Charity Reed

‘I’ve loved discovering OpenLearn,’ Charity told us, ‘I genuinely don’t think I’ll ever not use OpenLearn if I’m honest.’

For Charity, her OpenLearn discovery began with a move from the North of England to Scotland. ‘I’m a 51-year-old mother of two grown-up sons and the relocation, several years ago now, enabled me – finally – to do the degree I’ve wanted to do since I was young, but couldn’t afford to,’ she explained... and as Charity embarked on her English Language and Literature BA with the Open University, she also discovered OpenLearn!

‘I hadn’t studied for almost 30 years and wanted to get my brain back into learning mode before my course started, so I did the Being an OU student induction course on OpenLearn to help me get to grips with the site,’ Charity explained. ‘I found that course interesting, so I then went on to look at other subjects that interest me,’... and there have been plenty!

After that initial course, Charity has gone on to complete Beginners French, Approaching poetry, A brief history of communication, Summarising text, The African diaspora, The American Civil Rights Movement, Janis Joplin and the Sexual Revolution, English in the world today, Simone de Beauvoir and the Feminist Revolution, Introducing philosophy and she's currently working on Exploring languages and cultures... as she said, there’s been plenty and quite a variety too.

‘The great thing about OpenLearn is that there’s no pressure, I can just pick a subject and study as I like,’ Charity added. ‘Some I’ve covered entirely within a couple of hours, some I’ve gone back to when I’m not busy. I usually just pop over to my laptop when I have the time and inclination.’ And that sums up OpenLearn perfectly!

Charity explained that the ability to “dip in and out”, working at her own pace as and when she can, is a massive bonus, and being able to use OpenLearn to supplement her studies has helped too. ‘I was working on a unit on Plato, which isn’t the area I’m most interested in, so I picked up the Introducing Philosophy course on OpenLearn just to get a little more info.’ 

She also added that the site has also been a great help during the summer holidays, ‘just to keep my ageing brain active’ [but we’ll be having none of that talk of ageing brains at just 51, thank you!] and she’s prepared for the coming year’s study by choosing subjects that will help and support her module choices.

And Charity isn't just one of our returning learners, she was an active advocate for OpenLearn even before we asked her to share this story: ‘I had a great chat with my 73-year-old mum recently about how OpenLearn works. She has a very keen mind and loves to learn, so I recommended it to her, and to a customer at work and she's already enrolled in a forensics BSc on the back of that!’ 

‘I had a great chat with my 73-year-old mum recently about how OpenLearn works. She has a very keen mind and loves to learn, so I recommended it to her, and to a customer at work and she's already enrolled in a forensics BSc on the back of that!’ Charity believes that as an “older student” she is fortunate to have the time to be able to indulge in her studies and says that even if her life did become busier (adding, “perish the thought!”) that she would still be able to manage her learning as she set her own goals and targets to fit it around whatever else she is doing... just the way we envisage people using OpenLearn, in fact!

We asked Charity if using OpenLearn has helped her in any other ways. For some people it’s about gaining confidence or inspiring a new career. And for Charity? ‘As well as helping with my studies, it’s given me many answers to quiz questions I didn’t know before!’ she says. ‘Having access to OpenLearn is a little like having a huge library, with added extras that I can use any time, in my own home.’ 

We’re obliged to add that you can study with us outside your home too, but we love Charity’s take on OpenLearn – like having your very own personal library. Hmmm, we might just steal that strapline...