I got my first Open University assignment back this evening. I got 72%, alongside being informed that I lost marks by lack of answer development and mentioning an act that the mark scheme didn’t include. I tried to develop the answers but I had to cut half the details due to struggling to stick to the word count. I’ve informed the tutor of this issue as part of my own feedback on his observations. I didn’t have enough word count allowance to develop the answers to the point he was stating in his feedback. The limit is only 750 words over 4 questions (3 of which has three parts). I can’t be the only one of the group that found that putting enough details into the very limited word count. I had some developed answers that I had to cut down before I submitted the finished TMA, that is the only way I could make allowances for the word limit.
I wasn’t trying to be difficult in the last online tutorial but I actually pointed out something the tutor hadn’t realised in regards to a case appeal process. They had failed to notice that a case had also started in a certain court. They only mentioned one appeal stage when there was actually two. I can’t remember the exact details but they informed me that I was right about the information raised during the tutorial. The last online tutorials have been scarcely attended. There was only 3 of us in the room. Apparently, it has become such an issue that the OU isn’t recording some of the tutorials hoping to encourage more students to attend. We had to pre-book ourselves onto the rota for the tutorials. There is an option to attend tutorials offline at a local university but it’s more convenient to log in. I avoid anxiety by attending online tutorials. It is also a nightmare parking in the local city where we would have to attend the offline tutorial.
Diary of a Painfully Shy Introvert Blog 