Saturday, 29 August 2026
Assignment scores
Saturday, 29 August 2026
The tutorial supported revision continues
Saturday, 22 August 2026
There was a pre-exam briefing by the module chairs on Thursday. As always with these type of things, there was nothing that I didn't know and a lot of it was stating the obvious, but there are students on this module studying with the OU for the first time, so I can understand why they did it. I've felt well supported and guided on this module and my tutor has been terrific. Most of the tutors and tutorials on MST124 have been significantly above average.
I've had several tutorials on complex numbers over the last few days and it's fair to say they could be put into one of two categories. They either tended to avoid the more difficult concepts completely, or else went into great depth, often confusingly due to the numbers of errors made by the tutors in their explanations of this potentially demanding topic. I also had a 'Preparation for TMA04' tutorial, which is the last one of this module. It turned out to be very useful, and the tutor really threw themselves into it, overrunning by nearly half an hour. The cut-off date is Tuesday of next week, but I will probably send it off later today or tomorrow. After TMA04 finally goes, the final assessment is iCMA81, which is the code name for the end of module exam. I sent off iCMA44 a few days ago to get it out of the way and scored 92%. It's worth 1.6% of the total module mark so I've contributed another 1.472% towards my score.
The revision
is going alright but it would be going even better if the IT worked properly.
This is the second time that a Moodle quiz has had a touch of the vapours. I've
contacted the IT helpdesk and posted on the forum but phoning Elvis would
probably be just as fruitful.
Saturday,
8 August 2026
Fallow week & module choice event
Although
last week was a fallow week (aka Webster week) for MST124-26B, there was still
nonetheless some interesting activity. On Wednesday there was a tutorial on
complex numbers with the dynamic duo, and on Thursday there was a Physical
Science module choice event where the qualification lead gave an overview of
the modules available on the various pathways at levels 2, 3,and 4. Last year,
and for many years previously, it was Prof. Andrew Norton running it, but he
retired recently so another member of staff has taken over. This new
person appeared to be a bit nervous and unprepared, not to mention lacking
knowledge about some of the modules. There were quite a few technical problems
at the start of the presentation which didn't help matters. I could tell that
last year's slide deck was being used because the typographical error on one of
the module descriptions was still there. Despite the semi-shambolic nature of
the event, it was well worth attending (about 40 other punters did so) because
there were some interesting titbits of information. S287 Planetary
Science, the replacement for S283, will have less emphasis on astrobiology
and exoplanets. It was also said that there was 'some movement towards the
return of in-person exams for some modules', possibly from October 2026
onwards.
I have also tentatively started some embryonic revision for MST124 by doing the online practice quizzes for each unit. There's 12 in total and I've done 9 of them.
Saturday, 1 August 2026
The last assessments for MST124 are completed
I've
finished TMA04 which has a cut-off date of 19th August. Students on social
media who have done MST124 before say that TMA04 was easier than TMA03 but I
didn't find that myself. I found it quite tricky as it goes. I've finished
iCMA44 as well, which has a cut-off date of 25 August, but I haven't pressed
the submit button yet. I'll double check it because its easy to make mistakes
with these online thingies. Next week is a fallow week for the module, which I
think was added a while back to help fill the gap that was left when Unit 11
Taylor Polynomials was dropped from the syllabus. I'm guessing that most people
will use it as a catch-up period.
Saturday,
25 July 2026
Students
logging on to the student homepage on Monday 20th were met with a timeout
message and looking at the IT System Status page gave this warning message. The
same thing happens every year when lots of people log on to get their results
and the website crashes because it can't cope with demand. Although the
official results day was advertised as Tuesday 21st, the OU are notorious for
releasing them a day early, so it explains why things went a bit Pete Tong with
the servers on Monday 20th.
After logging on, I was met the news that I had passed. I'm very happy with this result, because I thought I had either failed or possibly just scraped a pass. Grade 3 (55% - 69%) is a lot better than I thought I would get. The lowest grade of pass is Grade 4 (40% - 54%), and Grade 2 (70% - 84%) would have been totally unrealistic, so a managing to get 60% was a really nice surprise to me when I saw it. My opinion of the module hasn't changed though, and my review of it, which was written before I got the result, can be found here.
Looking at
the student performance statistics, 196 students sat the exam. 11% got a
Distinction, 40% got a Pass 2, 35% got a Pass 3, 9% got a Pass 4. 4% narrowly
failed and entitled to resit, 2% failed and not entitled to resit.
This is the
current state of my (second) OU journey. That's all of the 'level 1' modules
listed, even though some of them are level 2. This anomaly occurs because I'm
on the advanced start of the diploma, and a select number of level 2 modules
can be taken instead of level 1 alternatives. I particularly wanted to avoid S111
Questions in Science, the trendy name for the science foundation course which
is on the standard start of the physical science pathway. It's really aimed at
people who have no or very little previous science experience. Some students in
the past have described it as 'GCSE level at best', and 'incredibly light for a
60 credit module'. The other alternative to avoiding S111 would be to opt for
the basic maths start. This option includes MU123 Discovering
Mathematics, but this is also GCSE level. I think I have gone for the best
option (for me personally) but I haven't made it easy for myself academically.
Saturday,
18 July 2026
TMA03 was a
bit unusual in the sense that one of the questions was a mini-exam in the form
of a Moodle quiz. Somebody on the forums described this mini-exam as 'hardcore'
and in fairness, it probably was. I think it was designed to be, so that the
actual exam will seem easier in comparison. One of the questions was
particularly tricky. I can't give too much away for copyright reasons, but it
involved raising a trig identity to a power and expressing it in terms of
multiple angles. Looking at the feedback, it was definitively possible to do it
using the algebra and the trigonometry we had covered in the module so far, but
it was nonetheless fairly brutal. Trig identity manipulation can be tricky at
the best of times. I used Maxima to do it, since GenAI is not allowed in this
module, for either the coursework or the final exam.
I'm firmly
in the 'sequencies and series' part of the module now (Unit 10), which is the
second to last topic. I'm also well into tackling TMA04, having completed the
three matrices questions and three out of the four sequences & series
questions. There's only complex numbers to go after this. I must admit that the
tutorials for Unit 10 are a bit of a curate's egg, perhaps more so than the
other topics.
Saturday,
11 July 2026
IT issues resolved and outstanding (and resolved
again)
My iCMA43
mark has been finally released, having been delayed for 'technical reasons'.
When added to the other coursework marks it means I have contributed 13.81%
towards my final module score. I need 32.74% in the final exam is to pass the
module, which assumes I don't bother with iCMA44 and TMA04, which of course I
will, so this final mark prediction is a worst case scenario.
The iCMA44 issue still exists though which means that submission of this assignment is delayed until either it is fixed or they make Question 1 void. This isn't a massive problem for me or anybody else really, it's just a bit irritating. It doesn't show the OU in a particularly good light though, since as a distance learning provider they heavily rely on IT to administrate their courses.
There was a Project Module briefing on Wednesday. The module S(XP)390 is not part of my Diploma in Physics profile, but in the unlikely (and theoretically possible) event that I will go on further after the Diploma, it will be the very last module of the degree course. I take an interest in these type of things even though its a long way off and not really relevant to me at the moment. It was very similar to the event held last year, except there is a new module chair for the Physics strand and there is now a Biomedical Science option. It was a little bit 'smoke and mirrors' in places. They kept banging on about how well students were supported on the module in general terms, but it got a little bit fuzzy when actually discussing the details of what that 'support' actually involves. It was worth attending though, and it had a good turnout for these type of events. I think it was nudging towards 100 people at times.
EDIT:
The iCMA44 question 1 issue has now been resolved. 21 days after I reported it. I've made reasonable progress on both TMA04 and iCMA44. I've finished the matrices questions on both and I'm waiting for the tutorials on sequences and series so I can have a go at those.
