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Christopher Douce

A334 Journal - October 2024

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7 October 2024

Three days in, and I feel that I’m getting behind!

This said, I’ve just made a couple of forum posts. One related to the notion of ‘the author’, the other was a summary of musicals I’ve recently seen. I have, however, tried to link my post to theme of the module. I even shared a link to a famous song from Kiss Me Kate

13 October 2024

Last night was our first tutorial. I made notes of a number of points and tips:

  • Review Section 3.3 What your mark means, and Section 4.7 Using the Critics, both from the assessment guide. Another tip was to have a read of the English Literature Toolkit, which offers some comments about what an English essay is all about.
  • From TMA 2 onwards, it is useful to connect your independent study to your essay and text choices. A point here is that you don’t (of course) have to do all the independent study options. Study strategically. Do what is useful for you.
  • When writing your essay, beware of summarising articles or points that are shared by critics. It is more important to apply what they say within an argument. Use what you need to use to answer the question that is being asked.
  • When looking for materials, consider the diversity of materials. If you’re discussing a play, you might want to consider productions of plays at different periods of time. This enables you to gain a wider perspective, which can be useful for discussing critical points of contrast.
  • Use peer reviewed sources and articles, rather than using informal articles that you might find in blogs.
  • If you find articles which present opposing views, choose your own position, and don’t be afraid to state what this is. How you relate to a text is important.
  • Don’t make excessive notes. Make notes with a purpose, which is to help with answering of the assignment questions.
  • Avoid generative AI. It makes things up, and it isn’t transparent about the sources it uses.
  • Use the module glossary, which is a really useful resource, and read the optional Introducing Renaissance Rhetoric resource.
  • When doing close reading, consider the effect of what is done; don’t just identify the technical effects that are applied.

A really useful tutorial!

With these summarised, it’s back to the tutor group forum, and then a brief look at the module materials to remind myself of where I got to, and the TMA 1 submission date. After then, it’ll be back to looking at the materials for the module that I’m chairing.

A quick update: I’ve emailed the Introducing Renaissance Rhetoric resource to my Kindle. As I’ve done this, I’ve written this short blog: Studying with the Kindle continued…  The convert option is really useful.

Another quick update, a few hours after the above edit: our tutor has sent a link to a useful site, the Writing Centre, which is a part of the Undergraduate arts and humanities study website (There is one of these for the Computing and IT programme, but I’ve not looked at it for a while).

The key resources have the following headings: writing for assessments, skills toolkits, Write now! (which appears to be a bunch of tips), Referencing and Developing academic English. 

Clicking into the Study Skills Workshops takes me to a page which presents a whole range of events I’ve never seen before; events that relate to academic practice, planning and researching, quoting and paraphrasing, and writing skills. It looks like there are loads of recordings available.

14 October 2024

I’ve been properly reading chapter 1, and I’ve looked ahead to the independent study materials for chapters 2 and 3. I’m starting to think about the independent study options, and there’s a lot that I want to do. I want to watch a Drama Online production of Titus Andronicus (and read the play at the same time), find out more about Thomas Kyd (I remember reading that he shared a room with Marlowe, and was a scribe as well as a playwright), and listen to the additional audio materials that are on the module website. Decisions decisions.

I need to properly read chapter 2.  I’ll try to do that tomorrow.

I also need to get back to my day job.

15 October 2024

I’ve had a proper go through of chapter 2, but I’ve not spent as much time on the activities as I should have done, but I can always go back to them if it looks like they might help with the TMAs. 

There’s some useful pointers to read the introduction of that Hattaway edition of As You Like It, particularly with respect to its interpretations.

I was curious about references to Johnson’s play Every Man in his Humour (Wikipedia). It looks like there isn’t a production of this available through Drama Online (there is only a production of Volpone, which I know nothing about).

I’m just about to go off-piste with respect to my independent study. Although I did mention that I might watch Titus Andronicus through Drama Online, I have booked to see Coriolanus tomorrow at The National. After hearing a rumour that it wasn’t very good, I’ve skim read some reviews and by the looks of it, it doesn’t sound too terrible.

Next up, the online materials for the following week, chapter 3, and the independent study activities.

16 October 2024

I’ve had a quick read of chapter 3, but it really is a quick read. I remember bits of it from the even quicker read through that I did over the summer. I know what I need to do next, which is read The Spanish Tragedy again. There’s a lot of action that I don’t really follow.

I went into one of the independent study activities; looking up Kyd’s biography in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, making a few notes. There was also a suggestion to read a bit of a biography of Marlowe, but there’s another bit of a study activity that I want to do. 

Kyd and Marlowe shared lodgings. Kyd was arrested (I think along with Marlowe) and was possibly tortured. He died in 1594, not long after getting out of prison. He was buried at St Mary Cole Church.

I looked this place up. It doesn’t exist anymore, having been destroyed in the great fire of London in 1666. There is, however, a plaque which is reminder of its location, which can be found on the corner of Poultry and Old Jewry, not too far from Bank underground station.

His biography suggested a few firsts: the first Machiavellian villain in a play, the first play within a play, and use of ‘robust blank verse’.

Another memory of my morning reading is that Shakespeare may have contributed a bit of text to a version of Kyd’s play. I haven’t got the connections and the detail secure in my head just yet.

In all this distant history, there’s some suggestion about Kyd may have written an earlier version of Hamlet, but I’ve heard that all this is speculation. I think we’ve got this to come in the module materials.

17 October 2024

Okay, I enjoyed the production of Coriolanus that I saw last night.

Pretending to be a grumpy critic, I did feel that the production didn’t really know what it wanted to be. It was broadly supposed to be set in a museum, but made use of video effects too, and there were these later scenes which I didn’t really understand where there were these weird costumes, and lots of fire going on in the background. The play was hugely political, in the sense that it was all about keeping people onside. I guess there’s a strong link to the dangers of the use of rhetoric. I’m glad I saw it. I’ve read a couple of reviews, and they’ve been mostly positive.

Anyway, back to the module materials. This morning, I went through the module team’s selected recordings of The Spanish Tragedy, making a bunch of notes. I’ve not (yet) read it properly, but I might have another listen of the Radio 3 production, and have a good read of the introductory notes. I really like Kyd’s use of language. I’m struck by the poetry he uses in the seduction scene in act 2. I do feel that I’m quite a long way away to really understanding it properly, but I’m making steps towards figuring it out.

I kind of want to watch Titus Andronicus, but it might leave me mildly traumatised, like the time I watched Dr Faustus

A final reflection: I’m really enjoying this first bit of the module, which made me have the opposing thought of ‘I’m really not looking forward to the part when we get to Austen’.

20 October 2024

On Friday 18 October, I took a trip to the 2024 arts and humanities study day, writing everything up yesterday evening. At around the same time of doing this, I also tried to get my lever arch file together. Over the last few days or so I’ve been trying to listen to The Spanish Tragedy. I’m still a long way from figuring out what is happening to whom.

22 October 2024

I’ve started to listen to the tutorial that I missed on the 17th. Its focus is on close reading and the use of the OED. I made a note of the first two points, before I had to stop; I’m too tired. It’s been a difficult day. Balancing work and study is challenging.

28 October 2024

My study continues to be fractured due to personal circumstances (I’ve been helping my mum). It has taken me three goes to listen to the second introductory tutorial, which was very helpful. It covered two things: close reading skills, and the use of the Oxford English Dictionary. On the subject of the dictionary and accessing resources from the OU library, our tutor directed us to a useful browser extension, which saves us from having to access article databases without having to go via the library website. After an earlier listen of the tutorial, I installed it. I’ll see how I go.

On the subject of close reading, I noted down the following points: first impressions, identification of words that led to the first impression, what words most significantly contribute towards the theme of a passage, consider the style of language, and to critically make use of checklists. Some other tips included try reading it out, try copying the text, and make use of the set text edition.

I picked up on the suggestion of the set text, and in my independent study time I’ve been reading through the introduction of As You Like It. It’s very dense and hard going, so I’m just skim reading it at the moment, just to get a feel for it. I don’t think I like it; it’s work.

A final note for today. I like the look of the forum activities that were started over the weekend. I think it was these that made me realise that I’ve got a whole lot of learning to do.

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Christopher Douce

Go Green Spotlight

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Thursday, 24 Oct 2024, 12:01

On 23 October 2024 I attended something called a Go Green Workshop which was all about ‘Dirty Digital Habits’. Having recently supported a research intern who had been exploring what is meant by green computing, the topic of sustainable computing (and all that means) has become of increasing interest. The event had an alternative title: Go Green Spotlight - Digital Carbon Footprints. Apparently, this month is ‘cyber awareness month’. A lot of the session was facilitated by David Crews, our Digital Services Sustainability lead, with input from other colleagues.

A number of topics were covered in the hour long session. These were, broadly: challenges, current efforts, what we can do, and something about a search engine called Ecosia. I share a bunch of reflections at the end.

Challenges 

The full title of this topic was ‘challenges in reducing digital related CO2 emissions’. There was a passing reference to a Guardian article about data centres but there was also a passing comments that data centres would consume 8% of electricity by 2030. This suggested figure is likely to be under threat due to increases in cloud computing, and AI. I noted another challenging comment that was shared, which was: by 2025, everyone will have an interaction with a data centre every 18 seconds. I have no idea where this striking estimate comes from, but I now need to find out.

Current efforts

The full title of this section was ‘current efforts in digital services to reduce CO2 emissions’. In other words, what was the university doing? More specifically, what is ‘digital services’ doing?

During this bit of the workshop, I noted down a few points. One continual action that was being taken was addressing of legacy systems. There was a reference to the scheduled replacement of hardware, with the suggestion that newer hardware means better energy efficiency (I did later ask a question that asked whether the carbon cost of equipment manufacture, and disposal was also taken account of).

There was also a reference to a movement of services from university data centres to data centres managed by third party suppliers (two different vendors were mentioned). On this point, I also noted down the words “a cloud data centre is more efficient than anything that an organisation can run themselves”. The point is, of course, that that energy costs of our own data centres are likely to be higher than the costs of cloud suppliers.

A number of familiar topics were mentioned, such as the movement to different processor architectures on servers (such as ARM processors, the kind of chips that you find on your mobile phone), the use of virtual machines to make optimal use of hardware, and the importance of having your data (and servers) as close to the users as possible. Closeness improves latency (performance) and reduces energy consumption.

On a related note, I was introduced the PUE measurement, which is an abbreviation for Power Usage Effectiveness (Wikipedia). The lower the number, the more efficient your data centre is. I need to look into this in a bit more depth.

What can we do?

Under this heading, I combined notes from two different parts of the presentation which had the titles ‘how we can contribute at home’ and ‘top categories to reduce your digital carbon footprint’. Some of the suggestions were familiar: use energy efficient peripherals, power things off, go paperless, stop hoarding data (particularly on the cloud), and ask ourselves whether we really need to use super high definition data when streaming film. In the work environment, when having team calls, can we get away with only using audio? This obviously reduces how much data we use. Also, use browser bookmarks rather than searching for a website address using search engines. An interesting statistic was shared: a search using Google will use 14g of CO2, a kettle takes 15g (but I don’t have the reference from where this comes from; I need to find it).

An interesting question was highlighted: what is the carbon cost of email? It depends, of course, on the length and the content of an email message. A practical suggestion was to minimise the use of attachments. A further interesting statistic was that 71% of colleagues make use of email attachments rather than linking to files. Shipping files across and between email accounts makes unnecessary use of data storage.  A file sent through email can use 50g of CO2 (again, I don’t know where this statistic comes from). Sharing a link rather than an attachment can mean a 90% reduction. Of course, the choice of attachment vs link very much depends on whether we have continual access to the cloud services that we need to use. 

Ecosia: Search engine pilot

Towards the end of the session, a search engine called Ecosia was mentioned. More information about Ecosia is available through a useful Wikipedia summary. The reason for mentioning it is that there is a plan to pilot its use as the default search engine.

Reflections

I feel as if I must have missed something. I had never heard of an OU unit called ‘digital services’ before; I’ve always known it as IT (in the same way that I know People Services as HR). 

This wasn’t an academic event, and it was less of a workshop and more of a presentation (since the time allocated to discussion was quite limited). I did feel that there was quite a need to discuss digital practices. Also, wearing an academic hat, I have an intrinsic need to look for the sources that relate to the statistics that were shared.

I appreciated the presentation about the carbon cost of email. This discussion reflects a similar question I have, which is: what is the carbon cost of taking a digital photograph? There probably isn’t a simple answer: it would depend on how that photograph is used (and how it is shared). 

Given that energy consumption is now important to business units such as digital services, I did wonder about whether there will become a time where organisations may be required to report their energy use. To what extent may statutory reporting be helpful or appropriate? Is this desirable or useful? There’s that old engineering adage of if you can measure something, you can then control it.

Within all this, there’s the need for balance. There’s the need to balance the need to minimise using digital bandwidth with the importance of maintaining and fostering personal connections. There’s also the need to use additional layers of software to maintain security and integrity of systems (such as virus checkers and intruder detection systems), whilst minimising a software stack to reduce server costs. There’s the balance of necessarily carrying out searches to attempt to solve a problem, contrasted with the inherent carbon cost of carrying out searches. 

One of the points that I asked about was the physical (environmental) cost of changing hardware. Electronics contain a huge amount of embedded carbon, which comes its design and manufacture. How is electronic hardware safely and responsibly disposed? Also, how to we make the most effective ‘carbon’ decisions about to migrate from one hardware platform to another?  Should this come under the remit of software engineering? Are there some standards or guidelines that can be help with decision making?

Tone of this event was very positive. Perhaps it’s my state of mind, but this positivity doesn’t reflect my own understanding of the term ‘climate emergency’. It’s important to consider how we consume digital resources, just as we consume physical resources. Individuals can, of course make a difference, but if individual decisions are not measured (in the way that the use of the Ecosia search engine may be measured), then it’s hard to measure what difference we may have made.

I’m going to have to search for some references.

Many thanks to everyone in Digital Services for facilitating a thought provoking event.

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Christopher Douce

Arts and Humanities Study Day 2024

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On 18 October 2024, I attended an Arts and Humanities study day which took place at the OU campus in Milton Keynes. There were a couple of other versions of this day, which took place at other locations. I think there were events Wales (I think in Cardiff), and another one in Scotland (I think in Glasgow), and another in Belfast, but I don’t know the specifics.

This 2024 event follows the study event that I attended in 2023 which took place at the London School of Economics. I attended this event whilst wearing a couple of metaphorical hats. The first was, primarily, as an A334 literature student (I can scarcely believe that I’ve just started my first level 3 module, which I’m a bit worried about), and second as someone who works in the STEM faculty; I was there to see what the FASS faculty was getting up to.

The event began with an introduction by Donna Loftus and Tim Hammond. I remember Tim from last year, perhaps because he gave me a pencil and offered a gentle jokey implication that I might “join the scientists”. Anyway, I missed Tim’s introduction, since I got lost on my bike ride from the Milton Keynes train station. Apologies Tim!

Study Skills Session

The first session I attended had the title L2&3 English Literature which was facilitated by Peter Lawson. He opened with a comment about the broad skills that are needed: ‘a sensitivity to language, an ability to spend time reading, intelligence to connect sentences, plots and narratives’.

There were some useful practical pointers: make sure we know our way around the assessment guide (and make sure that we read it properly), the module guide, and be aware of the English Literature Toolkit.

Peter took us through some learning outcomes that were from A335, but also apply to some of the other modules too. OU learning outcomes are divided up into a number of different categories (and these categories apply to all modules, science modules as well as arts modules): knowledge and understanding, cognitive skills, key skills, and practical and/or professional skills.

Breaking this down further, knowledge could include knowledge of genres, set texts, contexts, use of different types of media, and understanding the processes through which text can become canonical. Cognitive skills relate to the comparing and contrasting of texts, reading articles for scholarly voices, identifying texts for further study, relating texts to their historical and cultural contexts. Key skills: building arguments (or, preparing a well written discussion), and selecting of resources to create your argument (discussion), development of independent study as well as collaborative working. Regarding professional skills: effectiveness of communication, using a range of different tools, planning and time management.

Peter shared some important practical tips that can be easily overlooked, since they sound very obvious: read the question more than once, look for any accompanying guidance that relates to the question, be mindful about the word limits, note the referencing format, make targeted notes to help you answer the question, and set aside time for planning.

It was also interesting (and reassuring) that the abbreviation PEAL was highlighted, which can help with the writing of essays. Each paragraph should begin with a Point, provide Evidence (which could be a quotation to, or reference of a text, or a point that a critic has made), a sentence that Analyses the text that has just be shared, and then offer a Link back to the question. Another use of L I’ve heard, is to provide a Linking sentence to the next point of an argument (or discussion). A related (and very obvious, and very simply) tip that I’ve remembered is that a paragraph should only present or share a single point.

