Personal Blogs

4 May 2026

When I submitted my EMA, the university assessment system threw a bit of a wobbler. After a few days of work, I logged in to check to see that the right version of my EMA had been saved in the EMA system. It had.

I still haven’t received my TMA 4 back yet. Any day now…

7 May 2026

I’ve received my TMA 4. I did well. I’m really pleased, since I really enjoyed writing it.

This evening I’ve attended another EMA preparation session. Having a bit of time away from the EMA has been helpful, since it has given me a bit of perspective. I do feel as if I need to rewrite some bits of my EMA. I’m unsure whether I need to adjust the main thrust of the question. I shall have to have a think. I think it is okay, but I need to view by writing with a more critical eye. I’ve really struggled with the necessary ambiguity of the question.

Everything comes down to this last assessment. If I ace it (which is unlikely) I get a first. Although I’m going to have a try, it is terribly unlikely that I’ll succeed.

In other news, I’m now formally registered for the MA. The reading list is very long. I need to get reading over the summer.

18 May 2026

I’ve been away from home for a couple of weeks. During that time, I had another idea about how to structure my EMA. This new idea would allow for a more dynamic compare and contrast structure, whilst at the same time emphasising some of the points that were highlighted in some of the later EMA preparation sessions. This morning, I sat down to do some editing, but I quickly realised that what I had was good enough. If I started to tear apart the structure of my paragraphs, I would lose something that was already there. I feel content with what I’ve written.

With my checklist added, and a small number of words deleted, and one typographical issue fixed, I’ve made another submission. I think I’m done with the final assessment of my degree.

27 May 2026

Tomorrow is the EMA cut off date. The day after that is the TM354 exam, the module that I’m supporting. I’m a bit nervous about both of these, to be honest. There’s nothing more to do, except worry.

Being a glutton for punishment, the first set text for my MA has arrived. The Norton Edition of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. I’ve flicked through the introduction, but haven’t got very far. Before going on holiday, I need to get the other couple of compulsory set texts. But all this is for another day.

To everyone who has been studying A335 with me: good luck everyone!

Software engineering – a modern approach by Marco Tulio Valente is a freely available textbook published in 2024.

I first learnt about this text after carrying out some internet searches, but then later discovered that colleagues had discovered it too. I soon realised that there were a range of different opinions about it. With these differences of opinions in mind, I decided to have a good look at it to form my own opinion.

I approached it with two questions in mind: could it potentially complement the existing TM354 Software Engineering module? Also, could it be a useful resource for either module teams or students, as we work on a new version of the module? In some respects, this review follows on from an earlier blog post about the SWEBOK v4.

I begin by having a look through each of the chapters. I then reflect on what its shortcomings are. I then wrap everything up with a set of closing reflections and share a personal conclusion.

The chapters

The text begins with a bit of history, highlighting the significance of the 1965 NATO conference. Before sharing a high level summary of what is contained within the text, it shares a high level objective, which is to ‘give an overview of the knowledge accumulated over the years in software engineering and, consequently, to shed light what is studied in this field’.

Chapter 2 takes us to the subject of software engineering processes, and immediately into the world of what is meant by agile. Before we got here, we were usefully reminded that there are different types of software product and this, may well, necessitate the adoption of different approaches. A discussion about agile manifesto leads to a discussion of eXtreme Programming, Scrum and Kanban.

Next up is a treatment of requirements. Functional and non-functional requirements get a mention, as do user stories and different forms of use case. It is interesting to see the inclusion of A/B testing within the requirements chapter, but as end users of sites like Amazon, we have been unwittingly subjected to these types of tests.

The chapter about models steps into a topic that is heavily featured in TM354, but will find its way into TM253 in one way or another. After a slight digression into formal methods we are introduced to the Unified Modelling Language (UML). Curiously, UML activity diagrams (which is often about requirements) appears after sequence diagrams. Contrasting with TM354, there is nothing about state diagrams.

The chapter about design principles offers a useful compendium of ideas and concepts. Some key ideas highlighted include conceptual integrity, information hiding, cohesion, and so on.  Whilst these design principles are useful, there is nothing about what design means, or how to do design. One section that I did like is the summary of the Law of Demeter, which isn’t done as well as it could be within TM354 (which is a further example about how the textbook addresses similar ideas). Also, like TM354, towards the end of the chapter, we are introduced to the idea of software complexity metrics.

Following the principles we have a detailed discussion about patterns. It presents a more detailed catalogue than what is given in TM354. Patterns takes us to the notion of architecture. This is the opposite way round to how TM354 introduces it. Ultimately, the order may well come down to pedagogic preference. In terms of software, I appreciated the introduction of the operating system design debate, which leads onto a discussion about monoliths and microservices, which is a topic that has recently found its way into the latest update of TM354.

Testing is introduced in terms of levels and scope, which are then expanded upon, beginning with unit testing. Related topics that are covered include test coverage, mocks (which is not covered in TM354), test-driven development, partitioning and boundary value analysis (which are covered in TM354). The next chapter on Refactoring is quite a practical. It shares some useful examples, and drawing on the terminology from the original Fowler text, offering a useful distilled summary.

The final two chapters, DevOps and GitHub can, to some degree, be read together. Both are important. The DevOps chapter begins with a nice summary. This leads to an introduction of the principles of the version control system (which is also addressed within TM113). Related terms, such as continuous integration and continuous delivery are introduced and explained (whilst also distinguishing between delivery and deployment). The chapter on Git introduces the key Git commands, and explains key concepts, such as merging, forking and branching.

The good points

What I like about the text is that it follows the SWEBOK relatively closely. If you know the SWEBOK, you will be able to recognise headings reflected in this book. It doesn’t just repeat a summarised version; it does add value. In addition to offering a useful bibliography, it also offers sets of questions, which are presented as exercises. The frequently asked questions sections in the chapters are helpful; they consolidate questions that students might ask during a class.

Another useful aspect to the text is that it provides numerous links to original sources or articles.

What is missing?

A few things are missing. As suggested earlier, there is a chapter on design principles, but little about the practice of design. Agile teams are mentioned, but there is also very little on how they should be formed or facilitated. This said, there are references to other resources that are helpful.

Turning to more technical elements, there isn’t much about software engineering economics, but there are references to practical techniques such as planning poker (which gets a very brief mention in TM354). I also feel that, given the importance of software security, the whole subject is underemphasised. Whilst the testing materials offers a useful high level summary, it lacks a reference to materials about Pen Testing.

From my perspective, there is no materials on the increasingly important subject of environmental computing. There should be something about energy and energy consumption, and how this might relate to software architecture. Another area that, in my opinion, ought to be covered in more depths is the subject of diversity and its important within teams.

Bearing in mind these points, a related area that is missing is the lack of consideration of the sociotechnical. It doesn’t, for example, consider the ways in which computing or information technology can be understood or situated within a human activity system. It could also be argued that the SWEBOK doesn’t do a great job of this either.

One thing I am grumpy about might be to do with the type of the text I’m using, which is the ePUB version. There isn’t an index, a glossary or a consolidated set of references, and an index about where those references are used. A further question to ask is: could I tolerate this? Possibly.

Reflections

No text is ever going to perfect and tick every single requirement box (even if we ever knew what those requirements were). Despite its gaps and shortcomings, I quite like this book. I especially like how readable it is. What it offers is a useful high level summary of many of the topics that are highlighted within the SWEBOK. I felt the section about DevOps was particularly helpful.

What I haven’t done is had a look through the resources that clearly accompany this book. There appears to be a lot: podcasts, slides, and code that can be found on GitHub. I also haven’t directly compared this text to others. Last year, I did have a quick look at a new book by Sethi, but I felt it wasn’t as clearly written as it could have been. Ian Sommerville’s text on Software Engineering remains highly regarded, but Sommerville has retired from teaching. In a field that appears to be changing quite rapidly, applicability is important.

I do feel it accidentally complements the current TM354 Software Engineering module surprisingly well. Will it complement the forthcoming TM113 and TM253 modules? I’m not sure; they are going to be quite different modules, but cover themes that are certainly highlighted by the text. As for TM363? We’ve still got to figure all that out.

Over the last few years, whilst preparing to study a new English module, I’ve scrutinised the reading list, and have compiled annotated versions (without permission from the various module teams, I must add) to help me to learn more about what I have coming up.

What follows is an annotated reading list for MA English literature part 1. Each text is referenced using the Harvard referencing format (rather than the format used on the OU website). Where possible, links to any digital alternatives that might be available.

This list appears to be intimidating, but the module website offers a bit of guidance: “four of these set books are core texts that all students study. You'll also choose one of three strands of study in each block, with three texts in each strand, which means you'll study 13 of these set books in total.” Students choose different strands from each of the blocks, depending on interests and aspirations. The module materials offers a bit of guidance about the possible choices.

