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Achievement, Struggle – And Happiness

This is a featured blog post by OU Alumna, Anne Langley. Originally from Ireland, she now lives in Scotland. Most of her career has been in procurement, for organisations in the private, charity/third and public sectors. She has a dog called Corran, a brilliant partner called David, and counts herself extremely fortunate to have a great job with an organisation that she loves. In January 2018 she received her certificate confirming her MSc in Development Management – a moment that can still make her tear up a little.

What to say about my experience of studying with the OU? There’s so much it’s hard to decide. Should I talk about managing my time and workload? The impact on my home life? Or simply tell you about all the wonderful people I met and worked with online?

Whenever I think about my studies, I smile. And that’s probably the most important thing to share. Studying for a Masters in Development Management was a big, difficult undertaking, but my overall impression isn’t only of achievement and struggle, but of a real sense of happiness. In other words, it was an overwhelmingly positive experience – as well as just plain overwhelming at times!

For me, what made the learning experience so special was that it was intensely personal. By teaching me as much about myself as about development management, it made me a much better development manager. (If that sounds a bit fluffy, then I suggest you skip to the final paragraph!)

Heart and Soul

It was when I engaged with the learning by exploring – and facing up to – its resonance or dissonance with my own values that it became most powerful. Early on, for example, one of my modules set the task of watching and reflecting upon the Brené Brown TED talk on connection and vulnerability. (To this day, I’d like to thank whoever chose it.) At first I hated it. I just couldn’t see the connection with my learning and I was uncomfortable with the content. In fact, I was tempted to skim it and move on.

It stayed with me, however, niggling at me until I went back and viewed it again. The video went to the heart of my values and challenged me to make leaps of connection between what made me uncomfortable, my profession and my learning. Three years later, it would form the basis of my dissertation project. Not only in terms of its message, but in terms of what working with it had taught me as, when the time came to choose between a solid but uninspiring topic or one that was risky and difficult to define but that set my soul on fire with enthusiasm, I went for the latter.

Three years earlier, I wouldn’t have made the same decision. And that’s the clearest example of how I’ve changed through the learning experience the OU offers.

Reflection and Engagement

You can, of course, simply follow the curriculum, tick off the learning points, write a decent exam paper and pass a module. However, it was when I pushed myself to explore discomfort, to enter into debate and to dive deeper into my emotional responses to material that my learning really stuck. I loved that the OU supported this. All the modules encourage reflection, a vital part of which includes sharing your thoughts with others and engagement with theirs.

Even if these reflective tasks initially seem less important than cramming in knowledge, I promise if you give them your time and attention it’s where you’ll find the learning gold! Reflect honestly, share as much as you’re comfortable with and read and comment on the reflections of others.

Once, for example, I heartily disagreed with the way a subject was treated. Although I could have quietly seethed to myself, my peers and the OU were open to hearing and considering my views. Being heard by people I had such respect for built my confidence.

Knowledge and Skills

Beyond the specific knowledge, and the words and concepts and techniques I learned, the experience equipped me to think laterally, to be critical in that thinking and to apply my new-found knowledge beyond its specific purpose. While I’m unlikely ever to need to write a formal log-frame (a project tool for development managers), the learning around this made me consider how my team and I had been making assumptions about our options for action and the outcomes we might expect.

It also helps if you try to apply what you learn rather than discard it after the exam. I can’t claim I always did so but, when I did, it led to tangible benefits. The concepts of power I learned about, for example, helped me understand and consider my own power at work and how it affected the ways in which my team engaged with me. After I’d used my learning to think about this, the changes were incredible. I had more frank and open feedback from my team that I’d ever experienced.

I also found the elements of the course that considered change and conflict incredibly useful. I used the reflective diary and action-learning approaches to help me after I was promoted into a new role – writing my reflections down each day and thinking about what this meant for my learning in my new job.

I said at the beginning that this would be my personal experience. We all find different things valuable. If all this personal connection and vulnerability stuff sounds like your worst nightmare, that’s part of the beauty of the OU learning experience. I was able to take these things from my experience because the OU afforded me the flexibility and opportunity to do so. Others will take very different things from the same modules.

The OU – like life – is what you make of it. You get to choose. You get to interpret it on your own terms, to bring your own values and approach, and then to apply and share what you’ve learned in your own way.

Isn’t that what learning should be about?

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