Another tip was, when it comes to TMAs, avoid any unnecessary ‘waffle’. In other words, don’t be rhetorical.

Finally, before you submit something, check a submission for errors, checking for spelling and grammar. My own approach is to read through a double-spaced printout a day before I submit, covering it with my own red pen. I’ve been thoroughly astonished at how much nonsense I’ve very nearly submitted to my tutor.

It’s interesting that the TMA 1s for all the literature modules explore a similar skill: close reading a fragment of text. Some further tips: check the set text from where your bit of text has come from, get a printout, and add a whole load of notes. On the topic of notes, I noted down that on A334 TMAs 3 and 5 require evidence of sources from outside the module materials. In other words, have a look to the library.

Write Now!

Next up, was a return to the Berrill Lecture Theatre, which was were the introduction had taken place. This shorter session was all about the Write Now! online sessions, which are designed to, well, get everyone writing.

We were asked to complete a couple of structured freewriting activities, having been asked a couple of questions. The first question was: ‘how do you feel about being an OU student?’ The second was: ‘what are your goals for developing your skills as an academic writer doing your studies this year?’ Following Peter’s session, I wrote down ‘using other resources, using opinions of critics and understanding what they are’.

I made a note of a couple of closing points: many arts and humanities modules are running the Write Now! sessions. Also, writing isn’t easy. It can take time what works best for you, which means being open to new ideas and approaches. Finally, accountability can be useful.

I interpret this final point to mean: it can be useful to set yourself targets, but equally, it may well be useful to tell other people that you’re doing studying for certain periods of time.

Five things to know about literature

This next session was facilitated by Richard Jones, Head of Discipline, English Literature and Creative Writing. Underpinning his session, he had a key question: what does it mean to study literature? What follows is a summary of his headline points, which I’ve summarised from my own notes. Any mistakes are my own, rather than Richard’s:

1) Form

When it comes to literature, forms could be categorised as poetry, prose, and drama 

Within these forms, there is the notion of genre, which relates to ‘a type of something’ where a reader has a set of expectations about ‘the forms’ that are used.

Breaking this down further, poetry can contain rhymes, rhythms and patterns, use imagery, employing techniques such as metaphor and personification. (I’m expecting to find out a lot more about all this in the second half of block 1 of A334). Prose can be, of course, novels and short stories. Dramas are, of course, plays.

2) Nuance

Texts can be read in different ways. There is ambiguity within literature.

3) Time (or history)

Literature has been created during a particular time. Reflecting on this point, literature can be performed, interpreted, and used within different times. There’s a point here about the use of language, and that meanings of words can change over time.

4) Words (or language)

We’re inside language, which means that we’re studying language and its use very closely.

5) Work

This can have an ambiguous meaning. It can mean the work of writing, or it can be ‘a work’ of art having been produced. It can (of course) be hard work to figure out what a text means. Also, the work of others find their way into other works.

Special interest talk: Ekphrastic approaches

The final session of the event had a curious title: Working with artists - ekphrastic approaches, which was given by Joanne Reardon. Apparently ekphrasis means ‘writing about art’, which is a word that was completely new to me. In some respects, this final talk was about writing practice and how writing and art can be connected together.

During this session I scribbled down a few points on my notebook, which paraphrase. These are that ‘writers can make excellent collaborators’, and that ‘a writer is always looking for what isn’t there’. Also, when writing or considering works of art, a great question to ask is ‘what emotional impact does it have on you?’

Reflections

The sessions of the literature stream all relate to an interesting theme: the work of writing. Peter’s session focussed on skills that relate to our work of writing TMAs, Richard’s session explicitly mentioned the notion of work in its different forms, and Joanne’s reflections on her own work as a writer offers a nice conclusion to the day.

There were a couple of bits that I skived off from: the music bit, which was open to everyone, and the library session (I’ve been to quite a few of those). It was really nice to meet with fellow students, which really underlines the importance and value of face-to-face events.

On this final point, it would have been nice to have more discussions. It would also be useful to share experiences of study between the different levels. As a new third level student, I’m not (yet) entirely sure what I have in store for this forthcoming academic year.

Many thanks to all the organisers and facilitators. A really helpful set of sessions. As mentioned in the final paragraph of the summary of the 2023 event: face-to-face is important.

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Christopher Douce

Connecting everything together

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One of the things I try to always do as a tutor is to connect different bit of a module together. I try to tie the digital materials to the analogue materials, and the tutorials to the assessments, and so on. I also try to connect students together too. 

This short blog post summarises some of the different ways that I connect things together. There was a time when I tried to prepare a graphical model to emphasise the connections that can exist between the different components of a module. As time has gone on, I’ve realised that there are more and more elements that can be tied together by a tutor.

The module that you tutor will have a unique combination of components that can be tied together in different ways. Different tutors may well, of course, emphasise different combinations of components based on their own knowledge and understanding of a subject.

What follows is a summary of what I try to do.

Welcome letter

At the start of every presentation, I write to all my students. In my introductory email, which contains a link to an introductory letter, I direct students to my tutor group forum. To make things as simple as possible, I include a link to the forum, which they can click on. 

In my tutor group forum, I have an introduction thread, where I encourage students to introduce themselves. I also tell them to subscribe to the forum, saying that I use the forum to post updates about TMA marking progress and to share resources that I use in my tutorials. I also share dates about introductory tutorials, encouraging students to put their dates into their diaries. Finally, I will direct students to the module website and the module calendar.

From the very start of the module, I am linking things together, directing students to different tools, places and resources.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes drive a lot of the ‘connecting’ that I do. In some ways, could be considered to be ‘academic glue’. I see learning outcomes less of a straight jacket that tells me what I should be talking about, but more as useful pointers.

Module materials sometimes begin with learning outcomes. Assessments are designed to evaluate learning outcomes. Subsequently, tutorials should help students to understand them and what they mean. A part of my role as a tutor to do my best to understand what students understand, and to offer guidance that helps students to move to a place where they can demonstrate an understanding of a learning outcome.

Study calendar

I’ve heard it described that the study calendar, which is available through the module website, is the backbone of a module. It outlines the study pace and rhythm. It is also an important ‘go to’ place to find out when the assessments take place; it gives the date of the TMAs, and the date when the examinable component is due. It also says when a block or a unit begins and ends. I highlight the study calendar during tutorials and introductory letters. I also sometimes post references to it in my forum posts.

Module blocks

Some modules have printed blocks, whereas other modules have everything online. Modules that teach fast moving subjects, such as computing, sometimes present all their module materials online. A module contains a number of units. I direct students to module blocks and units at different points during the course of a module presentation; at the start of a module, and when preparing for an end of module exam.

Online study materials

There are some module materials that can’t be presented through books. A literature module I have studied contained videos of performances, interviews with academics, and audio clips of pieces of music, all of which are presented through the module website. These study materials are linked to the module blocks and the module calendar. As a tutor, I also mention these materials during tutorials. I also share guidance about how online materials can be referenced.

Tutorials

Tutorials are a great way to connect different elements of our tutoring practice together. During tutorials, I might share handouts, do some screensharing to highlight bits from module websites, highlighting various module resources and tools. I connect tutorials to assessments, and encourage students to ask question through the module forums, highlighting that I will use forums to share resources.

Using the screen sharing facilities, I might even take students on a short guided tour of the OU library, demonstrating some custom searches. I might also show students some of the software tools or utilities that they might need to use during the course of their studies.

Forums

Although forums are sometimes underused, since students often talk with each other through various channels outside the university systems, they do represent an important way to share resources and connect things together.

Before some tutorials, I sometimes make a post, sometimes asking a question about what topics students would like to be covered. To make it easier for students to access the tutorial, I also share a link to the online room that is used. If a tutorial relates to an assessment or module materials, I may also share a link to these too.

After every tutorial, I post a link to a recording, if one has been made, also sharing a copy of a PowerPoint formed the basis of a session. If I shared resources during a tutorial, such as Word documents, or PDF files, I also share these too.

Sometimes interesting topics can be raised during tutorials. Forums are great spaces to continue those discussion, and to share resources that deepen understanding of module concepts.

Module materials often contain activities. Sometimes module materials specifically ask students to make forum posts. Other times, students’ complete activities in their own time. Forums are great ways to share activity work.

Towards the end of a module presentation, a forum has the potential to become a useful resource in its own right.

Study sites and materials

The OU has a wealth of really helpful supplementary materials. Tutors can play a really important role in highlighting these resources to students.

A study site is a set of pages and resources that are designed to offer help and support for students who are studying modules which form a wider programme of study. Sometimes these study sites provide pointers to complementary resources and activities. This might even include a range of optional online tutorial sessions that could help with study skills and writing. These resources can be especially useful for students studying at a high study intensity – in other words, studying full time with the university.

The Study Skills pages are also really useful, providing access to a range of helpful booklets on subjects such as preparing assignments, revising for exams, and studying with dyslexia.

A particularly useful resource is the page about good academic practice, which offers a link a some Open Learn resources and a set of pages about References and Plagiarism

Assessments

In some way, all these different components all relate to the assessments. 

I tie together assessments and tutorials, and tutorials with learning outcomes, and learning outcomes with module materials. During tutorials, I sometimes share pointers to the sections of the module materials (such as block and online content) are particularly relevant for assignments (without, of course, giving any answers away).

Some modules ask students to share evidence of engagement with forums in their marked assessments. Also, students might be asked to provide evidence of interaction with software tools or products, but more of this in a moment.

One of best things that tutors can do is to link assessments to wider aims and objectives, to help students appreciate their purpose, and what they gain by completing them. It might be to demonstrate knowledge, or to develop skills. In turn, these skills may be useful within a wider programme or study, or have industrial relevance. In other words, gently answer the question: “why am I doing what I am doing?”

Student support teams

Remind students about their student support team (SST). As a tutor, you’re there to facilitate a student’s learning of the module materials, to answer any questions they may have, to run tutorials, and to mark their assignments and to provide helpful feedback. If you are approached about any non-academic issues, the thing to do is to refer students to the student support team, where they can gain further help and support. Do refer them if you feel that they require substantial study skills help that is above and beyond what you feel you’ll be able to provide.

The SST uses something called an Information, Advice and Guidance model (IAG). When students call, they are often seeking information. If it turns out that a query is more complicated, students are then passed onto advisors. 

Although tutors can sometimes share really helpful information about what a student’s next module might be, it is always worth encouraging students to have a conversation with the student support team, who will be able to offer official university information, advice, and guidance. Module choice is a non-academic issue, although it relates to the study of academic modules. If you’re ever in doubt, always refer students to the SST.

Software tools

Some modules require students to use different bits of software, some compulsory, some optional. These might be bits of software you access through a module website to share images or text with fellow students, or bits of software to download and use to create or edit digital resources.

If your module makes use of bits of software, you can connect them up with bits of the module in different ways: you can mention bits of software in your forum posts, you can introduce them using screen sharing in your tutorials, and emphasise their relevance (and importance) within your correspondence tuition feedback.

During my own tutor practice, I sometimes make some forum posts to make students aware of bits of software that might be helpful to them.

Library

The OU library a fabulous resource. Through the library, you can find resources, articles, and books for every academic subject. The library provides access to really useful collections of journals and eBooks. A bit of a student’s module fee is used to support the library.

Every module uses the library in a different way. Some modules may direct a student to a lot of library resources, and databases that can be accessed through the library.

When working with your students, do remember to refer your students to the library, especially if they have to do some independent study as a part of level 3 or dissertation (or project) modules. It is worth remembering three key bits, which are especially useful: firstly, the library has curated selected resources for your study. Do encourage your students to spend browsing these pages. Secondly, the library often runs a series of events. The library also offers a really comprehensive help and support section, which can be really useful for students who are looking for articles to support their academic writing.

Finally, it's worth mentioning SCONUL to your students, which is an access scheme that enables learners to the use the libraries of other universities. If students lack a quiet place to study, SCONUL is a really useful service.

Correspondence teaching

TMA feedback is one of the most important opportunities tutors have to connect different elements of a module together.  There are, of course, two ways to provide feedback: on the student’s eTMA summary form, and on a student’s script.

When leaving comments on a script, I sometimes provide direct links to module materials, or provide page references to module blocks. Where appropriate, I may also share pointers to module activities that relate to the skills and ideas that were needed to be demonstrated through the assessment. I also may also share pointers to study skills resources, but also explain why I have done this.

In my eTMA summaries, I often mention the dates of an tutorials that are coming up, along with any important forum posts that may have been made to our module material concepts. I use the eTMA summary to provide pointers to what has happened, and what may happen, whilst also explaining why these pointers are important.

Group emails

Throughout a module presentation, I regularly send group email messages to my tutor group. These emails are useful opportunities to direct students to different resources, and also to highlight important deadlines. I don’t tend to put too much in my emails, instead preferring to put more information in an accompanying forum post, which I have shared a hyperlink to. The motivation for doing this is try to guide students to the discussion forums. In my emails I encourage students to subscribe to the forum if they haven’t already done so.

I typically send group emails towards the start of a module, reminding everyone of my introductory tutorials. When I do this, I would share a link that allows student to join the relevant tutorial room, saving them from having to follow a chain of links through the module website. Linking things together is about making things clear and easy for students.

I also send group emails a few days before each tutorial, to offer them a reminder of what is coming up. When reminding everyone about the exam revision tutorials, I might say: “as I have mentioned on your TMA feedback”, to remind them that what I have written may well share some useful guidance.

At the end of module presentation, I use the group email feature to send a short ‘sign off’ email, where I encourage students to consider their next study options. When tutoring on a level 2 module, I would mention (in passing) a combination of different level 2 and level 3 modules, and encourage students to contact the student registration service if they are considering doing their next module.

External news stories and events

Connecting your module to current events and stories can be a powerful way to emphasise its importance and relevance. During tutorials I might highlight a story by asking a question, by asking: “has anyone seen that news feature about…” For students who might not come along to a tutorial, I might post a link to a news article on my tutor group forum. In turn, I might share a relevant link or a news story with fellow tutors by making a post to the module tutor’s forum.

Personal experience

Andragogy is the term used to refer to the practice of teaching adults. One of the great things about teaching adults is that they arrive at your tutorial with a wealth of personal experience. Many students may well already have careers in the topic that is the focus of your module. A good andragogic practice is to draw on the experiences of those who are studying the module, which you may find out about during introductory tutorials and events. When you know a little more about your students, you can then relate their experience with module themes and topics. You may also be able to draw on existing experience of study, to facilitate sharing between students.

Exams and EMA

Many elements of a module can be linked with its examinable component, which could be an end of module exam, or end of module assessment (EMA), or an end of module TMA (emTMA). As a tutor, you may be asked to facilitate tutorials about the final exam or final assessment.

In a tutorial that prepares students for an examinable component, it is useful to offer links and pointers to its structure, individual questions, and back again to the module the module materials. From there, you could link questions to module and unit learning outcomes. You might also link questions to previous TMAs, as well as any earlier points of feedback you may have shared.

It is also worthwhile offering links to other resources: module glossaries, resources about academic conduct, and guides about how to plan for exams.

Careers service

The careers service is sometimes easily forgotten about; it’s a great service. I mention the careers service in the comments of a final TMA that I return. I also mention it during some of my final tutorials and in my ‘sign off’ group emails.

Not only does the careers service provide some really helpful resources, students can also request to have a one-to-one career consultation with a career professional, which can be really useful in terms of identifying next steps. Working in combination with industry, the careers service also advertises jobs and graduate schemes that may be of interest to students who are coming to the end of their studies. It sometimes is used to share information about different types of internships.

It is worth telling your students that they are able to continue to access the OU career’s service a couple of years after graduating, just in the same way that they are also able to access module websites a couple of years after studying a module. Even though a student might not be a current OU student, they are still eligible to give the career service a ring.

Reflections

Connecting different things together is a really important thing to do in online and distance teaching. A module is so much more than just the course materials and the assignments.

I initially thought this list would be a lot smaller than it is. When I started writing it, I thought there would be a maximum of around six entries. Reflecting on my practice as tutor, and reflecting on what I have experienced as an OU student has helped me appreciate that there are so many different pieces that can be proactively connected with each other. Tutors are perfectly placed to do a lot of connecting, to signpost different elements, tools, and resources.

Another reflection is that every module is different. One module that I tutored place a huge amount of emphasis on the use of discussion forums. Another module that I tutor doesn’t really use forums in a prescribed way. Just because a tool isn’t used doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t use a tool. Digital pedagogy is still something that is very new. We can only uncover best practices, and practices that relate to the modules that we tutor, by trying things out.

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Studying with the Kindle continued…

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Over the last few years, I’ve written a number of blog about studying using a Kindle device and using ePub files

Whilst beginning to study A334, I picked up a really useful tip from a fellow student, which is going to be useful when working with different types of resources.