Core texts

Everyone is required to read the following:

Collins, W. (2019) The Moonstone. Oxford World’s Classics. Edited by F. O’Gorman.  ISBN 9780198819394.

Also available from Project Gutenberg: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

Conrad, J. (2016) Heart of Darkness. Norton Critical Edition (5th edition). Edited by Paul B. Armstrong. ISBN 9780393264869.

A version without accompanying critical essays is available from Project Gutenberg: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Desai, A. (2018) The Complete Stories. Vintage Classics. ISBN 9781784706647

Milton, J. (2020) Paradise Lost. Norton Critical Edition (2nd edition). Edited by Gordon Teskey. ISBN 9780393617085.

As with the Conrad text, a version without accompanying critical essays is available from Project Gutenberg: Paradise Lost by John Milton.

When using Amazon to view information about the Norton Critical Editions you might be directed to a Kindle edition. This Kindle edition is different to the Norton editions and does not contain the accompanying essays, as the link might imply.

Block 1: Literature and the Popular

Strand 1: Books and Readers

Eliot, G. (2019) Middlemarch. Oxford World's Classics. Edited by David Carroll and David Russell. ISBN 9780198815518.

Available from Project Gutenberg: Middlemarch by George Eliot.

Gaskell, E. (2008) North and South. Oxford World's Classics. Edited by Angus Easson. ISBN 9780199537006.

Available from Project Gutenberg: North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell.

Hawthorne, N. (2008) Young Goodman Brown and Other Tales. Oxford Word’s Classics. Edited by Brian Harding. ISBN 9780199555154.

The story Young Goodman Brown can be found in Project Gutenberg: Mosses from an old manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Other stories can be found in Twice-told tales. The story Ethan Brand can be found in Little Masterpieces.

Strand 2: Form and Genre

Aristotle (2013) Poetics. Oxford Word’s Classics. Edited by Antony Kenny. ISBN 9780199608362.

Available from Project Gutenberg: The Poetics of Aristotle.

Hughes, D.B. (2010) In a Lonely Place. Penguin Modern Classics. ISBN 9780141192314.

Shakespeare, W. (2008) The History of King Lear. Oxford Word’s Classics. Edited by Stanley Wells. ISBN 9780199535828.

Available from Project Gutenberg: King Lear by William Shakespeare along with a version of the complete works.

Strand 3: History and Context

Anonymous (1976) Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An): An Authentic Eighteenth-Century Detective Novel. Dover Publications Inc. Edited by Robert van Gulik. ISBN 9780486233376.

Poe, E. A. (2004) The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Norton Critical Edition. Edited by G. R. Thompson. ISBN 9780393972856.

A significant number of eBooks are available on Project Gutenberg: Books by Poe, Edgar Allan.

Christie, A. (2010) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. HarperCollins.

Available from Project Gutenberg: The murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. 

The ISBN that was specified for the Christie novel unexpectedly refers to the Turkish edition which appears to be unobtainable. I have no idea whether this is deliberate or unintentional. Alternative versions are, of course, available.

Block 2: Literature and Revolution

Strand 1: Books and Readers

Gibson, W. (2011) Pattern Recognition. Penguin. ISBN 9780241953532.

von Goethe, J. W. (1989) The Sorrows of Young Werther. Penguin Classics. Translated by Michael Hulse. ISBN 9780140445039.

Available from Project Gutenberg: The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Since this is a translation, it is worth noting that this version is likely to be substantially different from the recommended text.

Strand 2: Form and Genre

Dickinson, E. (2016) Poems as She Preserved Them. Harvard University Press. Edited by Christine Miller. ISBN 9780674737969. 

Available from Project Gutenberg: Books by Dickinson, Emily.

Harrison, T. (2013) Selected Poems. Penguin. ISBN 9780241964842.

Strand 3: History and Context

James, C. L. R. (2012) Toussaint Louverture. The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History. A Play in Three Acts. Duke University Press. Edited by Christian Høgsbjerg. ISBN 9780822353140.

This is a critical edition. A related resource appears on Project Gutenberg: St. Domingo, its revolution and its hero, Toussaint Louverture.

Wordsworth, W. (1979) The Prelude: 1799, 1805, 1850. ISBN 9780393090710. Norton Critical Edition. Edited by M. H. Abrams and Stephen Gill.

A version of the Prelude is available in the following Project Gutenberg resource: The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 3 (of 8) by William Wordsworth. The Norton edition is likely to be significant since I understand from earlier studies that there were different editions of the text.

Godwin, W. (2009) Caleb Williams. Oxford World Classics. Edited by Pamela Clemit. ISBN 9780199232062.

Available from Project Gutenberg: Caleb Williams; Or, Things as They Are by William Godwin.

Block 3: Literature and the Global

Strand 1: Books and Readers

Barbusse, H. (2014) Under Fire. Penguin Modern Classics. ISBN 9780141393438.

Available from Project Gutenberg: Under Fire: The Story of a Squad by Henri Barbusse. This version may be different from the Penguin version, since the text is a translation.

Ngugi wa Thiong'o (2002) A Grain of Wheat. Penguin Modern Classics. ISBN 9780141186993.

Strand 2: Form and Genre

Chekhov, A. (2008) About Love and Other Stories. Translated from Russian by Rosamund Bartlett. Oxford World’s Classics. ISBN 9780199536689.

Available from Project Gutenberg: Love, and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. As with other texts, this version is likely to be different to the officially recommended version.

Levi, P. (2012) The Periodic Table. Penguin Essentials. ISBN 9780241956816.

Adichie, C. N. (2017) The Thing Around Your Neck. Fourth Estate. ISBN 9780007306213.

Strand 3: History and Context

Clare, J. (2008) Major Works. Edited by Eric Robinson, David Powell and Tom Paulin. Oxford World’s Classics. ISBN 9780199549795.

There appear to be three collections of Clare’s poetry available from Project Gutenberg, including an audio version, and Poems by John Clare.

Shamsie, K. (2018) Home Fire. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781408886793.

Reflections

The strands that are summarised above don’t appear to be complete. I’m not exactly sure why this is the case. Spenser is mentioned in the module preamble, but not within the reading list. I guess we’ll find out.

Over the summer, I’m going to try to get through the core texts, probably leaving the Collins text until the end of my holiday (since it’s quite a big one). I might also look into whether there’s an audio book version to keep me company on long drives.

When looking for low priced texts, I start with big online bookstore such as Worldofbooks, followed by eBay (where you can just copy/paste the ISBN number into the search bar), followed by Amazon. I think might Google the ISBN number, which then might take me to a publisher’s site.

Whilst I was an undergraduate, I sometimes used a combination of digital and paper texts. On a number of occasions, I’ve used both. When it comes to electronic texts, I’ve always found the Project Gutenberg texts particularly helpful. The printed Norton Critical Editions are also very helpful.

At a first glance, this reading list looks terrifying. It is also one that offers a diverse set of riches. I’m intrigued by the inclusion of a Gibson text. I was in my late teens when I first discovered Gibson’s most famous novel, Neuromancer, which I have since hauled between flats and houses, it’s pages now yellowed.

All the strands look interesting, but some look more interesting than others. I’m drawn to the Forms and Genre strand, but since I’m interested in early modern writing, I’m also attracted to the History and Context strand. This said, I really don’t like Wordsworth’s Prelude, having been introduced to it in a previous module. Which way will I jump? I think I’ll look to the preferred path, and figure it all out from there.

Acknowledgements

This reading list has been edited from the information that is available on the A893 module summary page.

What follows is a disclaimer: I have no connection with the module team, and it is entirely possible that this reading list may change at any point. Always rely on the recommendations from module teams and tutors, rather than anything that I say on any of my blogs.

8 April 2026

I’m back from an easter holiday which passed in a blur. During my break, I managed to read two of the texts that I will be basing my EMA on. I tried to give them both a second read, but I didn’t quite have enough time. I have about two thirds of the second text to go through. My tutor shared some practical advice about how much of the texts I should use; we can’t cover two books with the word count that we have to play with.

Whilst I was away, I also had a quick read of a few critical articles, and skim read Aspects of the Novel (Project Gutenberg) by Forster, which I uploaded to my Kindle. I need to sit down properly with this text, which I’m aware is pretty famous (I’ve heard that Zadie Smith is a fan). I’m also aware that I need to find a few more critical articles that relate to the texts that I’ve chosen. I think I’m going to add this point to my TODO list.

Before digging into the library again, I’m going to get my second text reread. I had better get my virtual highlighter out. I also need to do a final proofread and check of my TMA 4 submission, which I feel I’ve completely forgotten about.

9 April 2026

I’ve been procrastinating doing my day job for an hour by doing a bit of cheeky A335 study. I had a dig into the Gale Literature database to see if I can find some critical sources that relate to my chosen texts. It didn’t take me long to find a bunch of reviews, and an academic article. All in all, I found five articles (six, if I were to include an interview with an author, which is tacked onto one of the PDF files that I’ve downloaded).

