the open college courses

shamrock55 · 14-03-2011 1:21pm #1

http://theopencollege.com/

has anybody done a distance learning course with them and what was your experience,im thinking of doing a course with them and would just like some feedback

thanks all;)

shamrock55 · 14-03-2011 3:57pm

anyone?

Cliona99 · 14-03-2011 5:09pm

This is the first I've heard of it, but it looks really interesting. Just wanted to say thanks for posting it, cos I can't actually answer your question, sorry!

On second thoughts, it looks really quite expensive. One course they're offering for just over a thousand euros is available at my local further education college for a registration fee of 250 and exam fees of about 100. Although by distance learning you could work at the same time, that'd make it worth it...I'm just rambling on now.

What kind of course are you thinking of doing? If you're not working at the moment I'd maybe look into doing it in person at your local college.

shamrock55 · 15-03-2011 12:15am

not sure wat course yet to be honest but the distance learning would be handy for me at the moment the fact they are fetac accredited is good too i rang them this morning and the majority of teir courses are 250e till end of month:eek:

Michiko · 15-03-2011 8:32pm

Their website is very off putting though.
They are doing courses for 249.50 +80 euro charge + a 10 euro credit card handling fee.
they do have a physical college in Dublin where yo can attend one of the courses.
There is this website too http://www.cmit.ie/. That offer pretty much the same courses.

Did you find out if most of the material you need to read/learn is online or if it gets posted to you? I hate having to read a lot from a computer screen.

shamrock55 · 16-03-2011 3:10am

it gets posted and you can then submit it back through post or email

Cat Melodeon · 16-03-2011 3:24am

Be very careful that you know what you are signing up for. I had a look at some of the courses such as the FETAC Certificate in Communications (http://theopencollege.com/fetac-certificate-in-communications.html) and realised that it is only ONE component of a full certificate - you need EIGHT components to make up a certificate, so the end cost to you of getting a full award could be €499 x 8, ie almost €4,000.

You can do a full FETAC certificate in any VEC for as little as €250 and most offer part-time evening courses as well as full time ones.

This 'opencollege' is an absolute rip-off as far as I can determine. Don't sign up unless you are happy throwing money away. €4 grand would get you well on your way to a proper qualification with a reputable distance-learning organisation like the Open University (http://www.open.ac.uk).

shamrock55 · 17-03-2011 1:37pm

where does it say its only one component i cant see that

shamrock55 · 17-03-2011 1:54pm

Cat Melodeon wrote: »

Be very careful that you know what you are signing up for. I had a look at some of the courses such as the FETAC Certificate in Communications (http://theopencollege.com/fetac-certificate-in-communications.html) and realised that it is only ONE component of a full certificate - you need EIGHT components to make up a certificate, so the end cost to you of getting a full award could be €499 x 8, ie almost €4,000.

You can do a full FETAC certificate in any VEC for as little as €250 and most offer part-time evening courses as well as full time ones.

This 'opencollege' is an absolute rip-off as far as I can determine. Don't sign up unless you are happy throwing money away. €4 grand would get you well on your way to a proper qualification with a reputable distance-learning organisation like the Open University (http://www.open.ac.uk).

you could be right in the course titles most have fetac level whatever component like this http://theopencollege.com/fetac-certificate-in-business-management.html
but in cmit its like thishttp://www.cmit.ie/courses-management-business-finance-distance-learning/fetac-certificate-in-business-managment-level6.html very interesting:eek: http://www.cmit.ie/courses-management-business-finance-distance-learning/fetac-certificate-in-business-managment-level6.html

scullersky · 29-03-2011 8:44am

Hey!

I have recently completed the Fetac Level 5 course by distance learning with the open college. As stated above most courses ARE in fact only component certificates. To gain a FULL FETAC AWARD YOUY MUST HAVE 8 SPECIFIC COMPONENT CERTIFICATES TO FULL-FIIL THE FULL AWARD REQUIREMENTS as seen on www.fetac.ie. However the open college does do 2 Full Fetac Awards, you know these as they as clearly stated in the title Full Fetac Award and costs about €1100.

