would love to be mortgage free!

DawnW

coldcazzie wrote: »

Thankyou Dawn

This course is proving to be a real nightmare. The course materials themselves are not very well written - difficult to understand, little to no signposting between topics... clunky I think is the term I would use.

OU are in the process of moving much of their resources online (to save costs I suppose) and have also changed the course slightly in the past couple of years which means that a lot of the hard-copy materials and online materials don't match up, and some things are very hard to find on the website, so there's a lot of confusion about what we are and aren't supposed to be doing and how we are supposed to be doing them.

For some reason, they decided this year to withdraw the course-wide online forum and only have regional forums, which substantially reduces the number of other students you can talk to. The only course-wide forum is a troubleshooting forum for a piece of software we are supposed to use for this TMA. Unfortunately because of the previously mentioned issues with the materials being difficult to access and confusing when you do eventually access them, people are using this troubleshooting forum as their place to vent and try to find out information and access materials and as a result the mods are getting irritated, which is understandable. However, they're also being quite unprofessional in the way they are dealing with these issues, flaming students and deleting posts and generally making a bad situation worse.

The whole thing is a bit of a shambles to be honest, and I'm really disappointed, especially after being a student for so long so knowing how well it can work if it is organised properly. We're already into official complaint territory (only 2 months into the course) - several students have already put in complaints, and I'm not far behind them. It's a real shame.

I am sorry to hear that - their strength was always the quality of the teaching and support. Sounds as though that is not so good now When I left, they had just started with the online stuff, though it was optional then, and they didn't automatically assume all students would have internet access. I guess they are more likely to now - though some areas still do not have broadband, which might make it tricky for people there.

coldcazzie

DawnW wrote: »

I am sorry to hear that - their strength was always the quality of the teaching and support. Sounds as though that is not so good now When I left, they had just started with the online stuff, though it was optional then, and they didn't automatically assume all students would have internet access. I guess they are more likely to now - though some areas still do not have broadband, which might make it tricky for people there.

It's been wonderful in previous years. I understand that they need to keep up with current demands and restrictions etc, but it just seems that this year they've changed too much and haven't bothered checking things as they've made the changes. It's a real disappointment for my final course

coldcazzie

I found the member who had a food slicer and have sent her a pm

This morning I have the washer guy and a Tesco delivery coming. Then after lunch I may hop on the bus to the supermarket to pick up the fresh food I won't buy online... however, I may leave that until tomorrow as we are off to meet some friends for a play in the park tomorrow afternoon, so will have to have bus tickets. I plan to go to the butchers tomorrow morning, so I guess a supermarket trip at the same time makes sense.

I managed some more TMA yesterday. My report introduction is complete, and I'm getting an idea of how I'll frame the discussion... the deadline is in a week so I'm feeling tentatively positive about it.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Morning Caz, Mr Tilly did a lot of studies with the OU and I appreciate how hard it is when you have a family as well.

Good luck on getting your TMA completed.

Look forward to hearing about the meat slicer.

Best wishes Tilly x

coldcazzie

Forgot to make the order with the butchers so won't be going there this morning. Tsk. This afternoon we are meeting a group of friends and going to a kids museum, I bought us annual passes yesterday so we can go back unlimited times. Just a shame it'll probably be packed because it's the holidays. Weather is looking like a bit of a wash out today so hopefully this will provide enough distraction!

Off to get my jobs for today done quickly, need to make a packed lunch too before we go and I've no idea where our picnic bag is..! Hope everyone has a good day today

coldcazzie

Yesterday worked out very well. Found a gazebo to eat lunch under so we didn't get rained on, and the kids loved the museum. Definitely going to go back sometime, hopefully when it's not so busy! Had our fair share of drama for the day too :eek: nosebleeds and lost children etc. S'pose it wouldn't be a proper day out without something happening, would it?!

Took us all morning to get ready and the kids were exhausted afterwards so still not been to the supermarket...! Will try to go today.

coldcazzie

Just got an email saying my 12/13 ISA is open :j:j

coldcazzie

OMG! Manwife got an email today to say that he's been awarded an additional £500 bonus for going above and beyond his job :T :T :T so proud of him! It gets awarded in vouchers so he's going to research a laptop, leaving his annual bonus for other stuff.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

That's great news. Tilly x

Froggy-G

Well done Manwife! Great job! :j