It’s all very well finding stuff, what I have to do next is to read them. To set me up, I’ve sent them all over to my Kindle, in anticipation for an evening cup of tea. I’m just hoping that the academic articles are not too theory heavy, since I’m travelling without my ‘heavy Norton book of literary theory’ as I call it.

Right: I have no choice. Back to my day job. I have an important deadline to work to.

10 April 2026

I have five days to turn something around, but before starting my day job this morning, I managed to read all the new articles that I submitted to my Kindle. I can probably work with the critical articles I have spotted, which is a relief. One of them turned out to be an abstract for an article that doesn’t appear to be in any digital libraries I can easily get hold of.

Whilst browsing through the papers that I’ve downloaded, I’ve realised I have a few more I need to read; articles about character, narrative, and so on; articles that I downloaded from a Cambridge Companion. I had hoped to read them whilst I was away. A final note to self is that I need to get back to reading the second text that I’m going to use.

Before doing anything further, I’m going to make a cup of tea.

14 April 2026

I’m struggling to find any time to carry out any of my study. It is nuisance having a day job!

This said, this afternoon I’ve managed to do a proofread of my TMA 4 submission. My conclusion: it reads better than expected. No changes. It has got a sensible structure and makes a series of reasonable points (in my humble opinion). I’m glad I got it in early.

My aim for the rest of this week (in terms of my study) is to finish reading all the remaining stories in the second text. Then it’s onto the process of making notes.

15 April 2026

I’m back onto the reading again. Before starting work, I had a rummage in an online library to try to find some critical sources about the short story. I couldn’t find anything that appealed, but what I did find was very useful. A feature of the Gales database allows you to download collections of critical articles that relate to the work of particular authors. After a bit of clicking on buttons, I managed to download two big PDF files that relate to the authors of my chosen texts. The thing is, they were too big to easily email to my Kindle, so I had to connect it via a USB port and manually transfer the files across.

I’ve now got even more reading to do. And I have still not found anything more general about the genre of the short story.

Another thing I did this morning was to reread the EMA question (which I’ve also transferred to my Kindle). I feel it’s a bit clearer than it was before.

16 April 2026

This morning, I read an article by Stuart Hall (who is formerly of this parish) about cultural identity, since I had noticed his work coming up time and time again. He’s a cracking writer, and made some really clear arguments. I then asked a question: are there any videos of Hall talking about what he had been writing about? I haven’t found a video that matches what he covers in his article, but I have found a video entitled Globalization and Diaspora (YouTube). He packs a lot in; it is certainly worth a listen (irrespective of whether you had an assessment to write).

My next actions will be to continue to read the critical sources that I’ve downloaded. It’ll then be time to begin to make notes, and to stir the pot, to see what structure emerges from whatever I’ve found to be interesting.

I haven’t quite decided on which bits of the texts I’m going to focus on. Hopefully I’ll have that sorted over the weekend.

17 April 2026

When I was driving yesterday, I had an idea. I had an idea about what argument I should use in my EMA. Whilst I was waiting at a set of traffic lights I made a quick note on the back of a receipt. I also think I know which stories I’m going to pick on. I just need to remember what their titles are, and begin to make notes about them.

Today has a mix of different bits of study. I began my day by reading criticism. I then got annoyed with my Kindle; I couldn’t annotate my big PDFs. To get round this, I found a new way to transfer big PDFs to my device. There’s something called the SendToKindle service, which takes an eternity, but it seems to set up the internal file structure in away that makes annotations and highlights possible.

I’m writing this whilst listening to a session called Poetry for Lunch, where the facilitator is talking about Keats. A couple of months back, I listened to an episode of In Our Time, which was very good. When I’m in London, I sometimes walk past a blue plaque dedicated to Keats, on St Thomas’s Street.

I would like to say that I’m going to be able to get back to the criticism tonight, but a bit of marking has landed which I’m going to try to turn around as quickly as I can.

22 April 2026

There’s the first of the EMA tutorials this evening.

I’m making fair progress with the making of notes, but I still have some way to go. Plus, there’s about five or so more articles I need to read through.

29 April 2026

Over the last few days, I’ve had a good old go to write my EMA. I’ve really struggled to understand the question and how to approach it. After a night away from it, I added a paragraph I wanted to add, gave it an edit, and the submitted it. I needed to get it done, since I’ve a load of ‘day job’ work to be getting on with.

I have mixed feelings about what I’ve written. This said, I don’t think I could have written anything that was different, and I feel as if I present a reasonably coherent argument. It’s an argument that, of course, draws on evidence from the text, and uses a good number of secondary readings. Whilst I was writing, I was surprised how quickly I used up the word count.

A curious thought is that I feel as if I should feel relieved since this is the last assignment for my entire degree. The thing is, the score that I get for this EMA is likely to affect my final degree classification. All this means it that I feel on edge; I feel anxious. I want to do well, but due to the inherent (and appropriate) ambiguity within the question, it’s hard to assess whether or not I’ve answered the question well enough. Following the guidance for the EMA, I’ve read pretty widely. I do wonder whether I’ve been reading beyond what was required for the assessment. I feel as if what I’ve submitted is okay, but I don’t know whether it is okay enough.

So, what next? I feel tired, and I could really do with a break. This final stretch has been quite hard graft, but good (and useful) graft.

8 March 2026

I’ve got pretty much a whole day to spend on the next assignment, which is due in about a month’s time. I’ve got a set of definitions to look up, a few articles to search for, and then I’ll begin to collate all the highlights and notes that I’ve scribbled on my Kindle. I’ll begin by having a look at the assignment guidance again.

I finished read William’s Orwell book yesterday. Essentially, it’s a book of criticism. Each chapter addresses a different theme or topic. It goes into Orwell’s progression as a writer, and discusses some commonalities in his novels of the 1930s which is useful. This has led to a couple of ideas that I’m going to add to my notes.

One other thing to do is to listen to a workshop that is all about writing an assignment, and preparing an argument. I’m going to try not to get distracted.

9 March 2026

I’m nearly through writing up all my ‘Kindle scribble’ notes into a Word document. My next step is to move towards digging out quotes from both text that I might want to use. It is gradually taking shape.

When I read the Rhys text over the summer, it immediately resonated me but I wasn’t quite sure why. I couldn’t quite get my head around its fractured narrative structure (if that is the right word to use), but I think I’ve figured out the reason for my emotional response. The narrator, Sasha, shares a devastating phrase that was said to her ex-husband. That phrase very closely resembles a phrase that was said to me by my ex-wife. The text reflects grief, and confusion. I’ve realised that reading Rhys is cathartic.

I’m going to read it for the third time. The more I read it, the more I ‘get’ it, and the more I like it. It’s just taken me a while to get there.

13 March 2026

I went to a really helpful tutorial about Calvino, Salih and Thomas last night. Although I’m not choosing the option to which the texts relate to, I thought I ought to go, just in case I choose one of the texts for the EMA. There was a lot of materials about the concept of metafiction and the metanarrative. Our tutor also threw in a few Greek words for good measure, such as diegesis, which I’ve never heard of before.

Over the last few days, I’ve been rereading the second text (also for the third time). I should be done by the end of today. Tomorrow, I hope to corral together a set of quotes from both texts, which should begin to form the backbone of my essay. If I can get a draft together by the end of next week, I’ll be happy. I feel as if I need to keep the momentum going.

I also tried to apply for the MA in English Lit, but it looks like I’ve got to finish my current qualification first.

15 March 2026

I’ve nearly finished making notes.

I’ve marked a couple of things I need to find out with the word TODO. There’s two points from each text, and a bunch of page references from some secondary reading that I need to pin down. My notes file is certainly going to end up being more than double the length of the essay, but I’m okay with that. I’ve got to know both texts backwards, and forward. I’ll probably add even more words to my notes file as I figure out what my argument is going to be. Hopefully all this preparation will make my writing easier.

After I’ve sorted out my couple of TODOs, I’ll re-read the guidance, and get cracking. I need to find space for the EMA reading, which I hope to do over the easter break.

18 March 2026

TMA 4 has gone in.

Everything came together unexpectedly well. I feel as if I’ve inadvertently uncovered a useful process: read the texts, read secondary sources whilst annotating them at the same time, return to the question, re-read the texts again, go for a few walks and cycle rides, type up a large set of quotes from all the sources, and stir over a couple of days.

This morning, I jumped ahead to read a short section about the digital texts that we have coming up towards the end of the module. This took me towards a collection of online literary texts. This immediately provoked a question: how accessible are these? I’ll leave this question hanging as I return to my day job.

24 March 2026

I’ve had a quick read of book 3, and I’ve been through all the audio/visual materials. I really liked the recording of Thomas reading a fragment of Under Milk Wood, and the video about verbatim theatre.