I quite like reading PDF files on my Kindle Scribe, since this way I can highlight bits of text, and scribble some notes on the PDF with my digital pencil. I can then refer back to my scribbled-on PDF when I try to compose my essay.

My tutor directed me to a resource called Introducing Renaissance Rhetoric which looks to be really useful. To send it to my Kindle, I saved it as a PDF with the aim of emailing it to my Kindle account, for transfer to my device. When doing this, I tried one more step, which was to email the document whilst putting the word ‘Convert’ into the subject line of the email.

The effect of the convert instruction is that it appears to convert the PDF into a native Kindle format, so the text can be easily displayed at different levels of magnification. The PDF, in turn, looks a bit like what an ePub file looks like when it is displayed. It isn’t perfect; bits of the table of contents is a bit messed up, and some of the indentation and formatting disappears, but the conversion algorithm must adopt some simplifications to make the text reflow work.

I’ll be curious to see how ‘convert’ deals with more complicated PDF files, i.e. IEEE articles that are presented in two columns and have loads of images and graphs. My guess it that it works best with simpler articles.

To summarise, converting a Word file to a PDF, and then issuing a convert instruction in the subject line is a great way to send Word resources to your Kindle, so you can read it off line. I’ve had a look around to try to find any Amazon documentation about this feature. I haven’t found any yet. It you find a link to any documents, please do share by leaving a comment.

Acknowledgements are duly made to a fellow A334 student who shared the 'Convert' tip in the A334 module forum.

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Academic conduct review briefing

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Sunday, 13 Oct 2024, 12:21

On 29 February 2024 I attended an academic conduct review briefing for module teams. The aim of this blog is to share some highlights that may be useful for colleagues (and to also try to remember what was covered, since there’s always a lot going on).

During the introduction, it was highlighted that academic referrals have increased over the last 5 years. Two thirds of these typically relate to study skills and poor academic practice. In other words, this relates to what could be called inadvertent misconduct.

There are some specific challenges. Investigations take time, there is an obvious need for consistency with decision making, a need for transparency, and continually emerging threats, such as essay mills and the arrival of generative AI. To respond to this changing landscape, there is a new VLE page for staff, a new academic conduct tariff, new guidance on StudentHome, a new referral form, and new processes and study skills arrangements.

Academic integrity principles for assessment design

Assessment design is important. Good assessment design should ‘reduce the motivation and opportunities for plagarism’ and focus should be on how learning takes place, as well as what is learnt.

An important point that I noted was that module teams should look at patterns of academic conduct referrals. One way to respond to repeated issues is, of course, to consider the assessment design. To help with this, there some useful principles of assessment which I share below.

A key theme of these principles is authenticity. This is connected with need for to assessments that focus on problem solving, perhaps solving problem that might have an open ended answer.

Here are the ten principles that were shared during the session.

Principle 1: Reward academic integrity

Make sure students reflect on their skills and capabilities that demonstrate academic integrity.

Principle 2: Assess higher skills

Assess metacognitive skills where students actively create an answer, with an emphasis on construction and their own thinking. This point is, of course, linked to the principle of refletion.

Principle 3: Open-ended solutions

This principle is related to authenticity. It’s possible to see authenticity within the undergraduate computing project module.

Principle 4: Diversify assessment formats

This is linked to how students might relate assessment to their own interests and preferences. Providing a variety of different assessment formats also speaks to the importance of accessibility and diversity.

Principle 5: Authentic assessment

Making an assessment real by sharing an exciting concept can enhance motivation. Make an assessment authentic by drawing on their own experience.

Principle 6: New assignment questions

To limit the risk of academic conduct, prepare new assignment questions every year. Design the assignments in such a way that students cannot re-use a previous answer. In other words, make it difficult for students to directly benefit if the questions were to be shared.

Principle 7: Process besides product

Ask students to submit interim versions of assignments or ask them to provide a demonstration. In the computing project module, students are asked to submit a draft EMA as an assessment.

Principle 8: Making quality criteria transparent

Make rubrics transparent; share with students how assessments are made so everyone knows what the module team (and the university) is looking for. 

Principle 9: Generating and acting on feedback

Encourage students to generate their own feedback, which helps to develop critical thinking. This relates to a principle of peer assessment. This is used, to a limited extent in a software engineering module, where students comment on interim designs. 

Principle 10: Authentication methods

Are students who they say they are? There used to be a time when students had carry out written exams by attending exam centres at a specific date and time. As a part of this, students needed to show a form of ID, such as a passport or a driving licence. An alternative approach would be for a student to have a conversation with a tutor about their assignment.

TurnitIn

A recent development has been the increased availability of TurnItIn to students. Module teams and staff tutors always used to receive TurnItIn reports. These reports indicated whether a submission contained words found in other online resources. A typical TurnItIn report might highlight legitimate quotes that a student used to evidence an argument, as well as uncited text.

On many modules students can now submit an earlier version of an assignment into TurnItIn. In turn, they can review a ‘similarity report’ to gain confidence that their assignment is adhering to sound principles of good academic practice. More information about TurnItIn can be typically found within a module’s assessment handbook.

Resources

A whole host of useful resources are available to students. The blog post Study Skills Resources: what is available? offers a handy summary of some of the most useful.

Reflections

I’m not sure where these assessment principles come from. I really like them. I can bring these ten points into module team meetings. Their focus on authenticity strikes me as being really important. It is important in terms of problem solving, skill development and the application of knowledge.

Putting the assessment design principles to one side for a moment, tutors are really important. If appropriate, students can refer students for additional support sessions, and can also refer students to study advisors who work within the student support team.

Students can then be referred to additional support needs, and referral to a study advisor. In my experience tutors may sometimes get a sense when a student may have used Generative AI.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements are duly given to the academic conduct review team who facilitated this session. The principles shared in this blog post are their own, and I take no credit for them. I hope I’ve summarised them effectively.

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TM470 Considering LSEPI (again)

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Friday, 4 Oct 2024, 16:03

This post follows on from an earlier post: TM470 Considering LSEPI. The difference between this blog and the earlier one is that this article places more emphasis on the ethics bit, specifically, how to treat participants ethically.

Before looking at anything specific, it’s useful to remind ourselves of what learning outcomes in TM470 relate to ethics:

LO10. Identify and address the legal, social, ethical and professional issues (LSEPIs) and the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) concerns that may arise during the development and use of computing and IT systems.

To gain a distinction for this learning outcome, you need to provide evidence to show that you have “comprehensively identified the relevant LSEPIs and EDI concerns arising during development and use and modified their project work to take these into account and behaved professionally in all aspects of [your] project work.”

At the beginning of your project it is very likely that you will be gathering requirements from stakeholders. During the middle of your project, you may well ask stakeholders for opinions about your intermediate designs, or emerging solutions; maybe asking their opinions about some prototypes. Towards the end of your project, you may (or may not) choose to carry out an evaluation. Your final project evaluation may involve stakeholders, who might be potential users of whatever product or system you have created.

Treating participants ethically

Given that you are likely to use participants throughout your project, what do you need to ensure they are treated in an ethical way?

A fellow TM470 tutor, Kawal Banga, offers the following useful summary: “you will need to consider how you are collecting data, where you are storing it, what stakeholder contact details you are storing, how you are ensuring anonymity and confidentiality, what will happen with the data on completion of the project, etc.“

Hold onto these points. 

Planning your project

TMA 1 is all about identifying a project, describing its aims, creating a plan and sharing it with your tutor. TMA 2 is all about showing that you have made some progress on your project and beginning to write about the ethical issues.

TMA01 states that:

“You will be considering in detail any legal, social, ethical and professional issues relating to your choice in TMA 02, but at this point you should consider whether these are likely to be serious enough to mean your project choice is inappropriate.”

It directs you to read some resources that have been prepared by the module team.

Before you begin writing your first TMA, do make sure you find the time to have a discussion with your tutor about your project and its aims.

In many cases, one of the first activities that you will carry out will be to establish requirements which may mean that you will need to talk to stakeholders. A stakeholder is, of course, anyone who has a vested interest in your project, or will be affected by its implementation or creation. Before you speak with anyone, you need to consider (as Kawal pointed out) how to collect data, what data you are collecting, and where you might be storing it.

TMA02 states that:

“If your project involves you working with human participants, you should include, as an appendix, your TMA02 LSEPI Form, found in the LSEPI Templates folder.” 

The point being made here is that you may need to address ethical issues before you get to your second TMA. Gathering requirements may mean working with people.

Working with stakeholders

When gathering requirements, if you need to consult people, it is important that you seek permission from those who you speak with and their line managers. Here is a suggestion about different resources that you should consider preparing before you interview anyone:

A project information sheet. This could be a single printed page, which you could then read before you go ahead with any data collection.

A consent form. This form is used to secure permission to gather data, and also to store data. More information about storing data can be seen in a related blog: Writing successful data management plans.

A set of interview questions, a set of survey questions and forms that can be used to gather responses.

Do consider sharing each of these with your tutor; they may well have some good ideas about how they might be improved.

Evidencing an ethical approach

When your examiner reads your project report, they will look for a description of what you have done and evidence that shows you have done what you have said you have done. Using a concept from creative writing, it is important to show the reader, rather than to tell the reader. 

You can show the examiner you have adopted an ethical approach by sharing evidence. You might, for example, share the following appendices:

  • Provide a copy of a project information sheet.
  • Provide samples of signed consent forms. You don’t need to provide copies of all the signed consent forms; one of each broad group of stakeholders will be enough. Make sure you hide any names and signatures. There is no reason why the examiner needs to see these.
  • Provide copies of any interview scripts or data collection forms.

Each appendix should, of course, be referenced within the body of your report.

Resources

The module website contains a number of helpful resources and pages. In particular, within the Legal, Social, Ethical and Professional issues resource, the following two sections are particularly useful:

  • Working with human participants
  • Appendix A Guidelines for conducting research with human participants

There is also a folder called LSEPI templates which can be found within the study materials section. At the time of writing, this folder contains the following files:

  • TMA02 LSEPI Form
  • consent-form-template
  • participant-information-sheet-template
  • EMA LSEPI Form

Do take the time to have a look at each of these files, and reflect on how they might be used within your project. 

When you submit your EMA you need to include a completed copy of the EMA LSEPI form as an appendix (which is something that be easily forgotten).

These above points offer some very practical advice about what you need to do to provide evidence of working with participants. This is, arguably, a very narrow treatment of the connection between your project and ethics. 

Thinking in an ethical way means that you need to consider the impact on any digital tool or product. If you are interested what this means, a good starting point is Carissa Weitz’s Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics (Oxford University press). You might find a chapter in this handbook that connects with the aim of your project. 

There is a requirements that your write about legal, social and ethical issues within your TMA 2 submission. If you're unsure about what this mean, or how to begin, a good bit of advice is, of course, find some time to speak with your tutor.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Kawal Banga and the TM470 module team.

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TM470 Considering evaluation

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Friday, 4 Oct 2024, 16:04

When planning your project, an important question to ask is: how can I tell if my project has been a success?

The extent of your evaluation very much depends on what you do during your project. For some projects, you might consider asking your stakeholders the question: “does this solve your problem?” You can ask this question in different ways: you could prepare a short survey (if you have a number of stakeholders), carry out an interview, or carry out a usability study.

If you consider design (rather than coding) to be your strong point, you may choose to carry out an interaction design project, where the output may well be a detailed high level prototype that could be presented using a prototyping tool. Since you may sidestep some of the important software development skills that you might otherwise demonstrate, is really important to ensure that you carry out your interaction design project in a really thorough way to clearly satisfy the requirement that your project is all about computing. If you are confident with software development and enjoy this aspect of your studies, you may well want to combine design with an aspect of software development; it is completely up to you.

Most interaction design projects are iterative. In fact, a practical recommendation is that a solid project that is based on the interaction design module should have three different development iterations, or phases. The thinking behind this is that this gives you the best opportunity to demonstrate your skills. When you get to the end you may want to ask the question: has my project solved the problem I set out to solve?

Consider an example of an app that could to pre-order a coffee from a local café, or to book a slot for your dog in a pet grooming parlour (you can choose another example if you prefer). 

Iteration 1: First initial sketches

Designs can be presented (and detailed) using different levels of fidelity, which (of course) relates to the idea of detail. A low fidelity design (or sketch) might be a rough sketch on paper (which is known as a paper-based prototype). A high fidelity design might be a design that closely resembles the final product. There are other terms that you might want to consider too: the idea of a vertical prototype (a prototype that covers a small bit of functionality in a lot of depth), or a horizontal prototype (a prototype that covers all the functionality of a product, but in a small amount of depth).

You might begin your design by creating some low fidelity designs, perhaps using paper-based prototyping. In other words, writing a bunch of sketches. You might want to combine this with other approaches from interaction design, such as the writing of user profiles and scenarios. It is up to you. Whatever you do needs to link back to the requirements of whatever it is you are designing. Different products will treat requirements in different ways.

When you have completed your first round of sketches (which could be made either using a pen or pencil, or using a tool), you should show them to whoever has the problem that needs to be solved (the café owner, or manager of the pet grooming parlour) to carry out your first round of evaluations.

Iteration 2: Wireframes

When you have received feedback, and have further refined your requirements, it is then a good idea to try to flesh out your design. You might have a second round of sketches, or you might move from pencil and paper to a prototyping tool. Choose whatever tool or product works best for you and your project.

When you have completed you second set of designs, go back to your stakeholders to get some further feedback. Here you should get some useful data (information about what works well, and what needs to be looked at in a bit more detail) to further refine you prototype further.

Iteration 3: Higher Fidelity prototypes

A high fidelity prototype is all about showing what a final (or polished) version of a product or system might look like. With this final iteration (or phase) you might get elements of your designing working. You may well develop software and create databases. 

As well as considering prototypes in terms of low and high fidelity, there is another couple of dimensions that can be considered helpful: horizontal and vertical prototypes. A horizontal prototype is a demonstration of a design across all its key functionality, but to a limited depth. A vertical prototype, on the other hand, means that you implement a small amount of functionality in a lot of depth. With a vertical prototype, you may well ‘go deep’ with the technology; you may have to choose appropriate software components and frameworks, and justify your choice.

When it comes to your project report, you should share your high fidelity prototype by walking your examiner through a series of screenshots.

Depending on the aim of your project, you might stop at this point. You may well have demonstrated a lot of technical skill and knowledge in a lot of detail. If your project is less about practical software development and more about design, it would be a good idea to carry out a final evaluation of your prototype to answer the question: does my design do what it supposed to do?

Using the DECIDE framework

The DECIDE framework can help you to plan (and run) an evaluation. It is featured within the interaction design module and its accompanying set text. Taking a letter at a time, here are the components of the framework: 

Determine the goals (of your evaluation): What are you aiming to get from your evaluation? Remember, this isn’t the goals of your project, it is the goals of your evaluation. What do you need to do to determine whether it is a success.

Explore the questions: What questions are you trying to find answers for? Or, alternatively, what questions do you need to ask to carry out an evaluation?

Choose the evaluation approach or paradigm: How are you going to approach your evaluation? You can choose a number of different approaches. You might wish to carry our a heuristic evaluation (which doesn’t involve users), a predictive evaluation (to predict how efficient your design is, perhaps using a cognitive walkthrough approach), or user testing (which can involve real users).

Identify the practical issues: This point relates to the detail of how you run your evaluation. If you need participants, how will you go about recruiting them? How will you ensure they are representative? How will you collect data? Will you be making notes on a data collection form, or if you’re carrying out an interview, will you be using the voice recorder app on your mobile phone? When you have captured data, where will you be storing your data, and how will you be making sure your data is secured.

Decide about the ethical issues: If you involve anyone in your evaluation, you need to think about ethics. Essentially, you need to gain permission, and you need to make sure that everyone knows what your evaluation is all about. An important point to emphasise is that you’re carrying out an evaluation of the performance of a product or a solution rather than the performance of your participants. Remember that your participants are always more important than the task of completing your evaluation. 

Evaluate: With your evaluation all planned, your data collection approach chosen, and permission gained, it is now time to carry out your evaluation. After you’ve gathered your data, it is time to analyse your data, interpret your data and then share your findings. In terms of your project report, this will mean the need to write a summary or conclusion.

Carrying out your evaluation

The DECIDE framework helps you to understand why you intend to carry out your evaluation, what criteria for success you consider to be important, and how you intend to carry out your evaluation.

If your project has an evaluation section, a recommendation is to show what you did in series of step by steps. In other words, adopt a narrative approach. Use a series of appendices to share the resources you may have created during the course of your evaluation. If participants are involved in your evaluations, consider taking a photograph of the environment in which an evaluation takes place, sharing that photograph within the body of your report.

Reflections

Although I have suggested three phrases or iterations is often appropriate for an interaction design project, there are no ‘right’ number of iterations. Every project is different. Whilst carrying you’re your project you may discover that you need more phases, and more evaluations.