Saturday, 4 July 2026
TMA03 has been sent off, marked and returned
On the day back from my holidays there was a tutorial in the evening on how to complete TMA03, but it was mostly generic guidance followed by a bit of practicing of the more difficult bits of the integral calculus, which let's face it, is all of it. I sent TMA03 off at last because I just couldn't justify tinkering with it any more. The cut-off date was Wednesday 1st and I don't like to leave these things to the last minute in case of unexpected technical issues. It was actually marked on the cut-off date and returned to me the day afterwards, on Thursday July 2nd. I scored 100% so I think I did OK, but full marks should go to my tutor for such a quick turnaround.
I also downloaded iCMA44 and made a start on it, the bits I could do anyway. Question 1 still refuses to load and hasn't been fixed. I submitted iCMA43 weeks ago but the results have been delayed. There's only one more TMA (TMA04) and iCMA (iCMA44) to go on this module now, so things are progressing quite nicely.
I've moved on from the calculus part of the module, and have started matrices. I vaguely remember studying these when doing O Level SMP Mathematics back in 1978. I knew that new-fangled maths would come in useful one day.
There's been
a couple of things going on 'behind the scenes', as it were, as well. Firstly,
I now have a new laptop. It's a lightweight LG gram with a 17" screen.
This larger screen should make it easier for me to have two windows open at the
same time, but my main reason for buying it was simply because my old laptop
was literally falling apart. The hinge where the screen meets the keyboard had
cracked the bezel and some electronics were exposed. It was very worrying when
it appeared to be getting worse. Secondly, I've modified the backup scripts for
my OU related computer files, such as Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and
the like. The routines are now slightly more efficient at calculating the date,
time and OU week number of the zipped backup files and now also include the
weekday of the daily backups to make identifying and retrieving them easier.
These improvements should also make the code easier to maintain and adapt in
the future.
Saturday,
27 June 2026
If
I've muffed S283, I have narrowed down my next move to four options.
- Take the resit in September.
This is the the best option, and also the cheapest, but it does mean that I'm revising for two exams at around the same time because the MST124 exam is on 15th September. This clash might affect my chances of success with both modules. Another disadvantage is having to go through the revision process for S283, which I found soul destroying the first time around. I really don't want to put myself through that again because I'm doing all this for fun. Apparently. - Wait until S287 Planetary
Science in October 2027.
There is some merit to this because it will be the same subject as S283 so the material should be familiar, but without knowing much about the pedagogy and assessment regime of this new module, its a bit of a gamble. It could be better, the same, or (Mog forbid it) worse. Until its debut in October 2027, it is very much an unknown. Taking the first presentation of a module is always risky because the teething problems have yet to be discovered, let alone resolved. An advantage of taking this option is the ability to still claim for the Certificate in Astronomy and Planetary Science as an intermediate qualification if I pass, but it also means that my studies will be extended by a year. - Enrol on M140 Introducing
Statistics in February 2027.
This is regarded as an 'easy' module to study, and somewhat light on content, but is not particularly interesting and much of it is not relevant to the physical sciences. It does however have the advantage of not having an exam, just an untimed End of Module Assessment (EMA), which allows for much more flexible time management. - Enrol on MST125 Essential
Mathematics 2 in February 2027.
This is a very good module to take, and directly relevant to my future studies, but has the disadvantage of being proctored by a real cowboy outfit called Meazure Learning, using a platform called ProctorU. According to the OU, proctoring involves 'invigilating an online examination where an invigilator (proctor) will monitor you via a live feed of your study environment and screen'. I've got nothing against this in principle, but ProctorU has a very bad reputation. According to Trustpilot, 'students heavily criticize the platform for highly invasive monitoring practices, severe technical glitches, and stressful testing environments'. It scores an Earth shatteringly appalling 1.2 stars out of 5.
Saturday,
20 June 2026
I must admit I wasn't looking forward to the post exam verification meeting for the S283 Planetary Science module as requested last week but it went well, I think. Just 15 minutes long and not really any difficult questions. It helped that the person conducting the interview was an experienced Staff Tutor who was very good at putting me at my ease.
I attempted to download iCMA44 for MST124 on Thursday morning and this came up. Not good news. I've raised this with my tutor, the forums, my wife, a random bloke on Facebook, the OU IT Helpdesk/Chocolate teapot, and anyone else who will listen. Hopefully something will come of it.
It hasn't been a good couple of days for the IT department in general, if this is anything to go by. The IT department of the OU is notorious for its unreliability.
I had two maths tutorials on Thursday evening, both at the same time, so I attended one live and listened to the recording of the other. The live one was facilitated by a tutor I have had a couple of times before. A very good speaker and quite irreverent in places. The other one was by a tutor I haven't had before. They were a bit softly softly but that's not a bad thing. Integration by substitution and by parts is not the easiest subject to teach.
Saturday,
13 June 2026
The S283 exam is (nearly) over
Exam post
mortems are always difficult so I won't attempt one. Like a lot of exams, there
were some questions I could answer, and some that I couldn't, but luckily there
was an element of choice so I think I managed it OK, without excelling myself.
On Friday, I received an email from my tutor telling me the answers to the exam
questions have now been put on the forum, but concluded with the line 'bear in
mind I don't have a formal role with you now and that questions should be
directed to Dave and co.' That really sums up my tutor at lot better than I
could ever manage. I receive the result on or around 21st July, but I have
no interest in the answers whatsoever. I've written a review of the module here,
but it's not a pretty read. I've unfortunately been 'invited' to a
'post-exam verification meeting' on Tuesday 16th at 11.30am. I say 'invited', I
mean 'required to attend', and for 'post-exam verification meeting' I assume it
is a some sort of viva voce under a less scary name.
With the exam nearly out of the way I can now concentrate on MST124 Essential Mathematics and work towards finishing off TMA03. This is generally accepted as being the most difficult of the four TMAs because it assesses the two hardest calculus units. It also has a 'mini exam' which counts as one of the questions covering the highlights of the module so far. I completed this a couple of days ago and there were only 8 questions in this online quiz, but they were nonetheless quite tough. I get feedback on my efforts on 15th July, which is over a month away.
I've had a
couple of maths tutorials this week. One was a two-hander which went over the
very important 'integration by substitution' part of the module and was very
good. The other was billed as 'the students take turns at being the tutor' and
was as dire as it sounds. I lasted all of ten minutes.
Saturday,
6 June 2026
Only a couple of days to go before the exam
There's only
two days to go before the S283 exam, and although I think I will probably do
enough to pass, I know that I won't do particularly well. I haven't enjoyed
this module at all. The tutorials, with one or two exceptions, were next to
useless, the textbooks, which are also used as teaching guides, are too packed
with details, and the badly worded assignment questions were more of a lottery
than a test of knowledge and understanding due to the unfathomable marking
scheme. It was definitely very heavy going for a 30 credit level 2 module.
Every year a number of people not only pass but also get a good grade, so it
might be that this subject just isn't for me. If I muff it, and there's always
the chance I will do that, I might wait for the first presentation of S287
Planetary Science rather than attempt the resit. It will undoubtedly contain
similar material but the assessment regime might be better. And there's always
the possibility that it might have a lighter workload. I suspect most of the
tutorials will still be just as bad though.
Although I have largely been concerned with S283 revision over the last few days, I have still had MST124 tutorials, and the one on Monday was a real hoot. The tutor opened up the Adobe Connect room, uploaded the slide deck and then disappeared, still being absent 15 minutes after the scheduled start time. One of the students alerted her to this orally and the excuse from the tutor was 'I was daydreaming' and 'I was writing my shopping list'. Although they were very apologetic and sincere, some students were not impressed, especially as a late start meant that the session overran by quite a bit as a consequence. The tutor is lovely, so I have have no issues personally, but if they had been less than endearing in the past, I would have made a formal complaint.
The Wednesday tutorial was different but not necessarily better. The tutor, who is a very good speaker, spent most of the tutorial explaining in great detail and demonstrating the 'fundamental theorem of calculus' but rushed through the practice of using the mathematical tools needed to solve the problems and answer the questions. It was all very interesting stuff, but totally useless. Overrunning by half an hour didn't help either.
There's 101 days to go before the MST124 exam.
