Nothing to do with the course

but I found this and it says exactly what I often find myself struggling to tell people

OmgOmgOmg

Well, I got TMA003 back...

I got a B!!!!!! How the F*£% did I manage that :-)

Not that I'm complaning!

TMA002

Well...

I'm a bit gobsmacked really...

I got TMA002 back last night (which is the reflective one about how I did on assignment 001) and I got 84% for it!  This is proving to be more than slightly surprising!

I wasn't confident about it at all as I'd had such a hard job fitting what I wanted to say into those 200 words (and the way the assignment booklet spelled it out, it seemed that I should actually be using less than that!) 

But I'm happy with 84% - that's (I think) another B!

I'm not so convinced I'm going to do too well on assignment 003 tho - something in my gut tells me!

I spent too long dithering about it and not getting it written properly, so when I did finally get my finger our and write it, it was a bit rushed.  I also wasn't quite sure of what the questions were asking for, and because I missed my last tutorial, I was a bit more in the dark than usual!

But I'm looking on the bright side.  I'm figuring that I can have a duff mark in there, so long as I do allright in the others...

I hope

Oh Dear

I'm terribly sorry, I'm being very lax with this blog at the moment - it's not my fault, honestly, it's just that there's not enough hours in the day/days in the week.

I've been having one of those times when I haven't been able to stop for about the last 6 weeks with visitors, weddings, financial people, legal stuff, you know the things, not to mention working like a banshee at the National Archives to try and get cracking on with my project!

Anyhow, update wise, I missed my last tutorial (boo hiss).  I hate doing that, but come the tuesday I was just so cream crackered that I knew I'd be no use to man nor beast!

I've written up assignment 2 - and boy that was horrid - 200 words was nowhere near the amount I needed to critically reflect on what I'd changed from assignment 1 - I only managed 2 paragraps initally - so with a lot of re-writing and vagary I've managed to get within the word limit.

I'm cleaning up the stalin and plato assignments now- there's 2 people I never thought would be sharing an assignment page - and surprisingly I've found it quite easy to get my head round Plato - but that might all change once I get my assignments back!

Well, I'm planning on getting them finished up and sent off on Thursday - then it's back to the grindstone for me, I've got a couple of clear weekends before I head off on my road trip...

Hmm

i am evil Homer!

Woo Hoo!!!

Well, somewhat earlier than expected, I got my assignment results back today!!!

I am one happy happy bunny!

Basically, I got 78/100 for my Dr Faustus assignment and 82/100 for my Cezanne one - so both grade B passes, so I'm thrilled with that!

I was slightly surprised that I'd got a better mark for Cezanne than Faustus because I really struggled doing that one and I really felt my Faustus answer was better, but now having read through the comments from the tutor I can see where the good and bad points are and why I got what I did.

So the next stage is to go back and re-work parts of the assignment with the tutors comments, and that will be assignment 2 - should be fairly straightforward.

What's good is that I was only 3 points off an A grade for the Cezanne piece, so I think I know what I need to do to get there when I do the stalin/plato assignment.

Happy happy joy joy

Of Stalin and sources

Well, Tuesday saw my next tutorial, and it seems like no time at all since the last one, probably because it was only a couple of weeks ago :-)

Anyhow, it went, I feel, very well indeed! I had had a conversation with Jane, my tutor, after the last tutorial, and had offered to give her some of the Stalin resources I had access to at work. (As I'm sure you all know by now, I work in the education department of the National Archives so historical sources are my "thang")

We used several of these sources in the tutorial (http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/heroesandvillains ) and I got to help a lot of people out with their understanding of how sources work and how they tend to be classified.

The tutor also told us that the assignments should be with us by the weekend - so phew!

Aargh!

This waiting is killing me!  As most of you will realise, I submitted my first TMA a couple of weeks ago.  The closing date for submissions was last Friday (the 20th) and now I'm in that horrible limbo of being unable to do any more about it, but also of not knowing how I've done!

I'd like to think that I did a passable attempt at writing the two essays, but in all honesty I haven't a bloody clue!  It's been so long since I wrote anything resembling a university piece of work that I don't know if I'd recognise one if it jumped up and bit me in the bum!

I was kind of hoping that I would get the results back before tonights tutorial, but I suppose, in fairness, the tutor did have 20 odd assignments to mark, so it's a bit unfair expecting them all to be done before today, and I'd have been mad if she maked my assignment that I submitted early then I'd wanted to change it!

So it's nose to the grindstone in the meantime and hope that all went fine - I'm sure I'm worrying over nothing, but it's just that nasty situation!