Although I have a lot of reading ahead of me, I’m now starting to consider the EMA. I quite like the topic, but I fear it’s going to take a bit of figuring out. Although I don’t digital texts, what I might do is have a quick browse the texts that were referenced in the last chapter of the book. I don’t like them since they age, they can appear clunky, and there are likely to be issues with their accessibility. It is as if the machine can be used to do some of the important imaginate work that the reader could be doing.

The full title of this workshop was: The Mechanics of Good Writing in the Arts and Humanities. Although my English degree is now coming to an end, I thought I would go along to a programme wide lunchtime workshop about writing, which took place on 3 March 2026, facilitated by Cindy Benton. This was one of a series of workshops that I attended with the intention of picking up any potential useful tips. I’m really glad I went, since there were some very good tips to be gathered.

What follows are some notes I made, which I’m sharing with permission. When I use quotes, I’m either quoting directly from Cindy, or from the resource that she shared during her session. I would also like to add that the tips shared here may be useful to students who are studying subjects other than the humanities. These notes may also be especially useful for students studying the Computing and IT undergraduate project module, who have to submit a significant report during the end of their degree.

The workshop aim was to focus “on the skills needed to develop good academic writing at the sentence and paragraph level, including how to avoid common sentence structure errors, constructing effective paragraphs, signposting, and using an appropriate academic tone.” Cindy shared an interesting quote from Bourdieu and Passeron (1994); “academic languguage is no-one’s first language”, which I have since tracked down to the following source: Bourdieu, P., Passeron, J.C., & De Saint Martin, M. (1994). Academic discourse, linguistic misunderstanding, and professorial power. Stanford University Press.

I really like this quotation, since it reminds me of some related research that relates to the idea of academic literacies (ORO), that was published by a former OU colleague. From memory, the point is that you’re not just learning about something, you’re also writing about how that subject is discussed or expressed. Put another way, there are a bunch of these hidden rules that you need to figure out.

In computing modules, writing isn’t something that is foregrounded. Students are not typically expected to write essays. Students are, however, expected to write reports, and include short discussions within TMA submissions. Whatever the subject, writing is important.

If you’re a computing student, you might want to skip over the following section about the essay, and start on the section that highlights the importance of the introduction.

The essay

I understand an essay to be a formal piece of writing that is “structured, evidence based, balanced and formal”. It is something that “gives an opportunity to evidence understanding”.

We were asked a question: what makes a good essay?

I noted down three elements of a good essay: presentation, content, structure.

Presentation is important, since it helps the readability. Presentation can be helped by the use of correct use of language, appropriate use of paragraphs which have a clear structure, and correct referencing.

In terms of content, what you include should be relevant. You need to include evidence to support any claims you make and analyse any evidence that you share. Everything that you include should relate back to the essay question.

Turning to structure, there should be a clear introduction, a set of related paragraphs which uses signposts and transitional sentences to move between them, a clear conclusion, and a set of references.

There are things you should avoid: basic language errors (punctuation and word choice), overly personal language, contractions, colloquial language, emotive language, generalisations, and rhetorical questions. The point that we were implicitly returning to is that essays are formal and dispassionate.

Introductions

It is stating the obvious that essays and dissertations should contain introductions.

An introduction sets out the main points you are going to cover. It shares some context to outline what a piece of writing is all about. A rule of thumb is that an introduction should take up between 5 and 10% of a document.

During an introduction, offer a sketch of your conclusion. A practical suggestion is to avoid restating the essay question but instead aim to give an answer to your question. You may write what is called a thesis statement (which is a phrase I’ve not heard of before). A thesis statement should give your answer direction and focus. It should tell the reader about the topic and point out what will be discussed.

In an introduction to a report, you should say something about what you have done or what you have found out. You may also say something about why and how you have done what you have done, whilst also sharing some pointers to sections that follow.

Paragraphs

Each paragraph should share one main point before moving onto the next point. A paragraph should open with a sentence that relates to the thesis statement, or what the paragraph is going to cover. This opening sentence is called a topic sentence.

An effective paragraph has relevance (it has cohesion, which means that it addresses a single point), it has unity and completeness (it develops a point fully before moving on), and coherence (sentences should flow from one to the other and organised in a logical order). An important point to remember is that if your paragraph contains detail that is not related to the aim of the paragraph, leave it out.

A well-known approach to working with paragraphs goes by the abbreviation PEEL: make a point, give evidence from your readings, explain how evidence relates to your point, and then add a linking sentence. Your linking sentence helps with flow and readability. It ensures a clear connection between everything that you have discussed, and can relate back to the question being answered. The explain bit is the analysis bit; it is the part of your paragraph that does a lot of the heavy lifting.

Reflecting on the application of PEEL, a bit of advice I was told by my own tutor was: “don’t end on a quote”. You need to explain what that quote it all about to your reader.

To conclude this section, a very practical tip was: if you’re struggling with your word count, ask whether every paragraph contributes to the overall argument. If not, then consider cutting it.

Signposting

Signposts guides a reader through your argument, essay or report. They can show how points and paragraphs are connected together. They can work at different levels: within sections, at the start of paragraphs (to highlight the point that is going to be addressed), and within sentences. Sentence level signposting makes use of words such as however, alternatively, additionally (adding more ideas). Signposts can also be used within the conclusion, which can offer a reminder of where you got to at the end of the report or essay. They can also work within your conclusion to offer a reminder to the reader about the route they took to get to the end.

Conclusions

Reflecting the introduction, the conclusion to an essay should be anything between 5 to 10% of the total word count. The aim of the conclusion is to bring different threads together, which are expressed in the paragraphs. A conclusion should also show how your essay has addressed the question, and state points that have been identified or shared. Don’t introduce anything that is new. Present your main point or points. Don’t surprise your reader.

A set of questions to ask were shared. These are: is our conclusion related to our essay question? Is it based on evidence? Does it bring thread and points together? Does it avoid adding anything new?

Sentence level errors

The next bit was a quick summary of some small errors that could come up in your writing.

Run on sentences: "are two (or more) sentences that could, and should, stand alone, but that have been spliced together without the proper punctuation or conjunctions" (the word ‘and’). (Thank you Cindy for that precise definition!)

Comma splices: This is where commas, rather than full stops, are used to connect entire sentences together. It can be solved be adding a full stop, or by using a semicolon. A semicolon is used to show that two separate sentences are closely related.

I find all this low level language stuff quite difficult, especially when terms such ‘clause’ and ‘conjunction’ are used. The following resource from the University of Waterloo, Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices offers some helpful guidance.

Another topic that was mentioned was the dreaded apostrophe. I have no shame in declaring that it took me a long time to properly figures this out, although it is inherently very simple. Essentially, the apostrophe relates to possession or ownership. This blog is Chris’s blog. It is my blog. The University of Sussex has a helpful page on The Apostrophe.

This resource is from a wider set of pages on the topic of punctuation, which is worth looking through.

Resources

The PowerPoint resource that accompanied the workshop contained a number of useful resources. I’ve pulled a number of them together and summarise them below:

• Essays (University of Hull): a detailed guide about essay writing. It also contains some useful video tutorials.
• Thesis statements (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill): A handout that summarises what a thesis statement is, and what it can do for you. This is a page from a larger resource.
• Paragraph transitions (Las Positas College): A set of useful dos and don’ts (note the use of the apostrophe!)
• Punctuation (University of Sussex): The detailed resource that was mentioned earlier.
• Grammar and Punctuation (University of Bristol): A series of pages that you can dip in and out of, or go through a page at a time. It also contains a series of help quizzes.
• Writing Centre (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill): A very thorough resource that covers a lot of topics.

And finally:

• OU Study Skills Booklets: always worth a look. Written in an accessible format.

Reflections

Even though I’m an experienced student who has been around the block a few times, this session reminded me that attending events, however familiar, still helps me to pick up new ideas. I came out of this session learning the terms: thesis statement, topic sentence, and comma splices. I still struggle with the idea of an argument when it comes to English essays, but I think I’m getting there.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments are duly given to the Arts and Humanities team that set up this programme of workshops, and to Cindy Benton (whose excellent suggestions for edits spared my grammatical blushes).

When I was about to start a task, I was proactively distracted by a really interesting and topical YouTube recommendation.

In week 20 of TM354 Software Engineering (which is an optional bit of study materials) students are encouraged to listen to a talk by Grady Booch about the topic of software architecture. 

The recommendation I was offered by YouTube was to listen to a talk from The Pragmatic Engineer by Grady entitled The third golden age of software engineering – thanks to AI which is slightly different to his earlier talk about architecture.

The post that was recommended to me is worth a listen (but it is pretty long!) Booch is known for his work on UML, which features heavily in TM354. Over the last couple of years (before I left X), I’ve been aware of Booch’s opinions about Generative AI. I’ve shared his cynicism about the hype that has been shared by the developers of GenAI systems.