Saturday,
30 May 2026
TMA04 was
marked and returned on Sunday so was only 3 days late, which is fair enough I
suppose. I got 72%, which was about what I was expecting, given the way this
module is going and the ambiguity of the assessments. Curiously, I did well on
the questions that I thought I would do badly on, and badly on the questions
that I thought I would do alright on. I scored zero for some components, but
got full marks for the calculation on the radial velocity of an exoplanet. This
mark of 72% means that my average coursework mark is 78.25%, which contributes
0% towards my final grade.
Saturday,
23 May 2026
This announcement about my assessment surprised me for two reasons. Firstly, this TMA was marked on the day after the cut-off date and secondly I scored 100%, so I have now accumulated 9.41% towards my final module score. Only an additional 30.59% needed to pass MST124-26B. I can't complain about the tutor lottery on this occasion, because the tutor who marked this is the best I have had from the OU for a long long time.
TMA04 for
S283 is another matter however. I sent it off on 3rd May and was supposed to
have it returned on Thursday 21st but I received an email from my tutor
apologising for it being late and saying that they hope to have it returned to
me by Bank Holiday Monday 25th. It's not that important that its late, just
annoying because feedback (positive or otherwise) and the feeling of
'completion' can be very motivating.
Last week
was a bit unusual in that I had no tutorials whatsoever, for either module.
Saturday,
16 May 2026
S283 Revision and exam tutorials
As you can
see I've finished the module now, so its just revision until the judgment day
on June 8th, with no more new material to engage with. The first of the S283
revision tutorials was somewhat generic and covered the practicalities of
taking the remote exam. There wasn't a whole lot specific to the academic
content of the module itself, but it was however facilitated by a very good OU
staff member whom I have encountered before. What they said was very reassuring
as well as informative, so it had some genuine purpose.
The second
tutorial was a bit more relevant as it dealt with some of the academic content
of the module, but revision techniques are very subjective and while some of it
was useful, a lot of it was contrary to my own specific way of approaching
things, so it was a bit frustrating in places. I might be being a bit harsh
here, but I was left with the impression that the overall message was 'we are
trying to support you, but in reality you are on your own now'. It wasn't
helped by having a mismatched double act facilitating it with a degree of
unpreparedness combined with a few technical issues,
Having said
that, it was well worth attending, but if I had missed it, I don't think it
would have made a lot of difference to my revision strategy. Only 10 attendees
could be bothered to give up a good part of their Saturday morning for this two
and a quarter hour swansong to the module, but I'm sure many more will watch
the recording. There are no other scheduled tutorials for S283, revision or
otherwise, unless my own tutor springs into life and offers one or more just
for my particular tutor group, which I don't think they will somehow.
On the
subject of tutorials, there were a number for MST124 that came up for booking,
but most of them clashed with previously booked ones. It's always nice to have
a choice but these type of clashes do seem a bit careless. Some of these events
are with tutors that I have never had before, so it will be interesting to see
how they compare with more familiar names. I also took the opportunity to
cancel a tutorial held by a tutor that I didn't think much of the last two
occasions I had to endure them. With so many tutorials and tutors to choose
from, and some really good ones out there, I haven't lost much.
I had a
tutorial on differential calculus which rather oddly was both good and bad at
the same time. It was described as a gentle introduction to optimisation
problems which in a way it was I suppose, but I didn't find it particularly
gentle towards the end. The tutor was very good, and explained things really
well, although it was obvious they were using a slide deck not written by
themselves, which is always a red flag. I could also have done without the
domestic noises happening in the background which were seriously off-putting at
times, but I stayed with it due to the quality of the tutor. If it had been a
lesser mortal, I would probably have abandoned it. Despite its issues, it was
actually very useful and well worth attending.
Saturday,
9 May 2026
Two TMAs submitted in the same week
On Saturday
I had the last 'module material' tutorial of S283 which was on SETI, the search
for extra-terrestrial intelligent life. The tutor, who I hadn't had before was
a bit of a character, bordering on eccentric, but relatively easy to listen to.
The subject matter didn't help things though, it was bordering on 'bonkers'
territory in places. There are only two more tutorials on this module to go,
and they are both connected with revision and the exam. I also submitted the
last assignment TMA04 on Sunday which had a cut-off date of Thursday 7th. I'm
really glad to get that one out of the way because it's worth zero marks and
was taking up a disproportionate amount of time. I'm on the home straight to
the exam now and I've started revision, mostly consisting of finding out the
Learning Outcomes for each chapter and linking them to the chapter summaries in
the text books.
On Tuesday I
had a 'film screening' on the mathematician Sophie Germain run by the Maths and
Statistics department. This was part recreational and part informative, and not
connected with the module at all, just a bit of light relief. It was quite
short and in French with subtitles. The maths tutorials continue of course and
some are better than others, but calculus is not a easy subject to teach. The
most useful of these was the first of the 'how to tackle TMA02' tutorials which
I wanted to attend before sending it off. A tutor I have never had before was
very good, possibly the best on the module so far. The other TMA02 preparation
session was dire and the tutor gave up about a third of the way through,
possibly because only two students attended. These two tutorials, even though
they were on the same subject, were really as different as chalk and cheese. I
sent this TMA02 off yesterday as I didn't want to fiddle with it anymore and I
need to concentrate on S283 revision without the uncompleted assignments being
a distraction.
Saturday,
2 May 2026
Two TMAs ready to go and the last knockings of S283
The only
other semi-interesting thing was four pre-recorded videos released by the
School of Physical Sciences about how to sit a remote exam. This is the first
time I'm aware of that these events have not been live, and to be honest, I
think they worked better without the punters interrupting or the typing of
inane distractions in the chat box.
Saturday,
25 April 2026
Although I've made good progress, and I think I've cracked the radial velocity calculation, I haven't quite finished TMA04 of S283 yet. It could still do with a grammar check and proofreading. I've had a look on my Study Calendar and realised that there are 44 days left until the S283 exam. It's worth keeping in mind because it gives me something to aim for and focus on.
Saturday, 18 April 2026
The third
(out of four) interactive computer marked assignments (iCMA43) opened for
business on Wednesday, so I accessed the online 'Moodle quiz' and printed the
questions out. I worked on these straightaway as I wanted some light relief
from S283. The cut-off date for this iCMA is 16th June, so there was absolutely
no rush to get it done, but I did it anyway. As far as I could tell, I scored
100%, but it has to be confirmed by a human before the mark contributes towards
the final module result, which is 1.6% of the total module mark. I also had a
couple of routine tutorials on coordinate geometry and vectors, which was the
last I will have on this topic before the start of calculus. Differentiation
isn't too bad but I think I'll struggle with integration methods.
I had a
tutorial on chapters 7 and 8 of S283 An Introduction to Astrobiology yesterday.
These are the chapters on exoplanets and the likelihood of finding life on
them. This was the last tutorial by this particular tutor and I can't say I'm
too upset by that. Like a lot of tutorials, there's a tendency for the tutor to
teach what they are personally interested in (or comfortable with) rather than
what is actually in the module. On this occasion, the tutor did not attempt to
hide the fact that they knew very little about the particular subject area and
they were definitely struggling towards the end of the hour. I think some of
the attendees were as well. I'm now seriously working towards the final TMA04
for planetary science. There's quite a lot on Europa, which seems to be the
module team's favorite moon.
Saturday,
11 April 2026
Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society
Apart from
having a couple of tutorials on vectors & coordinate geometry, and getting
the TMA02 for MST124 to 'release candidate' stage, there's really nothing much
of interest to report. I completed iCMA42 a few weeks ago, which means I
can put the maths to one side for a while and concentrate on the planetary
science module. I have no more formal maths submissions until after the S283
exam, which is only 8 weeks away. iCMA43 opens on Tuesday so I can print out
the questions and work on them informally as I plough on through both modules
over the next few weeks. Some of the maths is revision for me, so it shouldn't
be as demanding as the 'integration methods' which will come up in TMA03 after
the S283 exam. Doing two modules concurrently is a lot more logistical than
just doing one.
