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Updates! Starting DD210 and taking up ballet, because who needs sleep anyway!? :D

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Edited by Rebecca Strachan, Thursday, 14 Sept 2017, 11:41

Long time no post! :O

Okay so the 2nd half of the year was absolutely MANIC, I landed a new job at work and had to go off to a residential training course for 6 weeks (during which period I had 4 TMAs and 2 iCMAs due in!!!) so all hell broke loose, but I MADE IT!!



I passed both DD102 and DE100 (with a distinction for DD102, which I was pretty darn chuffed with!) and I'm happy to report that I'm moving onwards and upwards to level 2!!

My first level 2 module DD210 starts on Oct 7th, and I have had a nose around and gone through the introductory week section because the module website opened today and I like getting ahead because (as illustrated above!) the unexpected happens and it's good to be prepared. It looks well organised and structured (which my slight OCD tendencies like a lot, I know exactly what to expect!) and there are several topics of personal relevance and interest to me so I think it should be really good :D

Outside of my OU studies, after my EMAs were done and dusted I finally got back into dance, which I'm really excited about. Due to just being pretty wiped out by work I stopped dancing several years ago and have felt kind of sluggish and lethargic ever since. I used to pole dance and figure skate to quite a high level back in the day, and I decided to take up ballet in May of this year. I've taken a few ballet classes before, but never really studied it formally.
However! I'm now working on the RAD Intermediate Foundation syllabus and my teacher actually wants to put me in for the exam with the rest of the class in March 2018 (they are all about 15 because this is a vocational grade, I don't think adults normally do them but I'm gonna do it anyway in spite of the fact I'm 30 next year!). I also got back into modelling more recently (something else I used to do a lot), and actually combined the two recently by doing a dance themed shoot which was a tonne of fun smile (I'm in the white tutu!)


I'm also still slowly working away at my debut album (I'll get there one day!) so it's all going on this year, but I'm happy and enthusiastic and excited about all of it - I'm sure I'll find the time somehow! I'm a woman on a mission haha. Bring on 2017-18!!!

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Becca

DE100 OUPS Study Weekend 2017

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I know I'm a student as I sit here at my laptop participating in an online tutorial, but there's just something more student-y about going to lectures with other students, isn't there? I went to Warwick for the DE100 consolidation weekend and had a really good time with the other students and professors there! I learned a lot and got to meet a lot of really lovely people from all over the UK, including students working on stages 1, 2 and 3. If you're considering going to one of these events I would wholeheartedly recommend it!!

I started to see where I could go with my studies, developed some new aims and ambitions, made some contacts, and am even working on an idea that I want to investigate just out of personal interest. Once I'm all done with my modules for this year I think I will run a little pilot (assuming I get the appropriate permissions) in order to apply my new learning smile I have more direction, more confidence, and more enthusiasm (even for methods and statistics, which I was a little intimidated by at first!), so a big thank you to the organisers, to the new friends I've made, and especially to the lecturers!

I've also realised that the end of January marks the half-way point!! I'm halfway through year 1 already. Hopefully the second half will go as well as the first half! :D

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Becca

Long time no post!

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Hello again smile I've had 3 assignments back now - two for DD102 and one for DE100! I'm happy to report that I've passed everything so far and actually got some really good results! For my 2nd TMA for DD102 I scored 95%, which I was absolutely over the moon about :D I just submitted TMA02 for DE100 (due Dec 20th) and I've written my first draft of TMA 03 for DD102 (due Jan 12th). I'm 2 months in and I'm still managing to keep on top of the dual module situation, it's going well smile

Honestly it's pretty intense but it is interesting as well, and very relatable to aspects of my work and other everyday experiences. I've managed to get to several face-to-face tutorials which have been good fun and very useful - I feel a bit less of a lone student when I'm at a tutorial! My tutors for both modules have given detailed feedback on my TMAs as well, which I'm hoping will help me to keep achieving well on the assignments.

I've decided which optional courses I want to do for 2nd stage and (being the eager beaver I am) I've bought the course books second hand off students who've recently finished them. In the gap between stage 1 and stage 2 (there's a long old summer break!) I'm hoping to get a head start on reading the books, so that I have an easier time when I get into it for real.

