OpenMusings

M255 results are due next Wednesday (1st July) – this is my first Level 2 course, and the first that will count towards my honours classification, so I’m understandably nervous about the result. Already. Strange how the mind will fixate on little things like that, even though you know you can’t get the result any quicker or change it when it comes.

M255 was fun, with the early programming exercises involving all sorts of froggery being pitched just right to ease you into the subject matter without threatening you right off the bat with untold lines of code. They came before the end of the course, of course, but it’s a very well-presented course that’s paced almost perfectly, and the sense of self-satisfaction and achievement you get from getting a block of code to finally work as intended (sometimes after hours of puzzlement and hair-pulling) is hard to beat. You do need a certain way of thinking to do well at programming, I think, and if you don’t have it you’ll struggle – but as an introduction to object-oriented programming and a way of seeing if you have a) the interest, and b) the aptitude, it’s hard to beat.

I have possibly unrealistic hopes of gaining a First for my degree, so a Distinction here would be a good, positive start, and I was fortunate enough that my Continuous Assessment scores for M255 where in the range where that’s a possible result (my employer’s also jumping up and down for good results – they’re funding my degree units) – but I think I’d be happy with a Merit. Just over a week to go to find out…

S194 done & dusted and ECA submitted, in plenty of time for the first submission date. Now for the eternal-seeming three-month wait for the result.

One things that’s struck me about the Science Short Courses is that, while they’re certainly enjoyable enough & I’m usually able to rack up a decent score (ah, scores – I remember them fondly), I can’t help but wonder how much I’m actually learning from them. Simple reason: the open-book nature of the assessment makes it easy to get a high score by simply working through the materials with the ECA alongside, completing the relevant sections as you complete the corresponding part of the course book. If I remember correctly, S197 actually encouraged this way of working, and I’ll admit it’s the method I use myself – but if you do it that way, you’re not giving the information you’ve read a chance to sink into your head.

It would be an interesting little experiment to come back to one of the SSCs a few months after it had ended, and see just how much of the ECA could be completed from memory. I’m guessing it wouldn’t be a lot – which leaves the value of the Certificate in Contemporary Science a little suspect.

Not that I’ll let that stop me from claiming it, of course, and to be fair the SSCs are sold by the OU more as teasers for the “real” 30+ pointers and for people with an interest in the subjects covered than as a serious academic unit. But the experience, and the “fun” I had trying to prepare for M255′s exam a few weeks back, does highlight the value that examinations, and the need to actually know your subject to have a chance in them, brings to courses.