I've been keeping this news in reserve for a week when nothing much has happened and I am pleased to announce that I've been elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. So I'm now John Hunt FRAS, amongst other things.
Saturday,
4 April 2026
Latex and the Institute of Physics
There are
some weeks when very little happens, and last week was one of those weeks. I
had booked a Latex online workshop with the Institute of Physics for
January which was postponed and rescheduled for last Monday, but then
communications went very quiet. Sure enough, I logged on when I thought it was
occurring and absolutely nothing happened. No excuse for just ignoring the
punters really.
In other
news I had another go at the TMA02 for MST124. I think I have most of it
cracked now, just the vectors and coordinate geometry question to tackle, but I
won't do that until I have had a couple of tutorials on it.
Saturday,
28 March 2026
TMA03 returns, Student Consultations and 26J
Registration
TMA03 has
been marked and returned. I won't lie, it's not the mark I was hoping for, but
I think it was due to a combination of factors. I struggled a bit with this
assignment. It was difficult in places and I never quite got a good enough
grasp of some of the key concepts of the material that it was based on. A
couple of the questions of the assignment were badly written and subject to
interpretation, which the tutor themselves semi-admitted. I suspect the mark
scheme provided by the module team was not easy to interpret either and all of
the tutors might have been struggling with it. Looking at the comments made on
the returned script, I don't think it was marked particularly well either. I
was told that there was part of an answer missing from Question 4 (there
wasn't), and I hadn't given a graph a suitable title (I did). I'm part of a
S283 WhatsApp group and looking at some of the comments made, it seems that I
wasn't the only one with a lower than expected mark. In fact, out of the three
students that posted, mine was the highest. All of the coursework marks on S283
are formative, so nothing seriously lost here, but it's just a bit annoying and
potentially demotivating.
In other
news, I found out the date of the MST124 exam. It's Tuesday 15 September, which
is quite a while away, but it gives me something to aim for.
I attended
about 15 minutes of an hour long student consultation meeting on Monday. That
was enough for me. I felt there was a hidden agenda to it. The future of face
to face exams verses proctored exams verses open book remote exams I believe is
something that the OU have already decided on, so the OU Students Union asking
for views on the matter is all well and good but I didn't want to get involved
with the bun fight. There was another one on Tuesday on AI and student
assessments but Microsoft Teams was playing up so I couldn't contribute even
though I could hear the audio and see the slides.
I've
registered to study S284 Astronomy next year which is the module I
need to combine with S283 Planetary Science and the Search for
Life to obtain the S10 Certificate in Astronomy and Planetary
Science.
Saturday,
21 March 2026
I'm a little
bit behind with S283 Planetary Science but I'm finding it
relatively easy to catch up, since none of the topics in this part of the
course appear to have any prerequisite chapters as such. I also spent more time
than I should have done on TMA03, which I didn't find particularly easy to get
my head around. I'm also finding this Astrobiology section a little more
interesting than the Solar System section, which was mostly geology.
Only four
days after the postponed Mars and Icy Moons tutorial, I had another one on
Chapters 5 and 6 which covered Titan and Exoplanets. These are not topics that
have that much in common, which the tutor fully admitted before they got going
in earnest. Titan was skipped over really and the tutor turned the treatment of
it as an excuse to do a bit of maths. They then went on to exoplanets, which is
fairness does lend itself to a mathematical treatment, and then to round off
the hour, did a bit of general astronomy based maths. Some of it was useful but
I can't help thinking it was just a way of avoiding the course material and
turning it into something of a personal interest. This tutor did their first
and only other tutorial on mathematical topics as well, so a trend is immerging
here.
As well as
the normal tutorials I have on MST124, I had an hour long Maxima session which
helped explain some of things this quirky piece of software can actually do,
particularly with respect to the requirements of TMA02. It was really quite
useful, and there's another one in a few weeks time that I'm looking forward
to.
I also had
the second of two 'Planets and Moons' Chats with Dave Rothery and his guest, an
OU Astrobiologist. Both were very informative and were both good speakers.
While not critical for S283, it complemented the module very well. It partially
clashed with a Maths tutorial on functions which I managed to catch the first
part of. That was excellent as well and I will happily catch up with the
remaining part at some point in the near future.
Saturday,
14 March 2026
TMA04 is the last TMA for S283
I submitted
TMA03 on Monday, so it's time to look at the final TMA for S283 Planetary
Science and the Search for Life. I must admit I found TMA03 quite difficult,
possibly due to a bit of a common mid-module decline in motivation, possibly
due to now doing two modules (MST124 & S283) at the same time, or a bit of
both. Reaching TMA04 in the module means that the end is in sight though, and
this assignment looks quite interesting. The uneven mark distribution
between the questions is even more interesting.
Question
1 (26/75 marks)
This is
about evaluating two scientific papers on Jupiter's moon Europa and the
possibility of finding life there.
Question
2 (9/75 marks)
This
question is about the Cassini−Huygens mission to Saturn's moon Titan.
Question
3 (31/75 marks)
One of two
questions about exoplanets with a reference to SETI. This multipart question
involves evaluating a published article and a bit of data handling.
Question
4 (9/75 marks)
The second
shorter question on exoplanets is about the significance of oxygen on these
bodies.
Saturday,
7 March 2026
Not much
happened this week. I had two tutorials on Functions, which is Unit 3 of
MST124. The first one seemed a bit rushed, and it still managed to run out of
time with much of the important stuff not covered. The second was much better,
and was a more thorough treatment of the module material. On Friday I had the
rescheduled Planetary Science tutorial on Chapters 3 and 4 of the Astrobiology
textbook which was postponed from the same time last week. It was supposed to
cover Mars and the icy moons, but I think the tutor lost interest and only
covered Mars, their own PhD interests, and Europa, so was a bit lacking. There
was little attempt to hide the fact that they would rather be doing something
else. There's a TMA question on Europa though, so at least the tutorial was
targeted. Sort of.
I spent most
of my time finishing off S283-TMA03, which is a rather unusual assignment that
spans the two textbooks on Planetary Science and Astrobiology. The latter weeks
of the Astrobiology part of the module seem under-examined at the coursework
level. Maybe it is being saved for the final exam, which is a mere 93 days
away.
I was
invited to join a Board of Studies for STEM modules, which is essentially an
internet forum where selected students are invited to give their opinions on
matters such as tutorials, assessment strategies, curriculum design,
qualification pathways etc. I'm not sure what will become of it, but I suspect
it will just be a tick box exercise because there simply isn't enough money to
make any significant changes for the better. The OU are as strapped for cash as
every other university.
Saturday,
28 February 2026
TMA01 and iCMA41 have both been assessed
I completed iCMA41 a while ago and submitted TMA01 on Saturday. Both have now been marked, and I'm pleased with the marks obtained. A quick calculation tells me that I have now accumulated 2.164% towards my final module mark. I'm up to date with MST124 now, so I can concentrate more on S283, which I must admit I have neglected a bit. Being unwell with a bad cold for the last few days hasn't helped either.
I had a S283
tutorial on Monday on how to tackle TMA03. It was the best tutorial so far and
a lot different to the previous ones on how to prepare for TMA01 and TMA02,
which barely touched the subject of how to complete a TMA. In fact, they were
both quite dire in places. The quality of tutor, and therefore tutorial, is
definitely variable, but that's true of all modules not just this one. On the
subject of tutors, my personal tutor contacted me and said they had been signed
off sick for a week, and semi-invited me to complain to Student Services if it
was felt that tutorial support was lacking because of this, which to me at
least, implies a hidden agenda. I don't think any of the cohort will notice or
care as it goes, but I may well be wrong with that. On Thursday, I saw a
message on the forum saying that Friday's tutorial had been cancelled. I had a
feeling that it would be somehow, since it involves the same tutor.
I had a maths tutorial on Wednesday evening. It was a bit disorganised, had bits missing, it confused unit 3 with unit 2, and had all the hallmarks of a 'last minute lash-up' about it, but the tutor was such a good speaker that it didn't really matter. Only three students attended and it overran by about half an hour, but it was still a lot better than the average OU tutorial. This tutor has a lot of potential, and I'm looking forward to tutorials on more complicated topics with them as the module rolls on.
