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Review summary
Open Colleges has mixed reviews from customers. Customers particularly appreciate service and professional, though some mention concerns about communication and customer service.
I completed my Certificate in Nail Technology and had a mixed experience.
The staff are AMAZING and always offer great support. Ellena, the course instructor offers excellent insight and advice around the realities of being a working Nail Technician.
My issues are with the platform itself and the out of date education being provided (which is NOT the fault of Open Colleges) and the lack of emphasis of WHERE nail products are manufactured for higher safety.
For example:
1. Having to upload a 8-10 minute recording, in mp4 format, that is under 470mb is ridiculous. (It says 500mb
but anything over 470-480 won’t work)
2. The overwhelming typos and confusing sentence structure is absolutely unprofessional to say the least
3. The constant going on about nail polish when MOST NAIL TECHS DO NOT USE this is out of date (again not the fault of OC)
4. The lack of actual education around Nail Art is disappointing given the reality of today’s working Nail Tech and what we are expected to be able to do/create
Overall, the staff are fantastic but the platform itself? Definitely needs to be improved.
the reading materials were often set for the American context rather than Australian and often full of typos. Navigating around the modules when doing assignments was clunky. Assessment tasks included menial activities that were time consuming but not a reasonable test of skill or knowledge (eg 'write an email to explain your findings'). Requirement for role plays wih multiple actors was a burden on family.
One of the great services of Open Colleges was having quick access to a teacher and get feedback within an hour. The times when the teacher was away they would contact me via email or phone when back at work. This service made learning blockages minimal and thus made studying easy and enjoyable.
The mini video lectures, quizes and written material was straightforward to understand and the assignments were all applicable to practical accounting work.
A few months after finishing my Certificate IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping I obtained a full-time accounting job. A big reason for this was the quality of the course from Open Colleges was of a high standard and the assistance from teachers was excellent. Highly recommend Open Colleges
Certificate III in Nail Technology course experience
I almost done my Certificate III in Nail Technology course. Happy with open college and appreciated the course and im really happy and thankful my trainer -Ellena. She is very patience and guidance and helpful and response my every emails very quick. I truly appreciate everything she have done to help me get thru my cause.
A friend recommended open collages to me, she studied and qualified through Open Collages.and working fulltime now as Teachers Aid.To be honest i was a bit sceptic about online studying, and did.nt study for many years. I was always use to a class setup. I called Open Collages and never looked back since.. The lady that interviewed me were very helpfull and friendly. She explained everything step by step very well, as i realy did needing all the help i can get. The Open Collages setup ( profile ) page were a big help aswell, its professionally done and with a BIG smile user friendly. Your profile, modules and feedback area to assessors is well done.As english is my second language i need all the help and information i can get. And Open Collages nailed it. Everyone that are interested,don.t be put down by the negative reviews. Thank you Open Collages for giving thousands of students this opportunity to study and reach their goals
Im new to OC but been reading heaps of bad reviews.. i just hope my decision is correct in enrolling through them. Hope all students get the support they need. We wll need esp for workplacement.
Dreadful experience. Course had to be extended since it took up to two months to get each module back, and they won't open up the next one. Currently have a complaint registered for 6 weeks with zero response.
Locked out of the course, even though everything has been submitted.
Currently $3000 down for nothing.
Can't believe TAFE put us on to them.
STAY CLEAR
Look at the response to my review: please reach out to student support? Did you not read that I have a complaint registered with you with no response for six weeks? Typical standard response with no intent of rectifying a problem.
Trainers SLOW to respond when providing assistance
I was s student for 24 months with dual certificate 4 Leadership Management + Business Administration.
During this time I found it extremely difficult to reach trainers and get useful direction or coaching from them - this is often reflected in many of the student discussion boards within the OpenSpace platform.
The only way trainers are contactable is through messages in the OpenSpace platform - the response often came a number of days after I needed assistance which in turn resulted in my study/learning being broken while I wait for a reply.
If I did send a message through the OpenSpace platform - I had to log back in just to check whether I had a reply as there is no email notifications sent to students when a grade or a reply is sent back - again this causes a long break in my study/learning just waiting for assistance.