Anyway, I've done most of Stalin this week (although I didn't get all of it done as I was a bit poorly sick at the weekend and it went a bit adrift) but it will be nice to be up to speed with the tutorials for a bit... 

I'm off home this weekend for a week to see my folks (my Dad is having his hip replaced as I type!) so hopefully that will give me a good opportunity to get myself a bit further ahead with the old studying - and will give me an excuse to escape from the mother for a while :-)

So the blogs might be a bit light over the next week, but I'll do my best!  I'll be back in time for the day school next Saturday, but I haven't yet decided which one I should go to - my tutor will be in Cambridge, and that's the one they have sent all the bumf for, but Chelmsford is actually nearer, and is probably easier to park at!

I'll see what people think tonight - what is everyone else doing?

Duhn duhn duhn

So my first day school is just around the corner - 4th April in Chelmsford - and I'm pretty well looking forward to it.

Haven't had an agenda - hopefully will get one at some point, but it will be good anyhow!

Anyone else going?

Hurrah!

I've just had word from work that I'll be presenting one of their lunchtime lectures this year!  I'll be talking for about an hour on a subject that I've been researching, and have decided that my talk will be called "Roll Up, Roll Up": The evolution of the Circus Sideshow.

No prizes for guessing what that's all about then!  But it does give me the opportunity to legitimately bore people with my knowledge about circus freaks!

For those who are unable (or just can't be bothered) to make it to the National Archives, then I'm reliably informed that it will also be podcast, and I'm sure I can slap it up here when it is!

Hmmm

Ah well,the futileness of optimisim rears its head again!  I worked my way through the Faraday module in "da book" and unfortunately, I just found it one of the most dismal boring bits of reading I've done in a long time, and that's saying something.

I thought it was a shame as it's an area I would really like to learn more about, but because it was so dryly written, I lost any interest in it pretty early on.

But nevermind, onwards and upwards as they say... so here goes.  This week is Stalin and his reputation, and fortunately, that's something I've done quite a bit of reading on in the past, so hopefully I should be able to sail through this section.  I know that quite a lot of you out there are struggling with him, so if you need any help just shout, I'll do my best, but no promises!

I can't believe how quickly the diary is filling up for this year already - I can see I'm going to have to start working to rule on my study planner!  To give you an example, about 50% of my studying is done at the weekend - either a Saturday, or a Sunday, or even both if I feel up to it - so here's my diary for the next few weeks...

Next week : Tutorial on Tuesday night, Sat am I have a nail appointment that runs for about 3 hours then Sunday I'm driving home to Scotland for a week as my dad is going in to get his hip replaced.

Week after : In Scotland all week, so limited options for studying there, then Sat 4th is the first of the day schools - Sunday will probably be spent in bed recovering from Mon - Sat!

Week after that : Night out on the Thursday, then staying with a friend Friday and Saturday of the Easter Weekend, there will probably also be a bbq on the Sunday.

So you see where I'm coming from?  and believe me, the weeks run like that pretty much up until the 2nd week in May!  Really do need to get pro-active about the swotting on the train thing.

Student smiles

I came across this and it made me laugh - enjoy...

There's nobody here but us chickens

My stats came through this morning and I was plesantly chuffed to discover that a few people seem to be reading "da blog" so *waves* hello!!

Don't be shy to post comments, argue with me, chat amongst yourselves in the comments, that's kind of what they're there for in this blog!

And feel free to let me know what you think!

'Tis done

Well, I had my postopned tutorial on Tuesday this week, and I was really quite pleased with myself for it. It was a bit of a shame that only 7 of us were there, but I guess folk weren't able to rearange their schedules with just a weeks notice.

We went through the notes for Faustus and Cezanne and what we should be looking for to write the assignment - and I was plesantly surprised thatI seemed to have got my ones pretty much spot on!

Considering I was having a nightmare the other week trying to get my head around the Cezanne assignment, I don't think that's too shabby - although my marks might say different!

I'm onto Faraday now, and I was quite looking forward to doing that bit, however it's proving a bit boring at the moment (although sneeking a look forward in my book it does look like it might get a bit more interesting further on) and then it's on to Stalin which I'm really looking forward to. That's the only reall problem I have with the AA100 course. I know it's designed to give you a flavour of all the arts courses so you can decide what you want to study next as well as giving you the grounding in getting into studying, but I already know what I want to study next! I'm a died in the wool history fan, so looking at all these other sections, as interesting as they may be, is just slightly annoying.

