A lull in the proceedings

Feeling at a bit of a loss since I've finished both M150 and MU123. Only my final TMA (which I've already completed) on MU123 to send in, but I can't do that until I get the previous one back. All M150 TMA's are submitted.

M253 starts at the beginning of May, and I'm not doing any work on M255 until I see TMA03 which is supposed to be available from the beginning of May also.

I suppose I should make the most of the free time, but I'm impatient to get thing finished.

Summary and Costs

Added a couple of gadgets to the blog for tracking my progress in terms of credits accumulated (which is of course none so far, since I've not finished a module) and the affect on my bank balance (which is considerable).

For interest, I added a cost per credit, so I can see which modules are giving good value (purely in terms of credits, not necessarily content)

M255 TMA01 result

Just got my TMA01 results - 90%. Dropped a few marks because I'd used some Java code that hadn't been covered in the course, and one or two silly errors.

I'm going to have a hard time "unlearning" what I already know just to fit in with the course idiosyncracies. I'm struggling to rationalise why I should be marked-down for using my existing knowledge, but it's just something I'll have to live with.

Targeted advertising

Supposedly adverts are linked by relevance, so given that, I had to wonder at the "Fish Pedicure" one that popped up here today. Are OU students as a rule into that sort of thing?, or is it mathematicians? or Java programmers?

Almost put me off my dinner at the mere thought of it. Does the RSPCA care about cruelty to fish I wonder?

Coding rules

Just rounded off an online debate with my M255 tutor about "course coding rules", since it was suggested that a certain Java operation was banned according to the M255 rules.

It seemed like a dumb rule to me, so I explained why, using the argument that hammers shouldn't be banned just because some people hit their thumbs.

It bug's me that I'm probably going to lose marks because I've used language features that the course either hasn't yet covered or has outlawed in the TMA's I've submitted. But it's too late now, and hopefully it won't be too costly.

In future, I'm going to have to read the course material, which I was hoping to avoid doing. ;)

Where did my marks go?

Grrr, first my MU123 TMA mark doesn't show up for days online, and then when it does, I've scored 2 marks less than my paper copy. Another mail to the OU. I'm spending too much time mailing them about inconsistencies, admin errors and system issues.