DD209 Running The Economy : TMA01 Marked and Returned

While this TMA has been returned within the 2 week time scale suggested by the Open University, it is at point when we have effectively lost 3 weekends to the next block, so any motivation that could have been harnessed from a good mark has dwindled and I now find I'm about a week behind and a bit fed up that this has taken so long to be returned.

On the plus side, this is the best first TMA I've had so far, just a shame it is only worth 7% towards the final result.

So best get on with last weeks Fiscal Policy, before tackling this weeks Monetary Policy, and there is the iCMA to be getting on with as well.

DD209 Running The Economy : Communication Vacuum

Hello ? ........... Anybody there ?  ....... Anybody ?

Practically the end of week 5 and the Tutor Group Forum may have to be pronounced clinically dead.

The signs of life that occasionally occur rarely have any relevance to the course material, and even the fairly major intervention by the tutor back in Week Two failed to kick-start any meaningful interaction with only two on-topic responses from about twenty students appearing.

So we appear to have gone through the "stand back.... charging ..... 2000 joules.... shocking now!" routine, and after limited heart beat we have again flat lined.....


To make matters worse, the results from the first TMA are conspicuous by their absence. Although this may be really unfair, as you don't know what else the tutor has going on in their life, you'd have though that there would be more interest in getting the first TMA back quickly. Especially as this was a short 800 word TMA with definitive answers and there must surely be a marking schedule and you just tick off whether a point has been covered or a calculation is correct. It doesn't bode particularly well for the longer and more complicated essays.

It is especially annoying when you hear of people getting results back within 48 hours of the deadline and even people who got extensions have had their mark back already.

So fingers crossed that the radio silence and the communication vacuum are broken soon.

DD209 Running The Economy : TMA01 pretty much finished.

Part 1 of the course, weeks 1 & 2, have been pretty much completed. The chapters were reasonably straight forward (not easy to understand - but well laid out) and the online tutorials were very good, certainly got you thinking about what you'd read and made me go back and re-read things.

The TMA also covered all that the 2 chapters had to offer, whereas in previous courses you only had to concentrate on one aspect or part of that section's material, for example in A222 Philosophy it was one of four chapters in that a particular book.

It is a bit difficult to discuss this TMA without infringing on the OU's social media rules as the answer is not, as in previous TMAs, your personal thoughts and ideas, but specific answers relating to the data in question.

The Student Notes accompanying the TMA were very helpful in pointing you towards where you needed to look, but I'm not sure I would be as happy with answering the questions without also looking at the https://www.khanacademy.org/ website and the YouTube series of videos from UCBerkely (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJwuQ6VLi1U) especially regarding the macroeconomics current and capital account balances.

The word count as also very tight which was in the end a good thing, as it meant you had to stay focussed on answering what was asked, and not drifting off on unrelated tangents.

So, unless I have an epiphany between now and the cut-off date regarding flows, stocks, balance and surpluses, the TMA is pretty much as good as its going to get.

Now the question is will my tutor be a prompt marker, I certainly hope so. I'll spend the rest of this week sorting out the revision notes and then hopefully start Part 2 on time on Saturday. Keynesian theories and real economics, looking forward to that. 

DD209 Running The Economy : Week 3 - TMA01

Week 3

19 Oct

TMA week

• Week 3: TMA week Website content
• TMA 01 
  
  The secret of this TMA is to let Microsoft Excel be your friend. If you can use the spreadsheet and let it draw graphs then things become pretty easy to describe, and you can see any correlations between different aspects of the economy come to life. 
  
  YouTube has some excellent tutorials on drawing graphs, just Google "youtube using excel to draw graphs" and take your pick.
  
  There are also very helpful student notes for this TMA which pretty much lead you to where the answers may be, these are found on the website pages after the TMA question which are often missed in the rush to answer the TMA.
  
  This TMA should be easier to complete that ones I have been used to because,
  i. It is not an essay.
  ii. There are calculations which have answers which are right or wrong. 
  iii. It has a 800 word count cap.
  iv. It is only worth 7%, so don't over think it.
  
  So, hopefully this will be pretty much done this weekend, and on to Part 2.

DD209 Running The Economy : Tutorial Group Discussion Week 2

Chapter 2 has been a challenge.

There has just been far too many words. Page 77 uses the phrase "is exactly equivalent to", what does this mean ? Why is the phrase "is equivalent to" not sufficient, and in what way is "exactly equivalent" different in meaning to "equivalent". I have deliberated over the use of this word and can see no obvious benefit or difference in meaning that it imparts, so that's one word they didn't need to use.

Also they vary the definitions of commonly used words. The constant use of the word 'saving' to mean what I would refer to as 'savings' is just off-putting.

If you have a 'saving', then this is the difference between a higher price you may have paid, and the lower price you actually paid and this difference represents your 'saving' on that product. As in the phrase "I waited until it was on offer and made a saving of £1".

'Savings' is surplus of income and sometimes this surplus ends up in my 'savings account', at least until I need it to bail out a deficit in my current account. So when I'm reading the text every time I hit the word 'saving' my train of though stalls while I question the meaning and wonder why they use loads more words than they need to, but far fewer of the letter 's' than they should.

