Good news! Got my first TMA back for T224. Grumpy news - lost points for not being clear. Well, when I say 'not being clear' what I really mean is that 'it was not clear enough for the OU marking scheme'. See what you make of this - and if you think it isn't clear then please tell me. The question told us that we had a display panel with three 7-segment LED's on board. We had to write out the bit pattern that would be held in the 3 bytes that represent the pattern that will be displayed on the LED's. The pattern we were asked to use was '-05'. Note: This is not asking for the binary representation of -05, but for the representation that causes the correct segments in a 7-segment display to light up to display -05.
So in my answer I put: 00010000 11101110 11010110
Now, as it happens, that is the correct answer (hoorah!) ... so you may be wondering why I lost marks...Well, believe it or not, its because I did not make it clear which of those bit patterns was the first byte, which was the second, and which was the third. I lost a mark for each.
The moral of this story is that its not good enough just to get the answer technically correct, you actually have to make it very, very clear.
Its easy to forget that Universities are not real life and that this kind of thing is a requirement. In my professional life I have written countless lines of assembler code, and have had to work with colleagues doing the same - and I can guarantee that every one of those people would have understood that the first 8 bits referred to the first byte, the second 8 bits to the second byte, and the third 8 bits to the third byte.
If I am wrong, then you can call me Aunt Madge.
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7 comments:
I'm having exactly the same problem. The thing that gets to me is that in some questions you don't have to explain so much in your answer. In other questions this is a part of the mark. How you you tell one from another?
Ouch, that was harsh, complain...
Mary
It's more than harsh, it's ludicrous. My respect for the OU tutors (with certain exceptions, who know very well who they are) just took another big dive.
Sadly, your "solution" of being very very clear is a minefield in itself. Depending on the tutor-lottery, your next assessment might be marked down because you included too MUCH information.
It is my considered opinion that some OU tutors don't see the course as your opportunity to learn so much as their opportunity to feel superior. And I could give you documentary evidence of one who obviously doesn't see the job of tutor as involving "tutoring" so much as jeering.
I know somebody who works at the OU, and they advised me to keep all these little bits of evidence and nuke the buggers when they send out the End-of-Course feedback form.
It's my guess that people are usually so elated because it's over (if they've struggled) or elated because they've passed (if they didn't struggle so much) that these horror stories usually don't get reported. The only way the Withnola Gay gets recalled to base with its payload is if these idiots get their act together LONG before October.
PS: Isn't it genuinely saddening that we're having this discussion at all?
Have to say that in a year and a half with the OU, I have been very lucky in that the majority of tutors (over 7 courses) that I have got have been very helpful.
I am doing a Comp & Math science degree so the maths side is very stable with clear questions & zero errors.
On the comp side, I did have one tutor that I decided, in the interest of maintaining my morale to the end of the course, it was a very good idea not to read his comments on my TMAs (because even though he may have intended to be helpful, he just wound me up the wrong way) so I stopped reading after the 2nd TMA. I got a distinction on the course but even now, I can't go back and read the comments on those TMAs where my scores were 90 to 100% without getting angry even though to somebody else they may be very reasonable :-(
So maybe there are personality differences in every area of life ?
As a tutor on T224, I assure you that the tutor was just following explicit instructions in the marking scheme. A sample of the marking of all tutors is monitored, so they will be taken to task if they flout the marking scheme. Generally in terms of the documentation of software and related hardware, it is good practice to leave nothing to the imagination when specifying practical details such as which byte or which bit. For example, the 7-segment character segments on T224 aren't connected the same as the industry standard (such as the 7447 chip). If you were doing an arts course with lots of essays, you would find scores of 90+ virtually impossible. On mathematical or technical procedure questions, perfection is much more possible.
Hi Peter,
I wasn't accusing the tutor, I know that all tutors have to follow the marking scheme - and that all tutors are monitored for consistency. In fact I have no problem with my tutor and we did have a good day school a few weeks ago. I was more taken aback by the degree of precision required and was contrasting it with my experience as a former Assembler programmer. The precision in the code is a given absolute - no question, its just that in my professional life I have not ever had to be that precise in explaining things to my colleagues - but I guess thats something that just occurs within teams of people who work closely together.
As for the perfect score - never achieved it! - Although a know a couple of OU students (also doing Computing courses) who have hit that 100% mark.
Peter - What you say might be right in theory. But when a tutor explicitly refuses to answer a specific question, adds that he will deal with it after the cut-off date, and tries to mitigate this by saying that we "won't lose too many marks" how possible can perfection be?
Sorry, but I'm starting to get really quite annoyed at the complacency. The OU seems to think that it is not subject to the same consumer laws which protect us in the High Steet. I rather think it is.
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