Well what can I say?
I have submitted my ECA's for both M150 and T175 and found both of them fairly straightforward.
I was panicking over the M150 ECA as I thought I had to answer two questions both worth 100 marks. Coming from a programming background I got straight on with the first question which was programming based as I knew I could get to the bottom of it with a few hours hard work.
To my surprise when I actually read the introduction to the second question it said you do not need to answer this question if you have answered question 1! Phew and Doh both came to mind!! I went back to re-read the assignment details and noticed that whilst skim reading I had completely ignored the section about attempting only one question. So even in my last piece of work for the first year of my degree I am still learning things about myself!
I have found my first year fairly straight forward in both time management and learning, working through the course materials steadily and only really finding myself contributing large volumes of my time during assignment periods. It has been frustrating when deadlines have struck close together but I don't think I have put in the 16 hours a week that the OU recommended for two 30 point courses. I have put this down to being familiar with some of the material and more difficult ideas in the course, and I am by no means expecting this trend to continue into next year.
The most useful thing I have had from the OU is the study calendar for the course, it is good to be able to keep pace of where you are and where you should be with your studies and without it I would have certainly found managing my time a lot more difficult, so a big thumbs up goes to the OU for those and I hope they appear in future courses.
I have been deliberating whether or not to post examples of code I have submitted during my assignments with explanations of how I tackled a problem in a particular way. I am not sure how the OU would view this but I assume they won't send out the same questions to future students and it will only be of benefit to others both web users and OU students alike to get a view on how people tackle different problems in different ways.
I was thinking people may be able to respond with there examples through the comments boxes, maybe it will just be better to set up a forum? I don't know just yet although I am looking for a web based project to develop my C# and ASP.Net skills, I find learning these things so much easier when you have a problem to tackle!
O.K so the ramblings are over, I probably won't be posting on the blog as often until the start of the new academic year in September (for me anyway). Obviously if i find any useful or appropriate information I will be writing about it.
Until then have a nice summer and for those of you still studying, good luck with all your doing.
My assignments have finally been marked and returned, and as promised I am here to post the results so far prior to the ECA's being submitted in 2 weeks.
T175
TMA 01 = 83%
TMA 02 = 82%
TMA 03 = 90%
TMA04 = 94%
The main reason for the lower marks at the start of the course was down to getting familiar with assignments. Although TMA02 would have been higher however I missed a part of question 2 out which was worth 12 marks. I actually answered the question! Its the way that I construct my TMA's that was the problem. I work on a question at a time in a word document, and use that document to clean up everything and modify it before copying and pasting it into a new document for submission. Unfortunately I missed a section out, which was frustrating to say the least, however I quickly learned my lesson! (This also gave me a good example of feedback for the ECA).
M150
TMA 01 = 98%
TMA 02 = 98%
TMA 03 = 95%
TMA04 = 89%
The marks for this course have been fairly consistent, I lost some easy marks in TMA04 by not using certain keywords in a question which my tutor marked against. In level one courses like these tutors mark to a fairly rigid guideline, they are often given examples of where marks should be allocated. I'm sure this will be true for level 2 and 3 courses going forward as they expect you to demonstrate the knowledge you have learned. One example is that when I was explaining why voice recognition systems may have difficulties interpreting the word minute for example as it can be pronounced differently when referring to time or referring to size, the keyword that my tutor was looking for was the fact that it was a "Homograph". Even though I explained the problem I failed to include this keyword in my answer, which resulted in me throwing away an easy mark!
Anyway I have thoroughly enjoyed both of these courses and would recommend them to anyone.
After I have submitted my ECA's and hopefully passed the courses I am eligible to claim my Certificate in Computing and Information. The good thing about the OU is you gain different level of qualifications as you work towards your Degree. For example once I have studied more Level two courses I will be eligible for a Diploma, then with further study a degree. So you are constantly having something to show for your efforts!!
