It seems to have taken ages to get this TMA marked, however now that it has been marked and returned, life can go back to normal and not with me checking the TMA page every hour or so..... at least until the next TMA.
Another Pass 1, and I should be really pleased, but I can't help feeling a little disappointed not to have broken the 90% barrier. Again there were thorough and encouraging comments from my tutor but only 4 points that they picked up on, 2 were referencing - one was on style, the other was an error, the others were a comment that an argument position I'd taken on one point wasn't universally held - although this point was referenced, and the final point was that I hadn't acknowledged that some people say consumer society does not exist. Seems a lot of marks to lose on these points, but I guess they must be marking against a schedule to keep marks consistent, so these must be areas they think are important.
So, on to TMA03. I am pretty sure I know what i am doing for Part 1 and it will probably write itself, part two however.... I haven't a clue how to tackle this. Hopefully it is all in the next chapter.
Still the deadline for the next TMA is 'Star Wars Day' (May the 4th), so let's hope the 'force is strong' and as they say 'May the 4th be with you'.
Showing posts with label 3.2 TMA02. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3.2 TMA02. Show all posts
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Saturday, 19 March 2011
DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - TMA02 Submitted
Re-read the TMA having left it for a couple of days and by and large there was little more to be done with it as far as I'm concerned.
I did bulk out the conclusion slightly, just really ensurng the reader could easily see in summary all the areas I'd covered, before the final concludng statement. This took me within a handful of words of the absolute maximum word count of 1375 (1250 plus 10%), but as with the last TMA if you have a bit extra to play with and need it then why not take it to the max.
I could have trimmed it further, but it would have taken a lot of effort for no reward, so it has been sent in as it is. Now on to the next section of course - "Connected Lives".
I did bulk out the conclusion slightly, just really ensurng the reader could easily see in summary all the areas I'd covered, before the final concludng statement. This took me within a handful of words of the absolute maximum word count of 1375 (1250 plus 10%), but as with the last TMA if you have a bit extra to play with and need it then why not take it to the max.
I could have trimmed it further, but it would have taken a lot of effort for no reward, so it has been sent in as it is. Now on to the next section of course - "Connected Lives".
Thursday, 17 March 2011
DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - TMA02, coming together at last
I have pretty much started again. I read through what I had done so far, and at the end of each paragraph I asked myself "has this paragraph addressed any issue of consumer society effecting our choice", in doing this I realised that the second paragraph was actually a far better introduction than the introduction was - not sure how that happened but fortunate that it did.
The Essay plan was really the key to the re-write. I wrote down everything I though was relevant in what I thought was a sensible way of addressing the question, keeping in mid the Assignment Book advice that you should define consumer society, discuss the unequal choices and then the role of supermarkets in relation to choice - pretty obvious really.
I have then written pretty much to the word count plus 10%, so fiddled about and dropped some 'well crafted paragraphs' on weaker arguments in favour of what I hope is more important arguments.
The only thing I'm unsure about is that the conclusion is a bit short at about 70 words, but all it is doing is wrapping up all the previous paragraphs and providing a suitable concluding statement.
Time to leave it for a couple of days, and then re-read it at the weekend, even then there is a week to go before submission is due.
The Essay plan was really the key to the re-write. I wrote down everything I though was relevant in what I thought was a sensible way of addressing the question, keeping in mid the Assignment Book advice that you should define consumer society, discuss the unequal choices and then the role of supermarkets in relation to choice - pretty obvious really.
I have then written pretty much to the word count plus 10%, so fiddled about and dropped some 'well crafted paragraphs' on weaker arguments in favour of what I hope is more important arguments.
The only thing I'm unsure about is that the conclusion is a bit short at about 70 words, but all it is doing is wrapping up all the previous paragraphs and providing a suitable concluding statement.
Time to leave it for a couple of days, and then re-read it at the weekend, even then there is a week to go before submission is due.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - TMA02, more difficult than expected
"'Consumer society gives people choice', Discuss this claim" is proving to be more difficult than expected. I'm pretty sure I know the arguments and theorists/concepts that I wish to include in the essay, but getting it written in a manner that flows from one section to the other is proving a challenge.
