DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - A short break

After a slight lack of motivation after submitting TMA01 and then a family holiday, on which I have to say I did not think of the course once, it is now down to reality with a bump.  The work I did to get ahead of schedule has now melted away, so I am feeling a bit under pressure to get ahead again, especially I will be away from home for a week or two on business which will make studying difficult.

My tutor sent an email to the group offering help and advice for those unsure or having difficulties which was good to see - very pro-active of them, but to be honest I just want the mark back and to see the utor comments to enable me to move on to the next TMA.

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - TMA01 Submitted

That is TMA01, my first OU assignment, submitted. After re-writing it as an essay, I left it for a couple of days then re-read it, made some minor changes and since then re-read it a couple more times and now any changes I am making are so minor as to be meaningless - so best to submit it and move on to TMA02.

I had some difficulty getting down to a 750 wordcount and used most of the 10% either-way rule almost to it's maximum. If it had been an absolute maximum of 750 I would just have dropped the last (weakest) argument/example, but if the rules say 750, but upto 825, then if you need nearly 825 then why not use the extra.


The deadline for this TMA is 1st March, so if I do have a panic and want to change things I can resubmit another version - but I doubt that will be necessary.

So onwards to TMA02.......

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Week 4

The suggested time table for Week 4

     Introduction to Material Lives (45mins)

     Chapter 1 of Making Social Lives (7 hrs)

     Online Activities 5-8 (3 hrs)

     Preparing for Assignments (30 mins)

     Online Quiz: Making Social Lives, Ch 1 (15 mins)

To be completed by the 4th March

At last......this feels like the start of the course proper, and a complete change of pace regarding the course text that we have to read. While the first three weeks was pretty obvious stuff and not too taxing, this week has been far 'heavier' and a lot more notes have needed to be taken. I am beginning to believe that this course will require the full 12 hours a week.

This weeks reading was around consumerism, the consumer society, and the seduced and repressed within the consumer society, along with appropriate concepts and theories.

DD101 - Introducing The Social Sciences - NUS Student Card

Well, I have my NUS Student card. At £11 for the card, I don't suppose it will be too long before it has paid for itself as you get 5% off of Amazon purchases. I'm just waiting for some odd looks if I decide to use it in Pizza Express.

You can get yours at,

http://www.nus.org.uk/en/NUS-Extra/

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - TMA01 - Draft 1

So when is an essay not an essay..... when it's a report.

I thought I'd pretty much cracked the first assignment, and then I gave it to my fiancee to proof read, and it is just as well I did. While she said that the points I made were clear, related to the study material and referenced, she's very supportive and encouraging that way :-), she did also point out that I had not actually written an essay...... I'd written a report !

And she was absolutely right.

I'm very used to writing reports and hadn't really given enough, if any, thought to what writing an essay actually meant. So this version is now effectively first draft and now I need to concentrate on structure over content, having previously concentrated purely on content and auto-piloted the structure.

... and it all seems so obvious, once it has been pointed out !

DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Tutorial 1

The first tutorial was an interesting and thought provoking introduction to the course. It was also interesting to see what a wide range of people are on the course, and this was just one tutorial group.

There was no time to discuss the first TMA as this was the official start to the course, so many people have yet to read the course material. I have contacted my tutor about a couple of points, but the assignment is basically finished.

Now to get on with the suggested reading for Week 4, it is comforting to know I am about three weeks ahead of the suggested timetable, plenty of time to tweek things before the TMA01 cut-off date, and also crack on with TMA02.