References

Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., Preece, J. (2023) Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction, 6th Edition. Wiley.

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Writing successful data management plans

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Wednesday, 2 Oct 2024, 14:19

What follows is a set of notes from a professional development event by the library research support team, which took place on 8 Feb 2024 (which now feels like a long time ago).

This even was of interest for a number of reasons: I supervise some EdD research projects, I’ve been successful in gaining a small amount of seed funding, and I thought it might be useful in my role as an undergraduate project supervisor.

What is a data management plan?

A data management plan (DMP) is written at the start of the project, something that funders need to see. It describes what data you’re doing to collect, how data is going to be stored and secured, how will access be granted.

The exact requirements of a DMP may very between different funders. It is especially important if your research data is going to be uploaded into an archive. It is probably a good idea to write one even if one isn’t explicitly needed. Knowing how to do prepare a good DMP is an important research skill. Your plan can, of course, evolve as your project evolves. 

Every project will have different data requirements. Will your project gather data from interviews, focus groups, or surveys? Different types of data may have different types of management requirements. What is the volume of the data, i.e. how much? How will data be collected? Also, where will your data come from? Will it come from other sources, such as databases or third parties? To help with the preparation of a plan, there is a tool called DMP online, provided by the library.

During this session we were led to an activity and asked the question: what do you think are your main data management challenges for your research project?

What follows are some headings which highlight what elements of data collection, storage and management which need to considered.

Storage and backup

Effective backups prevent accidental losses and deletions. Even if your data is backed up, you need to ensure that backups have integrity - in the sense that if you need to access or use them, you can do so without encountering difficulties or data loss.

When thinking storage and backup consider the size and complexity of your data, and where research is carried out. If you work in “the field” (amongst participants), consider the physical security of your data and find ways to backup your data. You also need to consider how to secure your data if you are working with others.

A practical suggestion for collaborative working was to make use of tools such as Teams or Sharepoint. For individual researchers, an alternative suggestion was to make use of OneDrive (which is a part of the university infrastructure). Keep a backup copy on an external device (and make sure it is encrypted).

Ethical and legal issues

Ethics permeate research. If you’re working with human research participants on research project within the boundary of the university, such as an EdD or PhD project, or a funded research project, you need to register your project with the university’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC). A part of this you will need to complete a risk checklist.

You must tell your participants what will happen with the data that is collected as a part of the research, not only during the research, but also after the research project. Specifically, you should tell participants where results may be published and whether dataset may be available afterwards.

Data protection is important. If you collect personal information as a part of your research, you must add details about your project to the university Information Asset Register (IAR). 

Selection and preservation

An important question to be asked is: what data needs to be kept, and what data needs to be destroyed? The data protection legislation is important. You should ensure that any personal data that is collected is deleted at the end of a project. Some documents, such as consent forms, need to be maintained for a considerable amount of time after the project has ended (up to 10 years). How are these records going to be kept? The reason for maintaining these records is to ensure protection of both the participant and the researcher.

Data sharing

When a project has been completed, there may be a necessity to share the dataset with others. One of the reasons for wanting to do that is that fellow researchers might want to study your data to not only confirm your findings or to challenge your conclusions, but also to interrogate your dataset in different ways. The data that you collect (and share)  might be useful for the study of different research questions.

Your data should be shared using a trusted repository that is “as open as possible, but as closed as necessary”.  Sometimes, data can be shared through a research funder repository, a discipline specific repository, or an institutional repository. The OU has a repository called ORDO: OU’s Research Data repository.

An interesting resource that was mentioned was a site called re3data, which is short for Registry of Research Data Repositories. It’s also useful to note that repositories often make use of licences. Different repositories will have different licences.

Responsibilities and resources

Finally, there’s the important question of responsibilities. A key question is: who is responsible for the data management plan? In a plan, it would be useful to identify who is responsible for what data. Who, for example, be responsible for managing the upload of data to a repository. 

Reflections

A key point that underpins this post is: do contact the library team for help and support.

I have two reflections to share. The first is that the way that research data is treated has significantly changed from when I started carrying out research, and this is a good thing. Whilst all this can be perceived as an annoying administrative burden, it necessarily helpful to spell out how data is used. In turn, this can open up possibilities in terms of how data can be used by other researchers. A detailed plan can also offer helpful reassurance to participants.

The second reflection relates to my role of a TM470 project tutor. Undergraduate projects sometime requires students to carry out research that involves people – for example, potential users of software systems. Since undergraduate projects sit outside the formal university (HREC) ethics processes, students don’t have to create a data management plan, there is benefit in considering how data is collected, used, and stored. The reason is, of course, these issues speak to the ethical issues that are important to every project. A practical recommendation for TM470 students is: if you collect data, create a short appendix (it could be only one or two pages in length) that summarises your data management plan.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the library research support team for running this event. The headings for this blog have been derived directly from their presentation.

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Christopher Douce

What should I do if my TM470 project goes wrong?

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You have a plan, you have identified all your resources and the skills that you need, and you’ve identified a good number of risk and accompanying mitigations. If things start to go wrong, you should look to your risk log to see if it (and your accompanying mitigations) might be able to help. If they don’t help, there are many things you can start to do.

When things start to go wrong, start to make notes of what has happened, and how you have responded to what has happened. In other words, add entries to your project log. If you haven’t started a project log, start one. It is never too late.

Even though you may have prepared a plan (and identified risks) at the start of your project, these are not set in stone. Your project plan and all the other elements of planning (your resource, skill and risk summaries) should always be updated.

An important tip: keep two versions of your Gantt chart; the plan that you prepared at the very start of your project, and a version that you continually update throughout your project. 

If things are not going to plan, do update your plan, and make a note of why you think this is the case. If things happen in your life which mean that you have to break your regular study pattern, and you find that key project milestones will be delayed, write down what has happened and replan your project. If you need advice about how to approach this, do get in contact with your tutor.

The reason for writing everything down is simple: it gives you some useful material you can use when you get to write your reflection section.

At the time of writing, the reflection section of your project report accounts for 20% of the overall project score. This means that there are a lot of marks available just for writing about what has happened during your project (and saying what you have learnt).

If everything went to plan and there were no surprises, your reflection section would be pretty uninteresting. Examiners are not very fond of uninteresting project reports. If your project doesn’t go to plan, this gives you something to write about.

To summarise, projects can and do go wrong. If you realise that your project has elements of complexity that you never expected, and need to replan, that is completely okay. If life intervenes which means that you need to reevaluate your project’s aims and objectives, that is okay too. Both of these situations will lead to a changed project which means you have a really interesting story to tell in your reflection section.

If you’re unsure about anything, my biggest tip is, of course, contact your tutor to book in a chat.

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Affirming Neurodiversity in teaching and learning seminar

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Tuesday, 1 Oct 2024, 09:39

On 12 September 2024 I attended a university wide Quality Enhancement Conversations seminar. The aim of this blog is to capture some of the points made during interesting and thought provoking professional development session. Since this blog was created from a set of contemporaneous notes, I must accept responsibility for mistakes and misrepresentations.

The event began with an introduction, which had the title Better support models for neurodiverse students which was given by Michelle Pryde. Her introduction shared some history, which included an introduction to the notion of a model of disability, the movement towards autism being understood as a spectrum, and the first use of the term neurodiversity 1998.  This was linked to the point that there is no one right way of thinking; behaviours and differences are not deficits. An interesting point is that not everyone likes the term. Neurodiversity isn’t, of course, a condition. It is instead a framework that can be used to understand difference.

Some other points I noted include a shift in societal views over time, and changes to the OU student charter, which includes a commitment to anti-discrimination and anti-racism. Student numbers suggest that evidence that we (the university and its staff) need to do more, and to further evolve and develop the university’s teaching practices. The university should support staff to help them not to make assumptions. It is important to practice active listening.

Neurodiversity: The Affirmation Model

Megan Lawton, Professor of Learning and Teaching (academic practice) and head of academic development from University of Wolverhampton gave an opening keynote.

Reflecting a point in the introduction, Megan continued the introduction of different models of disability. Three were picked (although many others exist): the medical model, the social model (focus on how society disables somebody, and provision of reasonable adjustments), and the affirmation model (considers abilities and strengths).

The affirmation model is new to me. It gets away from the notion of a ‘tragic view’ of disability and a view of people with disabilities being ‘brave’. Contrast this with the charity model, and depictions of athletes at the Paralympics. Athletes are just athletes. A reference for the affirmation model can be found in an article by Swain and French (2000) Towards and affirmation model of disability, Disability and Society.

An important point was that ‘language, terminology and attitudes matter’. People with disabilities can have positive (affirmed) traits can offer benefits to society, and to business. I noted an encouragement to set up a diversity and equality action plan and consider establishing assessment methodologies for students, to enable students to take advantage of their affirmed traits. Consider how to assess learning outcomes in a way that is separate from the medium of the demonstration. In other words, rather than essays or written exams, could there be another way to demonstrate a learning outcome?

Neurodivergent student numbers and completion rates

Next up was a brief dive into some stats. A question that was asked was: can we identify neurodivergent students? One challenge is the university gathers data using historically dated terms and language. There is no specific marker within student records for neurodiversity, but other flags can be combined together, i.e. ‘ASD’ and ‘dyslexia’, gives that a figure that suggests 7.1% (based on combined yearly data summarised from 2018) of students are neurodiverse.

A follow on question was: ss disclosure rate different between different demographic groups? Yes in some cases, but not in others. A further question was: are different success rates between neurodivergent students and neurotypical students present in university statistics? Yes.

Supporting neurodivergent postgraduate research (PGR) students

The subtitle for this next presentation, given by Lindsay O’Dell was ‘supporting students in accessing and participating in their studies’. Challenges for neurodivergent students may include navigating and working with university systems, accessing support, and navigating supervisory relationships. The supervisory relationship is really important for doctoral students. It is through this relationship can students express what students need.

This presentation emphasised the need to consider students at different levels. It is just as necessary to consider how to best support postgraduate research students as it is to support access students.

The Relaxed Tutorial Project: Designing for Neurodiversity (FASSTEST)

This presentation, about inclusive tutorial practice, was all about how to make safe spaces for students who may disclose autism. This said, it also has relevance for students who may typically avoid online tutorials due to of anxiety or have a variety of complex requirements.

A question is: what might a related tutorial look like? Some suggestions includes reduced sensory input, reduced social participation, casual attendance, a established safe and sympathetic environment. Paraphrasing an element of the presentation, a relaxed tutorial will also not be recorded, will not expect students to use the mic, here will be no web cams, students will not be put on the spot, not be put in a breakout rooms. The point of a relaxed tutorial to get students to attend who might not be willing to attend earlier. The packaging of the ‘relaxed’ tutorial is important.

Reflecting on the notion of the ‘relaxed’ tutorial there is an obvious tension. Some tutorials can be transformative in your understanding of module concepts since they can provoke provocative questions. Interactive tutorials can strengthen and develop understanding of key ideas. As sometime who often identifies as neurotypical, I don’t want to relax in a tutorial; I want my own tutorials to be challenging. This said, it would stretch me as a tutor if I were to run two different styles of tutorial. Arguably, running a ‘relaxed tutorial’ may lead to the development of trust (and student-tutor relationships) and lead to students attending other forms of tutorial.

Exploring the Transitions of Neurodivergent Access Students to Level One Study

The subtitle for this presentation was ‘Narratives of Study Skills and Support’. The aim of this PRAXIS project was to explore experience of neurodivergent students by making use of a qualitative photo-elicitation approach, to ultimately help to inform the enhancement of the student experience. The research was centred around a number of Access modules: Y031 Arts, Y032 Social sciences, Y033 STEM. The researchers interviewed five student participants. There were three sections to the research: photo elicitation, questions about study skills, and questions about the quality of support provided. A key ingredient was, of course, the tutor, who always plays a key role in Access modules.

Panel discussion

What follows is a summary of my own interpretation of the themes that emerged from the panel discussion.

An important theme was about listening, and communicating. Linked to this was the importance of flexibility. I noted the words “nothing about us without us”. Accompanying this was the point that we should always talk to our students, and emphasise that everyone can achieve. Connected to this, there should be a move away from disability to the notion of needs, and how the university, module teams and tutors can meet unmet needs. 

When it comes to talking with students, online interactions and tutorials can represent an enabler, as well as a barrier. Face-to-face teaching can be considered to be an enabler, and a barrier. With this in mind, I asked a question: is it right that the university policy is to currently have no official face-to-face events? Study mentoring could, for example, take place during face-to-face sessions. The response was that early face-to-face interaction, to help learners understand what is involved in study is helpful and enabling options (or choice) is crucial.

There was an interesting discussion about assessment methods, particularly the use of essays. A question is: can learning outcomes be assessed in different ways to accommodate student needs? Essays help develop writing skills and offer an opportunity to demonstrate both knowledge and skills.

Resources

The following resources were shared during this session:

Guidance (GOV.UK)

The following resource was also shared:

It is also worth mentioning that the university has its own inclusive curriculum tool, which helps module teams to consider diversity and inclusion beyond neurodiversity.

Reflections

The most useful point I took away from the seminar was the introduction of a new model: the affirmation model. I haven’t heard about this model before. It makes a lot of sense, and I relate to it on a personal level.

It was interesting to hear the notion of neurodiversity being discussed, and this makes me question where the boundaries of neurodiversity lie. 

Coming back to the personal, I will disclose that I have a speech difference, a stammer. Does this make me neurodivergent? Since neurodivergence appears to cover specific learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, and autistic spectrum ‘disorders’ (I’m unhappy with the notion of disorder, since it does suggest the medical model of disability), my own difference isn’t a part of this label. Whilst I'm not going to argue on being included into the club, a curiosity is that a stammer can be profoundly socially disabling in some circumstances.

The affirmation model is all about emphasising what everyone is good at. This makes me question: what am I particularly good at? Curiously, there is something that my stammer has given me that I quite like: it has given me a very good vocabulary, since I’m forever making decisions about whether I could choose an easier word to say. When speaking with me, you might never know this is going on. The effect of this might be functional fluency (to attempt to fit in with the normal of a ‘neurotypically-fluent’ world) but the impact can be mental exhaustion after a very busy day of talking and phone calls. Does this sound neurotypical? I have no idea, since it is my everyday life experience. Would a label be useful? Again, I’m not sure.

This leads back to some other points that was shared during the session: consideration of needs, the importance of communication and learning about those needs, and providing of alternatives and opportunities.

A useful event; thank you to all the organisers and presenters.

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A334 Journal - September 2024

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1 September 2024

I’ve been looking through some of the databases we have access to. I had a look at the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Early English Books Online (EEBO), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), The Reading Experience Database (UK RED) and ProQuest One Literature (PQ1L).

I did a few random searches in EEBO and I was amazed at the number of curious books I could find. When messing with ECCO I was very impressed that it could relate textual searches to sections of manuscripts. The Defoe search was a great exercise. I found the UK RED database interesting, but a bit more curious. I’m guessing it can be useful to understand more about how texts are talked about, received (by the reader and readers) and shared. It was interesting to discover a suggestion that Austen had read Gulliver’s Travels, evidenced by a letter where she mentions horses.

What struck me about the PQ11 database is the extent to which it is possible to gain more directly access articles written by critics. For the A233 I was relying on the OU library to find critical perspectives and voices. Whilst I did okay, there this might have been a more useful (and faster) too.

This activity has also helped me to think about my day job. When I was a computing research student I remember discovering an article that related literary criticism and choosing bits of software to solve a problem. At the time, I didn’t really fully appreciate what it was going on about and why it was important. I’m now beginning to see its point. Practicing software engineers need to be critics. At this point, I’m on the cusp of digressing completely, so I need to stop. I’m noting all this down since I wanted to remember this reflection.

A final task in the morning: a listen to the audio about how the module approaches equality and diversity, and how it speaks to people from different backgrounds. A great listen.

5 September 2024

My module blocks have arrived! They are now decorating my desk, and will probably do so for a couple of weeks. This said, I’ve done couple of random bits of early ‘study’. 

I’ve leafed through the introduction to the Turkish Embassy Letters. Having once written a travelogue of my own, I have a feeling that this might me ‘my kind of book’.

I enjoyed ‘The Playhouse’ video. There’s a lot in that one; the history of The Globe and The Rose theatres. One of the things I’m going to do is to have a cycle down to the South Bank to find ‘New Globe Walk’ and ‘Rose Alley’. I need to watch this one again.

I’ve also had a watch of the Book 1 Chapter 1 video, Performing As you like it. In the introduction, Danson Brown shared the view that “the old fashioned view was that the text was king”. The director who is featured in the video asks the question about whether performance should be king.

It was also suggested that the job of a director is to make the text clear, and to help the audience believe the characters. Often, directors make some cuts of the text to make plays more accessible. In the video there are comments about the interpretation of words and the playing scenes.

