My next module...

I don't recall having mentioned that back at the end of April I bit the bullet and registered for my next module. I figured I might as well make sure I got a place on the module I want to do.

There's a choice of six modules for the next step in my degree and despite vowing to steer clear of any modules that involve coding (particularly javascript) I've picked a module that has a fair amount of computing coding involved. T320 Ebusiness Technologies: Foundations and Practice. To me it sounded the most interesting of the six modules I could choose from. Plus it has the added advantage of having no exam; just an EMA at the end of the module.

I prefer EMAs to exams simply because there is less pressure to be well on a certain day for a specific amount of time. With an EMA I can work in my own time, when I'm feeling my best. It makes planning my time and energy easier.

So come October this year I will be embarking on the next step of my OU journey. My first Level 3 module. Back to a subject I love. A subject that can take quite a toll on my health. But I've decided to give it a go, I'm not aiming for a high grade pass...just a pass is enough.

You see I'm not worried about what class of degree I leave The Open University with. To get a degree while living with a debilitating chronic illness will be a massive achievement in itself. I admit there's a part of me that longs to get the best class of degree I possibly can; and there's a part of me that always wonders if I'd get better results if I wasn't ill. However as time has passed and my health has deteriorated since starting my degree journey I've come to the realisation that persevering and managing to continue to study, despite being ill, is an achievement. Whatever the marks, a pass is a pass. I'm not doing this degree to help me in a career; it may have been my original intention but right now my health won't allow it, instead I'm doing it for myself, to prove that I can do better than the single GCSE I managed in school.

Hopefully when the time comes and my health improves it will help me in terms of job prospects. If not, so be it. I've already learned an awful lot and put some of it to use in my everyday life. But it's not just about that, it's about the things I'm learning about myself in the process as well. At times it feels like I'm achieving the impossible and it makes the struggle worth it. The strength and determination I'm discovering within me, that is what's proving the most useful to me at the moment.