Saturday,
21 February 2026
A very
strange thing happened on Saturday. My MST124 tutor sent me an email reminding
me of the upcoming assessment cut-off dates. It's the first time in my OU
history that a tutor had done that. I emailed them back and asked if they had
read my TMA00 and told them that I had TMA01 on my laptop ready to go. I also
said that I hadn't obtained my iCMA41 mark yet. They replied, but didn't really
engage with my issues. We only exchanged gossip about the the comparative
weather as we live in different parts of the UK. As you can see, the module
webpage suggests that I'm 35% of the way through this module, but as my
progress so far mostly includes pre-start and introductory malarky, it's a very
misleading figure. I'm actually just starting week 4 of a 30 week course. On
Sunday, I had a tutorial entitled 'Puzzles with other students'. To be honest,
it was as bad as it sounds. I only saw a maximum of 8 other students at
the event, and when breakout rooms were mentioned, I made my excuses and left.
I lasted all of 10 minutes, but I used my time wisely and listened to a
pre-recorded tutorial on functions and inequalities by a very good tutor.
Had the
first of two tutorials specifically aimed at completing TMA01 on Tuesday. It
was advertised as a drop-in session with a tutor that I hadn't had before. It
was very poorly attended for a module-wide event concerning a TMA. The session
lacked structure, or purpose really, and I got the impression, rightly or
wrongly, that the tutor didn't particularly want to do it. It finished early. I
did however learn that the iCMA scores are released a few days after the cut
off date because they are checked manually to ensure that the computer
generated questions are not ambiguous or insoluble.
On Wednesday the iCMA42 questions were released. They cover Units 2,3 and 4. I did exactly what I did with iCMA41 and printed the questions out so that I can work on them without being tied to a laptop screen. In the evening, I had another tutorial which was advertised as a double hander but one of them had double booked so I just had the more experienced one of the two. This session was on graphs & equations, which is a Unit 2 topic. I'm a bit undecided on these double handed tutorials. They certainly have their merits, but I can't help thinking they are a just a bit of a gimmick. I don't think I lost anything by only have one person doing it, and in some ways it may have helped.
One Friday, I had the second and last of two tutorials on what is required to complete TMA01 by a tutor that I haven't had before. This tutor was more 'old school' and the tutorial was more structured and more useful as a result. Since I now have all the information I need, I can submit TMA01, which I will probably do tomorrow.
Saturday,
14 February 2026
MST124 - TMA01 Finished and ready to go
TMA01 only
covered Unit 1 algebra, which is really just revision for me, so I managed to
finish it quite quickly. I'll hang on to it for a while though, because I might
pick up some hints and tips in the forthcoming tutorials which might gain me an
extra mark or two. I've actually started on TMA02, but its very early days on
that one.
I had two
tutorials today (Saturday), both on Unit 1 algebra. The first, at the unearthly
time of 8.30 in the morning, was one of the many 'cluster-wide' tutorials
facilitated by a tutor who seemed very experienced at this sort of thing. It
wasn't entirely without its issues, but it was good nonetheless. It attracted
quite a good turnout. The second, at lunchtime, was a combination of 'Good
Mathematical Communication' as well as a bit of Unit 1 algebra. It only had
three punters attending, but this event was restricted to my particular tutor
group, which only has a maximum of 20 students in it. Even so, it was a bit of
a low turnout.
On Monday, I
had two tutorials which overlapped by 30 minutes. The first was on GenAI by the
joint course chairs and was the usual 'scaremongery' stuff about what will
happen to you if you use ChatGPT to do your assignments for you. It was
recorded, so I can listen to the second half later, but I will probably not
bother. The second was a cluster-wide jobbie on Unit 1 algebra. It started
late, finished early and had technical issues throughout. Having said that, it
wasn't as bad as it sounded, even though the tutor was a little bit 'listen
with mother' in places. The tutor had potential, and might be a lot better
under different circumstances. They pop up again throughout the module at
various stages, according to my timetable, so I will see.
On Wednesday
I had a Unit 1 tutorial which covered algebra yet again. It was slightly
unusual in that it was taken by two people working as a duo. Like most double
acts, there's the talented one and there's the other one, whose main purpose is
to support the one who knows what they are doing but might not have the
confidence to do it particularly well on their own. Think Little & Large,
Morecombe & Wise, Cannon & Ball, Mike & Bernie etc. This occasion
was no exception.
On Thursday
I had another tutorial, entitled 'GMC refresher'. This is the second, or
possibly the third, I've had on this subject. Good Mathematical Communication
isn't the most riveting of topics, but MST124 seems to attach quite a lot of
importance to it, particularly in the early units. The tutor taking this
session was probably the best I've had so far this combined academic year (25J,
26B), and the bar had already been set quite high, in the maths department at
least.
Saturday,
7 February 2026
Unit 1
(algebra) was just revision for me, and it was for a lot of other students it
seemed, so I submitted iCMA41 relatively early and scored 100%, I think. The
instant feedback that I received suggested that I did, although the mark hasn't
been recorded on the system yet. One advantage of these computer marked
assignments is the instant feedback that they give. No need for an overworked
disillusioned Associate Lecturer to pay lip service to an incomprehensible mark
scheme and give you a semi-random score depending on a combination of tiredness
and mood swing status. Roll on the next one, iCMA42, which doesn't have to be
submitted until 14th April.
I also had
two tutorials last week. The first was an introduction from my tutor, the one
who marks my work. It went OK. There was only three of us there (out of a
potential twenty or so) which I thought was a poor showing but 1pm on a
Saturday afternoon wasn't the best time to be honest. It was just a very quick
look at Unit 1 algebra with a bit of audience participation, which
unfortunately included myself.
The second
was advertised as an introduction to Unit 1 algebra, but the first part was
more of an introduction to the OU in general. It wasn't particularly useful to
me personally, but I wasn't the intended audience really. The two tutors who
took this session were both very good, and I would happily attend another
tutorial delivered by either in the future. There were over 70 punters
attending this introductory session, which is a lot more than I'm used to.
Saturday,
31 January 2026
Although the
module website has been open for a while now, MST124 officially opens today
which means I can submit the first of the computer marked assignments. Some of
these can be quite tricky so I will take my time over them even though they are
not worth many marks. Now that I have been allocated a tutor, I was able to
submit TMA00 to reply to their initial contact and I used this to tell them a
bit about myself. It's early days of course but they seem quite friendly and
responsive.
The
MST124-26B Tutorial Bookings webpage opened on Monday, and after a few glitches
and a bit of a wait for the pages the load, I managed to book some tutorials.
There were about 70 of them up for grabs in total, but I will probably have to
miss some due to clashes and exhaustion. I strongly suspect that some will be
better than others.
I also had a
'What's in the box' tutorial on Thursday. It's a strange title but it refers to
the box of materials that the OU send out. Most OU modules are entirely online
these days but the maths department still like to base their modules around
physical books. There's still plenty of pdf files and Moodle based material for
computer viewing, but at least with real books it gives you the option, and it
makes you feel like a proper student into the bargain. The tutorial was
standard fare for a welcome event, and probably more useful to students new to
the OU than myself, but still worth attending. There were about 200 students
present at one point, which I think is the most I have ever seen.
I was
expecting S283-TMA02 to be marked and returned by the end of last week, and
indeed it was. I scored 84%, which is a fair mark because I really struggled
with the question on the formation of the Solar System. It is a significant
landmark in my progress because it means that I have accumulated 43% towards
the continuous assessment mark and this allows me to sit the final exam in June
(the threshold is 40%). Also, the grade awarded on this module is not dependent
on the coursework mark at all, so nothing much was lost here.
I also had my first Astrobiology tutorial from a new tutor (well new to me
anyway) whom I believe is one of the team of academics putting together S287
Planetary Science, the replacement module for S283. They also have line
management responsibility for some of the Associate Lecturers on this module.
