Tutors and students

The word "tutor" is used in many ways across education, ranging from private tutors giving extra teaching to individual pupils or students through to being an alternative name for a housemaster or housemistress overseeing potentially up to a hundred different pupils in some schools. The focus can vary from academic to pastoral support though many straddle the two roles.

Within the Open University a "tutor" is assigned to a number of students on an individual module. Most directly they mark some of the assignments (literally the "Tutor Marked Assignments" and the "End of Module Tutor Marked Assignments"). They are there to offer direct support and advice to the student, which isn't always taken up. They often give advice and support to all their students through the online Tutor Group Forums, as well as reading and commenting on some of the posts students may put there as they discuss the material. And they can give individual advice which is available through emails and scheduled phone calls.

The tutors also run "tutorials", online sessions where a tutor takes students through a portion of the course material. However, there is no requirement for students to attend the ones taken by their own tutor, though if one's schedule allows it, it can be helpful to go to some of theirs to get more direct support. Each module has multiple tutorials covering the same material, offering different times to attend, and not every tutor takes one of every particular version. So it's not unusual to go to tutorials taken by several different tutors over the course of the module.

It's different from a single student physically going to meet a tutor for a one-on-one session but, as previously discussed, the method of Open University study is now rather different from the days depicted in Educating Rita.

Tutors are assigned just before the formal start of a module. At the point I'm writing this, I've just received details of my tutor for one module, someone I've not directly encountered on any previous module. Meanwhile, I await for my tutor on my other current module to be assigned. We'll see how each module goes.

(Image created with Microsoft 365 Copilot.)

Into the new academic year

We're now into a slightly strange period of the academic year at the Open University. On the one hand, the year has formally started and the module websites have opened, allowing students to start reading through the content. On the other, the introductory sessions have yet to happen, tutors have not yet been assigned, Tutor Group Forums (TGFs) have not yet opened, details of tutorials are not yet available for booking and some of the first assignments are still locked.

At a glance, this may seem confusing, especially compared to some bricks & mortar universities. Though looking deeper, it's actually not so different from those where module guides are provided to students in advance of the first (teaching) week, allowing them to start thinking ahead, doing early readings and so forth. It just seems a bit different because the module website itself fulfils the role normally taken by lectures.

As is so often the case, some of this comes back to flexibility. By opening the websites a few weeks early, students have the opportunity to start working through the material at their own pace and get ahead of the recommended schedule if needs be - and there are a lot of real life events that might encourage that. For example, students with children can get a week ahead at this stage and then take a week off studying for half-term.

But one of the side effects is that it isn't always possible to do all the early activities in the module units and some momentum can be lost. Some of them ask students to write a short piece, post it on their Tutor Group Forum and then discuss it with other students in replies. However, as the tutors haven't yet been assigned and the TGFs not yet opened, it isn't possible to do this activity. And so the students most likely to start building momentum for online discussions instead often wind up skipping over the posting, leaving some TGFs notably bare and consisting of little more than the tutor posting advice each week.

In addition, the tutorials broadly align to the recommended schedule for the units and the special tutorials to support assignments are close to the deadlines, so there is a risk of ending up out of sync with the plans. So I don't recommend getting too deep into the module at this stage.

However, it's good to get through the early material and in particular to go through as much of the introductory week material as possible. Some of my modules have had as many as seven different sections in the introductory week, ranking from quick introductions to the course to the Law Undergraduate Guide, which is lengthy and updated each year. So the extra time to get through it all is welcome. In addition, if one is taking more than one module at a time, it's good to get a sense of how long each will take and start pacing well.

As well, there are other general introduction activities laid on through Welcome Week, both in-person and online, so there are good opportunities to get (back) into things.

So this phase of the year is not as complicated as it may first seem.

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Why every student needs a Law dictionary

Consider these words:

appellant, respondent, interlocutor, tort, counsel, dictum, Master of the Rolls, plaintiff, 

All are found in the first opinion in one of the most famous cases in British legal history (though this is not the most famous opinion in it; instead it's a dissent). All technical terms that a student may not have encountered before.

Law is full of such technical terms, though fortunately the use of Latin has seriously declined in recent years. A student coming to a case afresh (and this case could be one of the first judgments they ever encounter the text for) may struggle to navigate some of the words in them. But the course is Law, not Vocabulary. Students must learn to master the terminology by themselves.

And so if there's one resource they need more than any other it's a Law dictionary. Trying to read legal sources without a guide to the terms can often leave one stumbling. Time and again my own has brought enlightenment, whether basic terms at the start or more complicated concepts.

I use A Dictionary of Law (and yes, the title on the cover says "Oxford Dictionary of Law" but one should always use the title and capitalisation on the inside front page as a book's title), one of many from the Oxford Reference series. It's proved invaluable as have some other volumes in the series - I once found some key details for an assignment in The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists, not normally the first place to go on a Law degree.

So make sure you get a Law dictionary as early as possible.

Oh and the case? It's none other than Donoghue v Stevenson.

(Photo my own.)

Recent sudden changes on this blog

Some of you may have seen the blog constantly changing themes and settings in the last twenty-four hours. This has been because of some technical errors that have been a pain to (hopefully) fix. Apologies for the changes and problems in the meantime.

Normal service should now be resumed.

The blog has also had some problems with Google indexing. Looking around the internet, this is not the only Blogger blog suffering from this. Hopefully, this will sort itself soon. And in the meantime to help the poster who raised the problem there, here's a special link for their blog: Everyday Answer Lab — A Collector's Life: By Jerrad — A personal blog about figure collecting, One Piece, handmade pieces, displays, and the hobbies I genuinely enjoy.

