What’s It Like To Study 100% Online at Masters Level?

I am currently six months away from completing my master’s in Creative Writing with the Open University. I started the course in October 2019 – a different time altogether, when online study was a choice as opposed to fall out. I was living in Ohio for my husband’s job and circumstantially, it felt like something positive I could do – dare I say it, in pursuit of my dreams.

*My ultimate dream is to one day be a novelist who writes in a cute pink beach hut, runs coastal paths for mindful inspiration but also regularly goes to cities to drink champagne cocktails and dance on light up dance floors.

**At 49, this dream is probably due some revision.

Here’s the thing though, and I’ve since decided this is so key for studying: I genuinely did want the knowledge and proficiency that would come with this degree. At the point of undertaking, I had drafted two novels, blogged on and off for six years and undertaken all kinds of projects with my beach hut dream in mind. And I loved it. I love writing. How could studying it ever be a bad thing?

I’ve seen many debates, specific to the field of Creative Writing, about whether or not a qualification is needed or is even helpful. Now, 18 months on from where I started, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, needed or not, I am a better writer for it.

 So, what’s it like to study at master’s level 100% online? I personally started studying this way for reasons that were nothing to do with the actual inability to leave the house. Now though, my head is turned as to how efficiently it can work.

Here’s roughly how the master’s in Creative writing with the OU roughly breaks down:

• The Graft – Traditional Study:  This is material that you work through in your own time. It includes readings, theory and activity that you share with other students for discussion and that serve your actual written work. With the master’s there is also big expectation for your own targeted and purposeful reading. I have read A LOT.
• The Judgement – Assessed Work:  At the end of each module is a TMA (Tutor Marked Assignment), which is typically, but not always, a piece of creative writing and a commentary in support of it. And at the end of each module/year there’s your EMA (End of Module Assignment). Ultimately, for your course finale, this EMA is a 15,000 word piece that concludes your study.
• The Lectures – Tutorials: These were less frequent than I thought they would be and are also often recorded, so even if you miss one, you can follow it up. They work in Adobe Connect and are surprisingly better than I would ever have expected. I think in many ways, academia is much better suited for the Zoom world than the corporate could ever be.
• Feedback and Connection – Forums & Workshops: These are like more formal Facebook groups. There are various forums available to you: Tutor Group, Student Café (which really is very much like a loud, chatty refectory where you bring your snacks and can blatantly wear your pyjamas) and genre specific. These are really effective – they give you an opportunity to share work, opinions, ask questions and see other people’s work.

The workshops are quite different to what the word typically means. You get the opportunity to submit your creative work, have it allocated to three people at random for assessment, whilst receiving three to assess yourself. It truly is a gift that you pay forward – free Beta readings.

I got my bachelor’s degree in 1995. Back then I did that for the sole purpose of getting a job and starting a career. I’m now seeing just how different it feels to be learning for the sheer joy of wanting to learn something. Along the way, my work has been critiqued by tutors who have doctorates and are prize winning, published authors. My fellow students, who give me feedback on a daily basis, are all talented writers themselves. It is, and has been, light in the dark of the past year; a focus, a motivator to produce work. 

The big thing I’ve learned though, is that for it really to work it has to be pleasure not pressure, particularly in current times. And by pressure, I mean the negative kind, not the kind that spurs you on. And if it’s something you are considering, definitely take a look at the OU; it’s never been more fit for purpose. *You could even do it in a beach hut.