S283 Module website opens

This is the module homepage that became 'live' at midnight on Tuesday. I did the usual thing and downloaded as much as I could so that I can work offline. Rather unusually, the TMAs are all online as webpages, not as formatted pdf files. I made my own so that I can print them out and have paper copies. The assignments all seem very interesting, and I'm looking forward to tackling them.

It will be a few more days until information on tutors and tutorials are made available, and the next thing for me to do will be to book them and put the dates and times in my calendar.

Level 2 information event

A few days ago. I got an email inviting me to attend an 'informative but relaxed' online event on Monday 15th September with representatives from the three science schools. It said it will be an opportunity to 'explore the resources available on the Science Subject site and other school sites as well as discussing other helpful ways to prepare for the module'. There are three of these events being held, one for each of the three undergraduate levels and I was invited to attend the level 2 variant, although there is nothing to stop me attending the others I suppose. The Student Support Team and the Careers and Employability Service will also be involved, so it is probably the OU doing a tick box exercise.

This is week -3 (minus 3) and the S283 module website opens in a few days time on Tuesday 9th, which is the most important news of the week. I was a bit disappointed that the course chair Prof. David Rothery hasn't done his Introduction to S283 video this year, but I think he has his hands full with the BepiColombo mission. Another thing of note is that Prof. Andrew Norton, the Undergraduate Qualification Lead retired over the summer. He has done so much for the School of Physical Sciences over the years that I can't help thinking that the astrophysics and associated courses offered by the OU will never quite be the same as they used to be.

S283 Module news

The S283 Planetary Science and the Search for Life website opens about 3 weeks before the start date, in common with a lot of OU modules. It's useful to familiarise yourself with the forums, TMA questions, important dates and course information before it actually begins. It also allows booking of the tutorials and will give tutor details. Getting a new tutor is always a bit of a lottery.

The exam period is usually between end of May to the start of June for October presentations so this is really not particularly useful information due to the big time frame but at least it is a reminder that the module has an exam at the end of it.

The most exciting part of the information on the student homepage is the despatch date for the two textbooks that S283 has associated with it. Sure enough they turned up on Thursday, delivered by Yodel. The OU still had my old address for materials dispatch so I had to tell Yodel to deliver to my new place, which they did without any fuss.

The SM123 blog has moved

I've archived my SM123 blog and it can now be found here. This blog will be used to document the next stage of my OU journey, which is S283 Planetary science and the search for life, starting in October 2025.