Tag archives for academic
B204 Feedback – A Student Perspective of B204 Leadership, Influencing & Change
I've recently finished studying for B204 Leadership, Influencing and Change, I thought I'd share my B204 feedback. It's not a module I can recommend, for a variety of reasons. Some of these are to do with the specific tutor I had (who I didn't find effective) and some are around the course-work and assessment. I'm posting this before I know what my final mark is, just to avoid the 'sour grapes' aspect of failing it (which I doubt, I scored in the low 60s for my continuous assessment). In the spirit of constructive feedback I copied down my responses to the OU's end of course student questionnaire to get B204 feedback. I doubt any of these comments will feature in their prospectus, so I thought I'd post them on my blog for future prospective students of B204 to find. Feel…
Decoding Assignment Questions – Three Steps to Success
If you want to get a good grade in your open university tutor marked assignment (TMA) then you must answer the assignment questions. I've written about the other steps to getting awesome assignment marks before. However a few more tutorials, and some painful personal experience, has shown that I need to revisit answering the assignment questions. Three Steps to Decoding Assignment Questions Read the assignment questions closely Identify the thinking or cognitive skills Pick out appropriate theories from the assignment questions 1. Reading the Assignment Questions Closely The people that write our assignment questions are very careful in their use of language. They pick the words to give us clues, and they use them precisely. So spend some time reading the question and make no assumptions about what you are being asked to do. Break the assignment questions into each…
B204 Leadership, Influencing and Change – Tutorial Two Tips
Three models of change in scientific theories, depicted graphically to reflect roughly the different views associated with Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and Paul Feyerabend. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I went to the B204 Leadership, Influencing and Change tutorial in the LSE a week or so ago, and I learnt quite a bit about TMAs and engaging with B204's course material. In summary there's a lot of material on this course, and you can't read it all. So don't try. A key part of the critical thinking required is choosing what to read, and knowing when you've got enough theory to answer the questions. B204 doesn't have an exam, so you don't need to cram everything in your head. Useful B204 Leadership Theories The tutor suggested that a good strategy for B204 Leadership, Influencing and Change was to focus on a small…
Academic Bookshelf – Bookshelves Abound = #Shelfie 05
The Bookshelves Abound series continues with the Academic Bookshelf. This one of the five bookshelves on the upstairs landing. It sits next to the window at the top of the stairs and is next to the new bookshelf, the one the new books go on until I have time to read and shelf them properly. Academic Bookshelf The thinnest upstairs bookshelf is the academic bookshelf, which has a lot of university textbooks on it The Academic Bookshelf is so titled because most of the books on it are from various university courses that I've studied. It doesn't have every single academic book that I own on it. There just wouldn't be room, even if I cleared the games from the academic bookshelf. Working from the top, here's a run down of what you can find on the academic bookshelf Games The…
B204 Leadership, Influencing and Change started
B204, my last Open University course for my Business Studies degree officially started on Saturday. It's about Leadership, Influencing and Change. You might have guessed this from the title. B204 Course Materials These have some novel features. B204 is the first OU course where I've had a commercial DVD to watch for the coursework. Leadership and Change There's a large practical element to B204. The key part of the end of module assessment is a work based initiative to identify and implement a change using the things that you have learnt on the course. Although there is a practical angle there is still a strong academic background. Unlike B628 there aren't marks just for doing things in B204, you need to have the right academic quality. I'm happy about this, because to get good marks in B628 required a lot…