But nonetheless, I'm plodding on and growing in conficence every day, so here's hoping my first set of results is a goodie (submission date is the 20th March, so hopefully I will get the results shortly after that!

hmmmm

Well...

I've been conspiuous by my absence for a couple of weeks, mainly cos I haven't had much to say! Last weekend however, I reached breaking point!

I've been gearing myself up to write my first assignment, and I know it's not due in for another couple of weeks, but I wanted to get it done and dusted and out of the way...

Famous last words!

First off, Dr Faustus, not a lot of problem there, once -kd got my head round writing a short assignment (500 words) and actually just round the writing an assignment bit, no problem! Few re-drafts and Ikve got a more than presentable assignment to hand in, and it's exactly 500 words - result!

So on, with a great deal of optimism, to Cezanne...shouldn't be too much of a problem, my lovely mum, who's an art teacher, wrote me up some notes to help me (I'm a historian, not an art critic!). Wrote up what I thought was the answer, then say back and re-read the question...

HANG ON!!!

It didn't say "use a description" like I thought it did, it said "explain how a description" bugger.

Reading and re-reading the question it's getting less and less clear...

"No problem" thinks I, I've got a tutorial on tuesday I'll ask about it then, but aargh, tutor sick, tutorial postponed!

So I'm sat here waiting for her to get better and answer my questions I've sent her...

Harrumph

Phew

I've just finished Cezanne...

boy that was tough  - I didn't enjoy that bit too much, I'll be glad when I've got that bit of the course over with!

I don't think it went in properly this week, so I'm going to have a couple of days off the swotting and go back over it again, perhaps it will make more sense 2nd time around.

...

Tutorial One

I meant to blog about my first tutorial, and didn't, but thought I did, hence me doing it now, sorry!

Tuesday was my first OU tutorial, and I was a bit apprehensive about it, but really didn't have anything too much to worry about! Apart from going to the wrong tutorial to begin with (well, I didn't realise there were 2 AA100 groups in the same place) I met up with my tutor and fellow students, and we had a good couple of hours discussing Anthony and Cleopatra, and some of the pictures and paintings which had been created around their story.

It was a good place to find that people were having the same thoughts and fears as you, and I was quite glad to find that everything I was thinking was being thought about by someone else too.. phew.

Online tutorial next, which might turn into a bit of a bunfight, but will still be interesting I think!

Settle thy studies Faustus...

Hurrah!!!

I'm very happy today... I've finished the module on Dr Faustus, and boy, that was pretty hard going, but enjoyable!

I guess I'm one of the few people in Britain who managed to go all the way through school without doing any Shakespeare, so this was my first proper brush with that kind of play. This might explain why I found it quite so hard to get into - perhaps if I had had exposure to (or even exposed myself (oo err mrs)) to Shakespeare earlier, then Marlowe wouldn't have been quite such a chore.

Anyhow, I'm taking a break from him for a bit now while I do the chapter on Cezanne, which I think should be better (although I have to admit I'm not a massive fan of paintings of blurry naked ladies and bowls of oranges!) and then it's back to Faustus to write my first assignment - eek!

I'm still managing to keep my 2 week buffer at the moment, and it all seems to be going a bit too smoothly for my liking - I keep waiting for something to go wrong, but I guess that I should enjoy it while it lasts, I'm sure there won't be this much room for maneouver on my next module (whatever that will be!)

Oops

I've been a bit lax in posting on the last couple of days, sorry about that - it's because I've been mostly studying and sleeping :-)

I'm working my way through Dr Faustus at the moment, and although it's quite hard going, it's an interesting play, and there are a great deal of comic elements.

For those who don't know it, Faustus, having gained a Doctorate in Theology decides that common study is no longer challenging, and decides to delve into the study of Necromancy and sells his soul to the Devil for 24 years of whatever his heart desires.

I'm finding it interesting, getting back into reading "proper" literature having spent months and years reading what can only really be described as "Tripe" on the train, but I'm enjoying the challenge!

First tutorial tonight and I'm looking forward to it - and hoping that I'm on the right track with the studying I've done so far - I hope so!

TTFN

What have I done!

Well, that's it, I'm officially a student as of today! I'm now suffering from a bit of a case of "what the hell have I done" -itis, but I'm sure it will pass!

I'm doing quite well at keeping my head above water for the moment, I'm well ahead in my revision already so I've got some breathing space, and I've got my first bona fide tutorial on Tuesday...

Wish me luck!

