Ok, this isn’t really a request for anyone to send me their TMA’s – and if anyone did then they would be deleted.
But over the weekend I received an email from an OU student telling me that they had recently failed a course and that they were going to sit it again – and that they had seen that I had also done the same course so could I send them all my TMA’s because it would help them! Huh?
The answer was an emphatic NO. Two reasons – the first because these TMA’s were all hand-written and not in electronic form, so I couldn’t send them anyway. The second reason being that I don’t show my TMA’s to anyone. And that is a hard and fast rule.
I tried to be helpful and suggest that they should speak to their tutor if they are having problems – and if that didn’t help then talk to their OU Regional Office. Asking other students for their TMA’s isn’t really the right way to go about it.
yes, distributing TMAs or even exchanging marked TMAs with follow students on the same course/session after TMAs are returned could leave you on very dodgy ground with the OU as you can not control what the recipient does with them.
ReplyDeleteRequest might however highlight a need for the OU to produce speciman TMA answers as well as speciman exam answers so that students know what the expectations/standards are ?
Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point you make about specimen TMA's for new students. I certainly remember being pointed in the right direction by my first tutor so that I got the hang of it.
But I think in this instance I was just surprised to get an email, out of the blue, asking for copies of my TMA's. Its a funny world.
I did maths and computing subjects at level 1/2 and found that most TMAs required objective answers. I have mostly scored 90%+ on TMAs, because I spent a lot of time getting them right, so my tutors didn't usually offer much advice.
ReplyDeleteThis year, I did my first level 3 course where the 1st TMA required some code but also a lot of subjective waffle. I know that this is not my strong area so I was terrified when submitting my 1st TMA. I almost decided to not submit it because I was so embarrassed by what I had produced, but in the end submitted it anyway. As it turned out, I still got 90+ but in my mind my expected result was 50-60%.
Maybe the computing/maths dept.s don't expect us to be great writers but it would have been reassuring if I could have seen examples of what other people's level 3 comp/maths TMAs looked like.
I have noticed that the TMA questions change from year to year on the same course, which is a good thing and keeps the questions current and avoids the possibility of some students selling the answer on!
ReplyDeleteI read that if one gives their TMAs to another student - BOTH parties are in breach of university regulations - resulting in serious disciplinary procedures (eg. 'being sent down')
ReplyDelete(OU Code of Practice for Student Discipline SD 2.1)