DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Week 5

• Room 1: Representing the PeopleRepeat
• Week 2: The Idea of Representation

Travel, work and  a de-motivation while waiting on the TMA to be marked has meant nothing has been done this week. So I need to finish week 4, before starting week 5.

I want my TMA - come on tutor sort it out !!!

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - TMA01 sent

I don't want to do this again - it has all been a bit of a rush.

I had written about 600 words over the weekend, so it was a mammoth writing effort today. In the end it was quite an easy essay to write as we were not short of  information on he subject, but making it flow and getting the referencing correct was a nightmare.

Well that's it gone - not too hopeful of a great mark, just hope its not a bad one - but fir now I need to start on Room 1 asap as otherwise I will be falling behind again.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Week 4

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  Room 1: Representing the PeopleURL

  
  
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  Room 1 direct accessURL

  
  
• Week 1: Political Leadership and the People

Events

• Assignment: TMA 01 (cut-off date 26 Oct)

I keep mis-reading this weeks title as 'resenting the people', I must be looking at things from a politicians point of view.

This will not be happening this weekend, TMA01 to finish plus NFL UK to attend.....

I need to find my study mojo fast........

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Struggling with TMA01

I don't think I have ever been so far from writing an essay and getting it in on time than I am at the moment.

2,000 words FFS, the word count on the Fukuyama extract that we have to write about isn't even that long.

I am unfortunately not as motivated as I might be at present as there is simply too many other things going on that either simply demand my time or that are far more enticing. Hopefully, I have Saturday and a good bit of Monday to grind this TMA out, but it ain't going to be pretty.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - TMA01

Where has the time gone..... I am now seriously behind and there are still many things competing for my attention.

This is not helped by Sunday being written off in favour of NFL UK, as the Jags host the Bills at Wembley. I am now so desperate that I have had to take a day and a bit off of work at the end of the week in order to give me a chance to hand something in.

And 2,000 words...... I know I have usually been struggling to get essays under word counts in the past but for TMA01 this seems a lots of words, still once I get started it will probably be OK.

Its not that it is not an interesting subject, the more I think about it the more questions there are to use in the TMA, its just that I am too busy.

Well, tonight DD306 I am yours, and yours alone.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Week 3

TMA week

• Entry RoomRepeat

  
  

  
  
• Week 3: Assessment
• TMA 01Repeat

  
  

TMA Week already....... where has the time gone.

I haven't helped myself by spending two Saturdays going to tutorials, when I could have been reading the course work, although hopefully the tutorials have helped - and I am sure that they will. Also an evening lost to a Labour Party meeting, and hopefully kicking off a very exciting, but extremely time consuming, extra curricular project for work. Well to be fair it is in association with work, they will benefit but this my project and to some extent would fulfill a huge personal ambition - so it will really be competing with the OU for the time I have. If all this wasn't enough we have started a ground floor extension which has so far seen the demolition of our garage and tracked vehicles churning up our drive. Where once was tarmac, we now have mud and tarmac, with the promise of much more mud to come. It will be worth it when its finished we tell ourselves.

So..... today's tutorial.

Really interesting discussions led by an engaging tutor. I have to say that although it is very early days I am really happy with the tutor for this course. If he is a quick and leanient marker he will perfect.

So a bit more reading to do and then get stuck intonTMA01.

First Labour Party meeting

Attended my first Labour Party meeting last night.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was in some ways very similar to an Open University tutorial, in that there was a real range of ages and backgrounds present, and some very committed people who are passionate about fighting for the best deal for their communities.

The discussion groups were very lively and hearing the experiences and opinions of people with very different backgrounds certainly helped uncover aspects to government policy that I would otherwise have been completely unaware of.

I will certainly go along to the next meeting, not sure if this is absolutely my scene yet, but I can see that I could be persuaded to get more involved.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Week 2

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  Entry RoomRepeat

  
  
• Week 2: Did the End of the Cold War Mark the End of Political Ideas?

Went to a DD306 Day School in London today, it was a bit of a phaff getting into London but in the end probably well worth the effort.

Had some good group discussions throughout the day, and was in a group with folk with good and original ideas which made the experience interesting and fun. It would probably have been a bit more useful had I been up with the course timetable, but I wasn't the only one slightly behind......

So, next week I am at my tutors tutorial, so he has something to live up to, but with only two hours scheduled it will be difficult to get anywhere near the same amount of content in.

Typical timing, pre-ordered book arrives just as course starts

Absolutely typical.

I ordered "Population Wars" by Dr Greg Graffin (of Bad Religion and UCLA/Cornell University) months ago on pre-order and due to various changes in the estimated release dates I have completely lost track of when it was due to arrive, so typically, it arrived on Monday - just as DD306 starts and so after a fairly literature free summer I now have lots of reading to do for the course as well as wanting to get into this book.

Having read, and really enjoyed, his previous book "Anarchy Evolution", which I read the summer before I did A222, Phylosophy, and which actually came in really useful for the section about religion and god and was cited in my TMA, I am looking forward to an equally interesting read.

I just need to organise my time a bit better......... but isn't that always the case :-(

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Week 1 - Official start to the course.

DD306 Guide

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  Entry RoomURL
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  Entry Room direct accessURL
• Week 1: Ideas and Politics – What Was the Cold War?
• Formats of your module materialsWebsite content
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  Important note on DD306 activities that allow you to save textRepeat

At last the course starts proper.... DD309 seems a lifetime ago and apart from couple of aborted attempts to read the course text book "On Violence", I haven't done anything remotely related to studying all summer.

Well it is time for a gear change....... Luckily, the course leads us quite gently through the first week - at least the bits I have done - after all it is still only Saturday morning, and the online learning environment seems to work and be a mature concept.

My tutor continues to be active in the forum and I am really looking forward to the first tutorial in about two weeks time to meet him and other students