To improve:
I would recommend offering students a 'live chat' options where trainers can be asked a question and an answer given immediately, Maybe have set times where a trainer is available and online to do so - Similar to a online webinar where students can chat and discuss with the trainers their questions.
Also developing an email notification system to notify students when a reply or grade has been received in the OpenSpace platform to avoid logging in multiple times just to check for a response - again this wasted time.
I signed up for a course and cancelled within the cooling off period which by the way is only 7 days. 1 month later I realise I am still being charged for the course. I call open colleges and am assured my course is cancelled. I am once again charged. I call for the third time and find out the first two times nothing was done and after 7 days I will no longer be debited. Today which is 8 days after that call I contact the debit company who have heard nothing from open colleges. Here we go again this time I have been told 10 business days. Stay far far away from open colleges all they want is your money.
I studied Cert.IV Interior Design but got in contact with Diploma students, as well, and the experience is terrible for everybody. I would rate the content a 2/10. Dated, 90%broken links, shallow. Google was my best friend!
The assessments were very thorough and also confusing in the way requirements were formulated. The requirements list is 10-20 pages per assessment and the assessors are tough & not briefed on the course content.
The whole experience felt like being in Year 2 of school, learning from a KG book but having to pass NAPLAN exams for Year 5.
My submitted assessments were always around 50-60 pages. That will say something about the needed amount of work ( definitely not 8hrs/week as OC claims)!
Talking about help and academic support: FORGET IT! OC has a Student Support team which is very active but CANNOT OFFER ACADEMIC SUPPORT. OC Student Support helps with admin issues only (access to your course content or course extensions). Students Forum- presented as an option - is actually dead ( nobody there)! The academic support comes from your assessor only. It is vague and sometimes it doesn't come at all ( depending on the assessor). Grading was also inconsistent depending on the assessor's experience: the less experienced, the worse your grading without proper feedback.
It would be interesting to know how many students actually graduate with OC? I bet, not even half! I met so many on social media! They feel hopeless and discouraged.
Luckily, I have two bachelor degrees ( one in campus and one in distance learning), and a couple of international certifications (heavy stuff) some done in campus, others online. I experienced different styles of learning in Australia and Europe so I can confidently say: it's not students'fault but Open Colleges'...
I enrolled in this course because Interior Design was my hobby and I was hoping I could learn the science behind my skill and start my interior design business. I graduated but I do not feel I learned much! It was an epic waste of time and money!
I am trying to find a reason why someone would enroll in these OC courses:
a) knowledge? - No, you learn more from books, magazines, online articles and reality shows ( Google was my best friend when looking for answers to my design dilemmas.. why pay $6,500-$10, 000 for that?)
b) accreditation? - Well, DIA does not back it up, but the course is still accredited by the Australian Department of Education. However, OC Cert IV and Diplomas are not well regarded in certain states (e.g. WA) so the only jobs for you will be in retail -kind of dead end. Self-employed? You don't need that piece of paper anyway...
If you really want to learn, forget about accreditation, look for practical courses that actually teach you something! There are a couple, much cheaper, online. Otherwise, if you want accreditation go with a local TAFE/University. Our local TAFE charges less than OC for a Diploma in Interior Design...
Please read more reviews on Product Review as they have more in depth explanations of various experiences.
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OC officially changed their course since I graduated but students who transitioned say the content is still the same while assessments are even tougher and longer!
The online experience was very easy to use, having everything accessible in one place made it easy to navigate assessments. The assessor left good feedback on assignment that I did that were encouraging and helpful if I needed to make any corrections. On my last assessment I received a audio feedback from a assessor which for me made it easy to understand how to fix up answers. The only suggestion I won’t make to improve the website would be as assessments are completed they get checked off or highlighted as they are done.
It was my first attempt on online study. I was a little apprehensive at first as I have always been hands on face to face classroom study. To my surprise studying online exceeded my expectations.
Having study buddies and others in same situation as yourself. The online assessors and facilitators have been extremely supporting and always responding to any questions or concerns.
It took me 12 months to complete my course and I am very proud at my age in early 50s able to attain a certification.
Thank you open colleges. I definitely recommend and would enroll in another if need be in future
I liked every bit of my course, the courseware was basically an essentials guide to preform well in my daily job and covered most areas in my field in detail. I would highly recommend OC's for any online study and enjoyed the online the flexibility.
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