OU - Exploring Psychology DSE 212 let's chat and worry over assignments!

[muppetgirl]

I?ll start off with an introduction.

I?m Muppet and I?m 32 and have 2 children ( 4.6 and 10 months) I used to be a teacher, early years trained but taught in yr3/4/5. I loved teaching but when I worked in a difficult school I knew I?d found my vocation so would really love to become an Educational Psychologist.

I started this course in Feb. 07 and completed 2 assignments but became pregnant with ds 2 and developed a serious case of baby brain so stopped with a view to re enrolling when I could.

Very excited to start!

GreenEggs, I thought I'd sent you a reply last night, but it must have mis-fired.

Anyway, in answer to you question, yes, I think the children do need to be told and debriefed, but obviously the parents/carers also have to be present, and give official consent.

Hi all,

Have you all managed to get the TMA done?
I thought it was quite diffcult - the next one looks a bit more straightforward, thank goodness.

Hi everyone

I agree, I thought it was difficult too. In fact, I found the whole 'Identity' topic quite difficult to grasp, social construction in particular.

I wonder how long they take to come back?

There are people on the OU forum who've had theirs back already. Usually it takes about 2 weeks, according to others on the forum

My tutor also said 2 weeks to return the TMA's, but reckoned probably by next weekend.

How are you finding evolutionary psych? Not doing a lot for me at the moment, but then I had a sneaky look at bioogical psych, and that didn't look too gripping either! I am finding it hard to keep up with the reading though, and have stopped taking notes as I can't keep up. God help me when it is exam time

What are everyone else's first impressions then?

Green Eggs, I would really recommend going on the OU forum. There are a couple of people on there who post questions that kick off discussions, and it gets a bit more interesting then (there's a professor who pitches in every now and then). Some of the questions I would never have even thought to ask, so it shows that they are thinking more critically than me (!).
I know what you mean about taking notes. I am all over the place - sometimes scribbling notes, sometimes underlining text, sometimes nothing. I can't seem to get a system going. I hate the workbook exercises too, so usually don't do them.
I quite like evolutionary psych though (haven't looked ahead at bio psych yet) - it seems a bit more straightforward than ID theory, and should lead into some nurture/nature stuff, which is what we all seem to talk about on Mumsnet all the time.

iheart - I have tried the forums, but they seem very unwieldy. Is there any way of reading them without having to click on each post? - I find them hard to follow.

Glad I am not alone re the note taking - I am hoping I will get a sgoing once I am more into the swing of things! I am definitely not reading very critically though!

Are you going to post your TMA results? I read the blurb in the assignment book, but it is hard to know what sort of score I should expect iykwim?

GreenEggs, I went onto the forum today and found them unwieldy too! There didn't seem to be a thread system a la mumsnet!

I am not reading critically either. And I am rubbish at note-taking, I either don't take any at all or practically rewrite the book.

I have no idea what kind of mark to expect either. My tutor said that if we got a 2:1 (B) or above then we'd be 'doing well'. He's a bit of a tit though to be honest

I'm finding the workload heavier than I expected TBH. I thought it'd be a breeze. Even considered taking ED209 simultaneously. Ha!

What I've done with the forum is to only read posts that relate to what I've read about. Some people seem to have steamed ahead with the chapters and are posting about them, but I'm ignoring their posts. Also, if an interesting debate happens, I'm cutting and pasting it into a word doc, which is a bit messy, but I'll print it out later and maybe highlight the interesting bits (not sure how well this will work, but I'm gonna try it).
The posts do appear as threads, but you do have to dig them out (i.e. the moderators don't organise them into different topics).

I have read chapter 2 now (but not taken notes yet) and was wondering if I should just go ahead and tackle the essay part of the next TMA, as one of the choices is Evo Psych. I feel as if by waiting, I'll have forgotten it all, and have forgotten how to write an essay, whereas doing it now, it gets it out of the way. What do you think? Will the next few chapters be relevant to the TMA, even though the question is about Evolution?

Am feeling mildly flummoxed the whole time, and would really love to get myself a bit more 'sorted'.

ihearthuckabees, I know what you mean, I thought the same about tackling the TMA while the topic was fresh in the mind. However, I've decided against it because I thought stuff in the next chapters might be in some way relevant and just tried (badly!) to do some concise notes on the topic.

I found the Evolution stuff really interesting and much more comprehensible than Chapter 1, I am not liking the Learning stuff much at all.

I've found the learning stuff totally tedious.

I am tempted to start the TMA now, to get it done before Xmas. Looking at the topics, I will probably do it on evo psych, although I don't like it much.

Looking ahead, have you stolen a glance at the Specimin Exam on the OU site? I was surprised that there weren't more choices of questions to answer - my plan of targeting topics may not be workable, which is a worry!

I am hoping I will feel a lot more 'in the zone' by next June, as at the moment it looks daunting!

Cocodrillo - I agree, the work does feel more onerous than I anticipated. Usually I overestimate - this time I have underestimated - gulp! Haven't done any of the workbook tasks either - I prefer just to get my head down. I do feel under pressure though, what with Xmas to arrange etc.

How does everyone else thing it is going?

Yep Cocodrillo 'totally tedious' is spot on. Have stupidly glanced at the next chapter and it looks awful too (biology was never my strong point)!

Anyone else feeling this course is not quite what they were expecting? I suspect I am going to enjoy the Applying book more than the Mapping one - now what does that tell me about my future career direction I wonder?

I'm a couple of weeks ahead, as I've a baby due in three months, and need to stay on top of things/get ahead as much as possible - so I've just done week 10, and am now starting the TMA.

Unexpectedly I've enjoyed chapter 2 of the methods book - I thought that side of things would be the least interesting!

The brain stuff coming up was very interesting in places, but I found it quite hard work.

We seem to be covering so much material, and I've only just got my head around one thing and we're onto the next.

It's much harder work than an undergraduate 2nd year course at university!

Anyone else still waiting for their TMA 01 results? I'm checking my e-mail several times a day!

My tutor says the TMA's will be ready for collection by Friday...

I am very impressed by your work ethic Cocodrillo, what a deadline to have

Coco, I am checking to see if my TMA is back several times a day too. It's torture isn't it.

GreenEggs, I'm quite enjoying the course to be honest (although less so now it's the biology stuff). Liked the evolutionary stuff, then found the learning chapter quite difficult re the definitions - unconditional stimulus, conditional response, positive reinforcement etc etc etc. I understand it, but then the next day it's all got muddled up again. i think i just need to repeat it over and over till it sticks.
But it's all interesting. Not sure if I'll enjoy the stats so much. I'm a bit of a 'big picture kind of person, and can't be bothered with lots of detail.

Hope you're getting more into it.

I got my essay back last night. I got the kind of score I thought I would, and my tutor's criticisms on my essay were what I exepcted too. I thought I might have got a few more point on the ethics stuff - 24/33, but overall, I am quite satisfied. It would be really interesting to know what the range of scores are though, to know where we 'sit' iykwim?

Anyone else?

Still no sign of my TMA, but I'm willing to spill the beans when it finally arrives

I'll spill when mine arrive

Can I ask roughly how many hours you are finding you are studying each week? When I signed up for the course I seem to remember 16 hours being the advised amount and I am doing nowhere near that many!

I'm probably doing between 8 and 10 hours per wk.

I don't feel that I've absorbed everything I've read though : the learning, in particular, just went in one ear (or should that be eye? ) and out the other

STILL not got my TMA back. Am getting annoyed now.
The amount of hours I do every week seems to vary widely. Good week: 16. Bad week: 5.
All feels bit hit and miss still.