The tutor was very good, definitely one of the better ones I've had, and the
session was only marred slightly by the audio problems at the start which was
resolved after some of the attendees complained.
Saturday,
24 January 2026
I had my
last tutorial on the planetary science part of S283 about 12 days ago with a
very good tutor who only facilitates tutorials on the planetary science part of
the course. I will be sorry to see them go. It was on meteorites and their
oxygen isotopes, which is a very difficult topic to understand and although the
tutor was not up to their normally high standard, it was still very good. Today
I start on the astrobiology part of S283 and I think it will be more to my
liking as I have a biology/microbiology background, but it's too early to say
at this stage.
MST124 is still coming along nicely. I had the remainder of the Revise and Refresh tutorials a few days ago and they were all top quality stuff.
I also had a 'Welcome to the Maths & Stats Department' event which was not module specific but just introduced students to the various teams and workings of OU maths. It was an event of two halves really. The first half was an introduction to studying maths and stats at level 1 with the OU and was quite informative. The course chair of MST124, who also has a responsibility for Maths modules in general, was very relatable. It was mentioned that tutor allocation should take place sometime this week or next week but I received a message from my tutor this afternoon introducing themselves. I, of course, replied more or less straightway.
The second half was concerned with study techniques and stress management, which wandered off into psychobabble nonsense and probably did more harm than good to any students who were still listening. I don't want to be unkind, but I think the speaker liked the sound of their own voice too much and overcooked it a tad.
I've made a
good start on MST124-TMA01 and now I have a tutor I can apply the finishing
touches and have it on my laptop ready to go. When the module fully opens
on 31st January I can also submit iCMA41. This is a computer marked assignment
with a multiple choice format. It's not worth many marks (only 0.4% of the
total module mark) but it's designed to identify any issues so that both
student and tutor target remedial activity.
Saturday,
17 January 2026
TMA02 is finished so start on TMA03
I'm half way
through this module now and I've just submitted TMA02 four days before the
cut-off date. I really struggled with the question on the effect of temperature
on the formation of the solar system and I spent a reasonable amount of time
trying to get a grip on it without being obsessed. It's always important to
know when to let a TMA go because there's always another one around the corner.
In this case it's TMA03, which is the third TMA out of a total of four for this
module and straddles the planetary science and astrobiology halves of the
module.
Question
1 (8/75 marks)
This
question is about meteorites.
Question
2 (30/75 marks)
This is a
data handling question concerning meteorite isotopes.
Question
3 (7/75 marks)
This is the
first TMA question so far on the astrobiology part of the module and asks about
organic molecules and life.
Question
4 (21/75 marks)
This
question is concerned about the conditions required for the habitability of
other parts of the Universe.
Question
5 (9/75 marks)
This asks
about the origin of water on Earth.
Saturday,
10 January 2026
On Tuesday
morning, the MST124 module website opened. I did my usual thing of downloading
as many pdf files as I could so that I can work offline as much as possible.
The module includes video clips as well so it was quite a task. Had a quick
look at TMA01 and it seems very manageable, so I will make a start in a few
days time. It's too early to book any tutorials of course. Tutor allocation is
one of the last things to happen in the pre-start stage of a module but
probably one of the most important. The forums are not really up and running
yet, and won't be until the 31st January. Just exploring the website is fun
enough at this stage though.
Saturday,
3 January 2026
Continuing S283 and looking forward to starting MST124
Maybe I'm
being a bit harsh here, but a tutor group forum that is totally empty is not a
good look. Even if the students aren't posting questions and comments, I would
at least expect the tutor to kick things off, but this looks like it's just
been ignored.
On a happier
note, my MST124 materials arrived during the break. They were a day later than
Yodel first promised, but at least they came. The website is expected to open
in 3 days from now on Tuesday 6th. It's always exciting when that happens. One
of the things I did in preparation for this maths module was the installation
of Maxima on my laptop. It's used quite a bit in this module apparently, but
it's not the best software I've ever had the pleasure of using. I have it on
good authority that it's better than Mathcad though because my wife did MST121
a few years ago and she wasn't a massive fan of it. It didn't work the first
time I tried to use it because it defaulted to the wrong variant of LISP but
after looking on the forums, I got the help I needed to get it going.
Towards the end of the break, I also got an email from the OU inviting me to the MST124 Revise and Refresh series of tutorials. There's 6 of them and they are all 2 hours long. Not news to me though, because I've had them in my diary of a while now.
Saturday, 27 December 2025
External examiners' reports and the GenAI issue
I was
grazing through one of the many mathematics forums a few days ago and I
stumbled on a post that suggested that the external examiners’ reports for the
last academic year (24-25) have now been released, so I had a look for myself.
Sure enough, they were there for most curriculum areas, so I delved into the
mathematics and physical science ones, since these are applicable to my course
of study. The common theme in all the reports that I saw appears to be that
GenAI is a massive problem for examinations taken remotely, and the
recommendation being that there should be a return to face-to-face invigilated
exams as soon as possible to avoid OU degrees being regarded as sub-standard.
It was also apparent that the OU senior management were very reluctant to do
this, almost certainly due to cost and logistical reasons. I honestly think
they don't have enough staff to make the arrangements, as the exams used to be
organised on a regional basis and the regions were dissolved a few years ago. I
don't think any of the remaining centralised staff have the capacity to do it.
Of course,
it's relatively straightforward to check a wordy essay for plagiarism or AI
assistance by running it through the appropriate software, such as Turnitin,
but science and mathematics-based content is much trickier to scrutinise since
the answers tend to be either correct or incorrect, with very limited ways of
reaching the same result or conclusion. I'm alarmed therefore at the number of
students who have been subjected to an academic conduct review on the grounds
that their submitted work has been plagiarised. From looking on social media,
it looks like the OU have been somewhat overzealous on occasions in an attempt
to maintain academic standards and shore up assessment integrity. According to
some Reddit and Discord punters, the 'evidence' that the OU have used to make
the allegation of cheating is flimsy to say the least, and tends to be
something along the lines of 'we ran your answer through our magic software
that detects plagiarism and you used a phrase that wasn't in the textbook'. No
hard evidence is presented to the student, and the accusation vague enough to
allow various interpretations about the specific wrongdoing.
It reminds
me a bit like the old days when disinformation was disseminated that 'TV
detector vans are operating in your area' and could tell if you were watching
the telly without a licence. The truth was that the GPO (later outsourced to
Crapita) had a list of all the postal addresses in Britain and another list of
all the addresses that had a TV licence. They subtracted one from the other and
banged on a few of these non-licenced doors hoping to catch the occupants
with Coronation Street on in the background. The vans claiming
to contain the 'sophisticated electronic equipment' that could detect you
watching Mavis getting a touch of the vapours in the Rovers Return, were
actually just a few empty metal boxes with analogue dials and flashing lights
which looked plausible in the material used for propaganda purposes.
I suspect
that many of the so-called academic conduct reviews are similar fishing
expeditions, hoping that a few students will be intimidated into 'fessing up'
in exchange for getting off with a semi-formal warning but still being allowed
to continue with their qualification. The alternative would be to deny the
allegation, which would put the release of the module result ‘on hold’ while a
thorough investigation takes place. That could take months to complete, and
nobody would want something like that hanging over them. There is, therefore, a
big incentive to admit to something that may or may not have happened just to
get the matter over and done with, even though the validity of the evidence is
questionable. I'm not sure I like the sound of that.
Saturday,
20 December 2025
Last tutorials before the Yuletide festivities &
New Year break
This was the last week teaching week before the Mogmas and New Year break. I'm reaching the end of the Planetary Science part of the module now and will be moving on to the Astrobiology part towards the end of January, which is in three academic weeks time.
Meanwhile, I
had three tutorials this week. The first was Part 2 of the MST124 revise and
refresh bridging material. It was just as good, slightly better in fact, than
the first one.
The second was a TMA02 skills tutorial. Like the other tutorials that this particular tutor facilitated, it was a bit self indulgent in places and it was taken in the direction of their own personal interests, but it did contain some useful hints and tips, so not a complete waste of an hour. This was the last tutorial from this particular tutor, so that was another good thing about it.
