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New Year, New Me?
Hello 2013, you snuck up on me a bit there. 2012 has been a bit of a busy year and has ended rather earlier than I thought. Still, here we are in a brand new year. I had loads going on in 2012, although my (irregular, rare) readers wouldn’t know it due to the paucity […]
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Too much study, not enough time
I never went to university after my A-levels, unlike most of my friends, so I have no idea how much stress is involved with doing a proper degree. However, I can say from experience that doing a part-time degree with the Open University can be an immensely stressful experience. I’m finding it a bit tough […]
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T214: Activity 5.2
I submitted TMA05 on Sunday (only 9 days late) and I’m now behind on the coursework that leads up to TMA06. This is not a particularly great situation, considering the amount of readings and activities to get through, but at least the course materials are interesting. I neglected to write much about my learning activities […]
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M255: done
Yesterday I spent three highly-stressed hours in a room full of strangers taking an exam. This was the final exam for my M255 Object-oriented programming with Java module through the Open University and I found it quite a test. The few days prior to the exam have seen me more stressed than I’ve been in […]
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T214: Block 2, Activity 1a – Climate Change
This activity requires me to “reflect on how a range of ‘thinking traps’ may influence how you engage with complex situations” by writing down what I think about: “the causes of emerging environmental crises such as climate change, and what you believe could resolve these problems” I’m not sure they could have picked a more […]
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T214: Block 2, Multiple Intelligences
The OU course notes have opened up a whole other can of worms about different kinds of intelligence. There has been some research by Gardner that revealed eight different types of intelligence. These are: Linguistic intelligence. The ability to use a coherent narrative to communicate and organise thoughts. Logical–mathematical intelligence. The ability to investigate issues […]
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T214: Block 2, Thinking Traps
This block introduces the term “thinking traps” – an all-encompassing description of the ways that our brains fail us when trying to understand complex systems. There are a number of different thinking traps: short attention spans (I’m really guilty of this) oversimplification (most science stories in the news) groupthink – seeking out opinions of like-minded […]
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T214: Block 2, Introduction
An lo, block 2 of my Systems Practise course loomed, and I was not ready. I’m a week behind here and having to do some serious catching up. However, a new block brings a new subject matter and I can’t be hanging about. I seriously hope to create more notes for this block than I […]
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T214: Block 1, case study 6 – Wikipedia
So far, during my OU T214 studies, I’ve failed to find enough time to properly engage with some of the research activities. There have been a number of case studies that I should have been writing about but which I skimmed over instead. I don’t want to repeat that for my second assignment, at least […]
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Linked
Linked, originally uploaded by rutty. 31/365 I’m about to start an Open University module and this is the set book. The course is about “Understanding Complexity” – joined-up thinking they call it – and it’s one of two systems thinking modules I’m taking as part of my chosen degree. The book has some variable reviews […]
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Links for March 30th
Women told: ‘You have dishonoured your family, please kill yourself’ When Elif’s father told her she had to kill herself in order to spare him from a prison sentence for her murder, she considered it long and hard. “I loved my father so much, I was ready to commit suicide for him even though I […]