I'm still undecided on whether to attempt all of stage 2 in a year, I worry I might burn out if I try to do 2 consecutive years of full time study and full time work. Unfortunately none of the modules I want to do have a February start so I either have to go for everything at once or take an extra year to do it. If I make good progress with the books I've picked up I'll be in a much stronger position to try it at least. I still have a good few months to think about it. We'll see. smile

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Becca

I've submitted my first ever TMA!

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Edited by Rebecca Strachan, Thursday, 20 Oct 2016, 23:30

I submitted TMA01 for both DD102 and DE100, and now have to wait to see how I did. I'm nervous but hopeful, and even if I don't do as well as I want to I will get feedback on how to do better for the next one. Both were very short and low weighted assignments so I'm not going to stress out over them as I've done all I can smile

We're about to go into week 4 (officially/on the planner) and in the weeks since my last post I have brought my progress on DE100 up to the end of week 7 (the point I'd reached with DD102 at the beginning of the month). I haven't studied DD102 for a few weeks now but I'm going to jump back in and read another chapter tomorrow since I have the day off work!

I'm looking forward to TMA02 for DE100. I had already read about Milgram earlier in the year so I was pretty familiar with his study, but I found the videos of him talking about his own research particularly interesting. It was really useful to see the actual footage of the experiment, along with his observations, concerns, and conclusions about what he observed. I found his commentary really insightful and thought-provoking; the gap between people's expectation and the actual results says some interesting things about the complexity of human nature and behaviour.

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Becca

Tutor contact, TMAs and Future Plans

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Since my last post I have been allocated a tutor for DD102, and both of my tutors have been in touch with me. They both seem really nice, and have been very helpful in the midst of the tutorial chaos - I have tutorial dates in my diary for both modules (even though I can't book onto them on the system) so I have my life relatively organised for the next 2 months! :D

I have written and submitted TMA01 for DD102, and I've written a draft of TMA01 for DE100 (I'm going to hold fire until after the tutorial on 10/10 before submitting it, just to make sure I'm on track). I've written a draft of TMA02 for DD102 and hoping to get a draft of TMA02 done for DE100 by the end of October so that I can stay ahead.

Just because I think it'd be interesting to see if this changes over time, I've looked ahead at the stage 2 and 3 modules to see what I might like to do. At this moment in time... I think for my free choice modules I'd like to do D240 (Counselling: exploring fear and sadness) & SDK228 (The science of the mind: investigating mental health) for stage 2, and then DD310 (Counselling and forensic psychology: investigating crime and therapy) for stage 3. I have read a little about the biopsychosocial model before and would like to learn more about it, and I feel that the counselling and forensic elements would be useful to me at work smile I'm wondering whether I can manage to do all 3 stages in a year per stage? I'll have a conversation with my tutors about it towards the end of stage 1 and see how well I'm coping by then!

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Becca

Progress, Post-its, and a Promotion

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Edited by Rebecca Strachan, Saturday, 24 Sept 2016, 19:37

I still haven't received the DE100 books yet, but I found the PDF versions of the module textbooks for both DD102 and DE100! I've downloaded all of them and put them onto my iPad. Much more portable! It has enabled me to start DE100 and honestly... I was a little daunted at first as the workload seems higher, the reading takes me longer. But I think I'm learning well and picking up the new terms and concepts, which is encouraging. I really feel like a psychology student, now.

Today I went out and used my student discount haha, I bought a little whiteboard, more post-it notes, some index cards, and a weekly planner. I'm ready. Bring on the official module start!!

I've been assigned a tutor for DE100 already in spite of my late sign-up... still nothing on DD102 but I assume they'll sort it out soon! I think it's probably a very large module as obviously other social science subject degrees will also include it so perhaps they're struggling to divide up the students or something. I'm on like week 7 of that now so I'm pretty happy left to my own devices to be honest.

Workwise I interviewed for a position a band up from my current one and got offered the job more or less on the spot!! So I will be moving departments at some point in the next few weeks. I'm a bit worried about it as my travelling time is going to be longer, which will eat into my study time. I'm hoping that if I get far enough ahead I can keep myself ahead of schedule and still fit my study time in in spite of the extra driving etc.

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