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How should I prepare to be a distance learning masters student?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I finally managed to get my application in for the social and cultural theory masters course this week. I should hear just after New Year whether I got the place or not, but that doesn't give me very long to prepare myself before the course actually starts. I've got a deskspace which I'm going to clear and I've got my noticeboard sorted and my laptop ready to go. I'm still waiting to hear about a disabled students allowance needs assessment, but is there anything else I can do to make myself prepared and ready to take my first assignment when I get it? There isn't any pre-course reading list to me to look at and it's a hugely broad subject for me to just pick up some books and read on it. But are there any other things I could put in place which would make my life easier? Is there anything which I should take into account by being a distance learning students?
Post edited by JustV on
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I also marked in my diary the dates of assignments, etc.
That's great you're applying for the Masters, I really hope you get on.
Just a couple of thoughts really:
Good luck!
Time tabling - I think I need to read my copy of the study skills handbook by Stella Cotrell and see what things might be a good starting point.
I'm not sure how I can find other people on the course before I start. Any ideas?
Having suggested finding other people on the course, I'm not sure I have any great ideas Have you looked at this one? http://www.postgraduateforum.com/ (I haven't used it, just looking for ideas). The OU have forums etc that are open as well I think.
There's usually a Facebook group, but I guess that's after the course starts.
Are you studying FT or PT? Set yourself a set schedule to do certain topics at a certain time. You may also need to set a time to come back to things you've already done - discussion topics etc.
Trying to think what our students report issues with. How do you learn best? Taking notes? Listening? Watching? May be an idea to see if they provide printable slides/transcripts.
I think we generally found that where we were expecting students to do about 10 hours of work, they were often taking 12 - 15.
Part time - I can take a minimum of 2 years max of 5 years to complete the course.
I'm a aural/visual gal - mindmaps are my kind of thing, but I could do with looking at some other methods. It's been a while since I've made in depth notes.
You can use Microsoft One note for mind maps/notes, or something like Mural.ly - alternatively, paper and pens work well!
Have you tried finding any journal articles on the subject? Might help you get into the swing of academic reading...
You may find that you're expected to complete the weekly activities and hand them in by the end of that teaching week, allowing you some flexibility as to how you set your weekly study. Then it'll only be the main (summative) assessments that have set dates & times.
What sort of apps are you after to help you out?
It's such a large subject I'm not really sure where to start. I've done quite a lot of academic reading in the past but I haven't done much in the past 6 months or so.
I'm using Evernote quite a lot - pen and paper are too easy for me to lose! I'm trying out different mind mapping programs. I used to use something called zoterro which was an add on to Firefox which was a really helpful tool to keep track of a working bibliography and reading lists. But I can't seem to find anything like it anymore.
I now need to find £200 by the 13th, or I lose my place!
Eek, will you be able to afford that?
I saw some people had given you book recommendations and agree that once you have a reading list it is much easier to pick out some key texts. But I remember when I studied social theory C.Wright Mills The Sociological Imagination (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sociological-Imagination-C-Wright-Mills/dp/0195133730) was a really useful book that I regularly referred to - it could be a could starting place and give you some really useful background.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Be interested to hear how you find BB as a VLE See if they've got any useful things we haven't!