Also, after worrying that the 1250 word count would be restrictive, I wrote everything down in a sort of rough draft and starting point and barely made 900 words.
I think I need to re-read chapters 1 & 2, and the online activity with FoE and see if that gives a clue on additional content and better flow.
It all looked so promising from the essay plan :-(
Also, after worrying that the 1250 word count would be restrictive, I wrote everything down in a sort of rough draft and starting point and barely made 900 words.
I think I need to re-read chapters 1 & 2, and the online activity with FoE and see if that gives a clue on additional content and better flow.
It all looked so promising from the essay plan :-(
Saturday, 12 March 2011
DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Tutorial 2
Another interesting and useful tutorial. I was a bit surprised that the attendance was down, in fact there was about half the number there was at the first tutorial, so maybe others on the course are finding the course pretty straight forward - however, I was glad I went along.
The general discussions on course the content so far were useful, it is always good to hear alternative points of view. It was also useful to get clarification of what is required in TMA02, how to structure the essay and some key theories and concepts that need to be included.
So I have two weeks to get the next TMA written.
The general discussions on course the content so far were useful, it is always good to hear alternative points of view. It was also useful to get clarification of what is required in TMA02, how to structure the essay and some key theories and concepts that need to be included.
So I have two weeks to get the next TMA written.
Friday, 11 March 2011
DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Week 7
The suggested time table for Week 7
To be completed by 25th March.
The assignment question is,
'Consumer society gives people choice', Discuss this claim (1250 words),
plus
provide the Essay Plan & Self-Reflection (50 words)
The remainder of the reading and other work for the end of Week 7 was pretty easy to get done in one evening, so I am now about two weeks ahead of where I need to be, so plenty of time to concentrate on TMA02 and 'Consumer society gives people choice - discuss this claim'.
The first thing to sort out is what is required from the OU in terms of a discussion essay, which can be found here, http://www.open.ac.uk/skillsforstudy/discussion-essay.php.
The next thing is to concentrate on a concise definition of 'consumer society', then work in theories, concepts and evidence in a sensible way and then tie it all up in an evaluation and conclusion.
Sounds straight forward, but I think getting it all in with the word count being 1250 will be a challenge.
Conclusion to Material Lives (30 mins)
'Reflections on Material Lives' (Audio CD 45 mins)
OnLine Reflection Quiz - Making Social Lives, Material Lives
OnLine Reflection Quiz - Making Social Lives, Material Lives
Assignment 02
The assignment question is,
'Consumer society gives people choice', Discuss this claim (1250 words),
plus
provide the Essay Plan & Self-Reflection (50 words)
The remainder of the reading and other work for the end of Week 7 was pretty easy to get done in one evening, so I am now about two weeks ahead of where I need to be, so plenty of time to concentrate on TMA02 and 'Consumer society gives people choice - discuss this claim'.
The first thing to sort out is what is required from the OU in terms of a discussion essay, which can be found here, http://www.open.ac.uk/skillsforstudy/discussion-essay.php.
The next thing is to concentrate on a concise definition of 'consumer society', then work in theories, concepts and evidence in a sensible way and then tie it all up in an evaluation and conclusion.
Sounds straight forward, but I think getting it all in with the word count being 1250 will be a challenge.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Week 6
The suggested time table for Week 6
Reflection: learning through assessment (45 mins)To be completed by 18th March.
Our second tutorial is this weekend, so I am trying to get all the reading for TMA02 done prior to that - hence the push on to Chapter 3.
"Chapter 3 : Rubbish society: affluence, waste and values" - this chapter was not really that interesting and it is not needed for TMA02, I suppose we may need it later in the course but hopefully not. It starts off simply enough, saying rubbish is stuff we used to value, but don't value any more - value can be financial or emotional, value is not a simple thing to define - but if something has no value to us we call it rubbish and dispose of it - as Aleksandr would say 'simples' !!!