It is worth looking at the bookmarked sections of the video. Each of his descriptions of the different ‘golden ages’ are interesting. In it, he highlights drivers and change. In fact, I really like how he introduces the origins of software engineering.

In his talk, he responds to an assertion from the CEO of Anthropic who suggests that AI can take over tasks that are carried out by software engineers in 12 months. Given that people (namely, software engineers) are able to know and understand the richness of the human contexts in which software exists, and be aware of the nuances that can be expressed within sets of non-functional requirements, I hold the view that this is nonsense. A general purpose generative AI tool cannot provide insight after speaking with a number of different stakeholders, and appreciate how begin to make changes to existing systems. Booch presents his response to Amodei’s assertion by adopting more scientific language, which is certainly worth listening to.

Some of the themes that run through his talk (in addition to AI) are that of abstraction, ethics, and change. He also offers some helpful suggestions about ‘new skills engineers will need to succeed’.

If you’re a software engineering student, and have a free hour (which might be easier said than done), Booch’s talk is worth a listen. Some bits can get pretty dense in terms of detail, but don’t worry out that too much. Sometimes it is useful to listen for the gist, since it’s always possible to go over it again later.

As an aside, he also mentioned a website called Victorian Engineering Connections. Following his comment, I searched for George Boole, and watched a web of links appear on my screen.

To conclude, here’s a quote from Booch’s X account: “The story of computing is the story of humanity: this is a story of ambition, invention, creativity, vision, avarice, power, and serendipity, powered by a refusal to accept the limits of our bodies and our minds.” I really like that. After all, at the end of the day, software engineering is all about creating products and systems for people, by people.

3 January 2026

Happy new year!

My previous TMA result has finally come in. I’ve had a look through the comments, and they are helpful. The big takeaway point is to work harder to integrate everything together – secondary sources, the text that is the focus of the analysis, and my opinions about everything. Also, it is important to make my opinions clear – do I agree or disagree with other critics? All this is good academic practice which I was never formally taught in my study of computing. With this in mind, I do feel as if I’m getting some useful additional academic training from studying English.

I’m looking forward to the next TMA. Over the winter break, I had a short break of a couple of days. During that time, I managed to choose and then read three articles for next TMA. When I got back, I’ve had a go to summarise them for when the TMA 3 discussion forum opens. What I need to do is to go through my chosen set text with a fine toothed comb, whilst thinking about the main essay question.

I managed to get a bit of extra ‘study’ done first thing this morning. Whilst lying in bed, I listed to a podcast by Emma Smith, a fabulous Shakespeare scholar from Oxford University I thought there might be a connection between a topic she raised and the forthcoming EMA question. Without too much messing about, I managed to track down the source, which I’ve now sent to my Kindle.

My final action of this morning is to eyeball the TMA 4 question, which is due in April. I have two immediate thoughts. The first is that it appears to be quite open, i.e. for a couple of the options we get to choose our own texts (if we wish to do so). The second is that there’s a group of texts that I’ve not yet read. I need to restart reading Salih and then move onto Calvino, but I’m a bit intimidated by its length. I have, however, booked time off in leave for the beginning of March, so I might be okay.

5 January 2026

I tried to download a version of the Salih text, but it isn’t available on the Kindle, so I downloaded a copy of Cosmicomics. I have a paper version, but I don’t have it with me at the moment. I don’t like it. I’m nearly through the first 12 stories. I’m not, yet, at the point of wanting to throw it across the room (which I wanted to do with a Woolf text), but I’m not too far from it. I appreciate what it’s trying to do, but from my reading, I don’t think it works. It feels overly contrived. This is the extent of my literary analysis.

The TMA 3 wiki should open soon. I’ve asked my tutor a question, and has kindly responded. My next task is to read over what I’ve prepared and then post my text to the collaborative area. I then have a couple of weeks until I need to put my thoughts in order for the penultimate TMA. In the meantime, my day job is going to dominate.

This is my first day back. I think I need another holiday.

13 January 2026

My contribution to the collaborative literature review has been done. I’m quite pleased when what I managed to put together.

Over the last week or so I’ve been jumping around between different texts. I’ve abandoned Cosmicomics. I really don’t like it. This said, I have got part way through an audiobook version of Between the Acts, which isn’t as bad as I remembered. I got through a few chapters whilst on a long drive. I’ll try to start it again when I have another long drive in a couple of weeks.

After seeing a fabulous play, I was inspired to read Stuff Happens by Hare, another of our set texts. I tore through it in under a day and found it thoroughly enjoyable. Given all the current political insanity, it came across as being unexpectedly quaint.

I’ve just finished listening to a cluster tutorial that was about another drama, The Playboy of the Western World. The tutor was fabulous, and packed in a whole lot of detail that either had passed me by, or I hadn’t known about. I might well go back and give it another listen. We were also given a link to a video recording of the play which I’m going to watch. I’ve already listened to an audio recording of it, which I found through Drama Online, but I haven’t (yet) got the entire sense of the play. I’ll really know what is what when I get to see it at The National at the end of next month – I just wish that I had booked in to see it earlier.

My next steps: I’ve downloaded another secondary source – a paper about modernism, and The Aran Islands by Synge and have sent these to my Kindle. I’m going to take myself off to a coffee shop, get out my virtual highlighter, and perform the role of an English student. (I would enjoy it more if I wasn’t so stressed about editing and writing materials for my day job!)

14 January 2026

I’ve started the modernism paper, but I got distracted. I recently found a copy of Reading and Criticism by Raymond Williams, published in 1955. Williams is mentioned in the module materials.

I have about 3 chapters to go: a chapter on reading drama, a chapter on bringing criticism all together, and a chapter about the role of literature in society. I read one first thing this morning. I’m hoping to get another one read by the end of the day.

16 January 2026

I’ve been to a few more tutorials. I was at the guest lecture about Ford last night, and ended up getting a bit confused. A lot of words were used. Just when I think I’m ‘getting’ modernism, a whole bunch of other ideas about it are thrown my way. I now have the job of picking through them all, and figuring out how the relate to my chosen text.

I’ve downloaded a bunch of papers from a Cambridge Companion, and have downloaded a couple of papers recommended by students. What I’ve got to do now is to read (and understand) everything, which is a whole lot easier said than done.

I keep thinking about the final TMA. I would like to pair Rhys with another text. That text must have been published between the years of 1932 and 1946, but I have no idea which text to choose. I have, however, found two useful resources (albeit a resource that is also trying to sell us books). Both are lists from Penguin. The first is 20 books that defined the 1930s. The second is, perhaps unsurprisingly, Books that shaped the 1940s. There are quite a few I’ve not heard of, and there are quite a few that I fancy reading. I’m sure we’ll be offered quite a bit of guidance when it comes to TMA 4.

19 January 2026

I think I’ve decided what to pair the Rhys text with (spoiler alert: it isn’t Woolf). I’ve ordered a cheap second hand copy of my chosen text from a popular second hand marketplace. If I hate the text, I have a lot of time to choose something else. I hope to have a good look at it next week.

I’m continuing with my reading of criticism of The Playboy of the Western World. To try to make more sense of it, I managed to spend a couple of hours watching something called the Druid production. I watched it whilst reading the Project Gutenberg edition on my Kindle whilst making the occasional set of notes. I now have a lot more of a sense of the play. It is a curious piece. It is completely over the top, and patently ridiculous, but I quite like it.

I have two other things to do. Look up both Synge and modernism in two reference books I have at home. There’s also a tutorial about Synge this evening. I’ll then consolidate my secondary reading. I should be able to start writing either at the end of this week, or the start of next week.

Something else. My tutor has shared an additional resource which relates to modernism and a bit of the forthcoming TMA. I’ve downloaded it and have sent it to my Kindle.

There’s always more stuff to read.

22 January 2026

I’m very nearly ready to get stuck in with my essay. I thought I would have a good old go at it this morning. Before I got cracking, I noticed that a tutor had shared some slides from their Synge tutorial. I downloaded them, opened them, and had a quick browse through. I don’t (yet) think my critical eye is as refined as it could be. I need to sit down with the text, and the PowerPoint slides, and go through them both carefully.

Whilst on a break, I jumped ahead to a bit of the final TMA; I started to re-read the opening of Good morning, Midnight. I really like this text. In the same morning, I received delivery of a text that I think I might pair it with. I’ll have to see if it’ll work.

Here’s my plan: quickly review the additional resource (which I said I would do) that tutors have been sharing, eyeball all the critical articles I’ve downloaded, and then start to pick apart passages from Playboy.

