I'm thinking of keeping this here until the New Year, and then either moving it away from the OU, or quitting the whole thing.
It's a strange situation, especially as I still don't fully understand what it's all about, but I feel that I would happily write my thoughts on various matters, on here, but I am held back by the fact that it is being 'watched' in some sense, and not by people reading, but by people 'just checking'.
I did just post a comment on one of my forums, but instantly I am worried as to what repsonse it will get.
My query is, if this really is a place to vent my frustrations, air my views, offer insight into the courses I'm doing, maybe it would be better placed in a different location?
I think a 'blog' could serve me very well. No one has to look if they don't want to, which compared to the forums offers a huge advantage. The forums for one course at the moment are ridiculous, hundreds of people all full of confusion and anger, love and shoulder chips, and it is a little stressful... it was probably foolish for me to post the post I posted.
I will make my decision at the end of this month, after asking the opinions of anyone and everyone!!!
Comments
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Always post! It doesn't matter too much if you get it wrong. What does matter is that people might not see the 'other' argument if you don't.
There are blogs on here, where, to be frank, I'm rude, ignorant and unfair when it comes to commenting. Why do I do it? Because it's important that we don't see what we've written as something set as.
[Have you noticed all the course-imposed blogs? And their imperviousness to interaction?]
I've been @ this blog nonsense for about four years now, and I've forgotten that people might be reading, [I'm not sure if they are] what's important is that we interact.
And in a good sense we do. When I'm down people help me, when I'm up I try to help people.
We should not be so up-ourselves that our-wrongs shouldn't be there forever—we ain't so special. Others will feel the same way sometime. And the knowledge that others have felt the same way has power.
Sorry to ramble, Keypoints: keep blogging, post in the fora, think about how you're going to pay for your next course!
neil
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The whole thing works better to my mind if people say what they think. Unless you are doing a course specific blog no-one is going to judge you from what you write here. If you follow the blogs you learn a lot about being an OU student and we are all different so we all have different ways of saying how useless or brilliant we feel along the way.
I find the tutor group or course forums very hard work and it is difficult to get any natural discussions going - this is because people are very conscious of the tutor in the background - however, tutors are just people and quite a lot of them are also doing OU courses themselves. Don't be put off. The more that goes into the forums the better they work. If they are a waste of time for you then just don't use them. It is useful, though, to know you are not doing the course all alone in your attic study.
Generally I just say what I think, right or wrong, in the course forums and the blogs.
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Another factor is that some OU tutors are better than others. I have done about ten OU courses and had three really top notch tutors and one really dreadful one. The rest were a mixture. Encouragement is very important but you can also just encourage yourself if its not coming from the outside.A response
Interesting to read the responses there. It once again came as a surprise to see them. A pleasant one at that.
I am afraid I am yet to read another person's blog. All the people I have clicked on from my courses to date, do not have anything visible, and I'm not too sure how to find other people. That is my mission for today though, as I have absolutely nothing else of any significance to do. Makes a change!
I feel perhaps I should clarify on my use of the word ridiculous. The forum is just so busy. It has not been divided into tutor groups, and so there are hundreds of messages a day. I think most people have given up and just follow specific threads, which would be by far the sensible option. Unfortunately, I find that nearly impossible to do, and feel I am missing out on something if I miss any. It is also the most interesting forum I have ever known - people doing the course for the widest variety of reasons, resulting in such wide-ranging (and sometimes extreme) opinions. I rarely input into forums, as it provokes a deep fear within me every time that I do. I cannot bear the thought of offending someone I have not even met. I have been more active this year than any other. I feel a sense of achievement every time I post, and for the most part my contributions have been well received.
I will make a start by looking at my commentees' posts I think!