The chapter then links the growth in rubbish to the growth in consumerism and ties this to growing affluence, but it doesn't explain if this growing affluence is averaged across the population or is suggesting everyone is now more affluent - which is incorrect. The chapter states that disposable income after tax has increased by 150% between 1971 and 2006 - but later in the chapter the author shows that over the last 30 years (1979 to 2006) the poorest 10% have had an increase in weekly income of 39%, but the richest 10% by 80%, those in between by 50%, the figures do not add up and seem contradictory.
The weakest part of the chapter was the explanation of Michael Thompson's 'Rubbish Theory'. He said that items have 3 states, 'transient' (in use but with falling value), 'rubbish' (things with no value) and 'durable' (items that gain in value over time due to rarity for example). This makes sense, however, he then says that items can move from 'transient' to 'durable', but do so via 'rubbish', which does not make sense, even with the example given of the Stevengraphs. The Stevengraphs were silk woven pictures made in the late 1800s, but are far more valuable now than they were originally - an example of 'transient' moving to 'durable', but how could they ever have become 'rubbish', as they would have been thrown away - rather than what has happened, people have held on to them for about 100 years until the price has risen and they are now selling them to collectors. So if they have been kept for 100 years they must have been emotionally valued, if not financially, so they could never have been' rubbish'.
There is then a fairly sensible discussion on factors influencing Demand and Supply, and then a discussion on aesthetic revaluation talking about rubbish being turned in to art - Tracey Emin & Chris Jordan.
So a bit of a mixed chapter, the most disappointing aspects being contradictory arguments and very weak and unchallenged theories.
Chapter 3 of Making Social Lives (7 hrs)
'Rubbish Society' (Audio CD 45 mins)
Making Connections (Audio CD 30 mins)
Making Connections (Audio CD 30 mins)
Online Activities 13-15 (2 hrs 30 mins)
Online Quiz: Making Social Lives, Ch 3 (15 mins)Reflection: learning through assessment (45 mins)
Our second tutorial is this weekend, so I am trying to get all the reading for TMA02 done prior to that - hence the push on to Chapter 3.
"Chapter 3 : Rubbish society: affluence, waste and values" - this chapter was not really that interesting and it is not needed for TMA02, I suppose we may need it later in the course but hopefully not. It starts off simply enough, saying rubbish is stuff we used to value, but don't value any more - value can be financial or emotional, value is not a simple thing to define - but if something has no value to us we call it rubbish and dispose of it - as Aleksandr would say 'simples' !!!
The chapter then links the growth in rubbish to the growth in consumerism and ties this to growing affluence, but it doesn't explain if this growing affluence is averaged across the population or is suggesting everyone is now more affluent - which is incorrect. The chapter states that disposable income after tax has increased by 150% between 1971 and 2006 - but later in the chapter the author shows that over the last 30 years (1979 to 2006) the poorest 10% have had an increase in weekly income of 39%, but the richest 10% by 80%, those in between by 50%, the figures do not add up and seem contradictory.
The weakest part of the chapter was the explanation of Michael Thompson's 'Rubbish Theory'. He said that items have 3 states, 'transient' (in use but with falling value), 'rubbish' (things with no value) and 'durable' (items that gain in value over time due to rarity for example). This makes sense, however, he then says that items can move from 'transient' to 'durable', but do so via 'rubbish', which does not make sense, even with the example given of the Stevengraphs. The Stevengraphs were silk woven pictures made in the late 1800s, but are far more valuable now than they were originally - an example of 'transient' moving to 'durable', but how could they ever have become 'rubbish', as they would have been thrown away - rather than what has happened, people have held on to them for about 100 years until the price has risen and they are now selling them to collectors. So if they have been kept for 100 years they must have been emotionally valued, if not financially, so they could never have been' rubbish'.
There is then a fairly sensible discussion on factors influencing Demand and Supply, and then a discussion on aesthetic revaluation talking about rubbish being turned in to art - Tracey Emin & Chris Jordan.