On Friday there was the final tutorial for 2025 with a tutor that I regard as very good. It was the one that had been postponed twice before. It concerned Chapter 7 & 8 of the Introduction the Solar System textbook. The formation of the Solar System is a difficult subject and the tutor covered all the highlights and important points very well. This tutor is the best I've had so far and I've still got one more tutorial to go from them in the early part of next year.
On a totally separate note, The OU seem to think that my MST124 module materials will be arriving on Monday, but then again it is Yodel, so they might just throw the package into a hedge and run away. It's just as well that the module also has teaching materials in pdf form.
Saturday,
13 December 2025
TMA01 feedback, a re-rescheduled tutorial, a NASA talk, Moon Night, and revision for MST124
TMA01 was marked and returned to me a day before the 10 working day soft deadline. 88% isn't a bad mark, but I would have liked it to have been in the mid-90s. Looking at the tutor's comments I can see it was marked fairly so I have no complaints. According to the assessment criteria, I only have to get an average of 24% in the 3 remaining assignments, or 72% in a single one of them, to be eligible to sit the final exam in June.
I got full marks for question 1, with a compliment about setting the planetary radii calculations out clearly. I seriously muffed question 2, with only 8 marks gained out of 16 available. The issue here was the lack of detail in my descriptive answer on early planetary formation. I got full marks for question 3 which involved plotting a spidergram, with comments about my explanation being very clear, and I only dropped 1 mark out of 19 for question 4 due to quoting the incorrect numbers of significant figures for the crater calculator result and not describing a particular type of crater well enough.
The tutorial
on Chapter 7 and 8 of the Introduction to the Solar System book, which was
supposed to take place on Monday 15th of next week was rescheduled for Friday
12th, and a few hours later rescheduled again for Friday 19th. This was done by
one of the better tutors, so you can imagine what the others are like.
Every so
often there is a talk arranged for the wider OU science community, not just
those enrolled on the S283 module, and on Monday there was such an event. A
NASA scientist gave an inspirational talk which was very good, even though it
was really aimed at younger people starting off on a career in the physical
sciences. Rather sadly, the scientist had just been made redundant.
There was
another good tutorial by a science tutor who teaches on a range of modules, but
in this case was taking a 'Revise and Refresh' tutorial which is designed to
bridge the gap between the maths covered in S111 Questions in Science, a
level 1 general science course, and MST124 Essential Mathematics 1, which
I hope to be starting in February of next year. Most of it was revision for me,
because I did A level Pure Mathematics back in 1980, but it was well worth
attending because it was so well presented and there were a few things that I
had forgotten. This tutor also teaches on MU123 Discovering
Mathematics, MST124 Essential Mathematics 1, S111 Questions in
Science, MST224 Mathematical Methods, MST210 Mathematical methods,
models and modelling, S227 Core Physics, SM380 Quantum
Physics and SM381 Electromagnetism so I'm hoping that our paths
will cross again in future modules. Part 2 of this helpful bridging resource
will take place in a few days time, which I suspect will be as good as Part 1.
At the same
time as the Revise and Refresh session was happening, there was supposed to be
a livestream of a ticketed 'in person' Moons Night event at the OU campus in
Milton Keynes. Details were supposed to be posted a few hours before the actual
event, but nothing appeared on the forums as far as I could see. There was also
a rumour that it was being recorded for viewing in the future, but no details
have appeared about that either. The nearest we got was a three and a half
minute interview with ballet performer and former S283 student Erica
Horwood by the module chair Prof David Rothery, which appeared on YouTube.
Rather
interestingly, I got an email from my tutor saying that the OU shuts
down over the Christmas and New Year period, but as they taking some annual
leave a week earlier, will therefore be incommunicado for the next three weeks
or so. Without wishing to sound sarcastic, I don't think too many people will
notice.
Saturday,
6 December 2025
At the time
of typing, my TMA has not been marked, but tutors are given 14 days from
cut-off date to return marked work, so this would be 11 December for TMA01.
I had a
tutorial last week which was supposed to be on Chapters 5 & 6 of the
Introduction to the Solar System, but was in fact on a very limited aspect of
atmospheric physics, probably because the tutor had a personal interest in it.
Like the last tutorial by this particular tutor, there was some evidence of
lack of preparation and it wasn't well delivered. I also felt that they didn't
have a particularly good knowledge of the module materials.
I received
an email on Monday concerning my request for more tutorials. I had a nice email
back saying that unfortunately due to logistical issues its not possible to
convert a cluster-wide tutorial booking system into module-wide one. Although
its technically possible to share the tutorial recordings between clusters,
there are GDPR issues that prevent this. Apparently, another student has also
asked to have more tutorials, so its not just me that thinks there isn't enough
of them. That's fair enough, at least they took my request seriously and looked
into it.
Saturday,
29 November 2025
TMA02 has come around very quickly
With TMA01
out of the way, it's time to look at TMA02. This assignment doesn't have to be
submitted until Thursday 15th January, but I like to look at the questions as I
proceed through the module and make a few notes. S283 isn't a particularly
mathematically heavy module, but the few assessable calculations that come up
in the content appear to be saved for the TMA questions. I've finished Question
1 and I'm well into Question 2 already.
Question
1 (17/75 marks)
This
question requires the calculation of the temperature of a fictitious planet
given its dimensions and the total radiated power it gets from its nearest star
and asks about the limitations of spectroscopy as a remote sensing technique.
There is also a sub-question on the calculation of escape velocity.
Question
2 (20/75 marks)
This
question requires the calculation of the pressure at the centre of the gas
giants and the composition of their atmospheres.
Question
3 (19/75 marks)
This
question requires calculations concerning the orbits of asteroids and their
classification.
Question
4 (19/75 marks)
This
question relates to the formation of the early Solar System.
Saturday,
22 November 2025
The cut-off
date for the submission of TMA01 is next Thursday but I really didn't want to
leave it that late, so I submitted it a few days early. The first TMA of a
module is always a tricky one to get right because it's difficult to know
exactly what the tutor is looking for, and some have a few peculiar, and often
inconsistent, quirks. As you can see from the progress bar, I'm about a third
of the way through the module now.
Saturday,
15 November 2025
I had a
rearranged tutorial on Sunday that was originally postponed due to a clash.
That should have been foreseen so there was no excuse really. It wasn't one of
the best tutorials I have ever had, and it was undoubtedly the worst so far on
this module. The tutor appeared to have a very poor grasp of the actual module
materials and just rambled on about what they felt like saying about a variety
of different things just loosely connected with a small part of the topic.
There was evidence of unpreparedness about the whole session, and some of the
students attending appeared to know a lot more than the tutor, who was often
challenged on various points.
The second
tutorial of the week was an attempt to go over the skills required to complete
TMA01. It was a bit too generic for my liking and I didn't find it particularly
useful. It should be remembered that there are a range of students with varying
abilities enrolled on S283 and this was mostly 'lowest common denominator'
stuff. I think using somebody else's slide deck and not having a particularly
good grasp of the module didn't exactly endear me to the session, as I regard
it as a bit of a red flag. No harm done though.
On Tuesday I
wrote an email to the module team asking if it were possible to organise the
tutorials on a module-wide basis rather than a cluster-wide one. I wasn't
expecting a quick positive reply but I received one that was both. On
Wednesday, a senior-ish member of the module team said that they would look
into making recordings available to all students but booking live events might
be a bit trickier. This is more than I could have hoped for, and I'm positive
that something good will come of this.
In other
news, it was announced that the end of module exam will be on Monday 8th June.
This is 205 days away from today. It's late in the May/June exams period, and
is in week 33 of a 31 week module. The revision period begins on 16 May, which
is quite generous.
