as vital to their success.

OU students can study from three to six years or longer if breaks are taken or study spread out.

The final aim of course is graduation. But many students report pay-offs well before they get there in terms of their own intellectual development and satisfaction. And more than two thirds of students who have career aspirations say that their studies have benefited them in vocational and financial terms.

But in the end graduation is the goal. And it represents something else too; it is your student's chance and ours to say thank you very much indeed for all the support and encouragement you have given them. We hope to see you at the graduation ceremony - the applause will be as much for you as it is for them.

We hope you've found this text interesting and helpful.

Remember that the OU has many partners actually enrolled together: wife/husband, mother/son, even wife/husband/son. If you'd like more information on OU study for yourself just phone or write to the 'Enquiry Service' at your Regional Centre - 'your' student will know the address.