education

Enough is enough is enough, I can't go on, I can't go on, no more, no.

I’m really sick of being disorganised and it can’t go on anymore because things are changing. In the simplest way I’m just carrying on with my studies and not really doing anything I haven’t been doing already. In the more complex way it’s changing beyond all recognition. Not only am I going from doing undergraduate to postgraduate study (with Durham University) but I’m also carrying on with my Open University studies so my workload is increasing far beyond its current amount. So for that exact reason I really need to get my backside in gear and get myself a lot more organised.

Since my Open University career began I’ve been horrendously (shamefully) disorganised. I’ve never had a definite place to study, I’ve rarely had definite times to study and I often forget TMA deadlines and tutorial times because I don’t write them down anywhere and forget to check my Student Home. Honestly, I’m a terrible student. I don’t know how I’ve managed this far in truth.

Well not any more. I simply cannot afford to be so lackadaisical given the amount and level of work I’m taking on now, it would just be a waste of money due to insufficient effort on my part.

So things are changing. I’ve already started making inroads into getting myself really organised. Firstly, thanks to a recommendation from a good friend I’ve bought myself a student planner. This means I can write down all of my lectures, all of my tutorials, all of my submission deadlines, all of my meetings for voluntary stuff and anything extra like social stuff or trips away etc. It’s really well laid out so I think I’ll find it really useful and despite its size (A5 spiral bound) it fits in my bag nicely. I’m utterly hopeless at remembering dates and whatnot so I really do think this will be invaluable.

Secondly, and this is something I should’ve done a long time ago, I’ve bought a desk. I’m calling it my masters desk but really it’s for all my studying. I knew I didn’t want to get one from a catalogue shop or standard furniture shop, partly because I’m a bit of a tart and hate fibreboard furniture, and partly because I like the idea of ‘recycling’ a piece of furniture that someone else no longer has a use for, so I bought a desk off eBay. Solid wood, loads of drawer space and a lovely old feel to it. Notice I purposely don’t use the word vintage. I HATE the word vintage. It’s not vintage, it’s old or second hand. Vintage is what anti-snobs call old. But anyway, it’s lovely. The front drawer has ink stains in the bottom and I love the thought that there’s an interesting story behind it. Probably not, but it’s a romantic thought.

Another facet of my organisation is that I’ve made some steps towards tidying up my ‘spare’ room. It’s a real mess at the minute and contains way too much stuff that we don’t use so I’m on a Freecycling mission this week to clear some space. Not that I need the space for studying, it’s just good for the karma and should’ve been done way before now but Gordon and I are the King and Queen of Procrastination Land so it’s been that way for years.

The final change I’m going to make is more of a mental one than a physical one. I’m taking on a heck of a lot this year and organisation really is the name of the game so I’m going over some of the studying and revision techniques on the Open University website. Despite me now going to a brick uni a lot of the techniques are bound to be the same and I’ve heard that postgrad study is a lot more independent and student-lead meaning that you’re given the basics and have to do a lot of the research yourself so knowing some good study techniques will help immensely.

I’m counting this as a complete change of direction for me. Think of it as level two; level one was my BSc and now that I’ve done that I’ve levelled up, but level two is completely different; a complete change of scenery and a new set of challenges which build on what I learned on level one. I hope it all works out for me then, I never was any good at computer games.

Phew, this module is passing over really quickly. I’ve just submitted my final TMA and the EMA is due in mid-October but I can’t believe how quickly it’s going by. It hardly seems two minutes since I was down at Walton Hall handing in the final piece of work for my degree.

I’m quite frightened at how quickly the time seems to be passing lately. I was watching an episode of Futurama the other night and they were experiencing time-skips where time would just suddenly lurch forward by days or even weeks and I sort of feel like that at the moment. It’s not necessarily a bad thing but when you suddenly realise that it’s Wednesday and your TMA is due in by lunch time on Monday and you haven’t even read the questions yet, that’s when you know you’re clearly trapped in Futurama land.

As per usual I managed to get my TMA done and submitted though. I sat down and put a full day in on Saturday and was actually quite proud of myself for how long I managed to sit at the computer studying before I got up for a break. Then on Sunday I did the Great North Bike Ride (good lord it was tough going, 57 miles and a lot of it was into a head wind so it was far harder than I expected) and by the time I got back I was too exhausted to study so I sat down again early on Monday morning and didn’t stop until the TMA was submitted.