27 January 2026

This TMA 3 essay is doing my head in. I’m finding it really slippery. I’ve finished making loads of notes, but I’m worried that in the process of trying to distil everything down, my chosen argument might be way too complicated. There is a simple reason for this: the more that I have read, the more I see the different ways that the play can be understood. I have some thoughts about the passages that I’ve chosen, but I feel I need to write them down to see if they may any sense. I’m at a point where I feel I need to get this done.

I also feel as if I’m at a similar point in the module as I was last year with A334 - feeling a bit tired and confused. I’ll be really glad when this one is out of the way. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with all the sources I’ve tried to make sense of.

30 January 2026

My TMA has gone in. I think it is as best as it can be. It has gone in way early, simply because I need to manage my workload.

Last night I started to listen to the Rhys audio materials, which I really liked and finished listening to them this morning. I tried to find a recording of the BBC radio play that was mentioned. I wasn’t successful, but I did find a radio programme about Good Morning, Midnight by comedian Josie Long. Her episode of The Exploding Library is really worth a listen. I even found a few minutes to look in the library, and have already downloaded a couple of critical articles which might be useful later. My next step is to go back to re-reading Good Morning, Midnight.

On 10 December 2025, I attended a short online workshop to help OU Digital Technology Solutions (DTS) degree apprentices become familiar with what was required for their End Point Assessment (EPA).

What follows are a set of notes I’ve taken during the session which I’m sharing on the off chance they might be useful for any of the apprentices I’m supporting.  I’ve also taken a few moments to share my own practical tips, which I hope are helpful. I’ve written it as if I was speaking with an apprentice (which reflects the workshop).

A professional discussion

The EPA is what is called a professional discussion. It is a formal assessment to determine your “occupational competence” but should also be considered as “a celebration of your apprenticeship journey”.  It is a conversation about all the experience and learning gained from your apprenticeship, drawing on evidence that have been uploaded to your ePortfolio. The evidence will, of course, demonstrates your meet all the knowledge skills and behaviours (KSBs) that all combine together to form the DTS standard.

The EPA is expected to take 60 minutes, and is likely to contain 4 key critical questions (which are related to themes). Each question is likely to lead to follow up questions. The first question is likely to be quite broad. A practical recommendation is to give clear examples that relates to the evidence that you have uploaded and the KSBs.

Your portfolio

The evidence that you upload to your ePortfolio must be your own evidence; it must relate to work-based activities that you have done yourself, and the learning that you have gained from that work.

Every piece of evidence that you add must relate to one or more of the standard’s KSBs. A practical recommendation is that every piece of evidence should ideally relate to a group of KSBs. Minimum of 6 piece of evidence, but typically about 10 pieces of evidence. Evidence could take the form of module assignments (tutor marked assessments), information about work based products, narrative summaries of work down (with screenshots), witness testimonies, and even video materials.

How do you make decisions about what to include into the ePortfolio? An important question to ask is “what is a particular piece of evidence trying to achieve?” Two accompany questions are: what does it show, and how does it relate to the KSBs? Also, does the piece of evidence have a clear filename and title? Is it well structured? Does it show clear evidence of learning and development having taken place?

To help everyone to prepare evidence, we were introduced to something called the STAR method, a simple framework that uses four words to encourage reflection. The words are: situation (what is the context in which something was done?), task (why was it needed?), action (what did you do?), and result (what was the outcome or impact?).

After a piece of evidence is submitted to the ePortfolio, your practice tutor reviews what has been submitted, and assigns it a grade. There are two possibilities: pass, or distinction. The criteria for each of these is described in the DTS standard. What typically distinguishes between a pass and a distinction is evidence of impact. One clear and direct way to evidence impact is though numbers. If you have made some fixes to software, how many users does this positively impact? If there have been some efficiency savings, what are these? Numbers represent a really powerful and concise way to evidence impact.

Useful tips

When it comes to preparing and writing evidence that you upload into your ePortfolio, it is important not to leave it to the very last minute. When you begin to contribute to your workplace, begin to evidence what you do and the impact you have, as soon as you can. When you get to your third year, you may well have forgotten about some of the good stuff that you have done in the first six months of your apprenticeship.

My own practical tip is: if you have difficulty writing or preparing evidence, do consider preparing a witness statement as a practical alternative. Speak with your line manager. Sometime your line manager will be able to offer a wider perspective about the work you are doing and the contributions you are making.

When it comes to your EPA, here are some simple and practical tips:

• Make sure you know the contents of your ePortfolio. You may be asked about anything you have uploaded.
• It is okay to have notes. Before your EPA, take a bit of time to prepare some notes to bring into your meeting. Write down examples of work that you are most proud of, and know how these examples relate to the KSBs.
• If you are asked a really difficult question, it is okay to pause for a few moments to allow you to collect your thoughts. Equally, it is okay to ask the assessor some clarifying questions. It is, after all, a conversation.
• Remember that you are approaching all this from a position of strength. You are the expert in your own ePortfolio and what you have done. The assessor is not there to trip you up; the assessor is there to be guided through a story of what you have achieved.

The project module

In my diary, this event was listed under the heading ‘TMXY476 workshop’. TMXY476 is the apprenticeship project module. The EPA is, of course, a professional discussion is about your entire apprenticeship full journey. By way of contrast, the project is a “deep dive” into skills, and has its own set of KSBs. Your project and work-based learning tutors will help you to work through these. During your project you may, of course, carry out some activities that can also evidence some of your apprenticeship KSBs.

Reflections

When I started as a practice tutor it took me quite a bit of time to understand what all the KSBs were all about. It is impossible to understand them all in one go. The only way to do it is to gradually chip away at it, and to understand different ways they can be related to what you do.

In the middle of all the work activities and the academic study, it is easy to forget about them, but it is important to keep clear sight of them. In one way or another, they should guide what you do, and also help you to relate the academic study to the industrial work. I think of them as a bridge between the two.

From my perspective, there are two significant take away points. The first is the question “what is a particular piece of evidence trying to achieve?” Clarity is important. It helps the discussion. Both the EPA and your ePortfolio are both about showing off, and celebrating what you do. The STAR framework looks like a really useful tool that can help with this.

Acknowledgements

The event was facilitated by Martin Rothwell and was attended by OU colleagues, and apprentices.  Words and phrases in quotes have been noted directly from Martin’s presentation. Many thanks to other OU colleagues in the apprenticeship team who may have contributed to this helpful workshop.

2 November 2025

I downloaded a version of The Mill on the Floss, and did some gardening. I read the text over the summer, and really enjoyed it, but I have a fragile memory (and understanding of the story). I found myself chuckling whilst wielding a pair of shears, probably looking like a madman.

This morning, I turned my attention to the first of the Eliot chapters, and had a listen to the final audio clip. There was an interesting chat between the block author and a couple of academics. Note to self: it contains topics that I might want to return to later on in the module.

It’s time for a bike ride.

11 November 2025

I have about ten hours to go with The Mill on the Floss. There was a chapter that I only vaguely recognised. This must have been a bit I read after having some wine; I recognised all the other chapters, events and characters. In fact, I’m quite enjoying listening to it all. It’s also interesting to see how Eliot is occasionally dropping pointers to foreshadow the ending. I might get it finished by this time next week if all goes to plan. I should certainly manage to get an hour in tomorrow.

I’ve now read three critical sources about the Tennyson poem that I’m going to focus on. They do vary in quality. One is quite long and goes into the text in quite a systematic way. The other one takes a thematic approach. The other one barely says anything. I think I know which critical source I’m going to use.

I’ve also been over bits of the poem again. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really like it. It really speaks to me. I have an idea about how I’m going to take the essay question and make an argument about it, whilst also connecting back to something that a critic has said.

Something else: on 8 November 2025 I attended something called the Arts and Humanities Day School. They are taking place in different cities across the UK.

12 November 2025

I’m getting way ahead.

Just this morning I’ve had a good look at TMA 3. There are two bits to it: a collaborative bit, and an essay bit. I have a rough idea of what needs to be done. I have the two deadlines already in my diary: the interim deadline, and the main deadline. I think I’m going to like TMA 3.

As an aside, I think I would quite like to read a biography of Dryden. I think this interest comes from reading two other literary biographies: one of Behn, and another of Swift. Also, reading about Tennyson has led to an interest in Dryden. One biography I’ve noticed is John Dryden and his World by James Winn. I might add that to my Christmas list.

If anyone had told me ten years ago that I would be looking for biographies about Dryden, I would have thought they were on drugs.

16 November 2025

I have just under six hours of The Mill on the Floss to go. I’ll try to get through it by taking it to the gym, which I did with Bleak House. No doubt I’ll get lost and confused whilst using the elliptical machine. I’ll see.

