When the impossible's finally impossible, you can actually get down to what's doable

Everything's working today and is fast, even Mystuff and the wiki and my OU blog! (But the OU blog is still kaput - I'm sticking with the Blogger blog).

I got my results back for TMA02. I got a pleasing 72%. For TMA01 I got 73% so that makes 36.16% of the final score according to my calculations:

73% --> 16/100 x 73 = 11.68

72% --> 34/100 x 72 = 24.48

and 11.69 + 24.48 = 36.16% of the final score

So, to get a distinction, in the ECA I would need to get 97.68% (!!!) which (thankfully) isn't going to happen even in my wildest dreams, so I can simply focus on trying to ensure I get a pass (40%) and then anything over that is a plus. Actually knowing I can't attain the impossible lets me calmly work on what is achievable.

85% - 36.16% = 48.84% --> 50/100 x 97.68 = 48.84

To pass the course I need to get at least 40% in the ECA.
So that means that the minimum I can get (if I pass) is 56.16%

50/100 x 40 = 20% of the final score (and 36.16 + 20 = 56.16)

Hmmmm, I wonder if it's noticeable that I'm not feeling stressed out at the moment??

Reflection for blog at 06-01-09

Right, things are getting serious now; if I want to leave 2 weeks for the ECA I need to finish units 8, 9 and 10 this week.

I'm amazed, with so little time left till the end of the course, that the tutors still haven't made a meaningful return to the forums.

I've read some other people's contributions (from the forums and their shared blogs) which have helped calm my nerves and given me some ideas (Emma, Colleen, Jim, Nigel S, Keely, Karen).

Let's see if I can post this to my blog today. I've had access problems again lately. Now I can usually view the blog but I can't edit the posts (I wanted to add tags to the posts that don't have them, which is about 90%), I wanted to change the name of the blog from "Metacog-what??!!) to something more formal/boring like "H808 blog". As I write this I'm still waiting for the blog to open. This morning I woke up thinking that I should perhaps move to a blog that actually allows me to use it 24/7. Some 3 years ago I blogged for about half a year. The experience was very positive as access was 24/7 and the blogs themselves had much greater functionality/"customisability". There was a definite sense of community that was enhanced by the blogs - not impeded by them.

It would be very nice if I got my TMA02 results back. I'd like to see the comments well before I have to write for the ECA. But Alan gave me an extension and my TMA02 was finally handed in on 26th Dec (coz of a couple of days of formatting problems).

Well, after 20 mins the blog still isn't opening. I started a blog for my students on Blogger so I know that it's accessible here in China. I'll open one for H808 now. This is very disappointing. Not at all what I expected when I started this course.

Ok, I've set up my new blog. It's at http://jmartel-h808-blog.blogspot.com/ . But I can't move posts over because I can't access my OU blog!!!!!!!!!! I've tried using Safari, Firefox and IE on a Mac, and IE7, Firefox and Safari using XP. At least my blog is showing no favouritism...Ah, I spoke too soon, a few minutes later IE7 on XP opened my blog - with errors, however the main text is visible. Then I tried to add a post and it's now loading interminably. Ok, time to forget moving the blog. I'll do that when I can.

So my blog, wiki and FCC are all working again...

1 January, 08:05

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So my blog, wiki and FCC are all working again...at the moment.
Ah, how did you sort that out?
I logged on a number of times everyday.
But how did that solve the problem?
As far as I know it didn't.
But they're working now!
Yes.
Which is good news?
3 days ago, yes.
But today?
I'm not working on OU stuff today.
Ah...
Yes, ah...
Well maybe tomorrow they'll still be working...
Yes, maybe...

The forgotten blog...

28 Dec 2008, 04:13

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I've gotten out of the habit of updating this blog. Main reasons are probably being busy with other stuff and finding this course so hard to relate to.

But for this last month I'm going to try to make an extra effort. (If I remember!!)

Less than a month left...

26 Dec 2008, 02:25

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So I sent in TMA02 a couple of days ago. I was planning on writing "yesterday" but it seems that my blog took a day off for Christmas.

Just under a month left now. Good.

More evidence for SA4.2 - HowTo access/use OU resources when using a Mac

19 Oct 2008, 13:16

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 19 Oct 2008, 13:17

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HowTo access/use OU resources when using a Mac
By Jose Martel Penate H808 081

I'll be giving my personal experiences as an OU student in Shanghai who uses mac computers to access and use OU resources.

