Foreign Perspectives

Archive for the ‘Open University’ Category

The problem with the physics course is that it’s not really one that is suitable for doing all by itself. The pre-requisites for it are both the introductory science course (S104) and the maths essentials courses (MST124 and MST125). That said, I’ve got a copy of the predecessor to the current introductory science course and I’ve previously done maths at university (rather a long time ago).

However, what really knocked it out for me is that, at some stage, I’d like to do the maths and physics degree and I think that it would be better to do that as a unit from start to finish which I can’t do at the moment, so it’s on hold for a while.

Which leaves the child psychology course as my main contender for October. This has the advantage that it’s another step forward for my psychology degree and it’s got an EMA so shouldn’t clash too much with S345 that starts in May and has a TMA in early June.

In addition to that I’m thinking of the science investigation course (S155) which is an essential if I wanted to do another science degree and which disappears into a 30 pointer after this year.

I’ve been reading over some of the S207 (physics) and psychology (mostly DSE212) samples that I’ve collected over the years to try and reach a decision between E102 (child psychology) or S207 (physics) for next October.

This October is my chance to top up my “miscellaneous interesting courses” degree to the point where I could claim it and thereby leave it while I, perhaps, head off to do a masters. So, I need a course that will fit into that timeslot.

Both physics and psychology go well with the courses already in the degree which currently has 70 points chemistry, 60 psychology, 60 physics and 30 history so nothing really to choose between them on that score.

I’ve only got the introductory sections of S207 but have bits of a course that follows E102 so it’s not really a like for like comparison. In practical terms, I’ve got the more interesting bits of the psychology to read and those bits come later on in physics.

I may have to get a coin out 🙂

Since I’ll have completed my Life Sciences degree, the focus moves temporarily to my “miscellaneous interesting courses” degree which I’d like to top up to the point where I could claim it which means adding at least 20 points at level 3 and 80 points overall.

I’d originally had Geology (S276) on the list but now that I’ve read through the pre-course material for it, I don’t really find it that interesting so, at the moment, it’s off the list of possibles for October.

Other options include The physical world (S207) for which the first book is available online free, so I’m going to work my way through that and see what I think of it. Upsides are that it sounds really interesting and presumably would make my Planetary Science course easier going when I get around to it. Downside for this is that it’s one of the courses that are billed as a major undertaking. It’s a 60 pointer so that would take me to 280 points by itself.

Then there’s the new Introduction to childhood studies and child psychology (E102) which is one of the options for my proposed psychology degree and thus moves that along. Upsides are that it’s level 1, four TMAs and an end of course assessment ie it sounds easy going. Downside is that it’s a first run of the course and the OU have a bad reputation with first-run courses. It’s a 60 pointer too so that also takes me to 280 points.

I’m also considering Empires 1492-1975 (A326) which is essentially the follow-on from my Archaeology course from a few years ago. Downside of this is that the OH is also planning to do this and as our approaches to study are totally different, that sounds like a recipe for some conflict.

Coupled with one of those I plan to do Chemical change and environmental applications (S345) which is 20 points at level 3 and thus gets me to the required 60 points at level 3.

Chemistry assignments always take me ages to do, so I thought it best to make an early start on the end of module assignment and avoid last minute rushes.

Since the external examiner required that the assignment was issues three weeks before the cut-off date, that meant that it turned up on March 21st this year with the cut-off date being April 10th. So, three weekends to work on it as I keep weekends for assignments.

At nine questions, it was pretty much the same as a normal assignment, albeit with more questions and covering the entire course pretty much in sequence. So there were three questions on the first, mainly biology, book, around 6 or 7 from the second, mainly chemistry, book and several from sections of the course presented as separate texts (i.e. unit 4 and the McMurray book extracts).

In practice, finding the information to answer some of the questions proved rather time-consuming as there’s no overall course index and unit 4 and the McMurray extracts are easy to forget about after you’ve worked through them. So this year one particularly easy question took a number of people ages to find the relevant information and some were even talking about not answering it at all.

Overall, it covered the course quite thoroughly and helped what was previously fairly unconnected information to make sense as a whole. Unfortunately, as this is an examinable component we won’t get any feedback on our answers which seems a shame as it’s the one piece of work where the course really came together.

As well as the molecular biology masters at Queen’s, there’s also the medicinal chemistry masters at the Open University to think about.

I’ve been toying with that off and on for the past couple of years as a possible next step. In practical terms, it’s just over the fence from molecular biology, looking at similar topics but from the chemistry angle.

As always, there’s a research skills module Developing research skills in science (S825) which is used by many of the OU science masters qualifications ie isn’t really directly related to medicinal chemistry.

Molecules in medicine (S807) is the main taught module and covers infectious diseases (bacterial and viral), cancer, heart disease, inflammation and neuropharmacology which reads like a biology module but presumably looks at things from the chemistry angle.

Concept to clinic (S827) is a smaller module which looks at the drug discovery and development process from a modern and historical perspective and introduces you to a range of issues in drug discovery. So it’s got some similarities to my current Drug Design (S346) module but with more of an emphasis on the design rather than synthesis.

Finally, there’s the MSc project module for MSc in Medicinal Chemistry (SXM810) which is based in the areas of the Molecules in Medicine and/or Concept to Clinic modules.

Plus points of the medicinal chemistry masters are that it’s going to be easy to fit around real life and it seems a lot simpler to get into (no need to gather together references etc.). On the downside, it doesn’t seem to offer quite such an easy route into the doctorate and has none of the lab work either.