OU ECA HELP!

[halia]

I have a major crises on my hands. My ECA is due in on the 5th and........
I miswrote the dates on my calander and mixed up this ECA with my TMA for my second course - I thought I had untiil the 18th, so I have TMA02 for course 2 nearly done (just needs spellchecking etc) but ECA not started at all
DS is off preschool on monday as there is teacher training day (unexpected and I didn't realise til I reread his newsletter)
ECA has to be POSTED not sent via online system so I actually only have til wed/thurs to do it.

so ---- I can book DS for an extra day on wednesday (will have too!) but that gives me 10 hrs + evenings to write an ECA.
Whats the chances of relying on Royal Mail to deliver it on time if posted on thursday? They say you shoudl get proof of postage to show you posted it in 'reasonable' time but is first class mail on thursday acceptable?

which brings me to my frantic plea,
if anyone knows anybody within an hours drive I'll pay them petrol, printing money plus a HUGE thank you £20 for doing the drive

WHat about overnight delivery it costs more but it guarantees arrival

I don't think you're allowed to use any delivery service whereby the item has to be signed for when it's delivered, which means you can't use Special Delivery (unless the rules have changed since I last sent an ECA). First Class should get it there on Friday but I'm not sure what the OU mean by 'reasonable' time!

Oh damn

I did & no-one said anything

Yes I thought you weren't allowed to do special delivery which is a shame as I'd happily pay for the extra time!

I'd ring the OU first thing tomorrow and check whether posting First Class on Thursday will be OK. 'Reasonable time' is hopelessly vague!

Well I had an acknowledgement - so I guess they accepted it

Will I lose marks?

Molesworth - will ring, and hope thursday is OK. I've got about 1000 words so far but its nothing even approaching an essay yet just random thoughts!

Katy - you shouldn't lose marks I think their point is that Special Delivery requires a person to sign and therefore you can't use it as there might not be anyone there. However I'm not sure abotu this as surely if special delivery is before 1pm on a weekday there will be someone present to sign for it as otherwise how would anyone be able to hand deliver things to the admin office?

I seem to remember being told that ECAs go to a box number and that's why you can't use Recorded/Special Delivery, but maybe I hallucinated that

PS well done on having 1000 words already - and good luck with getting it finished. Sod's law dictates that you'll get your best mark ever on the one you churn out at the last minute

I think you can use special delivery but you have to send it to a slightly different address. Have a look in the ECA handbook - I am pretty sure I could anyway. Bad planning rather than a mistake left me in a similar position last year. I ended up sending it by courier to the tune of £100.

Oh God I had forgotten about that rather expensive mishap.

Good luck getting it finished.

(FWIW - I ended up 800 words short of the 5,000 word limit and still got a very respectable mark so if you can get the basic structure in place and then fit in as much detail as possible you should be OK).

Arggghhhhh poor you Niecie!

i sent an eca which i left til the last minute by "guaranteed next day delivery"... had to be done at post office by i think 5 pm.... cost more but not service that needed signing for and this was fine.... or you can get on the train / bus whatever to milton keynes and hand deliver it up til midnight on the day of the deadline you know!

good luck.

From the ECA handbook

unless
absolutely necessary, please do not use recorded delivery post as this will delay its
progress within the University and is relatively expensive.

(items that are received late and postmarked with the date of the cut-off will not be deemed to have been posted in sufficient time)

so I'm going for sending it by special delivery next day service on thursday as it does't say that you CANNOT do that - only that its not recomended.

Cost: £32 for 2 extra days of preschool for DS + £4 for special delivery. Well worth it I think!

(train would be an 10-11 hr round trip so sadly not really an option with a 4 yr old to look after as well)

Aha! That's handy to know (I've got an ECA coming up in a couple of months), thanks halia and GOOD LUCK with yours

halia - hope it is going well.

It might help you to keep going if you think about the absolute joy of finishing. I was on a high all weekend after being under so much pressure for days. DS2 (who was home with me as I packed it off) did several dances around the living room with me.

I love that 'I've finished the course' feeling.

bored stiff but nearly got part one done