First, a bit about my mac setup. When at home, I typically use a Mac Mini bought in 2007, with 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and upgraded to 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, running OSX Leopard 10.5.5. On my commute to and from work I use an iBook bought in 2002, with a 600MHz PowerPC G3 processor, and upgraded to 640MB SDRAM, running OSX Tiger 10.4.11.

I've designated the iBook as the principal machine where OU work is concerned; it holds the OU working files and folders. When at home I connect the iBook to my ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) via a TL-R402 DSL router. The use of Bonjour simplifies my mac to mac connections and I can then use my Mac Mini to work on the files stored on the iBook - so both machines use the same files. This effectively avoids having to synchronise data (I'm refusing to spend money on a synchronisation solution).

I hold current backup files on both machines in locked folders that I've set Spotlight to ignore. This means that when I do OU related searches the only file/folders searched are the current working OU file/folders on the iBook. I also keep a backup folder of all my OU backups on an external hard drive. When I remember, I also replace the current OU backup folder I keep on my mp4 player (an Archos 604).

I typically use Safari (3.1.2) as my web browser of choice for most things, but for the OU I need to share the workload with Firefox (3.0.3). For simply accessing/reading OU webpages, I'll use Safari, but for editing I'll typically use Firefox. For the blogs - posts and comments - I need to use Firefox or formatting will be ignored. For editing "notes" in MyStuff, I again need to use Firefox because of formatting issues, but to upload files, Safari seems to work better and I recently found out I can write comments while using Safari and formatting is kept intact. For the wiki, it seems that editing can be done from Safari but can't while in Firefox or at least is inconsistent from Firefox. I'm new to the wiki so I haven't had a chance to investigate this further.

Regarding FirstClass, I haven't used their web version since I installed the Mac FirstClass Client (9.106) application in my first week of study. I can't remember much about FC web version, but I know I really didn't like it; it was slow and simply didn't work properly. The desktop version is clearly the superior product and, while not perfect, it is perfectly stable, useful and even has some nice (far more Mac-like than Window-ly) graphics.

Another word about the blogs. I want to browse my fellow students' blogs from time to time, but it's tedious and can be very time consuming having to go to each blog to find out if there have been new postings. So I subscribed to the RSS feeds for each blog. Each blog has a feed for posts and another feed for comments. You need to open the blogs from Safari and click directly on "RSS" (not "Atom" right next to it) - I prefer to right-click to open links in a new tab, but sometimes it seems that these RSS pages only open properly when you left-click directly. When the RSS page opens, left-click on the "Subscribe in Mail" link. If you then go to Mail you'll find an RSS feed that you can rename and that contains the posts or comments of the blog you subscribed to. The blog posts will have the blog poster's name - under the title - when you open each post, but the comments won't tell you where they come from. To find out whose blog the comments belong to you need to click on "Read more..." to be taken to the blog itself, and then rename the feed in Mail. If there is no feed in Mail, check your Mail preferences.

By the way, there is a Mac help website (that I didn't find very helpful). It's at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephen.mcgann/index.html . It seems to be more geared toward helping potential students identify which OU courses are mac-compatible. Apart from that, it limits itself to briefly commenting on the mac-compatiblity of various pieces of software that students may or may not need to use. I think the site will only be of any use to someone with little practical experience of using macs. The site doesn't actually give current students of OU courses any advice on day to day issues that arise while doing an OU course using a mac.

Some initial thoughts on tutor blogs...

16 Oct 2008, 01:01

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I was starting to look though the blogs again (I haven't for a while) when I came across a post by Nigel S that caught my eye, Tutor perspectives - Interesting!, available from: http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/viewpost.php?post=2886

Below is my reply to his post:

Hi Nigel,

Thanks for posting this, it hadn't occurred to me to peek into our tutors blogs, though I had noticed the links on the blog index page - I think I'll take a look after posting you this.

A thought that comes to mind is, does it help a student to see that their tutor is questioning their own actions/reactions/thoughts/etc? Would a student prefer to feel they have an "expert" tutor, omniscient, infallible?