So a bit of a mixed chapter, the most disappointing aspects being contradictory arguments and very weak and unchallenged theories.
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
DD101 Introducing the Social Sciences - Week 5
The suggested time table for Week 5
To be completed by the 11th March.
This week's work was just as 'full on' as last week. The chapter 'One Stop Shopping - the power of supermarkets' was quiet a mixed chapter, it started discussing Tesco-Towns and the proposal for two Tesco supermarkets, one which on the face of it was unnecessary and could harm the community, and one which would be of great benefit to another community. Both sides of both arguments were discussed along with the notion of supermarket power.
The next part of the chapter discussed what makes supermarkets powerful and introduced important terms like 'market power', buyer power', positive and zero sum gains. Also under discussion was the concept of a monopoly and how and who measures this, and what 'damage' or 'benefits' does this bring to communities.
The last part of the chapter talked about the 'dominance of suppliers around the glode', and are third world workers exploited, or not, by big chains looking for cheap labour - is it a positive sum or a zero sum gain for these relationships.
At this time due to the current financial climate in the UK there is much discussion about the UK's role in providing foreign aid especially to countries like Indian who have an expanding economy. While it is easy for some to point to the continued poverty in Indian and say we 'must do more', I would suggest that due to the caste system and culture in Indian foreign financial aid will do little to lift the poorest out of poverty - as the caste system exists to keep them there.
If people are really interested in helping the poorest in Indian then it is a far more complicated social solution that is required - financial aid will not do it alone, and for this reason I would suggest that the third world workers producing cheap goods for UK supermarkets are in a positive sum gain relationship at present.
This chapter also introduced the concept of quantitative and qualitative data or evidence, and encourages the reader to question the source and motive of so called 'evidence'. This is where I find 'Social Science' a bit difficult to take seriously as a 'science', the chapter discussed 'evidence', that I would class as opinion, and conclusions seem to be based on untested or unsubstantiated 'facts'.
Anyway, a lot to take in and the bulk of the reading for TMA 02 is now complete.
Chapter 2 of Making Social Lives (7 hrs)
'Evidence in the social sciences' (Audio CD 45 mins)
Online Activities 9-12 (3 hrs 30 mins)
This week's work was just as 'full on' as last week. The chapter 'One Stop Shopping - the power of supermarkets' was quiet a mixed chapter, it started discussing Tesco-Towns and the proposal for two Tesco supermarkets, one which on the face of it was unnecessary and could harm the community, and one which would be of great benefit to another community. Both sides of both arguments were discussed along with the notion of supermarket power.
The next part of the chapter discussed what makes supermarkets powerful and introduced important terms like 'market power', buyer power', positive and zero sum gains. Also under discussion was the concept of a monopoly and how and who measures this, and what 'damage' or 'benefits' does this bring to communities.
The last part of the chapter talked about the 'dominance of suppliers around the glode', and are third world workers exploited, or not, by big chains looking for cheap labour - is it a positive sum or a zero sum gain for these relationships.
At this time due to the current financial climate in the UK there is much discussion about the UK's role in providing foreign aid especially to countries like Indian who have an expanding economy. While it is easy for some to point to the continued poverty in Indian and say we 'must do more', I would suggest that due to the caste system and culture in Indian foreign financial aid will do little to lift the poorest out of poverty - as the caste system exists to keep them there.
If people are really interested in helping the poorest in Indian then it is a far more complicated social solution that is required - financial aid will not do it alone, and for this reason I would suggest that the third world workers producing cheap goods for UK supermarkets are in a positive sum gain relationship at present.
This chapter also introduced the concept of quantitative and qualitative data or evidence, and encourages the reader to question the source and motive of so called 'evidence'. This is where I find 'Social Science' a bit difficult to take seriously as a 'science', the chapter discussed 'evidence', that I would class as opinion, and conclusions seem to be based on untested or unsubstantiated 'facts'.
Anyway, a lot to take in and the bulk of the reading for TMA 02 is now complete.
Sunday, 13 February 2011
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.
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