The OU and the new site

Well I have finally gotten round to it and moved my site to a new provider, so it has a new look and hopefully will be easier to manage than the old one.

It's been a while since I felt any inspiration to write anything but now I have a new home I figured it would be a good time to start again. 

Since I last posted anything I decided that I would take a short course to give me something to do in the evenings.  After a lot of looking around at the local colleges and what was available for an immediate start I settled on an OU course.  The OU has a lot of different short courses that you can take at home without the need for any off site workshops, and that really appealed to me as a way to get back into doing something more formal.  After going through the courses I settled on Fossils and the History of Life.  

The course is classified as a short science module, but you do not need to have a lot of science experience to be able to take the course.  You carry out all of the study as suits you, with the requirement to submit an online assessment (ECA) on one of 2 dates (depending on which suits your needs)

For my course which started in May, the assessment had to be submitted by Thursday of this week, and today I submitted mine.

It was a really enjoyable course and I would recommend this (or any other short course) if you are looking to pick up something.

If you are going to take an OU course then I would recommend that you

(1) Pick something thats interesting to you.  You will be paying to study the course and it is hard to motivate yourself if you find what you are studying dull

(2) Look over the suggested study schedule and decide which assessment you will be taking (there are often two).  You can change your mind at any time as to which you want to take so you don't have to worry about that.  The study calendar is a good tool though as it gives you an idea as to just how much you need to do 

(3) Decide how many hours you are going to be able to spend, honestly, on your studying.  The points that the course is worth roughly equate the to number of hours a week you need to spend (10 point courses are about 6-10 hours a week).  This will help you decide which assessment you will want to pick

(4) Have your own study space - it helps you get in the right frame of mind

(5) If you have assessment questions answer them on paper as you go, so that when you complete your assessment at the end you just have to review your answers

(6) Make use of the message boards if thats your thing.  There is an online community who you can discuss things.  Personally I did not make a lot of use of this but other folks do and find it usefull

(7) Most importantly ENJOY yourself and don't be stressed about it.  You are doing this for fun

It can seem daunting when you see the time commitment but if you think about it 6-10 hours is only 2 hours a day for 5 days and that has to be better than watching pap on the telly.

If you are interested take a look at the OU site