The Open University (OU) was started in 1969 as a distance learning university with an open-access policy. Something around 180,000 students are enrolled.
Over the years it has developed in many ways and makes use of all the modern electrickery, string and technology in order to deliver education courses and content to anyone anywhere in the world.
A lot of the courses are paid-for but recently some free to learn options have been developed, including OpenLearn.
What is OpenLearn-ing?
OpenLearn is online learning that is open to anyone, anywhere in the world using materials taken from Open University courses. And it is completely free to use! Instead of attending classes, you study online in the LearningSpace, using materials that have been specially designed for distance learning.
OpenLearn does not:
- require you to be or become an Open University student
grant degrees or award credits
- provide access to the services available to students registered on Open University courses, such as tutorial support
If you are interested in becoming an Open University student you might want to visit New to the OU.
OpenLearn is an opportunity for informal study – in your own time access materials in areas familiar or new to you, without the pressure of keeping to a timetable or sitting exams. Instead, assess your own progress by keeping an online learning journal, discussing the topics with other online learners in forums and completing self assessment exercises where you control when the answer is revealed. While OpenLearn isn’t exactly the same as studying at University, it gives real learning experiences taken from degree courses – and for free!
The sorts of courses relating to music include:-
- Creating Musical Sounds How do different instruments produce the sounds we classify as music? How do we decide whether something – a piano, a vacuum cleaner – is actually a musical instrument?
- Sound for Music Technology - An Introduction Whether you’re a professional musician, play music with your friends on the weekends or just like to listen to CDs, music technology affects your life. In this unit, you will learn some of the basics of music technology, starting with what sound ...
- Voice-Leading Analysis of Music 1: the foreground This unit introduces 'voice-leading' or 'Schenkerian' analysis, perhaps the most widely-used and discussed method of analysing tonal music. In this unit, this method is explained through the analysis of piano sonatas by Mozart. The unit ...
If anyone has any experience of these courses we’d be interested to know what they’re like - interesting? Useful? Any particular ones to be recommended?
Reference
All of us who go there agree that the Music School is a great place to go to. However, not a lot of people know about us and what our unique points are. These include theory and aural lessons as part of the package, as well as your individual tuition; ensembles to play in; etc.
We now need some help with getting the message out there. The committee have formed a sub-group to look at this and have lots of ideas but are in need of a bit of specialist guidance. So if you have these skills and could spare a bit of time that would be great. You will not be asked to do all the work but to tell us what would work. Also you would be welcome to join in the group to help in a number of ways. We are currently putting together terms of reference for the group so that you can see what would be involved.
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