I freely admit that I could’ve done far better with it and I’m sort of kicking myself for having left it so late but isn’t that always my story? Leopards and spots and all that.

I still haven’t decided which module to do next but I’m really thinking along the lines of getting this ICT certificate completed since it only involves one more module. The science certificate can be done in dribs and drabs so I could just fit that in as and when.

The TMA I’ve just submitted was all about self-evaluation and how to develop your own professional development plan. Without even realising it I’ve actually done a lot of this before; it’s all about assessing what you do in your current job, what you’re good at, what your weaknesses are and where you might like to go in the future. I unknowingly did all of this last year when I first decided that I wanted to aim for a PhD so it was funny going through all of the official Open University documents and worksheets and making notes about each stage of the process. It never really dawned on me before to write it all down, I was just doing it all in my head but writing it all down seemed to make it clearer and easier to follow.

If you’re studying to help change career or you’re at all unsure about what you’d be good at or would like to do, I strongly advise you to check out this section of the website. It seems a bit long-winded and you have to answer a zillion questions but it’s really worth it in the end as it matches your interests and skills to hundreds of different jobs so it may throw up something you haven’t considered before. Coincidentally and pleasingly enough it says I’m ideally suited to a job either as a researcher or a journalist; that’s a relief then, at least I’m heading in the right direction.

"Death is everywhere," sang Depeche Mode back in the late 80s. "There are flies on the windscreen for a start." It wasn't one of their better songs, and they were on the slide by then. They probably weren't in such a good mood. I've got no windscreen but I've been surrounded by death over the last 24 hours.

This morning I had to catch the ferry across the river Tejo from the centre of Lisbon to any road that wasn't a motorway and that would take me away from Lisbon. That isn't easy; they're all bloody motorways. But I got a ferry and was thrown upon the opposite bank of the Tejo ready for my onward journey. Unfortunately, the road was blocked by police and ambulances. Some poor sod, with face covered, was being carried off a bus. It didn't look good. Either that or he'd found a really great way to dodge buying a ticket. We'll never know.

And then a few hours later, on a busy main road, a beautiful stork-like creature (I'm not good with birds; make your own jokes) landed not far in front of me. He wasn't big enough to be an adult stork. He was pure white and graceful and sleek, and then, 10 seconds later, he was stork paté as he decided to run from me and managed an aborted take-off quite spectacularly into the bumper of a speeding car coming in the opposite direction. Blood and feathers everything. It was like a massacre in Danny La Rue's dressing room.

But neither of these is the biggest death I've recently suffered. The biggest death is the death of a dream. I discovered something yesterday, something that the OU doesn't broadcast quite as loudly as it should. According to the web page that talks about gaining a Physical Science degree (or any OU degree for that matter), it says that you have to include 120 points that have not been counted towards any other award. That seems fair enough. Each certificate should require its own effort.

But thanks to a chance remark on an OU forum this week, and a subsequent link to an official OU document, I've discovered that those 120 points all have to be at Level 3. Nobody mentioned that. And this doesn't fit with my plans, the plans that I've had for nearly three years. I'd strategically chosen Level 3 courses that would count towards both my Maths BSc and my Physical Science BSc. But I'm not allowed to. And so now the nasty truth is that if I want to get the Physical Science degree I will have to buy an extra three Level 3 courses (and do them before the end of 2014), which, at my Isle of Man prices, is nearly £3,000, even before the new Nick Clegg-designed fee increases, and I don't have that kind of money. The bike ride and the existing OU courses wipe me out.

So I have to say goodbye to the dream of getting a science degree. I can get a Physical Science diploma, which isn't bad, and I can obviously still get the maths degree, but the edge of scoring two OU degrees while cycling around Europe has been taken off the trip. Still, it could be worse. A lot worse. I could be stork paté, smeared on the bumper of a speeding car, or being lifted lifeless off a Lisbon bus. Everything in perspective, but still I'd want to shout something very loudly: bugger!

Steven is pictured in Lisbon's Comercio Square, the massive square through the arch at the end of Augusta Street. The statue is from 1775 and is King Jose I.