How to deal with loneliness

Distance learning can be lonely. After starting my degree it was nearly two years before I met anyone from the Open University in person. I have never even had a phone conversation with any students on my modules.

This is invariably different from when I studied in person, regardless of whether I lived on campus, nearby or commuted in from further afield. As a result, it's much harder to share the experience with others, discuss everything from how to do a particular format for an assignment to discussing problems with university admin to just relaxing and sharing the joy of having completed something.

I have a life away from university study and so there are people I see, speak to and deal with regularly. And there are other ways to pass time. Doing a specific hobby alongside the degree is one way. Making guaranteed time to see friends or go places is another. Even just finding a good TV series or book to pass the time can help. But few people around you may know what it's like to be distance learning and even fewer will know about current courses.

But there are ways to connect with other students virtually.

The university provides online internet forums at various levels - tutor group, module, Level 3 route, degree amongst others - that allow some formal discussion and connection. They're also a way to post links to other places where students can connect directly.

Social media is the main way I've connected with others. Facebook has some groups for the Open University, but they can be a little quiet, especially if they've been running for many years. More active are WhatsApp groups. A number of students have set up WhatsApp communities for study with one or more groups for specific fields, usually individual modules. When run well - and all the ones I'm on are very well run - they can be a good way to connect with other students, discuss tips for studying, technical problems, future module choices, life away from studying and so much more. I have found them very helpful in knowing I am not alone.

But if social media messaging isn't your thing, then there are still other ways to handle loneliness.

There are dedicated groups and organisation that one can join. Students at the OU are automatically members of Open SU (previously the Open University Students Association), the students' union. It runs many events and gives support and advice so check out their website. There are also societies, of which the most significant is the Open University Law Society (OULS) which runs a wide range of activities.

However you approach it, you are never truly alone. There are ways to connect with other students and get involved, even if you never meet them in person. They are still out there.

(Image created with Microsoft 365 Copilot.)

A new academic year begins

And so the new academic year begins. This year I enter Level 3 and I'm taking more modules, hoping to complete the Law degree by next summer. It's going to be an interesting time ahead.

The shift from one level to another is quite a different experience from going forward from one academic or school year in a bricks & mortar institution. Whether it's university or school, there's a continuity of people around you and a shared experience so you return to familiar faces and surroundings. But with distance learning, you're not returning anywhere physical or seeing anybody after a time away. Instead, you're just going back to your desk at home. So all the focus is on waiting for the new academic year's module website to open.

The start to a module is often a bit staggered, with the website opening a few weeks before a module formally begins. This allows some students to get ahead but things can be complicated if tutors haven't yet been allocated whilst the online forums for most modules I've done often don't open early enough. One result is that very few students make the recommended online posts from module activities so it's harder to . Everybody studies at their own pace and around their own schedule so some will want to start ploughing through as soon as possible whilst others choose to follow the formal schedule and await the online tutorials to help them. There's no one right way to do things.

Level 3 sees students split off onto different pathways, which I'll discuss in more detail in later posts. It's by far the most diverse of all with many possible module combinations so my experience will be very different from many other students on other routes. So let's see how it goes.

(Image created with Microsoft 365 Copilot.)

Getting your module results

There's a strange limbo after one submits an End of Module Assignment (EMA). The module is over but the results aren't through for some time. Other demands, including other modules, can absorb time but there's still a sense of wondering that can't be satisfied one way or another until the result arrives. And that will take quite some time.

(And yes there's a reason for this, lest someone from the Open University staff be reading this and wants to point out the amount of time it takes to mark, moderate, externally moderate, work out overall marks and any adjustments and so forth. It's inevitable it takes time but that doesn't change the waiting experience.)

And then comes the day when one gets one or more of their results. With all the speculation this involves.

The Open University's systems are complicated and one effect seems to be that results don't always come out at quite a pre-announced "big bang" moment. The day of results can shift a bit. With one module I had both a delay of many days announced due to major systems failing and then also a release a couple of days earlier than the revised expected date. And then once the marks are out, it often seems to take a few days for all the relevant parts of the site to catch up, so I sometimes have a final mark in one place, a promise of a mark in a second and a blank in a third. Eventually everything is displayed correctly but not immediately.

Related to this the announcements that the results are out don't always come at the same time. So sometimes the first I've learnt that results are out has been messages on social media. When I've logged into the website there's been a message there - but the email to tell me to go to the site to look hasn't come until later. It makes for interesting fun, especially if I'm out and about with only the phone to check on.

My previous study was in a different era with most things submitted on paper and overall results coming in the mail or announced at a set time on a noticeboard. There was a similar sense of speculation and randomness with the post (although in those days it was much more reliable) but not the odd way of learning results were out through instant messages.

All this adds to the tension as one goes to see what their actual result is, perhaps added to by comments online as one person declares they did terribly whilst another is shocked to have done so much better than expected. And then the chaos as one clicks on the wrong link and then has to go back before eventually making it through to find the dreaded header "Overall module result", looking down and seeing the result. It's a nerve wracking experience but it has to be done.

Unless one decides to do something radical. But unfortunately with results coming online it's not possible to make a paper aeroplane out of an unopened envelope and throw the unseen results into the air, as happens at the end of The Paper Chase. Still there's nothing to stop you printing them out for a substitute effect - the plane in the picture at the top was made out of a printout of my Contract Law result because I thought of the film's ending and decided to homage the scene. But unlike Hart in the film I made sure to read my results first.

(Photograph my own.)