Open College of the Arts

I have just completed my studies with the OCA. I have done seven courses and will graduate next year. The College provides a wide range of courses which are both challenging and up to date. The feedback from my tutors was initially something I found scary but over time I grew to appreciate. The open access approach means that anyone with an interest in the subject (in my case painting) can enrol on a first course. Open learning was a new experience for me and took some getting used to. I didn't join in the student forums, so that might colour my opinion. Some people think it is isolating, but ... more

I took two courses with OCA as I wanted to learn to paint. I started with Starting To Paint. My experience was dissappointing. The so called 'course' consisted of a series of tasks. There was hardly any actual teaching as I would have expected. The tutors comments I often found to be unrelated to the course content, but rather based on his personal taste which I had understood to be against OCA policy. My painting did not improve by working through the exercises. But at this stage I still thought it was all me. I moved on to the next course at level two. Receiving the course folder was a shock ... more

I took two painting courses with the OCA, but gave up in the end because the learning experience was frustrating. The tutor did not seem to understand the course and gave me little useful feedback. I asked to change tutors and then had to work with someone whose style was reminiscent of a secondary school teacher. The course was a series of projects which you had to work through. I learned a certain amount but in the end got very frustrated with the rigidity of it all, and with the high work load. I tried to make contact with other students through their website, but in discussions I was ... more

Learning in isolation, only support facility provided by the college is trough their website for students which is very slow and not at all user friendly. In my opinion badly developed learning materials for the painting course I took, essentially they were just a list of projects you were supposed to complete with no actual teaching involved. Excessive course demands for a course that was supposed to be equal to 6 months full time study but was going to take me at least a year full time to complete. I did not dare complain to the college itself because I heard from other students online that ... more