Today I’m spending an hour to look for sources for TMA 3. Whilst I was in the area, I had a look through the Alexander Street audio library, to see if there was an audio version of Stuff Happens by David Hare. There wasn’t. I had a look on Audible, and that didn’t have anything either. There was, however, a book called Stuff Happens, which was a guide to decluttering your house, which wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

Whilst I was in the area of the Alexander Street library, I had a quick look to see whether there were any plays by Behn. None were listed. Not even The Rover. This said, I did find a recording of Playboy of the Western World by Synge, which will be really useful when it comes to TMA 3.

I’ve found four articles that look like they might relate to the TMA question. I’ve downloaded them and have made a note of their citations. I’ll leave the task for sending them all to my Kindle for another day.

19 November 2025

Two days, two tutorials. I’ve made notes.

The first one was about Tennyson and Clough. I kind of liked it. We went through one of his poems, looking at key lines, and the use of language. My focus drifted when we got to the Clough section.

The second one was about The Mill on the Floss. After a bit of talk about Eliot’s biography, our tutor took us to two fragments, where we then had a chat about the role of two of the main characters. We then had a quick chat about the ending, before starting to look at the different bits of the TMA question.

Over the next two days there are two more tutorials.

My next task? To try to find some more papers for TMA 3, and then to try to have a listen to the production of Playboy of the Western World. But before I get there, I’ve got to context switch and find my way back to Software Engineering.

21 November 2025

I missed a tutorial last night despite it being in my diary. There’s one tonight which more aligns with my TMA choice. Note to self: don’t forget it!

I did two things yesterday. I managed to listen to the audio version of The Playboy of the Western World, which was very good. I started to browse through the catalogue of other plays that were available, but thankfully I got distracted before I went in too deep.

The second thing was that I managed to find some papers that might be relevant to the TMA 3 question that is coming up. I know I’m getting way ahead of myself with this, but even if I end up using different papers when we get to the assessment, I roughly know where to look.

My next task is to send all those to my Kindle.

23 November 2025

I spent yesterday moving between different parts of the module, and carrying out different study tasks. After listening to a Tennyson and Clough tutorial (and making a bunch of notes), I then revisited my two sources with a more critical eye. This clarified what I’m going to do, and how I’m going to approach the assessment. I think I’ll go to one more tutorial, read through the question and the text we’re supposed to read again, and then get cracking with TMA 2, just so I can get it in before my own TMAs arrive. I have about a week.

I jumped forward a bit in the module materials, reading the chapter about Synge, and then starting the chapter about Ford. I then re-read the opening of the very sad story, which is The Good Soldier.

This morning my TMA 1 was returned. I’m pleased with the result. My tutor has given some useful points of criticism, but some of the comments do relate to points that I already made in the TMA. Maybe my willingness to criticise the tutor means that I’m now feeling a bit more confident in what I’m doing.

I am less confident in my understanding of what literary modernism is all about, other than disjointedness, and the slippery nature of language, which means it’s difficult to pin down meaning. There’s also something about the effect on the reader, but I haven’t really nailed that bit of understanding yet.

25 November 2025

Another tutorial last night. I picked up some useful tips. I think I’m just about pretty much ready to start. First thing this morning I read a paper that I’ll use when answering the essay question. I’ve highlighted a bunch of useful quotes. I’m going to get cracking this afternoon after a meeting about exam papers and assignments. I need to get it in by this time next week if I’m going to manage my workload.

During the tutorial, a fellow student mentioned something called the Poetry Foundation, which looks like a fabulous resource. After learning about this, I went down a poetry rabbit hole, and found my way to a Behn poem about her coterie called “our cabal”. My immediate question was: who are these people? My Kindle tells me that Behn’s biographer, Janet Todd, has some suggestions.

27 November 2025

I had a good go at my TMA 2 this morning, and I think I have broken the back of it. I began by re-reading the text, making a bunch of highlights, and then stirring the mess of notes that I had made. After a couple of hours of writing and rewriting, having a cup of tea, and going back to it, I had something that had a reasonable structure. I quite liked the assignment, since it really develops the practice of close reading a critical source, as well as close reading the text that relates to it. I do feel that we could have had something similar earlier on in the programme.

My next tasks will be to edit what I’ve done and to go through all the papers that I’ve downloaded in anticipation of TMA 3. There’s a risk that they might entirely inappropriate. The tutorials will help me figure that out.

28 November 2025

After a morning of proof reading and editing, my TMA 2 has gone in. This gives me back a bit of time to work on TM354 TMA marking when it comes in early next week.

I noticed that there were a couple of audiovisual resources that related to The Mill on the Floss that I hadn’t seen. I had a quick listen to these, and ticked of where I was in the module materials. I’m definitely ahead, and I would like to keep it that way.

A note to self: I must find the time to read through those papers that I’ve downloaded, and to read the second half of the Salih novel. This said, I think I need to start again to really understand what it is about, what what is going on.

I would argue that the project module provides four outputs:

1. It enables you to consolidate and further develop your skills and knowledge that have been gained from your study of previous modules.
2. It enables you to gain important and necessary academic credit that contributes to your degree.
3. It enables you to complete a specific named degree that is recognised by an industrial body: the British Computer Society.
4. It enables you to create an extensive and detailed project report that you can show to a potential employer.

This fourth point can be easily overlooked. When writing your report, imagine bringing it to a technical interview. Interviews are all about demonstrating your skills and abilities to someone who has a problem that needs to be solved. Your report should, of course, be written in such as way to showcase your skills, knowledge and what you have achieved.

If you have written your report with this in mind, there is no reason why you should not bring your end of project report to an interview. To efficiently share what you have done, one idea is to create an additional ‘presentation appendix’ that you can add to the end of your report. This could contain a very short series of PowerPoint slides, that have been designed so you are able to talk someone through your project.  Prepare for five minutes, no more. You can always go into more technical detail if you need to.

In addition to mentioning your project on your CV, if your project involves designing and building software, you might consider sharing your code through a GitHub repository. Not only can you include a link to the repository in your project work, perhaps as an appendix, but you could also share a link to your repository to your CV. The effect of this will be to highlight your professional skills.

When you are writing your project report, make sure you consider all your potential readers: your tutor, your examiner, and anyone else who might be interested in learning about your skills and abilities. Rather than thinking of the report as something that allow you to gain three of the academic outputs that come with studying a project module, think how you might present what you have done to a potential employer.

Careers support

The OU runs a career service. The service is funded through a portion of your student fees and is available for every student for up to three years after graduation.

As you work work on your project, begin to look at the different services that are offered by the university careers and employability service. Through the service, you can book in a one-to-one consultation with a careers advisor, access events about career planning, and internship and job vacancies.

Here is a short summary of some of the services offered by the careers service, taken directly from the opportunity hub website:

• Explore career pathways.
• Get help with qualification and career goals.
• Build your work experience.
• Develop skills for the workplace.
• Get help with job seeking applications.
• Explore further study.

A further resource that may be considered used is the Prospects website that provides information about further study, information about jobs, and further careers guidance.

Reflections

Very early on in my career, I found a vacancy through Prospects. I made and application, and was selected for interview. I made sure I took with my recently completed dissertation. I showed it to my interviewer.

I didn’t end up getting the job I had applied for, but I did end up getting a different opportunity (for which I am always grateful for). My dissertation showed what I was capable of doing, and it must have made an impression. Your project report has the potential to do the same.

A further reflection is that there is a lot of career related resources that are provided by the university. There is often a separation between the academic study, and the exploration of employability choices and options. It is really important that we find the time to explore the resources that are available. It is also useful to remember that we have access to the careers service for three years after graduation.

On 18 November 25, I attended a CPD session that had the title Compassionate Communication, facilitated by colleagues from the student communications hub. This was one of a number of professional development sessions that were run on the day for OU tutors.

The aim of the session was to define what was meant by compassionate communication and recognise its relevance, identify common barriers (to communication), and explore ways to overcome those barriers. Looking back after the session, I can see that it had a very specific and practical focus: how to use email effectively.

What follows are some notes (and thoughts) I drew from the session.

Definition

The session opened with a definition of what compassionate communication might be. I noted down the follow words: empathy, mindful (of different circumstances, and how your words come across), timely (each module has module calendar), clear and transparent (communicating clearly and offering explanations) and inclusive (be aware of the challenges that others face, and use of appropriate language).

We were then asked about the potential barriers to compassionate communication. I thought this was a very good question, and noted down the following: time, stress and burnout (of the sender), inaccessible communication style, misinterpretation of communications, and lack of training.

Practice

Moving to another part of the session, we were introduced to a simple exercise which focussed on a simple question: how might an email message make someone feel? We looked at a sample email message that had the aim of building trust, developing a sense of community, and to encourage contact. Another question was, of course, did it do these things? Also, what else could we add to improve it? What does ‘good email communication’ look like?