Saturday,
8 November 2025
Planets and Moons chat with the module Chair
On Thursday,
there was a Planets and Moons Chat with the S283 module chair, Professor David
Rothery and one of the module team, Professor Mahesh Anand. There are
usually two of these held during the duration of the module and rather
unusually the recordings are made available on YouTube sometime after the live
event for anybody to view, not just S283 students. A tutorial covering
chapters 3 and 4 of the Introduction to the Solar System book
was timetabled to take place at the same time, so the tutor cancelled it the
day before and rescheduled it for next Sunday. The email sent to students
telling them about this change had the wrong date on it, so another one was
sent shortly afterwards. Oh dear.
Saturday,
1 November 2025
MST124 Essential Mathematics 1
I'm
seriously considering studying MST124 Essential Mathematics 1, which
starts in February of next year. It will overlap with S283, which is a good
thing, because everybody knows that studying two 30 credit modules
simultaneously is more demanding than a single 60 credit module. With S283
running between October 2025 & June 2026, and MST124 running between
February 2026 & September 2026, the short period of overlap makes the whole
thing manageable. MST124 is a prerequisite for MST224, which is essential (not
to mention compulsory) for higher level study, including the Diploma of
Higher Education in Physics. I'm hoping there are more tutorials in MST124,
because I feel a bit deprived of them at the moment. S283 doesn't seem to have
very many.
I've also
been working on the completion of TMA01, especially the question on craters as
I have just finished the chapter on this topic in the Solar System textbook.
The crater calculator is a very useful interactive tool on the module website,
and is used for Question 4 on this assignment. By the end of last week I
reached a stage with TMA01 where I consider it to be more or less a 'release
candidate' for submission. The cut-off date is Thursday 27th November. There is
a tutorial connected with TMA01 timetabled for Friday 14th November, so I won't
even think about submitting it until I've had this.
Saturday,
25 October 2025
Saturday,
18 October 2025
As I had no
tutorials this week there's not that much to say, but it's always good to look
ahead at the next assignment, (TMA01) which has a cut-off date of 27th
November. S283 has four TMAs with an overall nominal pass mark
of 40%, but unusually the actual continuous assessment mark does not contribute
to the overall grade of the module. TMA01 assesses understanding of the first
four chapters of the book An Introduction to the Solar System. I've
covered the material for the first three questions of the assignment, so I'm
well on the way to completing it.
Question 1 – (15/75 marks)
This
question involves calculating the density of unknown planets, from data such as
mass and radius, and then suggesting which would be the most likely abundant
elements present in them.
Question
2 – (16/75 marks)
This two
part question asks for a description of the processes associated with the
formation of the embryonic Earth and also asks for observations on the magnetic
field of the planet Mercury.
Question
3 – (25/75 marks)
This
question asks for the construction and interpretation of geochemical
‘spidergrams’ given a table of elements using a spreadsheet.
Question
4 – (19/75 marks)
This
question involves the analysis of impact craters on Mercury using photographs
and use of the ‘creator calculator’ interactive tool.
Saturday,
11 October 2025
My tutor
wrote to all of the tutor group late on Sunday night. It was part introduction,
part apology for not writing sooner, and part reminder of an upcoming tutorial.
I can't say too much about the personal content as it might identify them, but
it seemed very sincere. It would have been nice to receive an acknowledgment of
my introductory letter though. The TMA00 that I sent quite a while ago seems to
have been ignored.
The very
first tutorial of the module, which was a 2-hour jobbie, could best be
described as clinical and impersonal. The tutor didn't introduce themselves,
launched straight in the content, and finished by insincerely thanking all of
us for coming, then ended the session quite abruptly. The area covered was
mostly elementary mathematics such as rounding numbers to appropriate
significant figures, ratios & fractions, simple geometry, logarithmic
graphs & half-lives. At the end there was a bit on the Periodic table &
normalisation. It may have been of some benefit to some of the cohort, but I
felt it was an opportunity wasted, and it really didn't set the tone of the
module particularly well. There were 19 students attending at the start of the
tutorial, but this had dropped to 13 by the end of the 2-hour (with a 15 minute
break) marathon stint. Due to the decline in attendees during the session, I
suspect the other students appeared to be of the same mind as myself.
On Wednesday
I received a very strange email from the 'Director of Teaching for Physical
Sciences' no less, saying that a post-exam verification process was going to be
put in place at the end of all level 2 and level 3 modules that have an online
exam. This involves carrying out a 15 minute recorded interview a few days
after the exam to verify the identity of approximately 15% of the candidates
and 'asking a few questions' but it was all a bit vague. I suspect it's another
half-cocked OU box ticking initiative which hasn't been fully worked out yet
just to pacify the quality people.
I had a
'Meet the STEM Associate Deans' Microsoft Teams meeting on Thursday evening.
Like all Teams meetings it had technical issues, mostly due to insufficient
bandwidth, but it struggled on regardless. Not that much was particularly
relevant to the Physical Sciences, but it was encouraging that some students
raised the issue of the newly launched Biomedical Science degree not being
accredited by the IBMS. The staff representatives handled, i.e. sidestepped,
that one very nicely. It was great to see corporate diplomacy in action.
Quite late
on Friday evening I had a tutorial from the tutor who marks my assignments. It
was both similar in some respects but different in others to the first S283
tutorial a few days earlier. This tutor was far more personable and friendly,
which is a very good sign, and they introduced themselves to the cohort quite
nicely. There were about 8 attendees which is about normal for a 20 or so tutor
group. The session contained the normal stuff about submission formatting, word
length of answers, plagiarism, the use of AI, the end of module exam etc. It
was progressing quite nicely until about 20 minutes towards the end when the
tutor appeared to run out of things to say and started eating something. The
tutorial then just petered out, which was a bit surreal to be honest. Although
this was the best tutorial I've had so far connected with this module, the bar
had been set very low.
Saturday,
4 October 2025
Week 1 - We are on the move now
Today is the
first day of the module proper, although I have been familiarising myself with
it for a while now. Last Monday, my tutor emailed me about a tutorial they were
hosting on Friday 10th October. I explored the module website a little further
and I could see that all of the S283 tutorials were now ready for booking.
There were 18 in total and only 7 different tutors, including my own. I'm not
sure if this is a cluster-wide or module-wide ratio of staff to students. The
first nine tutorials are listed here as an example of what lies ahead.
The forums are not exactly buzzing with tutorial news so I'm not what's going on here. I put all the tutorial dates in my diary and gave a copy to my wife. She needs to know these things.
My tutor
group forum opened on Thursday 2nd but at the time of typing, there is no
discernible activity at all on it. It doesn't help that there are too many fora
to negotiate. There's a general discussion forum, a tutor group forum, a café
Forum, an introduction to the Solar System forum, an introduction to
astrobiology forum and a revision and exam preparation forum.
Saturday,
27 September 2025
Saturday,
20 September 2025
This is week
minus 1 of the module according to the Study Calendar. I did two more
'preparing for' sessions last week. Level 2 on Monday, and Level 3 on
Wednesday. The level 2 variant was the session I was specifically invited to. I
found 'Preparing for Level 1' a bit of a box ticker, concentrating mostly on
student services, employability and careers advice. The 'how to navigate the
website' component was more useful for students new to the OU than myself, but
as I was gate-crashing an event aimed at level 1 punters, I can't complain too
much. The level 2 event on Monday was slightly better. Not quite so much of the
employability stuff and a bit more on student support. I did learn that some
students on other modules have been allocated their tutors though, and that a
particularly good quality member of the full-time OU staff is also a personal
tutor on S283.
Also, in
addition to the above, I made a tentative start to question 1 of TMA01. It was
based on the first two chapters of the textbook An Introduction to the
Solar System. The first part involved calculating planet densities and the
second part was about the abundance of elements found in those planets. I
particularly enjoyed the graph plotting used to visualise the main planet
types.
At the time
of typing, I still haven't received any tutor details but I have an
introductory letter to this mystery person written and all ready to go. I will
probably include it as part of TMA00, the dummy TMA that tests the eTMA
submission system.
Saturday,
13 September 2025
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.
Saturday,
6 September 2025
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, as well as working on the replacement for
S283 provisionally titled S287 Planetary Science. 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.
Saturday,
30 August 2025
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.