And the 'current account' I allude to above, is not the same as the nation's current account as understood in this book, for it also seems to have a variety of definitions, and nailing down just one is a bit like nailing jelly to the ceiling.

In amongst this struggle for understanding, there is what appears to be a mandatory Tutorial Group Discussion centering around Activity 4. After answering the question we are instructed to post this on the tutorial group. There seems little appetite so far from our group to actually post an answer and in doing so publicly demonstrate our lack of  understanding for the material so far. This is unusual as we are most of the way through this week and with the TMA on the study planner for next week I'd have thought somebody would ave posted by now. I'll refine my answer and post tomorrow, but I hope I'm not the first.

DD209 Running The Economy : First Tutorial

Today's tutorial was pleasant.

The tutor was pleasant, the venue was pleasant and the small tutorial group were all very pleasant.

We went over course structure, how to use the VLE and did some filling in of graphs and some sums. The main advice regarding the TMA is not to over think it, if it says describe then describe, if it says explain then explain, you can add graphs and tables, and if you're doing sums show your working.

So, no earth shattering revelations, but a pleasant couple of hours spent in pursuit of economic excellence. Now, to finish Chapter 2 and get stuck into the TMA.

DD209 Running The Economy : Week 2

Week 2

12 Oct

• Week 2: Macroeconomic imbalances – why do they matter? 
  
  The course officially starts today, so I am effectively a week ahead of schedule and it would be good to have done all the necessary reading for the first TMA before the tutorial next weekend. So the plan is that this week I crack on with Chapter 2, which is quite a bit more challenging than Chapter 1.
  
  Not much of consequence has happened on the course or tutor forums, but our tutor is threatening to put up some activities before tutorials, lets hope that doesn't include the first one, as I already have enough to do !
  
  

DD209 Running The Economy : Very pro-active tutor, but my head hurts.

I received an email from my tutor who seems very organised, pro-active and enthusiastic.

I have been pretty lucky with my tutors so far, but although they have all been good none have introduced themselves as early as this and with so much information. So, things look very positive on the tutor front.

Chapter 2 however - its making my head hurt!!! Chapter 1 seemed a bit of an easy intro in to economics, Chapter 2 however needs a lot more reading, and I haven't even got to the coloured graphs.

I'm sure it will all become obvious in time, but this is not going to be a simple matter of churning the handle and just reading the material - this is going to require some serious thought :-)

DD209 Running The Economy : Week 1

Week 1

5 Oct

• 
  
• Welcome to DD209 Website contents
  
  
• Module guide Website content
  
  
• Week 1: Economics, recession and crisis
  
  Week 1's study has been completed. I guess if you're not keen at the start of the course when will you be. Hopefully, I will have finished Block 1 before the first tutorial and get off to a flying start.
  
  I'm really impressed with the course website. The tutorials really lead you through the aspects of the book that you need to understand, and the weekly revision sheets seem a great idea, although I haven't filled that in yet :-)
  
  I haven't done economics before, but this seemed a fairly gentle introduction. The sums you are asked to do are not difficult, but as with most things understanding the question in order to do the correct sum is the key thing.
  
  The course also seems to have been well thought out with no TMAs near Xmas, a two week Xmas break and also revision weeks. 5 face to face and 3 online tutorials and a day school also seems very reasonable.
  
  The OU website forum has opened. Two posts from the course chair, one post a welcome, one post inviting people to introduce themselves - pretty simple you would have thought - but already the simple act of saying hello seems to have already spread across those two posts and a new thread. Maybe this is not a big thing, but I like order, I may have OCD, to my mind this is just disorder bordering on chaos. C'mon forum moderators, tidy the forum :-)
  
  So, in general a good start, hope it continues like this.

DD209 Running The Economy : Course TMA & iCMA Information

"The DD209 module website will open on 26 September 2013", I'm not sure why the website opens so late. It is a source of great frustration that the OU keeps the Online website closed until the course has almost started. It is a good job that the Facebook group has started as this has been pretty useful so far with some links and ideas with regard  to study materials.

The one thing the website does however say is that we will have ONLY 5 TMAs, 4 iCMAs and an exam as marked components. The first observation, although the dates could change, is that this year we can look forward to Christmas and New Year without either TMAs to write or waiting on marks to come back - so somebody has planned this using common sense.

However, I have no idea what a iCMA is ? Interactive computer marked assessment I suppose - so an online test - but is it time limited and what are you supposed to do ? They don't carry as many marks as the TMAs, but if you are a borderline student you can't afford not to take them seriously. The other problem is if you are the type of person who works right up to the deadline, having the TMA and iCMA cut off date on the same date shows somebody has planned this using no common sense :-)

The published dates so far are.....

TMA   01       7%	29 Oct
iCMA  41       7%	10 Dec
TMA   02      15%	10 Dec
iCMA  42       7%	11 Feb
TMA   03      20%	11 Feb
iCMA  43       7%	18 Mar
TMA   04      15%	18 Mar
iCMA  44       7%	6 May
TMA   05      15%	6 May