Here are some key points that I noted down:

• Clear intent and aim.
• Positive and encouraging tone.
• Acknowledgement of the individual.
• Timeliness of the communication.
• Clear setting of expectations.
• Use of plan English with an active voice rather than formal academic English.
• Providing clear sign posting to answers or resources.
• Consider the length of the communication; keep it short.
• Avoid idioms, dismissing concerns or feelings.
• Never include accusatory language (you haven’t done something).
• Do encourage seeking of support and further, mirror language used by the recipient.
• Show empathy.

My points

Thinking about all these points, I would like to add my own, in order of importance:

• If you find yourself writing a very long email with multiple points, consider whether a call would be more useful.
• If you feel you need to build trust or empathy, schedule a call. Email is good for sharing information. It is terrible for understanding the needs of others.
• When using email to book a time to have a call, offer a couple of alternatives, in order of preference. Also state how you would like to make that call. Is it through a plain old telephone system, through a Team video call, or through your Adobe Connect room. Choose what you prefer.
• After a call has taken place, follow up with a short email, offering thanks for their time, also sharing the key points from the conversation.
• When replying to an email, consider where a student is in their studies. Where are they likely to be in the module calendar?
• Consider what previous email communications has taken place previously.
• If your email contains more than one separate points, consider whether you need to send multiple emails. It is sometimes better to separate out issues into separate messages. Doing this allows you to talk about them during a call if you need to.
• If you have to write an email that is sensitive, or contains a lot of information, reflect on whether you need to send it right away. Sometimes it is a good idea to write your message, save it as a draft, and then send it later. Spending time to reflect on what you have written can be helpful.
• Choose a subject line that is helpful.
• Open and close emails in a clear and polite way.
• Avoid using Generative AI. It will just waste your time. You will spend more time reading and rewriting what it produces. Email messages produced using Gen AI tools often sound robotic.

Reflections

I am drawn to sessions about soft skills for a really simple reason: they are really important.

I was expecting something slightly different. I was expecting something about speaking more directly to others, perhaps when using the phone, using videoconferencing software, or speaking during tutorials. I wasn’t expecting it all to be all about email.

Email is a skill. I spend hours a day in my inbox. I’ve received loads of really long emails that contain very many complicated points. Out of all these points I’ve shared here, if I were to share only two of them, they would be: keep it short, and keep it simple.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Ellena White and Sara Bradley who facilitated the session. Some of the key points shared in the practice section of the blog have been paraphrased from their slides.

On 8 November 2025 I wore my metaphorical student hat and went to one of the Arts and Humanities day school. There were a number of these happening across the UK; last year I went to the one hosted at Milton Keynes. This year, I went to the one that took place in the London School of Economics. 

What follows is a quick blog summary of the event, which might be of interest to other fellow arts and humanities students. There were a number of strands to the day: art history, creative writing, English literature, history, classical studies, religious studies and music. I firmly stuck to the English lit strand.

English Literature Study Skills

The first session was facilitated by Peter Lawson. Peter highlighted key documents and resources: the assessment guide, module guide, and the English Literature toolkit (which can be useful when preparing for the writing of TMAs). He took us through some of the key learning outcomes from the English Literature programme, highlighting the top level categories of knowledge and understanding, cognitive skills, key skills, and practical and/or professional skills.

Some key (and necessarily obvious) points that relate to the writing of assignments include: time, reading the question, reading the guidance notes, stick to the word count, reference correctly, and submit by the deadline.

Tips for planning an essay include, begin by taking notes (on set text and critical sources), plan before writing, and ‘always provide a logical argument and evidence to support your position’. An important point is that it is okay to disagree with critical sources. I’ve tried to get critics to ‘talk with each other’, whilst putting myself in the middle of the conversation, but I’m not quite there in being able to do this.

Other tips included: it is important to have a clear introductory paragraph, and consider applying PEAL, where each paragraph makes a point, shares evidence, does some analysis and evaluation, and then provides a linking sentence to the next paragraph. Do explain why you have chosen a particular quote. This relates to a point that a tutor shared with me, which was ‘don’t end a paragraph with a quote; explain why you have chosen it, rather than letting it stand on its own’.

There was a comment about the close reading assignments which begin every module. You might approach it thematically, or a line by line basis. Which makes me wonder about how good the assignment I have just recently submitted!

Write Now: Getting started on TMA writing

The next session was all about what to expect from a ‘write now workshop’. The session also shared some strategies and approaches to help with starting to write your TMA by applying a technique known as structured freewriting.

There was a short discussion about barriers; what gets in the way of our writing, and what strategies do we apply to overcome those barriers? Some tips that were shared included: plan your study time and writing, break down tasks, ‘ditch perfectionism’ which means ‘give yourself permission to write a rubbish bit of writing’, break the process down into different stages by separating out the process of writing and the process of evaluating.

Another point was: find a study buddy; someone who might be studying on a similar module who lives close to where you live (which can be difficult to achieve, especially since so much is done online).

You and your library team

This session was a recorded lecture that was shown in one of the LSE lecture theatres. It took us through a range of different resources that are available in the OU library, such as the Oxford English Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), both of which I have used in earlier literature assignments. A useful tip with the ODNB is that you can broaden your search for a particular name or author, to see who else might be associated with them.

Using Dickens as a case study, we were guided through a short sequence of primary and secondary sources. Primary sources may include the Bridgeman Image Collection, or Early English Books online (EBO). Secondary sources, namely, journal catalogues are available by going to the Selected Resources for your Study part of the library.

To conclude, the sessions offered by the library were highlighted which you can find by going to the ‘training and events’ heading. A notable example was the ‘using library search for your assessment’.

Five things to know about English Literature

In this fifty minute session, facilitated by Tim Hammond and Liz Ford, we were collectively politely provoked into answering five questions:

• What is literature and what does it do?
• What does literature look like?
• What does literature sound like?
• Can other disciplines help us to understand/enjoy literature?
• Is literature good for you?

Although I had been to a similar session before (where I had won an OU pencil in 2023, a prize for being arrogant, for presuming to be able to define ‘literature’ in a sentence) this session was a lot of fun. Each question yielded a lot of discussion. I didn’t offer any pithy definitions and didn’t win any pencils, which might reflect a change or refinement in my thinking over after five years of study. 

The future of reading

Earlier this year, I got chatting with a former English teacher (who had left the profession to take up stand-up comedy). He said something interesting, which was ‘the kids are not reading anymore’, which I found quite worrying. I had this conversation in the forefront of my mind during Shafquat Towheed’s presentation, which creatively explored ‘the future of reading’.

Two important quotes I made were ‘humans shape the way we interact with technology’ and ‘we will only use technologies if they remain useful to us’. We were given a reassuring reflection, that ‘the contemporary paperback is not dying’. A reason for this is that ‘books are persistently usable’ in the sense that what they contain can persist for a very long time. It was suggested that books can survive societal ‘extinction events’ and political upheaval.

Another quote I noted down was ‘the future of human centred reading is about us, not about technology’. The implication is that reading technologies come and go, but there will always be reading. I’m not sure whether I caught this word for word, but the following really resonated with me, the idea that books do ‘the heavy lifting that tell you who you are’, since ‘reading is about your own personal discovery’. Reading gives us immediate benefits. It allows us to have increased empathy, reduce anxiety, develop our sense of self, reduce isolation, increase our educational level of attainment, and others; I didn’t catch all of the points that Shaf shared. I learnt a new term that was related to all this: bibliotherapy. I also noted down the points that we read for emotional satisfaction, for pleasure, and for self-worth.

I’ve been working with technology, computers, my entire professional life. A book is the ultimate technology. I’ve seen different computing technologies come and go. The point was made that books are not going to go anywhere.

Reflections

When you’re studying at a distance face-to-face events are a ‘shot in the arm’ in terms of motivation. Students (like me) can pick up loads of useful hints and tips. Although a lot of the content was familiar, now that I’m coming to the end of my degree, the repetition and reinforcement was helpful. It also offers helpful reassurance too. It was also really nice to speak with other students, which is one of the benefits that is harder to quantify. I had some nice chats with a fellow student who is the admin of the module Facebook group, of which I’m a member. We face similar challenges of fitting study around life.

I really enjoyed Shaf’s presentation on the future of reading; it offered reassurance. I also picked up a few new practical pointers from the library session.

After the event, I did ask myself the question: why doesn’t the STEM faculty run events like these? It turns out that they do. Apparently, the Mathematics and Statistics school runs one for students, across all levels. I’ve also heard that Life, Health and Chemical Sciences runs one too. What about computing? I’ll ask some questions. Leave it with me.

Past events

I've been to a few of these events. Now that I'm on my final module, I've realised that this might have been the last one. It depends, of course, on whether I'll get through my final module. I'll do the best I can. 

Here are blog summaries of the previous events I've been to:

• Arts and Humanities Study Day 2024
• Arts and Humanities Day School 2023

Acknowledgements

Due acknowledgements are extended to all facilitators and everyone involved in the delivery of this day school. Thanks are also extended to the LSE team, who helped me to find my way to the right room.