I suppose being able to view a tutor's ponderings and perceived flounderings can be educational for the student as a "walk the walk" role model. But would this still be the case if the tutor was doing some serious professional-self-questioning/doubting and didn't find a suitable solution? In this case, I assume the student would not be allowed to see the tutor's musings, as, though they may be educational, they would also (perhaps) undermine the student's confidence in their tutor's professional ability.

And following on from that thought, if the tutor does censor their reflections (for student-viewable posts), would their reflections continue to be good role-model material? The student would only be seeing the tutor's Hollywood-happy-ending posts, and the student may be always feel only 60 minutes in - stuck in unfortunate plot twist, with no happy ending in sight.

Of course, maybe a good tutor will always find the right solution...

Jose

Hmmmmmmm...? Thought to follow up later...

14 Oct 2008, 01:51

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 14 Oct 2008, 01:52

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Jim left me a comment on the preceding post (Reflections on my strengths and weaknesses as an elearning practitioner), which led me to thinking about whether professionals find it harder to be sincere and reflective. Jim said that the way I write (using an "honest" and "humble" tone) invites others to reciprocate. In the past, I have found this to be true.

A couple of years ago I had a blog and I wrote in the sincere, unpretentious, friendly style that I tend to favour. In a very short time people were reciprocating. However, that community was very different to this OU VLE. There, the environment encouraged risk taking: no-one's "real-life" identity was readily available; people were not being urged to reply; people's comments/feedback were not going to be analysed; etc.

To be continued...if I have time and remember.

H808 bloglist @ 03/10/08

3 Oct 2008, 05:54

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Jianfan Xie's blog

Jim Buckingham's blog

Jose Martel's blog

Jude Dunkwu's blog

• http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=157255

Julie Carle's Blog

Karen's blog:

• http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=349663
  

Keely Laycock's blog:

• http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=440915

Nicola Robinson's blog

• http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=35245

Nigel D K Roper's blog

• http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=29255

Nigel S's blog link (is that a "blink")

• http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=476982

Peter Cheer's blog

• http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=44071

Tanya McEvoy's Blog:

• http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=474428

Attempted focused musing and rumination 2

29 Sep 2008, 22:51

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 29 Sep 2008, 23:19

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- ePortfolios:
___- are they information overload?
______- who (really) needs all that info (for their entire life)?
_________- anyone
____________- to keep life-events organised and searchable
____________- to help plan life-options
_________- only some people
____________- life is messy, not organised
___- positive for people who are successful
______- eportfolio as celebration
___- negative (?) for people who are not successful
______- constant and focused reminder of their failings
______- future headline?: eportfolio use linked to surge in suicides
___- what are they a true reflection of;
______- who we are?
______- who we want to appear to be?
______- who we want to be?
______- who someone else wants us to (appear to) be?
______- all of the above?
______- the state of our mental health??
___- is it safe to have all that personal data in one place and online?
______- but not only in 1 place
_________- platform management will have backup copies elsewhere geographically
_________- individuals will keep their own backup copies
______- identity theft (see below)
______- Big Brother (aspects in Orwell not Ch4)
_________- civil rights conspiracy theorists
____________- government could have too much access to too much personal data
_______________- but the usual responses
__________________- why would they bother?
__________________- data will be password protected and super-duper encrypted
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(Have I mentioned how much I hate that this blog messes up my formatting?!)

Attempted focused musing and rumination

27 Sep 2008, 22:53

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 27 Sep 2008, 23:01

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Do we need to prove something in our messages to each other?

Do any of us (students) want a sense of community? Or is it enough to simply comply with the course requirement to communicate with each other, since it seems that many of us have little in common and have no need, or desire, to befriend our "peers". When I talk about blogs I keep referring to a sense of community, but we're not here for community, we're here to learn/get a qualification.

Does professionalism breed contempt?

Does the use of 'professionalese' promote an increasing intectuallisation of our OU environment and manner, intelectuallisation that some of us need to in order to pass this course?

One of my first contributions to the forums was an attack on professional-elitism. However, now some days later, I'm wondering whether a professional can be anything but an elitist. And it's a fact that academia does have its requirements for precise language use - a precision that does make sense to me.

Hmmmm...Ok, maybe I should think about things that are more relevant to the actual course...

