Archives for Study - Page 11
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A215 Creative Writing Starts Soon
The next course on my Open University degree is a departure from the Business Studies focus, I'll be studing Creative Writing (course code A215). I got the course materials the other day, a big red book (affectionately known to the students of A215 as BRB); some CDs with author interviews and a study guide. Controversially amongst those on the forum there is no list of TMA questions (all the usual guidance etc is there, but the core questions that tell you what is required are missing). Theories abound on whether this is to get us to engage first, or whether they are just still re-writing the TMA questions. I guess we'll find out soon enough. The course website and tutor group forums are due to open on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to this course, for what I hope are obvious…
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Next Steps
I've had a busy couple of weeks. First I had an Open University exam for the end of MST121 (Using Mathematics). The day after that I was presenting (and facilitating a couple of sessions) at our Directorate away day. The following day I spent 4 hours with the Government Digital Service, which was very interesting. GDS is a very interesting environment, it has a buzz about it that is very different from your normal central government department. I think it is something to do with the very high geek quotient present. In the space of two desks one guy was in a tweed suit with a (proper) bow tie and another was in t-shirt and shorts. There was also a lot of lego about. I actually quite liked the use of lego minifigures on their Agile tracker board. Each dev…
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More Studying
After a short break I'm back studying with the OU, for two reasons, one of which is that as a continuing student before the fee increases I need to do at least one course a year to keep that dispensation, and the other is that I've found out that I can't get credit for my previous studies (a from the University of Glasgow from 1989-1992) because they were too long ago. So my idea of upgrading my Ordinary degree to an Honours is going to take a lot longer (but will leave me with two degrees as the OU degree I'm working towards is a BA(Hons) in Business Studies). Anyway, having done 90/120 points at level 3 I'm now back to level 1 and have just started the 30 point MST121 Understanding Mathematics course. This is a little late as…
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Strategy Study Notes
I am currently (Aug 2011) studying module B301 "Making Sense of Strategy" with the Open University. This is a final year (third year, level 3) undergraduate module which forms a core part of their BA in Business Studies. I have an exam in mid-October 2011, so I thought that rather than use index cards (as I did when I did my at the University of Glasgow (1989-1992)) I would stick all the core ideas and other facts to cram for the exam into some wiki pages, which I could then edit and refine much more easily. Also I will probably then convert all it into something easily printable to re-read as many times as possible prior to the exam. So here are my Strategy Study Notes. Related articles Library Services Open Day - Thursday 11th August 2011 " University of Glasgow Library () Stakeholder Management…
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Collaboration
For some people collaboration is a dirty word, with connotations from those who collaborated with the nazis in WW2. Not for me though, I think that it makes for a generally better outcome than trying to do everything oneself. However it does have its downsides. You often need to compromise, other people may have more time than you and drive things faster than you'd like, and perhaps not in the direction you'd choose. That said, good collaboration gives you more than you could have achieved on your own. Where has this sudden enthusiasm for collaboration come from I hear you think. Well its not a sudden enthusiasm, but a timely articulation. My OU course (B301 Making Sense of Strategy) has just entered the collaborative block. Do for the next four weeks or so we need to work as a group…