An interesting comment is that As You Like It is a play about education, that “it is a practical tutorial in love”. Being new to the play, and having only been through the text once, I’ve yet to form my own view, but it’s an interesting perspective.

The key point of the video is that there’s a difference between how academics read and analyse the texts, and how directors interpret texts so they can be performed. Everything depends on your perspective.

The final thing I do is to have a quick look at the independent study section, just to get a feel for what we have in store. All the independent study sections are in a single document, which makes everything easy to navigate; there is one section for each of the block chapters. The option for the first chapter are: explore another Shakespeare comedy (which is an activity I quite like the look of), read the introduction to the set text (which is quite lengthy), read two essays (which look quite interesting), and review timelines of As You Like It (which will take quite a bit of time).

I’m clearly going to be busy.

8 September 2024

One of my lockdown discoveries was cycling. From where I live in London, I discovered that I can relatively easily cycle to most of central London. Itching for a bit of exercise, I decided to go on a mini field trip, to find the site of The Rose playhouse.

It wasn’t too difficult to find: I picked up a cycle path from Greenwich, followed the path to London Bridge, and then headed towards Southwark Bridge. When heading north, I took a left, and then took a right, and then found Rose Walk, which was featured in one of the materials on the module materials. It took me about 35 minutes to get there, which was pretty good going.

It turns out that the venue has 6 plays in a single day! On one Saturday, the programme begins with Dr Faustus by Marlowe, and then finishes with Hamlet. These are all clearly abridged; each play is said to last one hour.

I’m going to have to come back.

11 September 2024

Towards the end of last week, I noticed a copy of Bill Bryson’s biography of Shakespeare languishing on my shelves. I can’t remember where it came from; I think it must have been either a Christmas or birthday present. I’m roughly halfway through it, and there’s a lot that I recognise that is also covered in the Greenblatt text.

One thing that really interested me was a reference to other writers. Kyd gets a mention. There was also a reference to someone called Thomas Heywood (Wikipedia) who is said to have written over 200 plays (of which only a small number are said to survive). Who is this Heywood?

13 September 2024

Continuing with independent study, I found a couple of interesting resources on BBC Sounds: an episode of In Our Time that was all about Marlowe, and short three part crime drama, which was all about Marlowe’s death. I have no idea about how they will stretch it out to three hours… If I can find the time to listen, I’ll find out.

I listened to In Our Time early one morning, but fell asleep, waking up at the moment where the presenters were discussing what evidence there is about Marlowe being a spy. I really need to give it another listen when I’m a bit more awake.

As an aside, Marlowe is buried not too far from a new bakery I regularly visit. I’m getting to know Deptford quite well, but I don’t tend to visit too many ale houses.

14 September 2024

Over the last couple of days, I watched an RSC production of Love's Labour's Lost on Drama Online.

To help with my study I downloaded a copy of the text from Project Guttenberg.

When learning plays, I tend to read a synopsis on Wikipedia to help me to figure out what is going on.

An independent study task is to compare the play with As You Like it. Some things that I’m going to look at are: characters, plot, setting, and use of language. Specifically, how verse and prose used? Also, is it a similar length to As You Like It?

I’m not going to write a lot here, since I’m going to let the play sit with me for a while. 

I really liked was the RSC’s staging, especially the context that the production used, which worked really well with the ending, amplifying the themes of the play. I also liked that it had a play within a play, which reminded me of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Two three simplistic points: there was the role of the clown (which has some similarities to As You Like It), and the role that verse plays, and there is a diversity (but a symmetry) of characters.

Another thought that crossed my mind: perhaps I could watch Dr Faustus, which is also available on Drama Online. I’ve heard it mentioned so many times. I know it only by reputation.

I’m keen to get ahead, since I know that I have a challenging couple of months in front of me, where I won’t have an environment that is very conducive to study, whilst doing my best to do my day job.

15 September 2024

As hoped, I watched a production of Dr Faustus through the Drama Online library. What follows are a rough set of notes, since I’m letting it all sit with me for a while. The production was impressive, taking place on two levels in the Greenwich Theatre, which I’ve been to a couple of time before. (I think It was by the same production company with made a version of The Dutchess of Malfi, which we covered on an earlier module).

The play had clear and direct references to scholarship and study. Faustus mentioned the disciplines of medicine, law and divinity, whilst expressing an interest in divinity. This may well link to Marlowe’s experience of being a scholar at Cambridge, and having been from Canterbury (I picked all this up through an episode of In Our Time). Faustus ignored all these subjects in favour of necromancy, where he conjured up a spirit called Mephistophilis who was a constant presence through the play.

I’ve noted down the occasional interesting line, such as “I think hell is a fable”, which I expect had a dramatic effect. There were also regular references to ‘books’, books which provide details about how to do necromancy. This reminded me quite a bit of The Tempest, where there is Prospero. Notably, towards the end of the play, I noted down the words “I’ll burn my books” when Faustus became overwhelmed by the impact of his own actions.

Remembering a discussion from In Our Time, an interesting question to ask is: could Marlowe have written comedies? There were certainly some funny moments in the Drama Online production.

Whilst I was watching Dr Faustus, I was reminded of Harry Potter, and the young wizards use of Latin sounding incantations to execute spells. The thought that is rattling through my head is: how come ghosts, spirits and magic have such a hold on art and literature? Why do they feature so regularly in depictions of the human condition? Not being spiritual at all, and not being a follower of any religion, this is something that I struggle with. This said, this might speak to why I find studying the humanities interesting.

I liked Dr Faustus. Without using too many words, I found it a pretty scary play. The Drama Online struck me as the Elizabethan version of a horror movie.

16 September 2024

I’ve found a series on BBC Sounds called The Shakespeare Sessions. I recently listened to an episode called Exit Burbage which I thought was really interesting. I do recommend it. There’s a reference to an archive in Washington, a recreation of the Blackfriars Theatre in Virginia, a reference to a painting of Burbage in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, which I’ve never visited.

Looking on a map, the road next to Dulwich Picture Gallery is called Burbage Road.

I need to make a visit.

18 September 2024

I’ve finally finished the Bryson book. I enjoyed it. I particularly liked the section where he talks about Shakespeare’s changing reputation over time. There was also a reference to the Folger library, which was mentioned in the podcast I listened to.

Next steps: continue to have a listen to the BBC Sounds series that I found, and finally get onto reading the first chapter of the module block. After this, I’ll return back to the module website to see what else is coming up.

I’m very mindful that I need to continue to get ahead, but I’m also mindful that the module starts soon.

20 September 2024

I went to see a production of Hamlet last night. It took place at a local theatre. I was really looking forward to it. I had been to the ‘studio’ bit of my local theatre, but not the main one, which has a capacity of eight or nine hundred. I was intrigued about what it was going to be like. I was also in for an unexpected surprise; the box office had upgraded my ticket (to make sure the audience gets a bit closer to the stage).

The production was by a company called The Lord Chamberlain’s Men; a name of a company that is mentioned in the module materials (but it obviously wasn’t the same one, having been founded in 2005).

The performance lasted just over two hours, which meant that there were clearly some sections that were cut. Plus, all the actors had to speak pretty quickly to get through all the action. Being a ‘traditional’ company, all the women were played by men. Whilst they did a pretty good job of it, I did question this particular nod towards authenticity.

The pace had a curious effect on how Hamlet came across. The actor who played the miserable prince was positively cheery. This said, he was very good at fencing.

The performance made me reflect on how I related to the play. It’s themes of grief and loss resonated, and its conclusion emphasises potential consequences of it were to become all encompassing. Grief is about life, but grief can cast a shadow over light.

I think I’m beginning to ‘get’ the cathartic role of tragedies.

24 September 2024

A fellow student from our WhatApp group said “it’s starting to get real” after announcing that it was possible to book on tutorials.

I’ve booked onto pretty much everything I could. My diary is now jam packed with interesting sounding events.

It is starting to get real.

25 September 2024

An email from my tutor, which had a link to a very reassuring and thorough introductory video. 

Interestingly, I don’t make a video recording for my undergrad students (yet), but I do for my postgrad students, where make an Adobe Connect empty room recording. 

As a part of his video, he asked two questions: what I was looking forward to (Shakespeare), and what I wasn’t looking forward to (Austen).

No study today; I’ve been too busy marking exams.

30 September 2024

A couple of days ago I heard from my tutor; we exchanged a couple of friendly emails.

I’m aware that this pre-start month is slipping through my fingers and the module is just about to begin. I’ve not done anything of note over the last week, other than vaguely identifying which lever arch file I’m going to use for all my notes.

Next week I’m going to try to start a regular study habit. Before I login to my work inbox, I’m going to spend a bit of quality time with my module materials. There. I’ve written it. I’m hoping to make myself accountable. To myself.

Good luck to all fellow A334 students!

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Considering challenge-based learning

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Monday, 30 Sept 2024, 16:50

On 10 September 24 I attended a presentation given by Prof. Agnes Kukulska-Hume entitled Transformative potential of challenge-based learning. The talk was a part of one of the last staff tutor meetings I will be attending (for the time being).

As soon as her presentation started, an immediate question came to mind, which was: “what is the difference between challenge-based learning and problem-based learning”. An accompanying thought was that perhaps a challenge could contain one or more problems? We were moved onto a definition; a challenge is to achieve something worthwhile or exceptional. A challenge could also be individual or collaborative. It could be a competition, or a race, or an event. 

An important point is that a challenge can expands one’s own boundaries and capabilities. A challenge can be used to provoke learners and to develop skills. There is also an interesting link to the subject of professional development too, but I’m not going to dwell on that theme too much.

I made some notes of a mention of a framework which had three stages: engage, investigate, act. 

I guess the difference between CBL and PBL is one of perspective and focus. Problem-based learning may be necessarily driven by teachers and tutors, whilst challenge-based learning may well be more open ended. The necessary educational glue of reflection can, of course, be applied to both problems and challenges (for both learners, and for educators).

A bit of digging…

After the event, I did a bit of digging. I found a site called ChallengeBasedLearning.org which offered a more fuller definition, which identifies it less of a pedagogy, more of a pedagogic framework, which is “collaborative and hands-on, asking all participants (students, teachers, families, and community members) to identify Big Ideas, ask good questions, identify and solve Challenges, gain in-depth subject area knowledge, develop life skills, and learn how to learn”. 

Not too far from this page, there’s something called From something called the Challenge Institute. A few further clicks takes me to a literature review of Challenge Based Learning.

Whilst I was in the area, I remembered the universities regular Innovating Pedagogy reports. I found a reference to Challenge Based Learning in the Innovating Pedagogy 2023 report.

I’m noting all these links down so I can easily find them at some point.

Reflections

When introduced to the idea of CBL, and trying to understand its various definitions, I wondered whether this was yet another pedagogic buzzword? One of my roles is to tutor on an undergraduate computing module. An accompanying through was: perhaps project-based learning is already a version of challenge-based learning? After all, completing a significant project is also a significant challenge.

In some respects, I have once been a part of a challenge-based learning activity through an Interaction Design hackathon event, which established a theme about digital healthcare.  It was an event that was certainly about challenges since students had to uncover their own problems. 

A difficulty that I had with this particular event was how it directly related to module materials. There was no denying the creativity of the design of the event. It offered a great learning opportunity for those who attended, but it didn’t directly and easily integrate with the module materials. This leads to other questions: what are the practical implications on module design? Also, how are challenges assessed, especially if they are open-ended, decidedly personal, or specifically not well defined?

Problem-based learning is scaffolded. Lecturers offer help, guidance, and resources. A related question is: what support is needed for students who are carrying out challenges? The answer is: it depends on the learners, and it depends on the challenge.

In some respects, the OU is running its own challenge, for research focussed academics. It is called the Open Societal Challenges https://research.open.ac.uk/societal-challenges Support is given in terms of administrative support, and funding. I have had a go to set up a challenge all of my own. It is a challenge which relates to green computing and efficient software. I confess to not having made much progress, since I’ve recently had a number of personal challenges to deal with. 

This links to an important point: if challenges are not clearly defined, things might not get done due to any number of barriers. Something that really helps me to overcome barriers is, of course, working with others. Being accountable to others is one way to get things done.

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A334 Journal - August 2024

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Thursday, 29 Aug 2024, 08:12

This month has been challenging for a whole host of personal reasons (which I’m not going to be going into). Amidst my personal challenges, I did manage to get away for a two week break, which much needed. During those two weeks I went cycling, tried to do some swimming (I’m not good at swimming) and do some reading for A334.

One of the first things I managed to do was to finish an audio book of Pride and Prejudice. I feel as if I did rush listening to it, since there are bits of the story that I don’t quite grasp, but I do appreciate that there were all kinds of shenanigans happening in Brighton.

I was given a lovely gift for my birthday: a text called Will in the World, by critic Stephen Greenblatt. You could say I devoured it in a couple of sittings. I don’t read many biographies, but when I do, I really enjoy them. This text is what you might call a biography that extensively draws upon Shakespeare’s plays. I really liked it.

I managed to find a BBC Radio 3 production of The Spanish Tragedy, which I listened to whilst reading the recommended course text. The radio production was abridged, which meant that I regularly got lost. I have no idea (yet) what to make of it, but I quite liked what I read, and what I listened to. I have yet to make any notes, or to buy any extensive amounts of stationary to facilitate the making of my notes.

Next up was reading though a version of The Country Wife by William Wycherley. I got completely lost and had no idea what was going on. The most I understood was that there was some cross dressing going on. I’m hoping the module materials (when I got stuck into them) will help me to figure it all out.

Before my holiday, I managed to download a copy of Gulliver’s Travels by Swift. Although I think there is a bit of guidance from the module team about which books to focus on, I found myself reading the whole text. Whilst reading, I remembered a recent television documentary which caused quite a sensation (BBC culture website). Whilst reading Gulliver’s Travels, I remembered of the tone of the documentary, and how its enthusiasm and energy reminded me of Swift’s writing.

What I really loved about Gulliver’s Travels was his summary of academia; there was a lot that I could recognise. A real surprise was that the text has something to say about generative AI, which can be found in his description of something called The Engine (Wikipedia). All this took me on a short journey to Swift’s Wikipedia biography, which was fascinating.

Two texts that I did want to delve into (but didn’t have the time) was The Turkish Embassy Letters (but I had forgotten that there wasn’t a Project Guttenberg version I could download to my Kindle), and the Arabian Nights’ stories.

Since I had watched a production of As You Like It and Julius Caesar before travelling away, I next gave these plays a read. It was interesting reading these plays almost back to back; a contrast between light and dark. Shakespeare really ratchets up the tension in Julius Caesar a bit at a time. I don’t think I would have been able to get as much out of reading the plays if I hadn’t seen two really good productions.

I did have a plan to read Hamlet on a very long train ride, but I found that I had run out of mental energy.

One of the other things that I did was download an audio book version of Persuasion. I think I got up until chapter 5 before losing track of what was going on. I have some very long drives ahead of me in forthcoming months, so I’m sure I’ll be able to find the time, but I might restrict myself to just the bits I need to read for the module materials.

Another thing that I managed to do is to briefly look through the blocks. I have mixed feelings about the poetry in the second block, and was mildly shocked at some of the more racy verses that we have in store a bit later on.

A few days after getting back from my holiday, I finally found my way to the module website, where I started to look at the module guide. I was surprised by the bit that said there was 40% of our weekly study time is going to be spent on independent study. There was also a mention of (potentially) using a blog too. This is going to be interesting.

Perhaps my time spent reading Greenblatt was time very well spent.

I’m worried about one thing: the need to find both the quiet and the time to study everything. I’m in a situation where I can’t get “quiet time” easily, since there’s such a lot going on. Reflecting on this, my approach might well be to get up early in the morning.

My next steps: continue to read the module guide, watch some of the module videos, and start to find my way around the module website.

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A334 Journal - June 2024

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Thursday, 29 Aug 2024, 08:02

With months to go before the start of my next module, I thought I would summarise where I’ve got to with my pre-reading (or pre-studying).

I began by downloading as many of the course texts to my digital reading device as I could, and then by watching different productions of the plays that feature within the first block.

To be honest, I’m a bit intimidated by this module. There are books in the reading list that I’ve started and have never finished, as well as plays that I’ve seen, but I’ve never thoroughly understood. The key question is: can I make it to the other side, getting a good grade?

6 June 2024

My set books have arrived!

I bought a set of second hand text from a former A233 student. It’s quite a package. I am now officially scared.

I’ve watched one production of As You Like It from Drama Online. It took me a bit of time to figure out what it was about (it’s all about love). There’s one soliloquy by Jacques that I recognised immediately. 

30 June 2024

I had a long drive to visit my parents. Before setting off, I downloaded Pride and Prejudice from Audible. As well as listening to it, I’ve been starting to watch a dramatized version which can be found on BBC iPlayer, starring Colin Firth as Darcy. I’m gradually making a bit of progress, but it’s taking a bit of time. I’m quite liking Mr Bennett.

