Not much that was new to me. Book recommendations from chat.
Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown
learning how to learn by barbara oakley
Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown has some incredible memory tricks.
I downloaded the slides and will make notes from those later. Look for "sematic" memory.
Looked important and useful, and was. I spent time before that reading TMA01 and making sure I at least knew what the questions were, if not the answers. I'm now much more confident about doing this, and have lots of ideas for the "reflection" parts.
In particular, the question of what skills I have. I hadn't thought of this as a skill any more than breathing, but it looks as if my ability to read the instructions (and the question) is well above average. I'm putting this down to 30 years of "read the spec, spot inconsistencies, implement".
Other than that, it's been a good few days for attending talks, mainly from Cambridge. One physics-based about power storage in the future, one about Stonehenge....
A couple of rather "bleurgh" days. Good job I'm well ahead of the timetable, I've got very little constructive done.
I've looked at Unit 2 and done the Plan - that was some enjoyable time with Excel macros working out how best to C&P the list of sections and duration.
Thursday morning, a talk at 11:00 (which I only just woke up for)
"Stepping up from Access to Level 1 (Mixed faculty) "
https://studenthublive.open.ac.uk/content/stepping-access-level-1-mixed-faculty-17-oct-2024
Some recommended links, which I've investigated since to find they're less useful than I'd hoped.
A demo of note-taking, how not to, from a participant who was trying to copy all the text on the slides (which are provided) by re-typing. I suggested a quick screenshot and drop to a Word doc, but I don't think she got it.
A really good talk! The slides are downloadable, and I made so many notes (a lot from the chat) that they have their own Word doc.
It also answered an underlying uneasiness for me - am I working and thinking at the right "level"? No, I'm not. Some questions will be examining our understanding of the module material. No more, and references to sources outside that will not count. This is, after all, a pre-university course. Equivalent of A-level. I need to dial back to the days of just referencing the school-supplied text book. Remember the advice I'm giving to my A-level CS student, and follow it myself.
Also, the advice I'm getting on writing and getting the length right will very much apply to writing slides for teaching for the WEA, though there I've been known to copy/paste from my sources, and I can't do that here.
Actions:
Look into mindmaps, and a thing called Obsidian
Find how to get Windows to read text aloud
Book rec: "Good Essay Writing: A Social Sciences Guide by redman and maples" - downloaded Kindle sample. It's written specifically for the OU!
Another book rec:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Study-Guide-Andy-Northedge/dp/0749259744
So, Wednesday night I had my promised phone call from my tutor. All very constructive. But, what he says about how tutorials will work is nothing like what the talk about tutorials said! No classes, no slides, no video, all 1:1 by phone. Apparently Access courses never have all that.
Action: feedback to presenters of that talk? - done, via student forum
I can find recordings, and a note of who ran it, here https://learn1.open.ac.uk/mod/connecthosted/viewrecordings.php?id=19619
Finish writing "activity 4" and send it to him (optional, but OK)
Which means sorting out how to do references.
https://learn1.open.ac.uk/mod/connecthosted/view.php?id=19619
It seems that link doesn't work after the talk is over. Here's the recording
https://ou.adobeconnect.com/pldj83g826tw/
General advice:
Read with the TMA question at the start of each block then read and take notes with the TMA question in mind.
you can access all recordings without booking on to a tutorial
My advice is to set up a calendar or diary with all the deadlines of TMAs/ EMA/ Exams etc. I have set mine up. Its good to frame your life around for the next 10 months!
L101 English Language has an example TMA01 the two questions in Resources
PDFs downloaded (though I'm not sure where to)
I also got the emaiil to send a photo of my "study buddy" to.
Action: as I was thinking, set up a Google calender with all deadlines - done
Later the same day...
It’s okay to ask questions. As part of our Student Hub Live Freshers week this is a live video session where we’ll be meeting some of the people who can help you on your journey.
Student Home provides links to many parts of the university one is the but where should you direct your question? In attendance will be a guest from the Information Security team, a Student Support Team adviser, a tutor and a fellow student.
There will also be a short video with some great hints and tips from the library. Everyone will have an informal chat about what sorts of questions they can help with and we will also try to answer some of your own questions.
(No, I haven't actioned anything from the talk this morning.)
Bits copied from chat:
Check out "Being an OU student" at https://www.open.edu/openlearn
Disability office 01908 541 082 Mon to Fri: 09:00 - 17:00
"Year 1 we could only refernce the odule books, can we use any books in level 2 onwards or is it the same as level 1?" - what???
So that was "welcome to the OU"
Some interesting links in the Chat, which I made notes of in Notepad as it went along. I seem to be one of the longest out of formal education - many of those worrying about it have only been out 10 years or so!
Daisy Main: 11:33. I reccomend for Onenote if you learn on the go! keeps everything in one place
Felicity_SHL: 11:36. https://help.open.ac.uk/notetaking-techniques/recording-your-notes
Rafa_SHL: 11:36. Effective note taking session: https://studenthublive.open.ac.uk/content/effective-note-taking-15-aug-2024
Here's the catch-up recording of the SHL session on Effective Academic Communication: https://studenthublive.open.ac.uk/content/effective-academic-communication-23-jul-2024
This page has information on the different types of assignments if this helps too 🙂 https://help.open.ac.uk/browse/assessments-and-exams
So all those links are action to do, and I'd better look at OneNote, since three people recommended it.
https://studenthublive.open.ac.uk/content/am-i-too-old-age-just-number-17-sep-2024
No, I'm not (surprise!) I've been introduced to problems that others have, or expect to have. Most are irrelevant to me.
There were some interesting tools and terms used that may be helpful. I wish I'd read the guidance on note-taking before attending rather than as a result!
Further interesting demos of what this Connect application is capable of. I'm impressed!
There was mention of a thing called "body doubling" as a study aid. They're using a very different meaning of that phrase from me!
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/body-doubling-adhd#alternatives
https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/pomodoro-technique
That's the Pomodoro technique (and I may have to hunt Amazon for a tomato-shaped timer)
Like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Judge-Analogue-Timer-Tomato-Red/dp/B00SXKZ1TY?th=1
Arrived Wednesday afternoon
And the note-taking techniques
https://help.open.ac.uk/notetaking-techniques
This might be a good place to keep my notes?
That was yesterday evening. Quite a few possible tools were mentioned, but I'm only looking at the freebies.
https://www5.open.ac.uk/library/referencing-and-plagiarism/bibliographic-management
Here's the tool I'm thinking of using
https://service.elsevier.com/app/home/supporthub/mendeley/
ACTION: join, investigate
done, 4th Nov
I'm signed up for a bunch of OU talks - some from the library, some from the Student Hub. This uses a new (to me) video conferencing tool, Adobe Connect. So it's been downloaded, and so far I've attended one talk. All seems very straightforward, though I'm not yet sure how I get a copy of the chat.
One thing I did notice was that when the slides are being shared, I can click on a link in the slide, and it works!
I did one yesterday from the Library, about reference management tools. Fascinating! I probably won't need it for my OU studies this year or the next, but I can use one of those to get my WEA notes under control.
Later this afternoon there's "Am I too old for this: age is just a number?". The reminder email tells me I can download the slides in advance, so I'll do that.
And in "freshers week" (24th Sep) I have a few more lined up.
Note to self: list of more to sign up for!
https://studenthublive.open.ac.uk/
This blog might contain posts that are only visible to logged-in users, or where only logged-in users can comment. If you have an account on the system, please log in for full access.