How did I find the Open College?

I guess I was not very happy with it, this was because when i booked my course it was supposta be distance learning and the final exam was ment to be online however when I had the course nearly done and I wanted to book myself onto the online course they told me that tey had stopped doing the exam online and I had to travel to dublin. This was not good for me as i had to travel up from kerry and to make it worse the only time they held the exams was at 6.30 p.m. which ment i had to stay in dublin for the night so to complete the final exam you can add €250 onto the price of the course for the expences you will incur for spending the night in dublin, travel and food.

Another thing that was unsatisfactory was after submitting an assignment and even after the final exam they said they would contact you with the result and feedback within 10days. This was however a lie also.. After the two of my assignments and after the end final exam I was waiting about 30 days for my feedback/result and they was me keeping the pressure on them after 2 weeks had passed, if i didnt id be probly still waiting!

I did this course as i had 7 componant certificates and I needed one more to apply and get my full fetac award to apply for college through the cao. Other than this reason I wouldnt advise anyone to do it as its really expensive and not well run to be honest. Also at the end of the day i you do want to do a Fetac course do a FULL FETAC AWARD because you can gte employment from this and you can also use it to access higher education through the CAO but unless someone have the same reason to do it than I did I would say to them dont do a componant certificate, im my opinion this wont help you in any way. In order to qualify in anything you need a full fetac award and this will in turn increase your employment prospectus.

( Oh and if you do a course here dont send in a complaint like i did because i can assure you the reply you get wont be nice!! )

Need to know anything else post here or PM me if you wish

Thanks,

Tommy-Kerry:cool:

Junior7 · 29-03-2011 11:18am

I enrolled on a full 8 module fetac course with them a few days ago. Like tommy said, it cost almost €1100 which after months of searching around is seemed fairly reasonable for a part time/distance learning course. Most places i enquired in were looking at least €300 a module for part time or evening courses and they were pretty limited in my area. It would have involved a fair bit of travelling to get all 8 modules completed which would have added to the cost too. I know the VEC's do full courses for small money but they are full time and I cant afford to give up work so this seemed like the best option. Hope I haven't made a big and more importantly "costly" mistake

scullersky · 29-03-2011 11:49am

Hey no you didnt make a mistake. You made the righy choice to do a full award and this will be benifical to you. Like i said before a componant certoficate definately would not be worth doing but a full award definatly is. As for the price i also shopped around and 1100 is very reasonable.

Good luck with the course

Tommy-Kerry

Junior7 · 30-03-2011 3:53pm

Thanks, that put my mind at ease a bit. It was all looking a bit negative there for a while. Looking forward to getting the head down for a bit of serious studying now. Hope it will be smooth sailing, fingers crossed

PeterB11 · 13-10-2011 1:15am

This one says it offers Level 6 fetac certificate major.. does that mean it has all 8 components then and is all you need?

Please help.. really want to do this course.
Don't want to be tricked into doing a single component

backless · 02-10-2012 9:08pm

Hey guys, quick question regarding the requirements of the internet connection needed for the distance courses:

Anyone have them? I need to sort out my connection soon and don't know what the requirements are, download and upload speeds, etc. Does it have to be up to a certain speed for the online tutorials and all that?

Thanks

The Open College · 05-10-2012 11:33pm

Hello backless,

Unless specifically noted in the course description not all distance learning courses are completed online. Many distance learning courses can be completed without online methods and normal/standard broadband and email will suffice for tutor interaction etc. Please check with the specific course you wish to complete.

With Kind Regards,
Michelle
The Open College.

Jinny Joe · 12-06-2014 8:00pm

Hi, Interested in News Writing For Print Course (N32736) at The Open College. Anybody have comments or opinions after doing the course.

the open college courses

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