It’s hard to believe it’s already week 5 in H810. I commented at the end of week 2 that I thought my group was off to a quiet start, with people working on H800 ECAs, getting married, and being on vacation. My impression was that, since then, things have been even quieter, so I spent part of Sunday afternoon doing looking to see where people were and doing some analysis.
The result of my analysis is the above colour-coded image of people’s participation. The seven green blocks represent people from our tutor group who have posted in Week 3 forum activities. The eight red blocks represent people who haven’t posted in any of the week 3 activities. As it turns out, the image looks the same for week 4 participation. Week 5 had no postings at the time of my analysis. So, out of a group of 15, we just under half who who are more or less up to date and a slightly larger group who look to be about two weeks behind based on their forum postings. That’s a lot of behind people and explains why it feels so quiet.
If you’re one of the red blocks, you need to be concerned. Two weeks equates to one third of the block and the first TMA is due in 10 days. That’s not very much time to get caught up and it means you might be missing some major topics to prepare for your first TMA. Week 3, for example, features a really important topic in the course: legislation. While it would be nice to believe that all institutions are acting from a social model naturally, the sad fact is that legislation is probably what compels many, regardless of the country. One of the main threads of TMA 1 is the influence of legislation, so this is a key topic to have a good understanding of. Another key topic for the TMA that arises in week 3 is the roles of the stakeholders in providing and acquiring support, with week 4 providing some background information on how assistive technologies can be used to address challenges that we identified in week 2. Week 5 provides a more in-depth look at adjustments and reasonable accommodations, as well as a variety of online learning tools and how they work (or don’t).
Once you get to grips with the general details, you still need to be able to apply the ideas to your own context. Your first TMA, most likely written in the first person, needs to take what you have learned and reflect on how it is relevant in your own institution and in your own role. Most people will need some time to reflect on that and the blogging and forum posting activities were designed to help you start integrating the pieces together. If you’re behind, you probably won’t have time to write reflective pieces in preparation, but try to think about how things would apply within your own role and institution as you go through the material. That may help in preparing.
Some TMA Tips
Simon, one of the other associate lecturers, posted a useful list of tips for the first TMA based on the previous presentations. I’d like to highlight a few he has mentioned plus include some additional ones:
- You need to be using references. While the report is in your own context, you need to use references for your background information and, if possible, for contrasting or reflecting on what is actually happening in your own context.
- References should be using name-date style. I’m not picky that it conforms exactly to the OU’s Harvard Style but it should be a Harvard name-date style and you should be consistent within your use of it. What I mean by consistent is that one journal article reference shouldn’t be italicized while another one is just surrounded by quotation marks. The OU Library has a Harvard Style help guide (PDF file) available from their cite references page.
- 30% of the marks are for your choice of online resources. So I’d expect to see Seale (and note the spelling of her name) and some of the many online resources used in the course. For the very best marks, I’d expect to see evidence that you have done some research on your own and turned up relevant material, because this is a postgraduate course.
- 10% of the marks are for making effective contributions in the forums. If you haven’t already contributed to discussions up to and including week 4, it’s likely too late. It’s not “effective” if it’s posted a few days before the TMA cut-off date, because you and others are denied the opportunity to engage in dialogue in a timely fashion. However, the process of writing is useful, so please don’t let that stop you! I’m just trying to point out that this isn’t just a counting exercise. Also, note that referencing discussions is useful, but it’s not as valuable as contributing yourself.
- Although you will likely be writing in the first person, because you will be reflecting on your own context, remember that this is an academic piece of work, so the tone of the writing still needs to be scholarly. That means a more formal way of writing: no slang, few contractions (if any), proper grammar, and proper spelling. As a Canadian, I’m fairly flexible on “proper spelling”, as Canadian spelling is a combination of American and British. I do expect you to be consistent, so don’t use colour with “u” in one sentence and then color without a “u” later on. Do proofread and do use your spellchecker.
Extensions and Advice
Simon concludes his list by pointing out this is an assignment and not a test. I agree. While I won’t read draft assignments, I am happy to consider assignment plans and provide other kinds of advice. For example, you’re wondering abut your forum contributions, or you want feedback on a particular blog post, or perhaps you have questions about the finer details of referencing. Don’t be afraid to ask me either via e-mail or in the TMA 1 forum thread I’ve created. You can also have a peek at the postings in the other tutor groups.
I’m happy to consider extensions, but you need to secure permission from me before the assignment’s due date. Due to the tight timing of this course (and general OU regulations about extensions), I may not grant an extension or perhaps may not be able to give you as much time as you would like because it will have a knock-on effect on the next part of the course.
Getting in Touch
Just a reminder that you can get in touch with me in a variety of ways. I check my e-mail frequently and you should shortly receive an e-mail with my new OU contact details. You can telephone me most weekdays at home during the day (except Fridays when I’m at the University of Sussex). If possible, please avoid Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings after 19:30. You can post in our online forums or I’m on Twitter as OUEin.
Posts
Word Count
One of the hazards of not having a written plan before writing a blog post is that you inevitably forget something you intended to include. In my case, that was advice about the word count. H810 has a very strict course-wide policy on word count. The word count for the first assignment is 1500 words and the H810 Assessment Guide, Section 2, says that there is no overage permitted. The 1500 words includes everything except the references list at the end.
Extensions
I included my policy on extensions for this course in this article. If I’m not your tutor, then you’ll need to discuss extensions policy with them. Extensions are at the discretion of your tutor.