I emailed my tutor for clarification of TMA03, I believe over a week ago now. I simply cannot be sure what is meant by 'summarising the contexts of the research, with appropriate references to previous research.' About 2 or 3 days later I got a reply saying she would need to consult with the rest of the team on my queries. I am still waiting, and in the meantime I have posted my pleas in all three tutor groups. I have now lost a good 8 or 9 days of work for lack of reply. I fail to see what is difficult to answer? In any case, I expect a prompter comeback. I did not take on this course lightly. It is a huge time and financial commitment for me and I would not have started if I hadn't intended to do my very best. I don't expect others to be at my beck and call, but from the beginning I have completed every activity and I have posted regularly in all three tutor forums. I had high hopes, but slowly and reluctantly I am starting to lower my expectations and to doubt whether I am willing to continue with the Diploma, even though it is extremely important to my personal development, if the communication is going to be this lacking.
And this has nothing to do with distance learning; I am doing an MA by distance learning through another UK university, and the communication and response have been stellar. Since the Open University are known for their pioneering work into this form of learning, this would seem a decided irony.
Obviously I do not wish to offend my audience, but neither do I wish to continue bottling up what I have been experiencing these past couple of weeks. This is as diplomatic as I can possibly be at this point in time.
4 comments:
First off, I wanted to apologise for my absence and lack on input over the last couple of weeks. I am really sorry you are having such a frustrating experience with the course and the lack of communication. As course blogger, I share you're frustrations with the lack of blogging especially, but I also really should have picked up on what you were going through sooner.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can answer your question as I am not an AL so don't know how they would go about the assigment. However, after going through the assignment guide, and considering there is not much time left, I wouldn't worry about the need for an extensive literature review around the topic. The question you asked relates to 15% of the marks for the TMA so I think it would be excessive to expect this to be a large component of the assignment. So personally, I would make sure I refer to references from within the papers that support your arguments, and if really concerned follow one of them up (max 2) if you feel the need to disuss them in more detail. I would like to reiterate though, that this is only my opinion, so probably best to think about it in terms of coming from another student than a tutor.
On the positive side, you have done most of the work already, and the percentage of marks concerning the issue you are worried about really doesn't make up a huge amount of the TMA. Given your concern over the issue, it is clear your own motivation is high (or at least it has been...) and by having carried out the activities and contributed to discussions, I would be very surprised if you did not do well on the assignment.
As for the lack of communication on the course, it is something we are aware of, and you will be able to report on when it comes to providing feedback for H809. Be as honest as possible, so we can try and figure out how to improve things next year. I know this doesn't help you out much right now, but please do not let one experience convince you the diploma is not worth continuing. I guess I'm trying to say, please don't see this experience as being representative of all OU courses!
Now that things have calmed down a bit for me, I will be paying closer attention to the blogs so I hope you will continue posting your thoughts and concerns, though now in relation to your ECA. I hope my comments have at least been somewhat helpful but please do not hesitate to get in touch if you want to discuss things further.
Hi Jo!
First of all, let me say thank you so much for your comment and your concern. It is not your fault at all! I know you have been busy with your PhD, and I meant to post something on your blog to say good luck and all that, so I am sorry for not doing so. Well, I got an answer late last evening - it sent me rather into despair, for various reasons, but your advice is absolutely sound and I had sort of come to those conclusions in the logical part of my brain. I wonder if there is any way I can contact you privately - ? I just need to get some things off my chest.
You're welcome! Though not sure how much it achieved. You can msg me directly through the forums but I think you will need to enter my name as Ioanna Iacovides. I'd be interested to hear what sort of answer you got so please do get in touch.
Or you can find my email here: http://iet.open.ac.uk/people/view-profile.cfm?staff_id=i.iacovides
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