Our tutor has managed to stick to the
working day limit for return of our work in spite of the fact that she was
bereft of phone and wi-fi and therefore blind, deaf and disabled in modern OU
terms!
We have a mark and a short summative
comment but no detailed response to the essay, but it at least marks closure on
the written part of the course and I am now able to concentrate fully on
revision.
I collected my new course material from the
Post Office where I waited in a queue with a suspiciously large number of
people collecting their undelivered packages as well!
At least I now have the stuff well before
the opening date for the Forum for the course and well, well before the actual
start date. The Big Red Course Book is
sitting on the table as I type, together with a Study Guide and various
DVDs. And I must resist temptation and
wait until the requisite time before I start indulging myself! I have my work to do on the present course
working up to the examination on the 10th of October and my
collaboration with the new course from the 5th of October will, of
necessity be limited to “off-duty” moments when not revising.
The rain threatened for today has not yet
washed the streets so I am considering throwing caution to the wind and
rejecting a coat for by drink with Suzanne.
And I am not going to resist temptation, in
spite of what I have just written and I am going to glut myself on the study
guide. So there!
What I actually read was the assessment
guide. A dose of reality to get you
going! The nitty-gritty of what will get
marks and what will regarded as anathema.
The OU at its soulfully soulless best.
Kind words with hard edges. But
you know, deep down that it is all for your own good. Enough.
Back to the present reality. My returned essay was fifteen marks lower
than the other two – which were high enough to give me a comfortable cushion of
marks to allow for some aberration, but not for the fifteen marks miss that I
managed to attain. My own fault of
course, even as I was writing the essay I was thinking that I was doing
“original” research which was not what was being asked for. And, sure enough one of the (fully justified)
points made was that I didn’t concentrate enough on something which was not
overtly mentioned in the essay title. I
took that as an opportunity to do my own thing, conveniently ignoring the more
explicit instructions in the “advice” given to essay writers!
How many times have I said to a class that
anything that the examiners “suggest” that they “might like to think about”
should not be taken as an invitation but a direct instruction! And then I ignore my own edicts! That’s life.
But I still think that my essay had elements that would not have been
found in others, up to and including an honourable mention of The Welsh Arts
Council and writing about the “War” exhibition of 1970(?) which was a museum
changing moment for me, and an experience that has had an on-going effect on my
artistic appreciation ever since.
Whether those apercus were worth fifteen marks, well, put it down to
experience and I am writing it down here to remind myself that I ignore my own
rules about ignoring the rules of the OU at my peril!
Now that I have got that our of my system I
can more fully devote my time to revision.
There is an outside chance that I might be able to recuperate my
self-esteem on the examination, but that will take a damn sight more effort
than that which I put into the last exam.
Something to aim for!
And something to start doing now. If not sooner!
No comments:
Post a Comment