Blog-intellectualitiness

27 Sep 2008, 03:12

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 27 Sep 2008, 13:47

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This is a copy of my reply to blog post on another blog:

X,

I'd hardly say that keeping a blog can be called "vanity publishing". My idea of vanity publishing is someone using their own money to print their manuscript/composition (that has been rejected by publishing houses) for a very limited public distribution. Though blogging may have some similar characteristics, can it really be called the same?

I would agree that probably more often than not, blogs one may come across (out there in the world) will be of little interest. If that is the case, I would suggest you follow one simple rule: don't read them. However, I'm sure you wouldn't propose the creation of a "Blog-Police" to ensure that standards of ... what?... "intellectualness" are kept up.

You mention 2 overriding, fundamental questions:
* Do I have something important to say?
* Is a blog the most effective way of communicating what I have to say to my intended audience?

I think few of us ever know if we have something "important" to say or blog. And what's the definition of "important" here anyway? And "important" to who? I would be willing to bet that if all the bloggers in the world were asked the question, "Should you always blog about something important?", the vast majority would say no. Blogging is often about being a part of a community; sharing oneself and learning about others. I'm not sure that a blogging community would last long or be very popular if the only posts written were strictly to the point with no human references or touch allowed. I'd say that blogs are often written and posted at those odd little times of the day when one can put work/study/the kids aside for a moment and escape to that virtual world were one can find real understanding. For me and my H808 blog, those times of the day are breaks in my study, a time to let my mind relax, explore, let go, and that is reflected in the kind of things I've blogged. Admittedly, a lot of what I've written may not make sense (to you), but I wanted to write it, and so I did. And you can read it or not read it, that's your choice. What I wrote was important to me, and that's enough.

As to whether a blog is/can be the most effective means of communicating with an intended audience, I suppose that depends. One could send emails, but that's personal not public. One could post a reply in the group forums, which are public, but more impersonal. When I read a blog I get the feeling of entering a private-public space; a space that is private, yet open to the public. The blogger's views are not thrust upon me, as an email invading my private space would be, and their posts have (I like to think) a more human and sometimes more intimate quality - not usually present in forum posts - that I feel is necessary for a sense of community. So, blogging may not always be the most effective communication tool, but is being effective always that important?

Jose

Shared blogs to date

25 Sep 2008, 23:16

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 25 Sep 2008, 23:23

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Peter Cheer's blog

http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=440718

Julie Carle's Blog

Nigel D K Roper's blog

http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=29255

Keely Laycock's blog:

http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=440915

Jose Martel's blog

Karen's blog:

http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=349663

Nigel S's blog link (is that a "blink")

http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=476982

Jianfan Xie's blog

Tanya McEvoy's Blog:

http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=474428

Nicola Robinson's blog

http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?user=35245

Technical issues and happiness

22 Sep 2008, 22:27

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 25 Sep 2008, 01:48

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I just managed to add my blog url to my group page (Alan's) and make it look pretty (!). The edit page opened onto command lines (?) instead of the table like last time, which was initially scary. But as I'd done with my blog link on the wiki page, I just looked at what I like in other people's entries and then looked up the corresponding entry/command lines on the edit page. Then I copied those command lines, pasted them relative to where I wanted the result to appear, and (very carefully) substituted the other people's info for mine. Then I previewed and altered as needed (and saved when I'd finished!).

Yesterday evening at about 7pm GMT the OU website was very unstable for me. So I decided to wait till this morning to see if things improved and it's now ok.

Oh, it would be nice to be able to change the default settings on this blog, e.g. anything I write here I'm ok with other OU people seeing, so it would save me a step if I could have that as the default setting - but it's just a niggle. What bothers me more is how the formatting get's messed up when I copy and paste or even when I write directly into the blog message box. I wrote a blog in the past and I came to like splitting sentences onto different lines instead of using punctuation. But if I do that here, everything just gets squashed together. Though strangely enough, my first post did format ok. Odd.

And oh, I don't like this "blog"platform. It doesn't have some of the features that I came to take for granted. Basic ones like being able to view a post/comment while writing a comment; being able to preview a comment before posting; or editing tool/key so you can be sure that your post will look the way you want it to look, etc.

Formatting problems

21 Sep 2008, 10:13

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Seems this blog doesn't like me to paste text into it It moves the text around To where I don't want it to go Stubborn blog...