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TM470 What should I submit?

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A question that I’m regularly asked is: “what do I need to submit?”

The answer is pretty simple: you only need to submit a Word single document. Some obvious follow questions are, of course: “what should my Word document contain?” and “I’ve written some software as a part of my project, should I include this? If so, how?” or “During my project, I’ve done a lot of design work, and I have a load of sketches and some prototypes – how can I submit these?”.

A principle to return to this: TM470 is all about showing off. You can ‘show off’ in a couple of different ways. One of the most important sections of your EMA is the section of your report that summarises the account of the work that you have carried out on your project. In this section, you should make sure that you highlight the best bits of work that you have done. This might include a design, a diagram, or bits of code for important functions that may have been particularly develop. If you have a lot of code, or many different screenshots or sketches, choose the best ones, and put all the others within a series of appendices. An important point to remember is: you can include any number of appendices in your EMA report.

A related question that I’m sometimes asked is: “should I include a weblink to some working software, or an app that can be downloaded?” The answer is: no; you don’t have to do this. Whilst your examiner (the reader of your EMA) may appreciate this, there isn’t an obligation to provide links to a working version of any software you have created. Your project report must, however, be sufficiently detailed to ensure they can evaluate the learning that has taken place over the duration of your project.

If your project relates to a particular setting or context, a further practical suggestion is to provide some photographs of that setting. If you are developing an app that solves a problem, you might want to include a photograph of the setting where your app is used. Give your photograph a figure number, and refer to it in the body of your text.

To summarise, you only need to submit a written report, your EMA. You don’t need to need to provide a working prototype, but you do need to provide sufficient detail to ensure that the examiner is convinced about what you have done. If you haven’t got things working at you had hoped, it is okay to say this too; this makes for an interesting report. It isn’t what you have built that is the focus, it is what you have learnt (and demonstrated) through the building of something, and how you write about it that really matters.

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Enhancing Practice in Tripartite Review Meetings - Off-the-job training

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On the afternoon of 18 June 24, I attended a continuing professional development event which was designed for practice tutors (PTs) that were supporting the university’s degree apprenticeship scheme. The aim of the session was to talk about off the job time (which is sometimes referred to by the abbreviation OTJ). It was for PTs from all faculties: health and social care PTs, nursing PTs, business school PTs and computing and IT PTs.

The session was to explore “effective strategies for supporting apprentices with off-the-job training logs” and it would be “practical and action-focused, drawing on the latest best practice. It aimed to “apply relevant techniques to effectively review learner progress against relevant standards”, to “develop proactive approaches to engagement and support” and to help PTs to “critically reflect on professional practice against the competencies in the Tripartite Meeting Standards”.

This session was a series of other PT “talk and share” CPD sessions that was all about “enhancing practice in Tripartite Review Meetings”. Tripartite meetings are meetings which take place between a practice tutor, an apprentice, and their employer. Here is a list of other related events that have been designed:

  • Setting Personalized Goals and Objectives
  • Embedding & Reviewing Skills Scans
  • Active Listening
  • Working Effectively with Employers
  • British Values

What follows is a set of rough notes from the off-the-job training time event that I attended.

Off-the-job training

Every apprentice must complete 20% of off the job hours, which is a part of the apprenticeship agreement. These hours take place within regular working hours, but are distinct from work that is carried out that relates to employment.

OTJ training can take place in different locations, and must help with learning of skills that relate to knowledge, skills and behaviours. Different apprentices have different patterns, but they should take place on a weekly basis. If apprentices can’t complete their off the job learning, they must take a break in learning; it is that important.

Some definitions from the Department of Education of Skills were shared, to help to understand what is and what isn’t off the top time. For example, is the work directly relevant to the apprenticeship framework? Is it teaching new knowledge, skills and behaviours? Is it taking place within the apprentice’s normal working hours? It is not off the job time if it is about induction or “on-boarding” process, English or maths training, or progress reviews; there are not off-the-job time.

Although the discussions within the session were dominated by definitions of what off the job training is, there was some discussion about the ePortfolio (which is referred to as the ePad), and graphical wheels which summarises the apprentice’s status – most notably in terms of what knowledge, skills and behaviours they have acquired. This relates to the competencies that are fundamental to the apprenticeship. It is important that apprentices keep a detail of what they have done. Practice tutors need to make sure this happens, and they must check to ensure what they are doing with off the job time. Also, the apprenticeship team within the university reviews the records to make sure that study and skills development is taking place.

In the session, there was a useful link to a Myths and Facts resource from the Education and Skills funding agency. A key point in all of this is that off the job time doesn’t have to be provided in a classroom. In the context of the OU, this could be study time carried out at home (through distance learning), or dedicated chunks of time at the workplace.

A final point I noted was about the Skills Scan, which is a document (and a process) which helps to guide the evidencing of the apprenticeship KSBs. It was mentioned that this should be something that is carried out every 6 months. With the apprentices I support, I’ve been encouraging them to complete before every quarterly review, so we can prepare for a discussion.

Reflections

I’m pretty familiar with the notion of OTJ time, since it has been drummed into me over an extended period of time. In advance of quarterly review meetings (and between those meetings) I review what time is being recorded in the ePortfolio system. It was, however, good to have a clear and direct reminder about what OTJ time is, and what it isn’t. This was a popular session, with over 30 PTs finding the time to come along.

I have to confess to missing the first PT CPD event, which was about setting goals and objectives, which might have been useful. Out of all the events that have been advertised, the one about skills scans and the one about working effectively with employers sound the most interesting. These seem to combine together both process and conversation, which strikes me as helpful.

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Generative AI- AL Professional Development

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Wednesday, 29 May 2024, 12:36

On 23 May 24 I attended an AL development event (in my capacity as an OU tutor) that was all about Generative AI (which is abbreviated to here as GenAI). This blog sits alongside a couple of other blogs that I shared last year that also relate to GenAI and what this means for education, distance learning, and education practice.

What follows is some notes that I made during a couple of the sessions I attended, and what points and themes I took away from them. I also share some critical perspectives. Since GenAI is a fast moving subject, not just in terms of the technology, but in terms of policy and institutional responses, what is presented here is also likely to age quickly.

Opening keynote

The event opened with a keynote by Mychelle Pride which had the subtitle: Generative AI in Learning, Teaching and Assessment I won’t summarise it at length. Instead, I’ll share some key points that I noted down.

One important point was that AI isn’t anything new. A couple of useful resources were shared, one from the popular press, How AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Bard work – visual explainer (The Guardian) and another from industry: The rise of generative AI: A timeline of breakthrough innovations (Qualcomm).

An interesting use case was shared through a YouTube video: Be My Eyes Accessibility with GPT-4. Although clearly choreographed, and without any indication of whether any of this was ‘live’, one immediately wonders whether this technology is solving the right problems. Maybe this scenario implicitly implies that visually impaired people should adapt to the sighted world, whereas perhaps a better solution might be for the world to adapt to people with visual impairments? I digress.

There are clear risks. One significant concern lies with the lack of transparency. Tools can be trained with data that contains biases; in computing there’s the notion of GiGO: garbage in, garbage out. There’s also the clear potential that GenAI tools may accept and then propagate misinformation. It is clear that “risks need to be considered, along with the potential opportunities”.

A point was shared from a colleague Michel Wermelinger who was quoted saying “academic conduct is a symptom, not the problem”, which directly takes us to the university’s academic conduct policies about plagiarism.

In this session I learnt a new term: “green light culture”. The point here was that there are a variety of positions that relate to GenAI: in HE there are policy decisions that range from ‘forbid’ to ‘go ahead’.

I made a note of a range of searching questions. One of them was: how might students use Generative AI? It might become a study assistant, it might facilitate language learning, or support with creative projects. Another question was: how could pedagogies be augmented by AI? Also, is there a risk of over dependence in how we use these tools? Could it prevent us from developing skills? How can we assess in a generative AI world? Some answers to this question may be to have project-based assessment, collaborative assessment, to use complex case studies, and to consider the use of oral assessments. 

A point is that students will be using Generative AI in the future, which means that the university has a responsibility to educate students about it

Towards the end of the keynote, there was some talk about all this being revolutionary (I’ll say more about this later). This led onto a closing provocative question: what differentiates you (the tutor) from Generative AI?

During the keynote, some interesting resources were shared:

Teaching and learning with AI across the curriculum

The aim of a session by Mirjam Hauck was to explore the connection between AI and pedagogy, and to also consider the issue of ethics.

Just like the previous presentation, there were some interesting resources that were shared. One of them was a talk: TED Talk: How AI could save (not destroy) education.

Another resource was a recent book, Practical Pedagogy: 40 New Ways to Teach and Learn by Mike Sharples which students and staff can access through the OU Library.

I had a quick look at it, just to see what these 40 new ways were. Taking a critical perspective, I realised that the vast majority of these approaches were already familiar to me, in one way or another. These are not necessarily ‘new’ but are instead presented in a new way, in a useful compendium. The text also shares a lot of informal web links, which immediately limits the longevity of the text. It does highlight academic articles, but it doesn’t always cite them within a description of a pedagogy. My view is: do consider this text as something that shares a useful set of ideas, rather than something that is definite.

During this session, there were some complementary reflections about how GenAI could be linked with pedagogy: it could be used to help with the generation of ideas (but to be mindful that it might be regenerating ideas and bits of text that may be subject to copyright), play a role within a Socratic dialogue, or act as a digital assistant for learning (which was sometimes called an AIDA – an AI digital assistant).

Power was mentioned in this session, with respect to the power that is exerted by the corporations that develop, run, and deploy AI tools. The point I had in my mind during this part of the session was: ‘do be mindful about who is running these products, why, and that they hope to get from them’.

A brief aside…

Whilst I was prepping this blog, I was sent a related email from Hello World magazine, which is written for computing educators. In that email, there was a podcast which had the title: What is the role of AI in your classroom? 

There was an interesting discussion about assessment, and asking the question of ‘how can this help with pedagogy?’ and ‘how can we adapt our own practices?’ A further question is: ‘is there a risk that we dumb down creativity?’

A scholarship question?

A few times this year tutors have been in touch with me, to ask the question: ‘I’ve seen a students answer in a script that makes me think they may well have used Generative AI. What do I do?’ Copying TMA questions, or any other elements of university materials into a Generative AI tool represents a breach of university policy, and can potentially be viewed as an academic conduct issue. The question is: what do tutors do about this? At the moment, and without any significant evidence, tutors must mark what they have been given.

An important scholarship question to ask is: how many tutors think they are being presented with assessments that may have been produced by Generative AI tools?

Reflections

There was a lot of take on board during this session. I need to find the time to sit down and work through some of the various resources that were shared in this session, which is (in part) the reason for this blog.

When I was a computing undergraduate I went to a couple of short seminars about the development of the internet. When it came to the topic of the web browser, our lecturer said: “this is never going to catch on; who is going to spend time creating all these web pages and HTML tags?” Every day I make use of a web browser; it is, of course, an important bit of software that is embedded within my phone. This connects with an important point: it is notoriously difficult to predict the future, especially when it comes to how technologies are used. There are often unintended consequences, both good and bad.

Being a former student of AI (late in the last century) I’m aware that the fashions that surround AI is cyclical. With each cycle of hype, there are new technologies and tools. Following an early (modern) cycle of AI, I remember a project called SHRDLU, which demonstrated an imaginary world, where users could interact with natural language. This led to an expression that they key challenges had been solved, and all that needs to be done is to scale everything up. Reality, of course, is a whole lot more complicated.

A really important point to bear in mind is that GenAI (in the general sense) cannot reason. You can’t play chess with it. There are, however, other tools within the AI toolset that can do reasoning. As a postgrad student, I had to write an expert system that helped to solve a problem: to figure out a path through a university campus.

I’ve also been around for long enough to see various cycles of hype regarding learning technologies: I joined when e-learning objects were the fashion of the day, then there was the virtual learning environment, and then there was a craze that related to learning analytics. In some respects, the current generation of AI feels like a new (temporary) craze.

Embedding AI into educational tools isn’t anything new. I remember first hearing about the integration of neural networks in the early 2000s.  In 2009 I was employed on a project that intended to provide customised digital resources for learners who have different requirements and needs.

As the models get bigger, more data they hoover up, and the greater potential of these tools generating nonsense. And here lies a paradox: to make effective use of GenAI within education, you need education.

Perhaps there is a difference between generally available generative AI, to generative AI that is aligned to particular contexts. This takes me to an important reflection: no GenAI tool or engine can ever know what your own context is. You might ask it some questions and get a sensible sounding response, but it will not know why you’re asking a question, and what purpose your intended answer may serve. This is why the results produced by a GenAI tool might look terrible, or suspicious if submitted as a part of an assessment. Context is everything, and assessments relate to your personal understanding of very particular learning context.

Although the notion of power and digital corporations was mentioned, there’s another type of power that wasn’t mentioned: electrical power. I don’t have figures to hand, but large language models require an inordinate amount of electrical energy to do what they do. Their use has real environmental consequences. It's easy to forget this.

Here is my view: it is important to be aware of what GenAI is all about, but it is also really important not to get carried away and caught up in what could be thought of as technological froth. It’s also important to always remember that technology can change faster than pedagogy. We need to apply effective pedagogy to teach about technology. 

In my eyes, GenAI, or AI in many of its other forms isn’t a revolution that will change everything, or is an existential threat to humanity; it is an evolution of a set of existing technologies.

It’s important to keep everything in perspective.

Resources

A number of resources were highlighted in this session which are worth having a quick look at:

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the presenters of this professional development event, and the team that put this event together. Lots to look at, and lots of think about.

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A233 Journal - May 2024

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6 May 2024

I’ve been in a bit of a marking hole for a while.

The last thing I did before taking a bit of work-imposed break from study was watch a production of The Tempest that was staged at The Globe. I turns out that I have lost my copy of the text; it is either hidden amongst a pile of books, or it is at my parents place; I don’t know which. To get around this, I’ve been following a version of the text with a Project Guttenberg version that I have downloaded onto my Kindle.

I recently found out that the version of the text I had wasn’t the one that was recommended by the module team, which has now been delivered. It is the introduction to the set text that I have ordered, and it is that text that I’ve been reading today.

I’ve also emailed a bunch of additional reading to my Kindle, which I hope to go through over the next couple of days. I feel I’m building up towards the writing of the EMA. Another step towards it will be a Shakespeare lecture that takes place tomorrow. In between my day job and study, I’ll also be marking some project assignments. I have a lot to be getting on with.

10 May 2024

I’m finally doing a bit of proper study. Two days ago I went to an online tutorial that was about TMA 5 preparation, which I found quite helpful. Yesterday I listened to the remainder of a module team tutorial that was about how to go about reading Shakespeare. This morning, and also for a part of yesterday, I’ve been skim reading a bunch of additional readings I’ve found from both the module website and the OU library. I feel I’m getting there.

The Tempest is growing on me. Whilst I’ve always liked science fiction, I’ve never really liked fantasy. I found the idea of a magician creating a storm and causing mischief thoroughly boring. I can, however, see that there’s a whole lot more going on than I ever realised.

Our tutor has directed us to a site Shakespeareswords.com which looks to be pretty useful.

Next steps: finish up all my reading, and then go onto making my word processed notes from my Kindle notes and highlights, and then writing, which will hopefully take a couple of days.

15 May 2024

A couple of days ago I went to a tutorial that was run by my tutor. I think there were five of us; a lot was covered, and it was recorded. I picked up a whole load of tips on how to approach my essay.

I spent a lot of time yesterday sat in a car. I made use of over 4 or 5 hours of driving by listening to an audio book of The Dispossessed. The more I listen to it, the more there is to unpick.

To help with the unpicking, a fellow student shared the following YouTube videos, which are certainly worth a listen:

I was struck by a couple of things. I was struck by how many detailed videos the presenter of the second video had mad. I was struck by how much time and energy had been expended preparing all of these. I liked the third video; it talks about materialism vs idealism. It has helped me to reflect on the views that I previously held about science fiction. The points about roles, origins and purpose of stories are interesting too. 

19 May 2024

A busy couple of days. I managed to finish transferring all my digital e-book notes into my Word document. I had to do quite a bit of driving yesterday, so I spent 4 more hours of it listening to The Dispossessed. I think I have a few more hours of listening to go, but I know what happens, and (broadly) how the final chapters are structured.

Today has been a day of two halves. In the morning I did the bulk of my writing, building on and drawing on my notes. It turned out I was 500 words over the word count. I then went through a cycle of editing. Although I think there is still some time to go, I got to a point when I was happy with what I had written, and what I had learnt. This time I applied quite a rigorous writing process. I felt that looking for additional resources, and skim reading them was pretty helpful. I also carefully referenced every article that I downloaded. If I found I didn’t use it, I cut it from the reference list.