Doing it the old fashioned way

My name is Adele and I'm an addict. A technology addict that is! I'm never to be found without my blackberry and mobile (yes, I know the fruit is a 'phone, but I hate using it as one!) I have an ipod seemingly glued to my ears and I'm typing this on my laptop. That's not the end of it though, oh no, stand back, this is where it gets geeky!

I also have an Asus Eee Pc running Linux and a zpen which I thought would be useful for when I come to write essays (I can recommend the zpen by the way, but take note, it doesn't work too well on Linux) and of course the obligatory 3g pen so I have my nice portable internet connection.

So why is it, with all these machines that go bing, I've taken to using a proper old fashioned diary? Yes, it's true, I've bought myself a posh Moleskine diary and have fastidiously written all my study weeks, essay dates, weddings and other appointments in and have taken to carting it round in my handbag.

Am I coming completely mad?

Probably

Chuffed

Well, I'm quite pleased with myself all in all! I've managed to work my way through the Cleopatra module of my course 2 weeks earlier than I was supposed to, result!

I have to admit, I sat down to work on the module with a not insignificant amount of trepidation, normally when I've done studying in the past, I've had to sit there with a bit of a glazed look as nothing was quite sinking in, however this seems to be a bit different. I was writing what I thought the answers were, and surprisingly was getting the same results as the books - RESULT!

That's made me think about ploughing on now as I was going to wait until the course starts in earnest to do any more, but I think I will try and keep this lead time going, then I can either have some time off when I need it, or spend a bit longer working on one of the trickier essays.

In the meantime however, I'm stuck at Liverpool Street Station as per usual due to a train fault, so it gives me the perfect excuse to not go and buy a pasty and to start reading Dr Faustus instead.

I knew I put it in my bag this morning for a reason!

It's exciting

I've had a couple of days to get my head round this being a student thing, and it's starting to get a bit exciting.

The course site opening up has meant that I've been in touch with some of the others who will be studying with me, and what a varied bunch they are, I'm impressed! It's been really useful for me seeing who else is having some misgivings about the course, or finding people in the same position as myself. I had kind of figured when I started that most of the people on the course would be doing it for some kind of 2nd or 3rd degree, perhaps for career development, but it's been quite nice to see there are lots of people who left school early for whatever reason and have now decided to go off and do something interesting.

I haven't been able to resist any longer. My course books were delivered back at the end of December, and I lovingly took them all out, quickly glanced at them, read the assessment guide and then put them on their own special shelf in our spare room, along with all my set texts, notepads, pens, pencils and other studying detritus.

This week however, I've decided I can wait no longer. I start the course officially on the 9th February, however I've taken the bull by the horns and have started reading the first module which is Cleopatra. It's quite interesting, I'm impressed! Now I need to get myself into the habbit of writing on books (something I find physically very hard to do after years spent as a librarian) and carrying my notebook around with me everywhere so I can jot down my thoughts.

All being well, I'll be writing my final assessment on the week ending the 27th September, which is nicely timed, as my brothers wedding is on the 26th! In theory I do have until the 1st October to submit my work, but having spent the last 2 courses I was on submitting essays at the last minute, I'm aiming to get the ones I'm doing for this course in at least 3 days before the final submission date.

Here's hoping!

Here goes nothing!

Well, Monday morning is when it all starts.

The AA100 website gets opened to the students who are starting in February - and I guess that's me.

Gone are the days of lounging around in the house or sleeping on the train, now, wherever I go, I'll have a course book in my hand. I'll be mumbling artistic things in my sleep, and probably getting really good at pub quizzes!

This is now my 3rd time at trying my hand at a degree, the first one I failed, and the 2nd, I moved to England and it would have been too complicated getting onto a similar course down here, so here I am, 3rd time lucky!

I'm optomistic about this one however. I decided a while ago that I would like to do a degree in History, but not for any particular career development thing, just to keep me occupied and "better myself", and because of that reason, I think I'm going to do better at this degree than the others. I'm not doing it because I have to, I'm doing it because I want to and that's it - plus it's a topic that I'm actually interested in, Rab Kiddie would have been proud (He was my History teacher at school!)

So here I am, enjoying my last weekend of freedom, and planning out my workload.

My theory is simple (well, to me anyhow), I spend 4 hours a day commuting to and from my work at the National Archives. Normally this is just spent asleep or listening to my Ipod. Well, no more. By my reconing, I need to do around 16 hours of studying a week. I've already earmarked Sunday mornings for that, about 5 hours, so doing 2 hours study during my 4 hour commute per day should bring me up to 15 hrs, with an extra hour to squeeze in somewhere if needed (and lets face it, I've still got 10 hours of commuting time when I'm not studying!).

Fingers crossed!