DD306 - Living Political Ideas - Week 19

• Room 4: The Body in PoliticsURL

  
  
• Room 4 direct accessURL

  
  
• Week 1: How is the Body Political?

Oh well, all the good intentions t get ahead of this course evaporated without trace and so I am now with little choice but to engage with the proposed timetable.

'How is the body political' will be an interesting section as I have relatives with Downs Syndrome, Parkinson's and age related dementia and I also have colleagues, some of whom are, disabled, transgender or homosexual, so I have a range of experience of how your body can effect your choices and ability to have your voice heard.

Time to get the reading done and churn out the first TMA for over a year, then it is on to the state and violence for the last TMA and the final EMA.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - TMA01 Marked and Returned

Well I have had my first TMA for DD306 marked and returned, and without a doubt this TMA has received the most thorough tutor scrutiny and advice of any course I have done so far.

It was a high Pass2, which I am very pleased with considering this has been the most disorganised and panicked approach to a TMA I have ever attempted. Most importantly it keeps me on track for an overall Pass2 which is my target for this course.

The assessment summary filled most of the space available and was full of good points, encouragement and advice, I usually just get a couple of lines saying 'good essay, but you could have brought in such and such a theory or  mentioned so and so an author', so this amount of feed back is a real step change.

Also, the actual essay was full of comments and suggestions, every paragraph was commented on and my tutor appears to have gone through the essay with a  fine tooth comb.

It has changed my opinion of the amount of time tutors should take to mark TMAs and I can see how if he has devoted this amount of time to every student that we can not expect to get them back within 48 hours.

So all in all a good first result, happy with the TMA mark and extremely happy with the input from my tutor - motivation has been restored, lets get reading.......

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 - 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 - Week 3

TMA week

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• 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.

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.

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