There is a niggling feeling that I have that I haven’t really answered the TMA question, but I really don’t think that is the case. I could have picked on more bits of realism, and more specific bits of fantasy, but underneath it all there is the need to express your understanding of the text and to express understanding of different literary terms. I’ll try not to worry. I think I’ve done this.

28 May 2024

Only two more days to go until the final TMA deadline on A233.

I’ve started to get ahead on the reading (and studying) of my next module, A334. This means working through some of the free versions of the texts that I’ve downloaded from Project Guttenberg. To conclude this A233 blog, I wanted to share two points of learning from my studies of English, and points of learning from studying this module.

The first is that I’m starting to read texts in a slightly different way. Although this sounds a bit weird, but I feel as if I’m more aware of what is written. I’m also questioning: why words were written. I found myself realising this when I was reading a popular science (or engineering) book about cloud computing; a text which relates to my day job. (Admittedly, it was a very good book).

The other bit relates to The Tempest. When I watched a production of The Tempest for the first time, I wasn’t very taken by it. I thought it was really silly; all that stuff about magic, fairies and monsters. I didn’t speak to me.

The more I read about it, not just of the module materials, but articles I found from the OU library, the more I began to appreciate it. I reflected on the characters, and the context in which it was written. Turning to an entirely different subject, I also reflected on some research presentations I had attended that were about decolonising computing, and what that meant. 

Could The Tempest be used as a lens to understand this completely different subject? Maybe software engineers could be a bit like Prospero, using all their technical books to enact digital magic. What about the other characters in the play? I will continue to mull over these idle questions.

I’m now looking forward to As you like it, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet.

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A233 Journal - April 2024

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7 April 2024

I am procrastinating in a really productive way: I’m reading ahead! I’ve been reading Startdust. It is interesting note that there are a number of different versions. I accidentally downloaded the text only version. What you do need is the illustrated version. The illustrations add a huge amount to the text, since on its own, I found the text quite hard to follow.

I’ve made it part way through the chapter that I shouldn’t be reading.

It’s time to begin to collate all my notes, to prepare for the writing of the TMA. I’ve got notes in two different places: pencil scribbles in the set text, and digital highlights on the PDF version that I’ve been reading using my Kindle. I’ll see how I get on.

12 April 2024

I’ve downloaded an audio book of The Dispossessed. Today I’m helping a friend get settled in his new house. Since it’s quite a drive away, listen to The Dispossessed whilst I’m driving. I found the first couple of chapters unfathomable, and I have no idea what is going on.

13 April 2024

I’m stuck at home with a dodgy ankle that was caused by too much running about, and the messing about with furniture didn’t’ help it one bit. Subsequently, this gives me a bit of time to complete TMA 4! I edit together a set of notes from my reading, I then have a go to edit up my story, and then cycle round a loop of editing a few times. I’m quite pleased with what I’ve written, but less happy with the reflective section, where I’m really struggling with word count. 

I really like Propp’s actants, but I feel pretty dumb, since the extent of my reflection seems to be: ‘I like them, and they have helped me’. I think I know where I’m going to let myself down in the TMA, but it has nearly got to that point where I’ve just got to submit it.

14 April 2024

It’s ‘listening to The Dispossessed’ day. I’m making reasonable progress, but it’s slow and long going. I’ve really got to concentrate to understand what on earth is going on. Since it’s all a bit weird, I don’t know what detail is going to be important, and what detail adds to the overall atmosphere. I don’t think I like it. I glimpsed at the module materials, and there is a comment that the text places demands on the reader. I’m struggling and I’m not even reading it.

It really isn’t good that I’ve fallen asleep twice. On the second occasion I slept through half a chapter. This has never happened.

15 April 2024

One hour of listening before I start work. The Dispossessed has become very weird. Let’s say: I appreciate it, but I don’t like it. I appreciate it’s difficult to predict the future, but spacemen reading books and sending letters? As for all the faux physics, that bit is really starting to grate.

16 April 2024

Another chapter first thing in the morning. The further I get into it, the more I’m drawn to it. I’m surprised at how much action there is!

It’s time to get back to studying a bit more systematically again. I’m back to the online module materials. There are bits that I’ve missed in the previous section, but I need to keep moving forward. It’s onto the video and audio material that relate to Stardust. There are interviews and videos to work through. I’ll skive off a bit of my day job, with the justification that everything I’m doing here is connected (in one way or another).

I’m on a roll: I’ve reviewed all the audio and video clips in the Le Guin weeks, making some notes. My next activity has been to prep a TMA 5 document. Noticing there’s a fair amount of supplementary material, I start to download articles from the library.

Before I’ve finished today, I’m going to have a quick look in the Shakespeare section to see if there’s any audio or video materials I can have a look or listen to.

17 April 2024

Struggling with ankle aches and pains, I join the queue to the GP, whilst listening to chapter 11 of The Dispossessed

When I get back from the queue, I make the following post to the A233 ‘laid back’ Facebook group: “I think I've done a 180 turn when it comes to The Dispossessed. I've gone from: 'this is really tedious, and is continually making me fall asleep' to 'this is really amazing stuff!'. Two chapters on the audio book to go. Keep with it; there are Urasti propetarian dividends to be had, even though it initially might sound like a lot of nonsense (if it is your kind of thing).”

I’m now browsing through the Journal of Science Fiction Studies, when I really ought to be browsing through the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. 

It’s all related, right?

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AL development in Computing and Communications

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Tuesday, 30 Apr 2024, 15:13

I work with a number of colleagues from the School of Computing and Communications AL development group. The aim of this group is to setup and organise professional development events for tutors who teach on computing modules.

What follows is a set of session titles that I shared with the group during a meeting.

The list begins with a couple of essential ‘old favourites’. I have also taken the liberty of adding a couple of headings that emerged from some of our group discussions. Due acknowledgements are provided at the end of the list.

If you are a tutor within the school, and have opinions about what might help you, then please do get in touch; a part of my role is to politely agitate for effective and useful professional development sessions.

Session titles or topics

Correspondence tuition – Providing effective feedback and marking is an essential part of the tutor’s role. Sessions that enable the sharing of practice are always helpful. In the past I’ve facilitated sessions about how to deliver quality feedback whilst at the same time working quickly and efficiently.

Delivering online tutorials – Although the university has a dedicated team that is about using Adobe Connect, it can be useful to discuss online teaching and online tutorial pedagogy from a school perspective. Tutor in computing might use screen sharing to demonstrate software and show how programming problems are solved. Speaking with fellow tutors can also spark new ideas.

Programme and qualification updates – In some AL development sessions the director of teaching or head of school have provided updates about changes and enhancements to curriculum. There are plans to introduce new programmes, and the degree apprenticeship structure has recently changed. There may also be an opportunity to talk about what is meant by the ‘computing and a second subject’ qualification.

“What do you need?” focus group – Whilst staff tutors are well placed to gather up ideas about what types of professional development might be useful, it is best to hear from tutors directly by asking the question: “what do you need?” The could be run in the form of a focus group, to gather up new ideas that could feed into future professional development events.

Exploring CPD opportunities within the school and the university – CPD is, of course, an abbreviation for continuing professional development. This interactive session would be about sharing experiences of participating in different types of CPD activities. The university can offer a lot: fee waivers, an AL development fund, selected funded study of certain modules, and the Applaud scheme which relates to FHEA membership.

Maintaining work life balance – Every tutor has a different level of workload; tutors may tutor on a single module, or may teach on a complex portfolio of related modules. Sessions which have addressed individual wellbeing and welfare have often been well received. Such a session could be about how to manage workload, especially during periods of high intensity where there can be a lot of marking to do in a short amount of time.

Making the skills audit work for you – The skills audit, which is going to be combined with everyone’s CDSA, is a process that is new to everyone. It is a way to signal your potential willingness to increase your overall employment with the university. The school has defined what is called a ‘controlled vocabulary’ which should be used to summarise your skills and abilities.

Running individual support sessions – From time to time, one-to-one sessions with students can be really helpful to get students back on track. Requests for an ISSS (as they are known) can come from the student support team, your student, or yourself. I’ve never received any training about how to run one-to-one sessions. My sense is that running a really effective individual support session is a skill. A session to share practice may well be useful to some.

Supporting transitions – What I mean by a transition is the movement from one state or level of study to another. Students transition from non-study to study when they begin level 1 studies, or move from level 1 to level 2. Equally, there may well be a state of transition from study to graduation.

Dealing with challenging situations – I’ve included this session idea, since I once attended a really useful session which took place in the former Gateshead regional centre. The session provided tutors with some tips and techniques about how to support students, and gain a sense of perspective when facing some challenging situations.

Other session ideas:

Understanding what the SST does – Some really effective sessions in the past have been sessions that have been about the work of the student support team. Member of the SST can often provide a lot of really helpful advice about how to respond to certain situations.

Introducing the careers service – The careers service is a really helpful service that students can access to, but tutors don’t often know much about the work they do. There is an opportunity with a careers centric session to discuss how modules relates to practical employability skills, and how modules (and tutors) can help to support these.

What happens in module results panels? – After the final TMAs are returned and the deadline for the examinable components (an EMA or an exam) are hit, results are collated and fed into a standardisation process. There is then something called a module results panel, which then feeds into an exam board meeting, where there is an external examiner. What happens within all these meetings? Knowing a bit more about what happens may help us to reassure students.

Monitoring – Every tutor’s correspondence tuition is monitored. Monitoring takes place at different levels depending upon how long a tutor has been working for the university for. A session about monitoring could allow students to share experiences of monitoring, and of being monitored.

Dealing with plagiarism and generative AI – This session could be facilitated by an academic conduct officer who is familiar with the OU’s polices and processes. This session could be used to share practice and experiences which relate to cases of potential academic conduct and plagiarism.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to everyone who is a part of the C&C AL development working group. There is an implicit link here to the STEM AL Induction working group, which I’m also a part of. This article can also be read in conjunction with a summary of a ‘top ten tips’ induction session that I have co-facilitated for the last few years.

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TM470 Considering resources and skills

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During the planning stages of your project, it is really important to consider resources. There is a link between the notion of resources and one of the module learning outcomes:

L03. Identify, list and justify the resources, skills and activities needed to carry out the project successfully. Identify and address any associated risks

To satisfy the requirements for a distinction level project, you need to have:

… identified the resources, skills and activities, the timely availability of which is essential. Has judged risks appropriately.

Resources can be thought of in a couple of ways. Firstly, you should draw upon and use academic resources. Your choice of these resources will make up your literature review chapter. Secondly, there are the resources that you will need to use to get your project done. There is, of course, a link between both of these types of resources and the skills that you need to apply.

There is another link to bear in mind, which is a link to the risks that you have to take account of. Some risks that you identify might lead you choosing certain types of resources over another. Whatever you do, it is going to be important to justify your decisions about what you have done within your project report. Your considerations need to be convincing.

To read more about risk, and how it relates to TM470, it is worth reading an accompanying blog, Considering project risks

Academic resources

Your TM470 project is all about building on your earlier learning and studies. This means that you need to identify what academic resource might be useful when thinking about your project. The starting point is, of course, the previous modules you have studied. 

The TM470 module materials has a resource called Preparing a Literature Search, which you should read. To offer some complementary guidance, the following blog offers a bit of guidance: TM470 Understanding the Literature review.

The library also maintains a list of links to online databases that relate to ICT which might be useful. A really important point (which I share to students) is: the OU library is your friend. It is a huge resource. Do make sure you find the time to look at it.

When working on your project, it is worthwhile thinking about the following categories of academic resources:

  • Module materials.
  • Textbooks that accompany module materials.
  • Academic articles (such as those found within academic journals).
  • User guides or instruction manuals.
  • Technical websites.

It is all very well knowing which modules, textbooks, articles and databases may help you with your project, but when it comes to your TM470 project you actually need to get on and do something. This takes us to the following section, which addresses the question: ‘what do I need to complete my project?’

Resources you need to complete your project

Your TM470 project will be typically based on a level 3 module. The TM470 module team have written a number of few short articles about what a project (which is based on an earlier level 3 module) might look like.

You might want to draw on TM356 Fundamentals of Interaction Design, for example. In doing so, you may wish to apply the interaction design life cycle. With ID projects, students should ideally carry out a number of design iterations, potentially leading to either a high fidelity prototype, or a design of a particularly implemented software tool or system.

There are many different approaches to prototyping. A prototype can, of course, being as a paper prototype, and then lead onto a series of higher fidelity prototypes. Some students have used PowerPoint, for example. There are other tools that could be used, such as Balsamiq, Adobe XD or Figma. When you have created a design, you will need to carry out an evaluation. This leads to the questions: ‘what do we do to carry out an evaluation?’ and ‘what do we need to carry out an evaluation?’.

Unpicking this further, we can identify different broad categories of resources that we might need.

Software: Software products, such as prototyping tools, software development environments, or products to help you manage information or aspects of your project.

People: Put more broadly, the people category includes stakeholders. Stakeholders can be defined as anyone influenced by or affected by a project. People might also be participants; people who might help you with the testing or evaluation of your product.

Tools: Broadly, tools are anything that helps you to do what you need to do. If you’re capturing requirements and interviewing stakeholders, you might want to use a data recorder. If you’re carrying out an evaluation, might choose to make notes about happens.

Facilities: by facilities you might think about rooms, spaces, or physical places where project related activities occur. If you’re gathering requirements and need to run a focus group, you’ll need to find a place where this takes place. If you will be creating software as a part of your project, you will need a computer and maybe some server space to get it working. If you are evaluating an interface, you’ll need to find somewhere to do that evaluation. 

Different projects will require, of course, different resources. Since your project is only small, you should only use what you have easy access to.

The link to skills

By identifying the resources you need for your project, you will begin to think about the skills you have, the skills that you need to apply, and the skills you need to develop.

As mentioned earlier, resources can be thought being in two broad types: academic resources, and resources you need to complete your project. When writing and preparing your literature review, you may well develop your academic reading and critical thinking skills. When it comes to project resources and project management, you may well need specific skills to make progress on your project.

Practical advice

The different two types of resources needed to be treated differently. Think of your literature review as a narrative (or story) of what you have read. Don’t present a summary of papers, or articles that are relevant to your project. Instead, show the examiner what you have read, what readings are going to be useful within your project, and explain why they are important. There are different ways to structure a literature review, but a practical recommendation is to adopt a thematic approach.

Let’s turn to the other type of resources: project resource. In the planning section of your report, create a table that summarises the resources you need. Give each resource a name, and then offer a brief summary of that it is and why it is important to your project. If appropriate, you might even want to provide a reference.

When you have prepared table of resources (which could include different types of software, people, tools, and facilities), it is time to write about skills. Just as you did with your list of resources, create a table that summarises the skills that you will either need to have, or need to master in order to use these resources.

Considering reflection

Identifying the resources and skills that you need is both important and helpful.

When you get to the end of your project, you will need to complete the reflection section. When you get to this bit of your project ask yourself:

  • Did you choose the right set of resources?
  • Have you developed the skills that you expected to develop?

There is always a further question to ask, which is:

  • Have there been any surprises?

There is (or will be) a whole other blog that relates to reflection, and the importance it plays in TM470.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the TM470 project team and fellow TM470 tutors. Although this blog (and other TM470 blogs) are intended to provide useful additional guidance, always refer to the module materials. If you have any questions, please do contact your tutor.

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A233 Journal - March 2024

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7 March 2024

This is a cheeky retrospective post, but I’m adding it to mark a date. In my spare time (of which, I don’t have too much!) I run a comedy night. Inspired by the TMA question, I have a go at writing a satirical and political fairy tale, called (unimaginatively) A Fairy Tale of Lewisham. After a bit of editing, and a poorly timed practice session, I read it out. It got a couple of laughs, and a round of applause. I’m glad I have done it, but I have no idea whether I can use the basis of what I’ve done in my TMA. To answer this question, I ask my tutor. 

15 March 2024

I’ve been a bit rubbish updating this study log recently, since I’ve been in what you might call a ‘valley of marking’; I’ve had to turn around the marking for two different important modules reasonably quickly. I also know that my new A233 tutor has been in a similar situation; she has since has returned my TMA 2 and TMA 3, and has provided some really helpful feedback which really got me thinking.

After what has become a mild study hiatus, I have returned to my books again. Today I’ve been working through understanding what is needed from the week 20 and week 21 online materials. I’ve nearly finished working through all the video and audio materials, which has helped me to understand what reading I’ve got to do.

I have, however, read the first couple of chapters of the module materials, but I need to go over them again, and then find my way to chapter 3 if I have any chance of keeping on track.

I think I know what TMA 4 option I’m going to do. As it happened, I had a go of writing something before I had thoroughly had a look at the TMA question.

I have four things to do. The first is to listen (and make notes about) the final audio recording in week 21. Next up (I think) is to return to the block text and return to where I was reading, and then to read a whole long list of tales I had noted down from the week 21 online materials. The final activity is to try to catch up on some of the tutorials, since I’ve missed a couple of them. I feel that my current study approach isn’t very systematic, but I feel as if I’m continuing to learn from everything.

There has been some various chats on one of the A233 Facebook groups: some fellow students are clearly enjoying this bit of the module. There are also some interesting opinions about Angela Carter. I don’t quite ‘get’ her stories yet, but other students and tutors really like her work. I’ve yet to work through the materials about Freud (which I’m a bit sceptical about, to say the least) but I’m hoping to get onto that today.

So, all in all, some progress. I am looking forward to the Shakespeare bit of the module when I get there.

30 March 2023

I think I’m getting behind since I have remained in my valley of marking for longer than expected.

I needed to decide how to spend my time. Rather than working towards writing TMAs, I needed to focus on marking TMAs. This said, a couple of weeks back, aware that thing were running away from me, I have read through a couple of chapters from the module materials – I just need to reassess where I am.

In addition to the work, I’ve had to drop everything to help my parents with a few things. This led me to ask myself another question: to help me keep on track, what can I practically do to keep on track, or to take a strategic approach with my studies? 

Knowing that I had a long car journey, I managed to listen to the audio version of Simon Armitage’s translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This gave me a very good idea of what the text was all about. Completing this, I also managed to find an episode of In Our Time which covered the same text and also featured an appearance by Armitage. I this programme to be really helpful, adding a bit more context.

Aware that The Tempest is going to be featured in the EMA, I had a thought: could I adopt a similar approach? I found a Royal Shakespeare Company production in an online service called Drama Online, which all students can access. I watched the performance and tried to follow the text at the same time. Although useful, my immediate and full blown exposure to the play did cause me to miss some of the important details, such as who the characters were. My excuse being that I kept getting distracted, to view the play in a number of episodes,

There was a curious resource that was helpful: the CBeebies production of The Tempest. There also appears to be a CBeebies Radio version, which I’m mentioning here, just in case I get the time to have a listen! These links may, of course, stop working at any point.

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TM470 Considering project risks

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Edited by Christopher Douce, Thursday, 18 Apr 2024, 17:05

The nature and character of risk can influence your project in a big way. 

To begin, it is perhaps useful to define what risk means. Drawing on the M815 project management module, I have found the following two definitions:

‘The potential of situation or event to impact on the achievement of specific objectives.’ (APM, 2019, p. 215)

‘An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives.’ (PMI, 2017, p. 10)

Fundamentally, risk can influence your choice of project model, and directly influence how you gather requirements. If everything is known, and you are not going to be doing anything risky, you might opt for a simplistic project model. If there are elements of your project that you know nothing about, and have never done certain tasks, you might choose an iterative approach.

When you have chosen a project model for your project, you can then start to think about how risk will potentially influence the different phases of your project. To do this well, you need to a number of things:

Write your risks down. By doing this, you will begin to create what is sometimes called a risk register. 

  • The next task is to consider how important your risks are.
  • You the need to consider how to deal with those risks.
  • In some cases you may choose to mitigate against risks. In other words, if these risks were to appear, you need to know how to respond to them.
  • After having done this, you then need to make some changes to your plan. You might, for example, choose to add more slack into certain elements of your schedule if you need to use some of your mitigations.

When it comes to TM470 you should be carrying out risk planning from the very start of your project since it can guide what you do. Importantly, LO3 directly relate to how you deal with risk:

L03. Identify, list and justify the resources, skills and activities needed to carry out the project successfully. Identify and address any associated risks

To gain a distinction, you must have

… identified the resources, skills and activities, the timely availability of which is essential. Has judged risks appropriately.

Module materials

There are a number of sections within the TM470 module materials that you should look to.

Section 2.5 Risk in project lifecycles: This section relates to the point that the structure of your project may well be driven by risks.

Section 3.2 Risk Assessment: This section encourages you to consider risk in two different ways: impact, and likelihood. There are three different levels of each. A practical suggestion is offered; you might want to think about creating a risk table (which is a bit like a mini risk register). The decision on how you present and summarise your risks is, of course, up to you. It is, of course, dependent upon your project.

Section 3.3 Risk management: This is about how you deal with the risks that you identify. Do you avoid a risk, find a way through, or accept that something is a risk?

Risk analysis

In the TM470 FAQ a fellow tutor, Karl Wilcox, has written about the notion of risk analysis, which extends what is mentioned in sections 3.2 and 3.3. Karl begins with a simple question: where do risks come from? Karl offers some practical advice:

‘One primary source is the list of resources that you need for your project (which is why we ask you to provide one). Since you have identified a need for each of those resources, the lack of any resource will affect your project plan to a greater or lesser extent. Some might be trivial but you should definitely go through all your resources and ask yourself whether each one should have an entry in your risk register or not.

The other main source of risks is "external events". Obviously, you need to be a bit sensible about this and really just consider events that apply specifically to you, so illness, illness of a family member, unexpected work commitments, etc.

Finally, there is a smaller source (that may not be relevant to your particular project) but is there a possibility that some part of your project turns to be impossible? (Or more likely, prohibitively difficult). Do you need to develop new skills? (Another reason we ask for a list of these…) What if it turns out that something just doesn't "click" and you find that skill too hard? Are there any possibly technical or legal or ethical issues that might arise?’ (Wilcox, 2024)

Karl relates a number of potential risks to the different tables that you have been asked to create. For each skill or resource, is there an accompanying risk?

How do we deal with, or mitigate our risks? Karl offers some practical advice, which I abridge for brevity:

‘These [mitigations] can take many forms, from exploring alternatives, adding in contingency time, or sometimes carrying out activities specifically to minimise risk, or at least to bring forward a better understanding of them. … Active steps include things like taking backups of all your work to mitigate the risk of hardware failure, or replacing a laptop that you know to be a bit flaky. If you need input from other people, can you at least get some time in their diaries now, rather than leaving it until later to find out they are not available?

In reality, especially with the limited timescale (and limited personnel resources!) of a TM470 project the most likely response to a risk actually arising is "do fewer things", but again you can prepare for this. Are there parts of your project that you can consider as "stretch" goals, to be achieved if everything goes well but that can be set aside if things go ill? Can you perhaps arrange your plan so that a crude "prototype" of your final deliverable can be developed early, so at least you will have something working if things fall apart at a later stage?’ (Wilcox, 2024).

Karl’s comments about ‘stretch goals’ is both interesting and useful. Another way to think of this is in terms of what a ‘minimum viable product’ might look like. Here we can see an implicit link between the project model and risk. For example, if things do go ‘ill’, we may well wish to curtail a final iteration (if we adopt an iterative lifecycle, of course).

It is worth noting that Karl takes all this pretty seriously: 

‘So I don't see the "Risk Analysis" part of TM470 as simply being a "paper" exercise, in which the construction of a risk register listing risks, likelihood, impact and mitigation for a dozen or so factors is presented in TMA01 and then ignored. That may well gain you some of the marks but it can actually be a genuinely useful exercise that will affect what you do and how you do it and give you a much better chance to complete the project to your own satisfaction and gain better marks all around!’ (Wilcox, 2024).

The Risk Register

Following on from Karl’s FAQ, fellow tutor Trevor Forsythe shared a forum post with his TM470 students, outlining what types of information that you might hold in a risk register. His post had been based the PRINCE2 approach to managing risk (PRINCE2, 2024).

Trevor began by writing: ‘this is one of those learning outcomes that is regularly reviewed, and we are looking to see how students assess and manage risk. A quick search of the Internet will identify a number of risk templates either in word or Excel formats. There is no mandated template to use so you will have to identify one that you think works for your project. As an example, a risk register could contain the following …’

What follows is an abridged and edited version of what Trevor shared (which draws on the PRINCE2 original):

  • Risk identifier: Provides a unique reference for every risk entered into the risk register, typically a numeric or alphanumeric value.
  • Date registered: The date the risk was identified. This is helpful with knowing whether the current version of the risk is the one that is up to date.
  • Risk category: The type of risk in terms of the project’s chosen categories (e.g. schedule, quality, legal, technical, learning, hardware). 
  • Risk description: The risk in terms of the cause, event (threat or opportunity) and effect (in words of the impact) e.g. "my hardware could fail and I lose all my software development".
  • Probability impact: It is helpful to estimate the inherent values (pre-response action) and residual values (post-response action). These should be recorded in accordance with the project’s chosen scales.
  • Proximity:  This would typically state how close to the present time the risk event is anticipated to happen (e.g., imminent, within the management stage, within the project, beyond the project). Proximity should be recorded in accordance with the project’s chosen scales.
  • Risk response: Actions to be taken to resolve the risk. These actions should be aligned with the chosen response categories. Note that more than one risk response may apply to a risk. For example "regular backups of software and configurations will be made into a cloud storage system e.g. OneDrive or Dropbox”.

Materials from other modules

Although TM470 is primarily intended to build on your earlier level 3 studies, if you have previously studied TM254 Managing IT: the why, the what and the how, it is worthwhile visiting Block 3, Part 6: Software quality, risk and risk management. In this block, there are three sections which have particular relevance to TM470, which are: Section 3.1 Categories of risk, Section 3.2 Risk assessment, and Section 3.3 Risk management. It is also worth noting that the TM254 module website (which you may still have access to, if you finished studying this module only a few years ago) has an extensive glossary, which defines the terms: risk register, risk mitigation, risk management, risk exposure, risk reduction, and others.

Although risk isn’t explicitly studied in TM353 IT systems: planning for success, it might be useful to review Block 3, Part 3, Part 3 – How to recover from failure: Business Continuity Planning, which includes a Business Continuity Management Toolkit.

Looking forward to the OU postgraduate module, M815 Project Management, sees the link between risk and project planning and management discussed and handled in quite an extensive way. Risk management is, of course, a subject all of its own. 

Summary

Risk can guide not only what is done, but how things are done. In TM470 LO3 indicates that you need to demonstrate your understanding of risk, and how it relates to your project. For the sake of TM470, a practical approach is necessary. It is important to keep things simple (since the project only lasts for a relatively small amount of time), but it is important to make sure that risks are clearly and carefully considered. A practical recommendation: create a risk table, and keep it updated throughout your project. When you get to the end, make sure you reflect on your approach to risk, and what you learnt from it.

References

Association for Project Management (APM) (2019) APM Body of Knowledge. 7th edn. Princes Risborough: Association for Project Management.

Prince 2 (2024) Prince2 wiki: Risk Register. Available at: https://prince2.wiki/management-products/risk-register/  (Accessed 15 April 2024)

Project Management Institute (PMI) (2017) PMI Lexicon of Project Management Terms. Version 3.2. Available at: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/lexicon (Accessed: 15 April 2024). 

Wilcox, K. (2024) Risk Analysis - what makes a good one?  TM470 FAQ.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks are ended to Karl Wilcox and Trevor Forsythe whose words have directly found their way into this article. Thanks are also extended to the TM470 module team, and the other module teams that are mentioned: TM254 and TM353.

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Exploring TM354 Software Engineering

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Over the last year I’ve taken over as the incoming module chair for TM354 Software Engineering, taking over from Leonor Barroca, who has done a brilliant job ever since the module was launched back in 2014. I first learnt about TM354 through a module briefing which took place in September 2014.

What follows is a summary of the various elements that can be found within the TM354 module website. I’ve written this blog whilst wearing my ‘tutor hat’; to help students who are new to this module.

It goes without saying that two of the most important elements are, of course, the module calendar, and the assessment page which provides access to all the TMAs. One thing that I tend to do whenever I study a module is to get a printout of each of the TMAs, using the ‘view as single page’ option, just so I get an early idea about what I have coming up. You should also take some time to review the module guide and the accessibility guide.

Key resources: the blocks

TM354 is based around three printed blocks which can also be downloaded as PDFs by visiting the resources tab:

  • Block 1: Units 1-4 From domain to requirements
  • Block 2: Units 5-8 From analysis to design
  • Block 3: Units 9-12: From architecture to product

Complementing these blocks is, of course, the module glossary, which can be accessed through the resources pages.

In OU modules, the glossary is pretty important. It presents the module team’s definition of key terms. If there is an exam or an EMA question which calls for a definition, you should always draw on terms that are defined by the glossary. A practical tip is: do spend time looking at and going through the module glossary.

Software

There are three bits of software that you will need to use, and the first of these is optional:

A sketching tool: In your TMAs you will be required to draw some sketches using a graphical language called the unified modelling language (UML). UML is a really useful communication tool. It can be used to depict the static structure of software (which bits it contains), and the dynamic interaction between components (which is how they are used with each other). How you draw your diagrams is completely up to you. You can draw a sketch by hand, draw a sketch using the tools that you have in your word processor, or you can download a tool to help you. My recommendation is to use a tool that specifically helps you to draw UML diagrams. This way, the software gives you a bit of help, saving you time (although you have to spend a bit of time learning a tool). I use a tool called Visual Paradigm, which is available under a student licence, but other tools, such as UMLet might be useful. There are a lot of tools available, but if you’re pressured for time, a pencil, ruler and paper, and digital photograph will be sufficient.

ShareSpace: this is an OU tool which you will use to share some of your software designs with fellow students. Software engineering is a team sport. ShareSpace is used to simulate the sharing and collaboration between fellow software engineers. As well as posting your sketches, you will be asked to comment on the design of fellow students. When you leave comments, you will be able to see comments about your own design.

NetBeans: Netbeans is an integrated development environment; a tool for developing software. You will use Netbeans in the final block of the module to look at, and change some software code that relates to design patterns. If you’re familiar with other development environments, such as IntelliJ, or even BlueJ (from earlier studies with M250) you could use those instead.

Forums

The module has a number of forums. A practical recommendation is to subscribe to each of these, so you are sent email copies of the messages that are posted to them. 

There is a module forum, where you can ask questions about the module, and a forum for each of the TMAs. You can use these TMA forums to ask questions about the assessments if you’re unclear about what you need to do. Do bear in mind that the moderator can only offer guidance and might direct you towards relevant bits of the module materials.

There is a tutor group forum, where you can interact with your TM354 tutor. Your tutor may well share some materials through this forum, so it is important that you subscribe to it, or check it from time to time.

There is what is called a ‘online tutorial forum’. Tutorials are run in clusters. What this means is that groups of tutors work together to offer a programme of tutorials (which are sometimes known as learning events). These tutors will use this forum to share resources that relate to their tutorials. They may, for example, post copies of PowerPoint presentations that formed the basis of their tutorials, which may contain useful notes in the notes section of each slide.

Finally, there is the café forum. This is an informal area to chat with fellow students about TM354 and OU study. This area isn’t extensively monitored by the forum moderator.

One thing to note is that sometimes the names of these forum areas can and do change. The names of the forums here might not be the names of the forums that you have on your module website.

Study guides

Although most of the module materials are available through the printed blocks, there are some important elements of the module that are only available online. Within the module calendar, you will see study guide pages. To make sure you go through each of these. Sometimes, these guides are presented along side other accompanying online resources that you need to work through to answer some of the TMA questions.

Resources pages

The Resources pages (which is sometimes known as the resources tab) is a place that collates everything together: all the guides (module, accessibility and software guides), PDF versions of the blocks, online version of each of the units (which can be found within each of the blocks), and any additional resources that need to be studied:

  • Choosing closed-box test cases
  • Monoliths versus microservices
  • Introducing Jakarta EE
  • Implementing use cases

Towards the bottom of this page, there is a link to a zip file which contains some source code that is used with TMA 3, along with some NetBeans software installation instructions.

The final bit of the Resources pages that I would like to emphasise is the Download link, which can be found on the right hand side of the page. Through this link, you can access all the module resources in different formats. You can, for example, download some of the media files onto your mobile device for you to review later, or you can download ePub versions of all the study guides and units onto an e-reader.

iCMAs

TM354 also has a set of interactive marked assessments (iCMAs). These are designed to help you to learn and to remember some of the key module concepts. The iCMAs do not formally contribute to your overall assessment result.

Tutorials

Before my final section, I’ll say something about tutorials. Do try to attend as many as you can. There are tutorials that introduce you to each of the block, and help to guide you through what is required for the TMAs. There are also a series of exam revision tutorials. Do try to attend as many as you can, since different tutors will present ideas in different ways.

Reflections

There is quite a lot to TM354; there are a lot of resources, which take a lot of reading. To familiarise myself with the materials I’ve taken an incremental approach: studying a bit at a time. Although the printed blocks are central to the module, it is important to pay attention to the online materials too.

My biggest tips are:

  • Get a printout of the module guide.
  • Get a printout of each of the TMAs.
  • Make sure that you thoroughly read the module guide. You might want to get a printout of this too.
  • Do remember to regularly refer to the module glossary. These definitions are important.
  • Attend as many tutorials as you can.

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